Large hound dogs ran out to the road, barking loudly with their white teeth flashing, as I rode my bicycle past their yard. Taking an offensive position, I placed a sturdy, oak stick about three feet long across my handlebars. As I approached the dogs' domain, I guided the bike with my left hand while I held the stick with my right. That had a good effect. The dogs stayed in their yard. After riding around a corner, I tossed the stick into a ditch to be retrieved on my trip back home.

Long lines at the gas pumps had prompted me to sell our second car, a light-blue, four-cylinder Pontiac Tempest, and purchase a bike. It was a beautiful, silver ten-speed, equipped with touring handle bars and chrome fenders.

I enjoyed riding my bike the two miles from our house to the veterans and university hospitals where I often visited patients. And I made several other stops within the range of another mile or two. Daily satisfaction: peddling past the gas pumps.

After learning that my stout stick was effective, I no longer dreaded riding past the house with the hound dogs. In fact, I led my children on bike rides past the dogs' yard.

In comparison, the Bible describes encounters with ominous, supernatural beings (see Ephesians 6:12). God's big stick: He has provided a safeguard. The Bible, God's sword, is a source of great power and protection against "all the strategies and the deceits of the devil" (see Ephesians 6:10-18, Amplified Bible).

As I rode down Rock Quarry Road I kept my eye on those hound dogs. Similarly, God has cautioned us to stay alert in a spiritual sense. Be watchful in prayer (v. 18).

He has promised victory over timidity and fear: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJ).

Let God's love, power and a sound mind replace your fear.

J. Mark Vandivort jmvan530@yahoo.com