The Difficulty, and Importance, of Finding Balance

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800-832-7597. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. And we tell stories about everything here on this show, from the arts to sports and from business to history and everything in between, including your stories. Send them to ouramericanstories.com.

They're truly some of our favorites. Up next, a story from Brent Timmons. Today, he shares with us a story entitled Balance.

Take it away, Brent. Asher had left on his motorcycle for work at his summer job. He had just graduated and needed to make a quick stop at his high school to drop off his borrowed laptop and calculus calculator.

Thirty minutes later, my wife answers the phone. The information she was given was brief. Asher had had a motorcycle accident in front of the school. They thought he would be okay, but the ambulance was coming and may end up taking him to the hospital.

That was about the extent of the information. Both of us quickly thought the worst, like he had collided with another vehicle when either turning into the school or coming out. The wording, thought he would be okay, registered in my mind as non-life-threatening injuries.

Where would they take him, was the first question out of my mouth. Tina called the school right back and was told it would be Nanticoke. We wondered how we would know whether to go to the school or to head directly to the hospital. This state lasted about three minutes.

I wouldn't call it hysteria. It was more like a laser focus on how we were going to get to where our son was. Then Asher called. He said he was okay, described the situation and told us we just needed to come get him and his bike. We know our son well enough that this immediately put us at ease.

I hooked up the trailer and we headed off. It was a relatively minor event. Asher was slowly turning into the drive of the school. They actually caught it on camera and he hit a small patch of sand on the asphalt. The rear end slipped out in a heartbeat and he ended up on the ground under the bike.

The school staff was fabulous. They rushed to his aid immediately and watched over him in the nurse's office as he gathered his wits and the shaking from the adrenaline wore off. He had some scrapes.

The bike had some scrapes but overall he and his bike would be fine. This is one of those things. One of those things that remind us how quickly something can happen which could alter the future. It's one of those things that remind us to appreciate every moment. One of those things that changes us. One of those things we are thankful for because of the lessons learned. Motorcycle riding is by nature much riskier than riding in a car or truck.

If you look at the statistics it's, well, you don't even want to know. It's a choice made with a known risk. We let our boys make that choice with that risk.

I ride myself. Why would we do that? Would we rather our boys didn't engage in such an activity?

It isn't that simple. A life lived without any risk is, well, it's not really living at all, is it? We take a risk when we choose a college major in the face of uncertainty.

We take a risk in participating in a sport when we may possibly be embarrassed by poor performance. We take a risk in choosing a life partner. We take a risk in changing jobs. We take a risk in buying a home and committing to pay a mortgage for the next 30 years. A life without any risk is a life of not moving forward.

It's not really life at all. Of course there are ways to reduce risk and we do those things and with a passion. At some point there is a balancing of the passion to live and the passion to walk in caution and wisdom and that's really part of the secret of life.

People choose different ways to go about it. Maybe you lean on your faith in God or maybe you lean on your faith in yourself. Personally I've been disappointed in my own strength way too many times. At the risk of making you feel like I've tricked you into a discussion about God I'll share this. After we decide whether there is a God or not and who that God is comes what I'd say is one of the most prevalent debates about faith. What does God do and what do I do?

People fall all over the spectrum on this. It would take me volumes to try to communicate where I've landed personally and honestly who really cares what I've concluded. I'll just say this I want my boys to walk in wisdom to not be averse to taking a risk and to trust God in the midst of doing that. Take a risk ride safe and live well. Take a risk ride safe and live well. Wisdom in all of those words.

A special thanks to Monty Montgomery on the production of that piece and to Brent Timmons for a short but profound story with some real real life implications as it relates to all of us and our lives and we'd love to hear stories from you about this space. We spend a lot of time talking about risk and risk taking. Our entrepreneur stories are nothing but risk stories. A lot of people think entrepreneurs love risk but that's not quite right. What we've learned is that they love to manage risk and that a life without risk is not worth living and so they manage risk better than most of us and live within the space of risk and real traumatic risk because it's how they're hardwired. You can't make an entrepreneur any more than you can make someone ride a motorcycle. It's risky business riding a motorcycle. I've done it for many years of my life.

Gave it up when I had kids so I made a very different decision about risk than this family did about for instance riding a motorcycle. Then your risk stories, your failure stories because we love both of those and what you learn from failure to OurAmericanStories.com that's OurAmericanStories.com Brent Timmons Story who listens to us in Connecticut on Spotify of all places here on Our American Story. Folks if you love the great American stories we tell and love America like we do we're asking you to become a part of the Our American Stories family. If you agree that America is a good and great country please make a donation.

A monthly gift of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters. Go to OurAmericanStories.com now and go to the donate button and help us keep the great American stories coming. That's OurAmericanStories.com Fall is just around the corner and home is the center of it all. At Ashley seasonal decorating's a breeze with their range of designs and materials. Snuggle up on a family friendly sectional or an ultra modern sofa or gather outside and enjoy the crisp cool air with a new fire pit or conversation set. From minor refreshes to total overhauls Ashley has the essentials to make your home fall functional and fabulous.

Shop in store or visit ashley.com today. Need life insurance but have diabetes high blood pressure or on anxiety meds? If you're a 50 year old male even porky or with type 2 diabetes a million dollars of life insurance may only cost you about 200 bucks a month.

For affordable term life insurance call term provider and speak with Big Lou at 800-700-6898 800-700-6898 or visit biglou.com remember Big Lou's like you he's on meds too 800-700-6898. What up it's Dramos you may know me from the recap on LA TV. Now I've got my own podcast Life as a Gringo coming to you every Tuesday and Thursday. We'll be talking real and unapologetic about all things life Latin culture and everything in between from someone who's never quite fit in. Listen to Life as a Gringo on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by State Farm. Like a good neighbor State Farm is there.