We are spoiled here in So Cal with the best weather in the US of A. A cold
day is when it drops below 60, and the wanna be riders take the car. When it
drops below 50, they warm up the car first. Below 40...I don’t feel so good
today, think I’ll call in sick. Yet for the rest of the US, they ride in the
60’s, 50’s, 40’s, and in lower temps. A few years back a friend rode back to
New Mexico the week before Christmas, the high being 19. Growing up where
winter was winter, and not a sub season of summer, if the bike started, we
rode. And if it didn’t, we would jump start it. We rode because we loved to
ride, only snow that wasn’t plowed, and ice kept our bikes in the garage. We
dressed for the conditions, often not very well, but yet we rode. But looking
back, there were some storms that maybe I should have sat out, but never even
considered taking the car.
One 4th of July I left going over Red Mountain Pass, over 10,000 feet in a
t shirt. And came back over Wolf Creek Pass following the plow, the snow plow.
On one trip back east, I got caught in a flash flood in Ohio. Trying to get off
the road, a Mazda blocked the way, sitting with water over its hood up to the
windshield. I kept going, stopping under a gas station overhang. As the fire
engines sped past next to me, lightning had hit the bowling alley 100 feet
away! On the same trip back, just outside of Clinton, Oklahoma it started to
rain. No big deal, until the dual trailered semis started weaving in the
wind...time to get off, and again another flash flood, up to the Triumph on my
tank! Finding shelter with a group of riders from Ohio in the Route 66
Museum....and then the rain stopped, but the wind continued for 290 miles to
Tucumcari. And a night at The Blue Swallow Motel.
On afternoon riding to New Jersey, the wind and rain in Texas was so bad I
had to stop, and I needed gas anyway. While leaning against my Sprint ST so it
wouldn’t blow over, I saw a family huddled together in a Lincoln, the windows
fogging up. And no way would I have traded.....It rained for over 200 miles
leaving Fargo. So bad that the sides of my tire tread was scuffed. But I made
it, and when the rain stopped, took off my rain suit. A woman getting gas saw
my California plates and asked “it doesn’t rain in California does it? Why are
you riding here?” But as the clouds cleared, the wind continued, at a wonderful
39 degrees. Only made worse by having breakfast the next day in Billings,
Montana, same 39 degrees, and a couple on an Ultra Glide pulling up in t shirts,
no jackets. As I sat shivering drinking hot cocoa. But my favorite was a trip
to Albuquerque from Farmington with friends. I had the only riding suit, and it
was cold coming back. Riding without it I paid the price, but George and Dave
stopped a few times talking how they wished they had a suit like it. Only to
remember when they got home it was bungeed on George’s bike. If only they had a
suit they had wondered.
And of course there is last February, riding up Whitney Portal Road to
8000’, with no snow. Dodging the melting remains, reminding us of the draught
we are in. Maybe the old song “Oh, Susanna” says it best, “it rained all night
the day I left, the weather it was fine...” and why we ride. We dress in
layers, and don’t let conditions dictate to us. The way I choose to live my
life in Christ. Too many look at the situation, and drop out. They get upset
with God for the conditions, blaming him for the rain. “Didn’t we ask for sun?
You knew it was my day off!” They fail to see that God is in the situations,
and instead of sticking with him, they get upset with him. They are fair
weather saints, loving God as long as it pleases them, but let one little thing
go wrong, and they blame him. They live their lives not based on a relationship
with him, but on the scenario they are in. They fail to look to the cross in
these times, looking to the situation instead. Leaning on their own
understanding or experience, instead of trusting in the Lord as Proverbs 3:5
tells us. In all your ways we are to acknowledge him, and he will direct our
paths. All ways. Maybe put another way, in Psalm 23 he walks with us through
the Valley of the Shadow of Death. After my open heart surgery my friend told
me he walked me through, only I advised him “he carried me, because I couldn’t
walk.”
Jesus is there in the midst of your storm today. He won’t take you around
it, but will see you through it. Showing you love as he carries you as he has
me many times. In the spirit we see Jesus, and he is the way. Without the
spirit to guide, we lean on our own understanding...your actions today will
either give truth to your words of faith, or condemn you in your denial of him.
We ride by faith, not by sight many times, but as the good shepherd, if we
follow his path we get to our destination. Trust him in the good times and you
will trust him in the times of trouble. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the
ark. But he built it anyway. Before it had ever rained on earth. How many
would set out on a trip like he did, based on trust? Consider it only took him
120 years, and he was 600 when he started. And your problem is...
Maybe a lesson learned while putting on our rain gear in Gettysburg one
afternoon. It was pouring, and some other couples were doing the same. One
couple from Maryland talked with us. They said the weatherman said a 50% chance
of rain. They interpreted it as a 50% chance of sun and went riding. Behind
every dark cloud the sun shines brightly. And the warmth of the sun never feels
so good as after the storm. So if the bike starts, ride it. No excuses. And
if you trust God, trust him. The rainfalls on the just and the unjust, it is
only those riders of the storm that ride roads other fail to try. And never get
to see the sides of Jesus those that don’t miss. He has provided a riding suit
for you, just don’t leave it bungeed to your bike. Like the suit, Jesus is
there all the time. You just need to take the time to put him on. Or you could
always take the car...
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com