After two days of too much sun, too much fun, not enough sleep, and
spending time with her family, Sunday night we were back at her parents house,
and we went out for dinner. Still echoing in my ear was “did you tell him yet?”
and the suspense was building. Maybe tonight I would find out and her mom would
go onto other subjects. Catching an early movie, the dark and cool was welcomed
to these eyes, the 3d movie “Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein,” the 3d effects were
great, especially the part of walking through the forest and ducking the trees,
we ducked. But Ginger was obviously ducking something, and at dinner she opened
up. She was pregnant, going to marry her boyfriend, the baby’s father, so we
would have to break up. I didn’t even know we were going out! I was just
visiting, her parents had her invite me, obviously I had missed something in the
translation. It may have been the lack of surprise over breaking up, or the
fact she was pregnant, or she was getting married, but it changed the mood of
the meal. She was obviously not hungry after, I was. Why pass up a free steak
dinner her dad was paying for? And now I knew, I had been told, and I was OK
with it. What did she expect me to do or say? So as I sat chewing, she told me
she had only found out Friday, and her and her boyfriend decided to marry
sometime Friday evening. Somewhere between me oiling the garage floor and my
getting lost in the woods. I can’t tell you why, but I felt relief, it wasn’t
my problem, and a relationship I didn’t know I was in was over. So after dinner
we went home, spent more time with her family, and I went to bed early, like
before the dawn. I slept well, after being consoled by her mother, who felt
sorry for me, not for the 700 mile ride in the rain, but because her daughter
had broken up with me. Broken my heart, which wasn’t. I apparently was holding
up well in the situation. A family secret I care not to know more about, I
already knew too much. Somehow I had avoided the skirt giving me a problem, I
still had 700 miles of wheels to go.
With a final good bye of “you sure are taking it well,” I said good byes
and headed northeast, back the way I came. Watching my speed, I had plenty of
time and daylight. I was feeling free, and grinning and not knowing why, and
Ohio was almost behind me, when two guys with girls on back of their Harleys
came up and challenged me. Showing off their powerful V-twins for their buddy
seat sitters, they gave me a look, and challenged me. So I accepted, sprinting
ahead so fast I had to wait for them to catch up. BMW’s may have been the
Cadillac of motorcycles, this was one fast Cadillac. We were riding side by
side, taking up both east bound lanes of I-76, when over a rise the road was
blocked, and escorting traffic into a rest area for a license check. The three
of us were pointed to one side, and a group of Ohio Patrol types surrounded us.
The Harley guys were getting tickets, the two men looking at my bike curiously.
And I started to babble, “I don’t know who these guys are, they kept chasing me
until you saw us. I’m a film producer from New York, (I worked for a company
who produced/made film in Yonkers,)and I was having front end wobbles. This is
a race bike and I was going about 100 mph to test it out, which is what the
factory advises.” A bit of a stretch of the truth there. As I pointed to a
fork leak, the Sergeant rubbed his glove over the oil, smelled it and said “son
the speed limit in Ohio is 55, I’m going to have to give you a warning for 102
mph.” I’m not sure how many miles it took for the shock to wear off, my last
view in my mirrors was the Harley riders obviously mad and pointing and
yelling. 400 miles later and I was home. 55 never felt so slow.
God once told me life was all about relationships, and your life would be
based upon how your relationship with him was. Who he was, where he was in your
life, and how he influenced it. God played an important part in the Job
household, we all know about his trials, but religion has not been kind to his
wife. One statement of hers, branding her as an infidel for life. But after
reading the whole conversation recorded for us, we can see a different thought
or attitude. When she blurted out “why don’t you curse God and die?” she too
had lost her family, her wealth, her home, and was watching her husband die.
Rather than accuse him of following a God who had turned on him, she was maybe
advising him “just let him take you.” And me too. But his reply tells us more,
“you are talking like a foolish woman.” Not you are a foolish woman, but
talking like one, out of character for you. He was offering help in the midst
of his turmoil, showing her love and compassion. Leave it to religion to brand
her incorrectly. How would your perfect pastor interpret it when he is being
tried as Job was? Or is his walk so weak, is yours, that God would never brag
on you before the universe? We will never know the whole essence or words of
the conversation, we need the spirit to guide us with what we are given. But a
God of love, who loved us so much he sent his son to die for us would not
abandon us or Job in times of need. It is the tough times we draw closer to
God, where we see who Jesus really is and can share in his suffering, seeing a
side of him we don’t if never tried. Those who study to find themselves
approved by man or a church miss this, only in the spirit do you recognize the
Valley of the Shadow of Death, but that Jesus is walking with you, or in many
cases carrying you. Just lean on him, and let him be God. Just be still, and
know he is God. While others tried to diagnose Job’s situation, incorrectly, he
was still and let God be God. Just like we do, right?
In 3 days I had ridden 1400 miles, half in rain, been stopped in Ohio 3
times over 100 mph, and never received any tickets. Some who believe don’t ride
any faster than your angel can fly would claim it was angels guarding me. If
so, I have a certified 100 mph hour angel. Some would trust to luck, calling it
good, the Porsche driver and Harley riders may argue that. Greater minds than
mine can debate that. All I can say is like the blind man given his sight, “I
was blind and now I can see. I don’t know whether he is good or bad, but now I
see.” And within a year I would see Jesus in a different way, salvation. And
how he protected me and still does, my testimony of him still building. For just
like Job’s wife, even if Job she did tell him to curse God and die out of spite,
God still loved him, God’s love not based on performance, but who he is. We
love him because he loved us first.
I never heard from Ginger, or about her after that. It has been over 40
years since, I hope she had a good life. That she got better at relationships.
That her family stayed together despite a difficult start. She thought I was in
a relationship I never was in, don’t face life in Christ the same way. Jesus is
real, at 100 mph, on a sailboat, or even at a rest stop. Bigger than 3d, he
made 3d, and other dimensions we have no idea of. He is God, he is love, and he
loves us. And is just looking for a way to show it. So don’t curse him, look
for him. See him in all things, for it takes all things to work together to
make good. Don’t wait too long, or miss a chance to show the love of Christ to
one in need. After 2 full days and one night of “did you tell him yet?” the
message set me free, from something I didn’t even know I was part of. So when I
got home, I called Ohio to let them know I had made it. Talking with her
mother. And sent a bouquet of flowers as I did when dating. But not to Ginger,
again her mother. Yes, I had been told, and sadly maybe the only one who was
listening. Consider yourself told about Jesus. Are you listening?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com