Tuesday, April 25, 2017

the ride is not measured in miles alone
















Touring bikes have changed over the years, but then so have those who tour by motorcycle.  When I first started riding, it was BMW or Harley, an occasional Moto Guzzi, and the  bigger the better.  Then the Gold Wing arrived in 1975, and changed all that.  Shaft drive, 1000 cc, with Honda on the tank promising it to be reliable, the market changed almost overnight.  My friend Geno, who thought there was BMW and other bought one.  Vetter made Windjammers for them, and soon they morphed from 1000 cc and 4 cylinders, to 1200, then 1500, and now 1800 with six cylinders.  Weighing over 1000 pounds....add a plush animal, sound system, and enough junk from Kuryakin to make it personal just like everyone else’s, and yes, the touring bikes have changed.  Where once it was maybe add a windshield and some bags, most were bungeed on using Army surplus, to today fresh from the factory, color matched and built in.  Somewhere along the way what  touring bike is and was went astray.  But how about the riders...
It takes a special person to be a touring rider.  A love of the road, going places for the first time, eating local meals and crossing time zones and social barriers, and we do it on all types of bikes.  When BMW came out with the GS 37 years ago, the touring crowd laughed.  But they aren’t laughing now, they are riding them.  Fast, comfortable, long travel soft suspension, good handling, great mileage, and when the road stops you don’t have too.  And the Adventure bike was born, which I have been riding for over 13 years now.  Which now seems to be the standard long distance bike for touring.  From Triumph’s Tiger, Yamaha’s Tenare, Moto Guzzi’s Stelvio, and ones from Honda, Ducati, Suzuki, and even Buell had one, they are the ticket to ride.  Maybe best told to me by an old man we met in Silver City, who had ridden from Davis, California.  He didn’t need no half ton monster, he rides.   Amen to that.  Even more interesting is the fact many who ride Adventure bikes have Harleys in their garages, but never ride them.  Seems riding and cruising are two different things, if you gotta ask, you might not understand.  But the basic adventure bike too is growing in size, and weight, and with all the options available, you can build your own, making it a Gold Wing of a different sort along the way. Talking with those we meet on trips who ride them, we seem to know something the others don’t, and won’t listen to.  Adventure bikes are fun, are comfortable, and remind us of the dirt bikes we started on.  The hair may get grayer, the step slower, and the pace not as fast, but the rider never grew up.  You can sell a young man’s bike to an older man, but a young man won’t buy an old man’s bike.  Some quit riding because they got old, some got old because they quit riding.  How many miles of smiles do you remember and are you missing today? 
When some come to Jesus, that which is the beginning for them is the end.  They are saved, but never get the benefits of his Lordship.  They aren’t changed on the outside, maybe on the inside, and still live like hell, when he promises more.  I see many tested today who have filled churches forever, and crater under the weight of being tested.  They have never travelled with Jesus, only read the travelogues, and have the knowledge, just not any experience.  Like the line of black Harleys, or Gold Wings that all look the same, what they bought into is not what they got.  For any bike is useless until it is ridden, and grace and mercy must be experienced.  You think you can teach them, but you must experience Jesus to experience mercy, and grace.  Yet I hear the grumblings among denominations, who believe their church is the only one, and all else others, who fall short.  It has become popular to add a tag line to your church, but where is the spirit in it?  How many Christian lives have become overweight like touring bikes, putt putting around the neighborhood, claiming they own a motorcycle, when we claim we ride them.  They have superior knowledge, just not the relationship, and isn’t the relationship we sought from religion?  Didn’t we buy our first bike and others to go farther?  Has your religion become so burdened and overweight you don’t ride it anymore?  Do you ever wish to go back to the first time Jesus became real in your life?  Are you cruising when you are really seeking adventure?
Each denomination or church started out to do it better, different than the old one.  Looking back, do you look ahead?  Do you wish Jesus to be Lord, or are you just playing church?  Is the spirit guiding, or the church?  Have you confused the separation of church and state with the separation of Jesus and religion?  How have you influenced the world for him?  Maybe a quote by Bruce McLaren, who died young, a championship racer.  A time when auto racing was much more dangerous, and the monetary rewards fewer.  When his team mate died too young, he is quoted:
[On the death of team mate Timmy Mayer] “The news that he had died instantly was a terrible shock to all of us, but who is to say that he had not seen more, done more and learned more in his few years than many people do in a lifetime? To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one's ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone.”
May I add to that knowing Jesus as Lord.  Do you call him Lord but not do the things he asks?  Do you fill a pew, is your life all about you?  Each time a racer steps into a race car, he knows it may be his last race.  Competition takes a toll on the body, and can be deadly.  So is religion.  Make sure you are buckled into the spirit, and that Jesus is your Lord.  To live for him is not foolhardy, and it would be a waste of your earthly life if you did nothing with the gifts he has given you.  Many have mastered years in the church, but never got out of it.  I rather brag on what Jesus has done in my life, the testimonies of achievement, that unless he was Lord would have been failures.  Maybe as touring Christians, sojourners we are called, travellers here just passing through, we need to adjust our ride.  We all need more adventure, Jesus never changes, it is up to us to change.  A marksmen is known by his aim, not his arrows.  Are you all about arrows or your aim?  Is your aim Jesus?
Motorcycling is still about the ride, the way you ride is your choice.  And what you ride.  Don’t forget who you ride with, that is the most important.  For riding, like life needs Jesus, and without him, you are an accident waiting to happen, for in this world you will have tribulation, that ought to build your faith.  Bet that one doesn’t show up in many Bible promise boxes!  But the truth is we will all die, and all unexpectedly.  Today may be your last ride, your last race, your last chance to know Jesus.  He who has an ear let him hear what the spirit is saying.  The ride is not measured in years alone....what will they say about your passing?  Better yet, what will they say about your life?  To live for Jesus is not foolhardy.  Life is an adventure, ride it.....
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com