There is something about two wheels that has always fascinated me. From my
first two wheeler with hard rubber tires, to my next bike, a convertible where
you could remove the bar so a girl could ride it, or a boy too small, I have
wanted to ride places. To see where the road goes, to ride my own pace, and
stop at all the places I wondered about riding in the back seat of my parents’
Rambler. Places I wanted to stop at, but only got a glimpse at while passing
by. Bicycles took me to Cranford and Plainfield, expanding my riding universe
10 miles in each direction, but when motorcycles came into my life, only my
desires and imaginations slowed me down, but rarely stopped me. Riding to my
grandparents house 60 miles way became a ride with many detours to explore the
Pennsylvania countryside, to ride along the Delaware on SR32, a road just made
for two wheels of fun. To ride into the small towns I heard the old folk talk
about, and to see their conversations come alive. The road was calling, I
answered, and after riding over a million miles in 48 states, no Hawaii until
the bridge is completed, I still have a desire to see where that road goes when
in a new area. Back roads are calling again, or still, where real America is,
one not found via a freeway exit. Or even a guidebook. It is roads marked
“Old,” or that weave up a mountain, or through a valley, that take longer
because there is more to ride and see that I look for. And in doing so find
places that others pass by, eat meals that others at first would be cautious
about, but that bring me back, and people who are just folk, living and
forgiving, a far cry from the demographics we are ruled by. To me it is called
America, and I cannot ride enough of it, and each ride makes me appreciate it
even more.
While I have never ridden the Dragon, I have ridden the Snake,with more
turns, and less traffic. I have followed Route 66, with some excursions off it,
and found the people and roads that 66 used to be before becoming a tourist
attraction. Ever ride across the Y bridge in Zanesville, Ohio, I have. Gotten
lost after riding over the old suspension bridge in Wheeling, West Virginia, and
saw the real city of history. I have walked up the mission tower in San Juan
Bautista made famous in Vertigo. Ridden the 10 steepest hills in San Francisco,
and ridden past closed gates just to see what is on the other side. Taken ferry
rides to places with my motorcycle instead of being a walk on passenger. I have
ridden over the Cumberland Pass in a white out, seen sunsets sitting on mountain
tops, and dipped my front tire in the Pacific, Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and
Lake Michigan. Dipped, not dropped. I have eaten fried clams in Two Lights,
Maine, pasties in the Upper Peninsula, fish tacos in Baja, and BBQ’ed across
America. All on two wheels.....and the fascination continues.
Scripture tells us we are blessed in the heavenly realms, which gets many
to thinking of life after death. But Paul explains we don’t have to wait for
death to obtain heaven or the heavenlies, they are available as soon as we
become a Christian. For the heavenlies he is talking of consist of the thoughts
of our inner mind we have now, and continue on into heaven, not begin or end
there. These heavenlies may start in conflict, but are revealed in our deepest
thoughts of Jesus himself, where the spirit reaches our emotions, our heart, and
our will. They are a restlessness that only Jesus can satisfy, and available to
all who are in Christ Jesus. Now. For the taking, and to be part of our
relationship with him. They are a gift form God, not available to those not
saved, but only to Christians who know Jesus personally. There is nothing
keeping them from us, so we need to know what they are, and how to access
them.
They go beyond physical laws or theological ideas. Way beyond the
knowledge of knowing the Bible, but an intimacy that comes form knowing Jesus,
and wanting all of him you can get. Maybe a selfish thought, but who doesn’t
want all the blessings that God provides? But settles for far less. Blessings
that become personal, that go beyond definition or description. Blessings that
come from Jesus via his spirit, and he has so many we cannot count them all.
Identified as the fruit of the spirit, the fruit of Jesus Christ available from
him, not on our own. Like a road not found on a map, it takes wonder and wander
to go deeper in Christ, to not trip over words but see what they show us about
Jesus. Personally. It starts with faith, for without faith it is impossible to
please God, the spirit already calling to you. Then it becomes a social
interaction, legalism sets in, as we fit into the Christian community, and want
to please God, and man. But as we go from throwing fleeces like Gideon did, to
trusting God like a young David did against Goliath, or a young Abraham did when
picking a direction, then we open up the pathways to the heavenlies described.
Biblical ideas and promises do you no good until you believe them enough to
trust God and act on them. To trust him that even if you fall, he will catch
you. To risk that the road he shows you is the right road, less travelled
because you do not fall into the bondage of religion. In church or on the
road. A depth we cannot perceive, because you cannot teach about the
heavenlies, you must experience them first hand. Things you cannot see, and
once you do cannot be described in finite words, for you are following an
infinite God, who has so much more to offer than our feeble minds can handle.
What a joy to find my desire to ride is based on wanting to go further in the
spirit, and I can see Jesus much better now because of the rides he has taken me
on. I have only begun to enjoy the heavenlies after one million miles, don’t
wait as long as I have to experience all God has to offer. We only learn as
much as the teacher knows to teach, my teacher is the spirit, the great rabbi,
the one who created the universe. And your teacher’s credentials are?
Go beyond church, go beyond religion, go beyond memorization, and go with
Jesus. For God so loved me he gave me motorcycles, and his spirit to bless me
when riding. What has he given you that you don’t fully enjoy? My first
passion is Jesus, and he adds all other things unto me then. Roads, rides,
motorcycles, sunsets, bridges, unexpected meals when I am hungry and places I
never heard of and would have passed by otherwise. Did you know there is a
Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania? Talk about a view, and then you can ride through
it. Want to see what God can create out of dust, ride the Loess Hills, made
from blowing dust. And see his hand on creating them. Meet a man while fueling
up in Tennessee and find a great Civil War ride in Georgia. Ride the Keys,
cross the Mississippi seven times in one day, eat at a bunkhouse, and sleep in
an old inn with the only bathroom down the hall, which is better than it being
outside. All places I never would have seen or ridden if not spirit driven. A
curiosity that only comes from above, so can only be answered by the same.
It is in those spiritual urges from God that we go deeper. Where we see
clearer, and the word comes alive. Beyond knowledge, we grasp the wisdom of the
creator, and see the beauty of his creation as he sees it. For me a hunger for
the road has opened my eyes to the deeper things of Christ. What can he do for
you if you only let him. He gives you the desires of your heart, and when he is
that desire, there is no end to where you can go. The heavenly realms are here,
will you take the next step and trust him? After all, what part of blessing
don’t you understand, yet? When words fail, the spirit comes through every
time.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com