While our riding partner Bruce went off in search of museums, Christopher
and I decided to get our fix at the motorcycle shops in Vancouver, BC. It was
at the Yamaha shop we found out about Trev Deeley, the long time Harley Davidson
importer, who just happened to have once imported Triumph and Yamahas to
Canada. They told us of a museum he has with bikes over 85 years old, Harley
was still a young 86 at the time. So off in the rain, how British, we went in
search of his building, in a non-descript, older part of the warehouse area.
Funny how the combination of a foreign land, they do speak English there, and an
unknown area when mixed with rain causes confusion, but after few passes, we
took a chance, and it was right where we were told, now so were we. An old
brick two story warehouse, taller than it was wide, we went in and were greeted
by the receptionist, who offered us hot drinks, which we accepted. She asked if
we minded waiting, seems Cycle World was doing an article on the museum
upstairs, and would we mind waiting in the office of the president. He didn’t
seem to mind, and after 15 minutes of great talk, she motioned CW was gone,
actually they were still upstairs, but we could go up. As she pointed to the
narrow stairs, a man in a wheelchair with two friends came in, also wanting to
see the museum. But she told them they had no elevator, and his wheelchair was
even wider than the steps. When a burly warehouseman appeared over her
shoulder, “ever ride on a forklift?” His answer a bewildered stare. “If you
don’t mind, we have access through an upstairs outer door we use to unload
motorcycles, it will hold a wheelchair with you, interested?” Being brave he
was, and we all went out and watched as the forklift operator carefully lifted
him two stories, in the rain, and placed him in the door. It looked like it was
way up there, from the wheelchair it must have looked like a thousand feet! But
he made it safe, the Cycle World guys took pictures and added him to the story,
and an incredible morning was had by all. You see, sometimes you do meet the
nicest people on a Harley......
Rock music tells us we have a stairway to heaven, but a high way to hell.
Quite a contrast. But it takes thinking outside our terminally small minds to
see God in it all. Under Jesus, God gives us a New Covenant, one with no dates
mentioned in it, everlasting, and it is available to all, Jew and Gentile
alike. Bikers, too. He tells us he will put his law, which is love, in our
minds, and write his word in our hearts, who is Jesus. Under the Old Covenant
it was all about external. and based on our performance. The new one under
Jesus, is all about what he did for us on the cross, and is all about the
internal change God provides in and to us. And by his spirit we will have all
the power we need, no longer do we have to go it alone, no longer under Mosaic
laws, but Jesus brings it down to one, love God first with all you have, and
then love man the same way. He supplies, we act and benefit. Only a loving God
be so gracious and forgiving. No longer when Christians meet will we be
strangers, but friends we haven’t met yet, but with the commonality of Jesus,
his spirit will unite us. We share Jesus, so we can share the new life in him.
Based on being forgiven, another great equalizer, before we were all united by
our sin, now we are united by his forgiveness. We no longer have to go it
alone, but we have Jesus, who sustains us, supplies us, forgives and encourages
us, and all we need to do is believe. The focus is on who he is and what he has
done, not who we are and what we have done. A covenant like no other, because
there is no other like Jesus.
But yet some chase the highway to hell, thinking they have to or must go it
alone. A true blow to the ego when told they cannot, but still race on. But
just like Jacob saw a ladder to heaven, life is taken in many small steps, until
you meet a simple obstacle like no elevator and are grounded. Yet like the
warehouseman who offered the wheelchair bound man a lift, God offers us that
same lift. Seems he is not bound by highways, steps, or no elevators. His plan
for you includes him, and in him we can do and go places mere mortals cannot.
We all clapped and rejoiced standing in the rain as the man was lifted, imagine
the fanfare in heaven when one lifts his hands and heart in forgiveness and
comes to Christ. Loud pipes may save lives, but they couldn’t meet the man’s
need that day. So many Harleys, but only one forklift. Not even a v-twin. When
we ride with Jesus, marvelous things happen, we are part of the family, under
the New Covenant, forgiven and saved. Later in our conversation with Bruce, he
wondered, “how do you always find such neat places?” We know a neat God, who is
cool.
You may be one highway away from hell, or one stairway away from heaven.
That morning all it took was a forklift to answer a prayer. Miracles occur
everyday, in everyway. You might meet the nicest people on a Honda, that day it
was all about Harleys and a forklift. Just like Jesus, one offered, the other
accepted, and his whole world changed by what he could see. Blind from below, a
new vision when lifted up. With no animals harmed or loud pipes heard....
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com