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If you have ever ridden in the rain while touring, you know how special it
is waking up to the sun and warmth of it after riding all day and then falling
asleep to the rain on the roof. To look out and see the mist as the water
evaporates from the roadway, and how clean and fresh the air is. You just know
that today is going to be special...but that was going to be my dream for
tomorrow, as I was waking up in Fargo to a horrendous downpour. And the weather
channel predicted rain for the next few days with high winds, but only 310 miles
away laid sunshine. Not wishing to spend another week, I mean night there, I
put on all my rain stuff, and headed west. Destination Billings for the night,
but would end up riding most of the day in the dark and high wind with rain.
Now I like to think of the plains and prairies as one big valley between the
Rockies and Appalachians, and today this valley was gong to be stormy. How
stormy you ask? Well, if you have ever ridden in high winds, leaning to stay
straight, you know how the tires wear funny, mine did to the point of scuffing
like a tire after track day, now that’s wind. And for 310 miles across the
valley I battled semis at 80+ miles per hour, and other locals who were not
impressed by the weather, just another day to them, to me it was survival. But
somewhere over the non-existent rainbow had to be sunshine, just north of the
rain I kept telling myself. And when I got a sun break in Dickinson, the temp
had dropped to 39 degrees. Cold is one thing, wet another, but the combo on a
motorcycle is just plain misery. How bad could Fargo have been for another 3
weeks?
Waking up the next morning in Billings, it was only cold, so I decided to
get more miles behind me, and two hours later found myself indulging in massive
amounts of hot chocolate in Bozeman, a quick two hour ride. It seems 39 is the
magic temp this time of year, as the thermometer was stuck there, in the sun. I
was still cold, and about to get colder when a couple rode up on an Ultra
Glide. I watched, no I stared as they walked in-she in a wind breaker and he in
a T-shirt. Just another day for them, I tried to hide behind the cups of hot
chocolate sot hey wouldn’t see me, but they did, wishing me good morning, and
exclaiming what a beautiful day to ride. And I nodded, being nice, as compared
to yesterday, and add another 40 degrees and I would have to agree. But at
least it wasn’t raining, and the wind had quit, I was through the valley, about
to pass the mountains, and an easy 1400 mile two day ride home. Home on the
range may be a great old song, but I had had enough rain and cold to make me
utter some discouraging words, only hoping that the skies wouldn’t be sunny all
day. Through the valley of the shadow of death had ridden....
Now the saying says “loud pipes save lives.” They sure do get your
attention. But if loud pipes do save lives, why aren’t more bikers saved?
Maybe religion and bikers don’t mix, but I have both, and find they do. When in
the spirit after my open heart surgery, I woke up telling Theresa that I had
seen the gates of hell, but wasn’t sure what it meant. I had other things on my
mind, like learning to swallow, to walk, and breathe on my own, so I
concentrated on them, but later asked God what He had meant. And He explained
simply, the gates of hell shall not prevail, as He was building His church,
using His son Jesus, to build it on. I knew the verse, or thought I had, but
then He added, the gates don’t keep you out of hell, only Jesus does. Wow-the
gospel in all its simplicity, in one line. Jesus is the way, even in the valley
of the shadow of death, or from Bismarck to Bozeman. He is there in the highs
and the lows, sometimes dragging me kicking and screaming, or sometimes just
holding my throttle hand steady against the wind. Taking me through the storm,
not around it. And like a friend told me after hearing of my surgery, “wow you
walked through the valley of the shadow of death.” “No I didn’t,” I answered,
“I had to be carried.” And He will carry you through whatever the day throws at
you. Wind and rain-He can calm them. Even if the valley is so large it is
called the mid-west. He is there.
And so loud pipes may save lives, but Jesus and only Jesus saves souls. He
is the only escape from hell, the gate to keep hell in, and you out. And He
goes on to say that you have the power here on earth to bind and loose things in
His name. His will be done. And there are storms ahead, on the horizon that
you will have to go through, and you will need the helmet of salvation. So when
someone argues that loud pipes save l lives, I smile. But I still wear a
helmet, my choice, just like Jesus is my choice. He is the helmet of salvation
I wear daily, not leaving home without it, and even looking stylish around the
house with it on. I don’t ride unprotected, I don’t want to live unprotected.
for Bismarck is not the only place where storms occur. And there are smaller
valleys to cross other than the mid-west.
So if loud pipes save lives, why aren’t all bikers saved? They still need
Jesus. You see not all ride, not all live in Fargo, and not all are in the
valley-yet. We don’t know the day of our death, so we need Jesus when it
occurs. And I have found Him great to have around even on nice days, reminding
me how even without the promise of heaven He is worth serving. Heaven is just
the bonus. And after a few days crossing the valley of the mid-west, I was
ready to be in the mountains-again like Jesus did. Which makes the ride all
that much better.
Only Jesus saves, but just like loud pipes the gospel annoys people. But
they need to hear it, even over the noise of loud pipes. And those gates-I am
glad to spend today, and every day riding on this side of them, and then into
eternity, never crossing over. You see you get to make the choice, and if you
deny Jesus here, you get hell there-no turning back. A one way gate in-again
only Jesus keeps you out. That bright sunny day of warmth after the storm. The
sunshine on the other side of the clouds. Jesus Christ-it’s hell without Him.
Only He saves. And the gates of hell shall not prevail.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com