Growing up, Princeton Avenue wasn’t paved yet. Nor had it gone through
yet, and ended after about six houses with a big wooden barrier warning drivers
the road ended. Sometime in the mid-sixties they paved the road, hard to
imagine any subdivision without curbs and asphalt today, but the barrier
remained for years until it was removed and new houses built. But for us kids
on our Schwinns, JC Higgins, or Rollfasts, just the other side of the barrier
the fun began. Over the years a dirt path had been established, and it was only
passable on foot, or skillfully navigated by our bikes. A wonderful land where
no cars or adults interfered, a place where we built tree forts, climbed trees,
and played pirate, pretending a huge downed weeping willow was our ship. In
summer the weeds grew high, and in winter the snow covered it, with each season
providing new challenges for us. I wondered if many adults ever knew of all the
fun to be had just the other side of the barrier, as none were ever seen there.
Where the road ended, we didn’t nor did the fun. Cars and adults knew enough to
stay out, and when their road ended, our adventures were just beginning. A
pathway to unexplored woods, to new neighborhoods on the other side, and new
kids to meet. Who shared a common path with us, just coming at it from a
different angle. Their beginning was our end, our our beginning was their end,
and we all met in the middle and played together. Unsupervised, with no rules,
having fun and letting only our imaginations dictate the adventures for the
day. We didn’t need to be entertained, as we were entertaining, and life had
not told us yet we couldn’t have fun. But as we got older, and the older guys
in their teens would cut through with their girl friends, we saw new adventures
as they held hands, and sometimes even kissed. YUK! And we were chased more
than once for spying on them in mid kiss, even though they were right out in the
open. And then the day came when the fence came down, the bulldozers arrived
and built a street. With houses to follow, and suddenly the playground of our
youth was gone. Progress they called it, and for awhile we missed it, until we
came of age when we walked with girls, hand in hand, and tried to sneak a kiss,
but had no woods to do it in. The barrier had been removed, the land was now
open to all, and the adventures ended. Or at least took on a new meaning, with
new adventures to come.
As kids we never realized that the barrier was for our benefit, as it kept
the world out. But later we came to regard gates, fences, and barriers as
preventing us from going where we wanted to go, they impeded our progress. If
only we could see them in the eyes we once did as kids. Maybe that is why
adventure bikes are growing in popularity. They enable to keep going when the
road ends, or the pavement stops. We can no longer wonder what is down the
path, but wander down it and see. And so for many who have ridden for years, a
new road awaits us, one where only our imagination and fears limit us. To
travel down the roads of our youth, but now at higher speeds than our Schwinns
would ever see. Maybe they are called adventure bikes for reason, as those of
us old enough and able to remember remember when they were called dual purpose,
or enduros. High pipes and knobby tread, whoever thought we would return to our
roots on them today. Allowing kids of all ages to never have to grow up, if
only our parents knew what really went on beyond the fence. Adults were
limited, as kids we hadn’t acquired that trait yet.
Many come to Christ today and see the barriers removed. We are free from
sin, have a new life, and it is exciting. We can go places, see things, and see
them through Christ’s eyes as we go on in life. Yet for many this is where the
adventure ends, as denominational barriers are put up. Some concentrate on laws
and legalism, robbing us of our new found freedom. Thou shalt not is echoed in
their belief system. Some are bound by the new life by never being discipled,
and never growing in Christ. Wondering why some are so blessed, yet their own
lives are on of drudgery. And eventually fall back into their pre-Jesus state,
saved but not enjoying all the benefits. A fence has been erected between them
and God, and they don’t see it, and if they do, are afraid to go beyond it.
They stay safe and secure on this side of the barrier, telling themselves this
is all there is. But for those of us who want all the Jesus we can get, we find
ways over and around the barriers man puts up. We find that when scripture says
“we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us,” we believe it. We see the
miracles because we trust God, we see healings because we know Jesus is the
great physician. We have hope because he gives us hope, and way beyond anything
we can hope or imagine he provides. A paved road just becomes the beginning,
and doesn’t end when it turns to dirt. We just lean on God more, and follow him
down the path, knowing he has gone ahead. And when the going gets rough, we
adjust to his speed, the holy spirit becoming the suspension and smoothing out
the bumps. We may not know what lies ahead, but we know when God is in it we
will be blessed. And since he is everywhere, and ever present, we look forward
to new roads and new challenges, where God can be God, and all the other lies
told to us by liars become just that. Losers make excuses, we make
testimonies.
It doesn’t take an adventure bike to be adventurous, it takes trust in
Jesus. Seems we had more faith in our old two wheelers to take us places than
we do God sometimes. No kid ever wanted to be called a scaredy cat, or a wuss.
We need to have the same confidence in Christ today. We need to see the fallen
trees and wonder how they fell. Keep our eyes on the path before us, and keep
going when we encounter others using the path for their own purposes. When
chased out know that sometimes it is for our own good, and choose another path,
knowing God is leading. We don’t need fear to become a barrier from all the
blessings of Jesus. Take the attitude that if God presents it, then he will
take us through it. Not around or over, but through it. Encouraging those who
are scared, and leading those who are lost or confused. For when sin ends, a
life in glory begins, and when God gets the all the glory, we get all the
blessings.
Life is an adventure, what you make of it depends on your choice on who you
follow. Stay bound to laws and never grow, and always wonder why. Or live in
the spirit, and see the places that others cannot only imagine. It has been
said that only those who can see the invisible will do the impossible, we trust
a God who reveals himself by is spirit. We have faith, become obedient, then
fully trust. I get excited about new roads, and where they lead. But I know I
never travel alone, and when the road ends, Jesus never does. Trust him to take
you down some new roads today, become a dual purpose person, living in the world
but not of it, become an enduro, enduring when others turn back, and find that
in Christ, when the road ends, the adventure is only beginning. Remove all the
barriers between you and Jesus today....I dare you! What are you, a scaredy cat
or something?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com