As I get older I find I pick up older people’s habits. Among them is going
to bed early, and getting up early. Although technically retired, with no time
constraints on retiring, or getting up, I still hit the pillow by 10, and the
floor by 630. Still sleeping in on weekends...go figure. No more night owl
days, or parties til dawn, which maybe explains why I get sotired now. Gone are
also 1000 day rides, and consecutive 500 day rides, although my open heart
surgery has much to do with that. But I still like riding all day, just the
days seem to be getting shorter. Wise men used to tell me time flies as you get
older, the truth is you just get slower. A lot less hurry up and wait, I still
wonder where I ever had the time to get things done before.
Over the years we have developed a strategy for leaving on trips. Rather
than get up early and leave at 3 in the morning like some do, we leave the
afternoon before, riding a few hundred miles, starting our trip a day earlier,
and while you are up and groggy, I am asleep and far away already. No early
breakfasts either, we ride an hour then eat. A fresh ride, sun and an appetite
to start the day. And somehow we still get there before many, and enjoy the
ride more, no too tired from getting up so early and forcing down a motel
breakfast. Free ones, usually worth every penny. Just a small tip for those
that ride, from one who does, not old, but older, not as fast, but definitely
not slow either.
But in my younger days we rode til we dropped, sometimes literally. Bars
would close at 2, so we went riding after, always careful to fall asleep just
before the sunrise so it could burn our retinas after no sleep. We finally
heeded the advise of Dean Wormer to Flounder, “Son, fat, drunk, and stupid is no
way to go through life.” Haven’t had a drink in 36 years, yes I have put on a
few pounds, please don’t tell me I’m stupid. You are my audience, what would
that make you? But one night faced with where to sleep, after a night of no
drinking, long before weight attacked, and I was still young enough to
improvise, I found myself out too late, or really too early for a place to
sleep.
My grandparents lived in Pennsylvania, a great place to ride, and many a
night was my unofficial destination. Great food, soft bed, good company, and
the smell of breakfast still excites me. But they were in bed by 8, and up at
5, and my riding hours were open still 24/7. One night after riding too long,
it was past midnight, I was tired, wasn’t sure of the time, so headed to their
house. Only to find it was after one, and way before 5. I cuddled up on their
front porch for awhile, but cold took over, and I still didn’t want to wake
them. So I took refuge the only place available, the mausoleum across the
street in the cemetery. Many walks had been taken through the cemetery, and few
trips inside the moldy old mausoleum, but the thought of dead people sleeping
there secretly was creepy. But that morning faced with cold, hunger, and not
wanting to wake my grandparents, I sought shelter in the old building. And
found a corner where the wind didn’t blow through, no windows and door shut, yet
it was windy. Hmmmm? And for a few hours actually slept, or napped...my night
of the sleeping dead. And when the sun woke me up, walked over to my
grandparent’s, who were wondering where I was, they saw my bike out front.
Never thinking to look in the mausoleum. After a full breakfast, and repeated
“why didn’t you wake us” we later laughed about where I spent the night. And to
this day never admitted how movies about grave robbers, Vincent Price films
about the living dead, and “Night of the Living Dead,” which was made just a few
miles from where I slept. Actually they were the perfect hosts, I didn’t bother
them and they didn’t bother me. A goodnight’s sleep and all the rest..sort of.
And all I had to do was walk across the street for breakfast.
But secretly I had been praying, not saved yet, but just wanted to be sure
the dead wouldn’t rise and get me. Too much Chiller Theater growing up had an
influence on me. But now that I am saved, I get excited about death. For as
Christians we will never face death. We just go to sleep, and as Pastor Chuck
used to say, “he’s not gone, just changed addresses.” I like that. Some day we
will all change addresses,one final move in eternity. And we get to choose,
heaven or hell. Jesus offers salvation from hell, where the gates keep you in
from escaping, a one way trip with no refund. Or trust him for heaven, with
gates open and you won’t want to leave. With all apologies to Captain Kirk,
space is not the final frontier, heaven is. And we don’t know when or how we
will enter it. So to be sure, we need to be ready. To plan on heaven, by
planning on Jesus. Death is a 100% given in every life, and if the rapture
doesn’t come first, where the dead will rise first into judgment, then we will
live here until we die. Either way being called somewhere, I prefer being
called home in Christ.
My night of the sleeping dead had me concerned about death. Now I am
excited abut life, having defeated it in Jesus. He rose from the dead,
resurrected, and so shall we if we believe. Another man once said resurrection
power only works in graveyards. He was close, we need Jesus to rescue us from
death. But resurrection power only works when we are dead in sin, its final
wages, but still can turn to Christ. We can all lay me down to sleep tonight
knowing Jesus has our soul to keep. An old child’s prayer, so simple it still
works. So trust God today, knowing that if you die before you wake, where you
will spend eternity. Talk about a good night’s sleep and all the rest! Don’t
be like I was that night, so close to that rest, yet afraid to wake up my
grandparents. In love they would have woken up gladly, Jesus waits for you the
same way. He never sleeps, he never slumbers.
Early to bed, early to rise, I should have known to wake them up. Let God
wake you from your slumber and be born again today. We never know when we will
enter the final frontier. For the starship Enterprise it was a 5 year mission,
seeking out new worlds and new life. For us it is eternity. Go boldly where
only Jesus can take you. And if I die before I wake, I know I will be found
among the living, and not sleeping with the dead.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com