Most of our rides are not memorable enough to remember. Between commuting,
putting around the block revving your engine, and weekly rides burning half a
tank of gas, most rides never evolve into a trip, and many stop just short of
adventure. For some it is all about the lifestyle, motorcycles are just an
added bonus, some ride to eat, or eat to ride, and a popular patch says we ride
to live and live to ride. We each are as individual as our black Harleys until
we throw a leg over the seat and head out of the driveway. Then the adventure
begins, and for me and mine nothing is better than weeks on the road, crossing
state lines and time zones, and riding places we have never been before. I love
meeting new people who ask “ride much?” and they don’t get it when we say we
ride 200 miles for lunch sometimes. Or that we really rode our motorcycle to
Maine, via Florida, Michigan, and Colorado from California. Some try to
categorize us as riders, but we just ride. And because we ride we meet people,
ride roads, and see sights many miss. Some days we have ridden only 200 miles
taking in the beauty, some days over 900 trying to escape it. But each day
starts with a promise from the road, to make the day interesting and exciting,
to use all five senses, and to make memories that may not show up for years. We
don’t do staycations, we vacate, and because we look ahead, we are able to look
back and see where we have been, and how far we have gone, while building
excitement for the next ride. If you don’t ride, you may not get what I just
said, but if you do, take a break and go for a ride.
The three basic elements of riding are the motorcycle, the roads, and the
people you meet along the way. Things are different on a motorcycle, you feel
the cold, smell the orange blossoms, and watch the skies for a personal weather
report. That sub 50 degree morning can turn into a 90 degree afternoon, in a
car it is always the same. And each motorcycle can bring out parts of the road
you missed before, some bikes begging you to ride faster, while others beg you
to slow down or stop. Making time should not be confused with having a good
time, and to those speed challenged I say, I don’t ride too fast, you ride too
slow. Which is why we ride alone, setting our own pace. Sometimes that old
drive in is a must stop for some soft serve....while other times you must get to
your dinner destination before it closes. So many trips planned around meals,
without consulting a map.
But the choice of roads also makes a difference, you can take less than a
minute to cross the New River on the New River Bridge, or spend an hour twisting
down into the canyon and cross the old one. You can take the shortest way via
freeways, or just follow roads to where they take you, being smart enough to get
gas along the way, because who knows where next gas may be. There have been
times I have followed the snow plow over mountain passes, other times ridden the
same pass complaining about the heat. Many great rides began with a
destination, but now we choose a direction instead. While some roads are worth
following, others must be avoided. The best map you may ever carry is your
imagination and your desire to pioneer new rides. But the one thing that brings
the road and the bike together, and cannot be dispensed with are the people you
meet along the way. From a restaurant manager in Texas comping our meals, then
offering to take off the next day and show us the Hill Country roads, to having
my picture taken with three generation of Skeeter’s, a family owned hot dog
business in Virginia, some have conversations, some are acknowledged by only a
friendly nod, while others are a wave and a smile. How may would stop to talk
with a man named Jeremiah, riding his horse cross country with an Iowa plate on
it, at 9000’ in Colorado? Or spend an hour sitting in the office with the
president of the Canadian Harley Davidson importer while waiting for the rain to
stop? No words can express the meeting of a little boy in a wheelchair, and who
now is a grown up a young man, and a good friend? Words go beyond the
friendship of an ex-Marine truck driver from Oklahoma who told Theresa “he has
my back” on our last Torches ride? Some relationships are formed on the road,
some by it, and some along it, mention Git-n-Split and a nothing stop for a Coke
brings a smile to our faces. So it is more than the motorcycles, more than the
food, more than the destination, and more than the people, it takes all three to
make the ride....all tied together by the road you are on.
On my last trip I realized there are those that like to look at pictures,
some who like to take them, and some who like to be in them. A walk with Christ
is the same way, some learn but never leave the building, some like to hear the
testimonies but will never get out and make one, and some just cannot sit still,
the spirit calls and a restlessness for the things of God encourages them and
empowers them to get out and enjoy life on the road. Consider the following and
see if you can find the common thread....where was Jesus born? Where did
Phillip meet the eunuch? Where did he feed the 5000? Where did he meet the
woman caught in adultery? Where did he meet Andrew, Matthew, and the other
disciples? How did he enter Jerusalem? Where was he crucified? And where was
his tomb? And finally where did he meet the two men who later recognized him
after walking with him? ON THE ROAD! Jesus was out on the road, among the
people, not sitting waiting, he was out doing it. Imagine how history would be
different if his evangelical calling was just inviting people to church, rather
than sharing the gospel? If his parents hadn’t honored the census being taken?
Think of all the lives touched by being on the road, and ask yourself, is this
maybe an example we have missed? Is church all there is to Jesus? Is there
more than just studying, memorizing, and learning? Can we be missing out on the
blessings and the calling he gave us to as we go, spread the gospel? What good
are all the above things if you never apply them? I am not knocking education,
but has it become a burden in your application? If you asked “what would Jesus
do?” don’t you know him well enough to know? Maybe a lunch in Hillsborough,
Wisconsin says a lot. We are eating a late breakfast, when an older non-riding
couple came in. We exchanged pleasantries, then found out he was a pastor, a
fill in at his local church. Going on 36 years, they never hired him, and he
found where God wanted him to be. But it was outside the church at lunch he
shared the story, and we were blessed by it. Again, while on the road...
So if the seat of your pants is wearing out faster than the soles of your
shoes, maybe you need to reverse the wear pattern, to get out and apply Jesus to
your life. Meet people while making testimonies, eat at Mom’s, stop for someone
on the side of the road. Be encouraged by Jesus in their lives, and find like
Jesus showed us, life is on the road, so get out and live! Expand your
Christian experience beyond your Christian education, the spirit is willing, the
flesh is weak. You can either visit someone in the hospital, or end up with
them coming to see you. Life is worth the living just because Jesus lives, and
he wants you to get out and live too. A rut is just a grave with the ends open,
offering an escape route. That 10 minute conversation at a rest stop or while
getting gas may be your time to share or be shared with, don’t miss out. Jesus
promises us an endless supply of 35mm film to write our lives on, to live
abundantly. To ride abundantly. Maybe even to spend a night sleeping in a
mauseleum....but that’s another story, of being on the road, with Jesus.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com