After over 11,000 miles in 37 days and 31 states, it was time to go home.
I knew it, we knew it, but yet the desire to push on was still there. But you
know when it is time, and somehow the last 100 miles either take longer, or are
the shortest ones of the ride. Depending upon your outlook. There is always
one last stop, one last Coke and Tootsie Roll before the last few miles, and a
time to reflect. The world has changed, or is it really you that has changed,
as your locality is now bordered by oceans instead of county lines. Time zones
and long days now are winding down, and tonight you will be sleeping in your own
bed again. Taking a shower in your own shower, watching TV with channels you
know. Many things will have remained as you left them, but your outlook is
different. Often times while stopping I have noted while looking at whatever I
am riding, it is just the two of us, or three of us, and my bike has become an
old friend. We know each other well. But in a few hours the cover will go back
over her after a wash and service until the next ride calls. Bikes cannot talk,
or is it we cannot hear them, but a relationship has been formed, one that every
time I go into the garage I remember.
After long trips I do long to get home, it is more than just tonight’s
destination, it is home. A time to get back to normal, whatever that may be.
To enjoy not eating out, to go through boxes of mail, reintroduce yourself to
the dog and cat, and sit back and reflect. Looking for words to explain what
you have just done. Some will think you are crazy, some be jealous, some just
compare it to their two weeks going from airport to motel to outlet centers,
thinking “people are the same everywhere. Why would anyone want to travel by
motorcycle?” They come back worn out, you come back rested, tired yet with the
desire to go another day. You had an experience, they had two weeks. Of long
lines, airplane and airport hassles, generic motels, and meals in the coffee
shop. You saw America, and the stories you tell will be much different, a
testimony to both man and machine, roads and meals, weather and dealing with
it. And you cannot wait to get back on the road and do it all over again, just
on different roads. You saw so much, only to discover how much there is left to
see. Places that you will return to see just where that other road goes, the
study of maps starts again, and even though some roads are only one inch on the
map, they go on forever when riding them. Homesick for the road....with only
one cure....let’s ride!
Being home and wishing to be on the road remind me of the battle between
the flesh and the spirit. I love being home, but I have been given a desire to
tour, and God meets it. I get caught between the two worlds wanting to be both
places, and forget to enjoy where I am today. I have dreams and goals like
anyone else, but when spirit inspired, many times I have to add “give me
patience to them.” I’m ready, the bike is ready, the road calls, but God says
wait. The hardest answer to prayer we get. And in waiting reveals why, a
lesson to remember until the next time I become inpatient. While there is
always some well meaning Christian there to remind me God has a plan for your
life.” He does, I know. But what if you don’t know God and are told
that?
Dealing with people on the edge, those who have been in jail, in hospitals,
in the military, or under strict discipline, telling them God has a plan for
them is like more orders, less freedom. Great, everyone else tells me what to
do, now God is too. We mean well, but the message doesn’t come across. Maybe
my friend Frank put it best to me, “God has given you the desire of your heart,
and it is him. He has given you a passion to ride, and is now providing it.”
God’s plan for you, his purpose is for you to know Jesus and be saved. To find
the freedom lacking in religion or the things of the world. To find peace and
live free, no matter the situation. And that freedom is only found in Christ.
Where the only rule is love, and where we have the spirit to guide us. To
comfort us, and intervene when we ask. We get to make the choice, for true love
demands a choice. You cannot legislate love, and God is true love. In him I
can reflect back and worship him for what he has done in my life, and find
encouragement and a desire to go on. To ride farther, to find new roads, to
enjoy new blessings. To have more of Jesus in my life with no bounds.
What do you and Jesus talk about? As a friend, do you share your ideas and
rides with him? On one afternoon alone with him, I told him about a trip I had
taken, and he listened intently, he wanted to know more, to listen as I told him
how much fun I had. He listened, and our relationship grew....he was with me
the whole ride, and it was like two riders sharing thoughts and memories of the
ride. He saw things I missed, and reminded me of things I had forgotten.
Personally. That’s the kind of passion he has given me. The desire to leave
and to come home, but never alone. Always with him.
Sometimes I feel guilty because I desire heaven so much, but I am enjoying
the time here so much. He reminds me of on earth as it is in heaven, and how
this is part of his plan for me. I’ll go home when it is his time, not mine.
So until then, I will continue to ride, to spend time with him, living today,
safe and secure that I am in his plan. And that if I stray, he is the way back
too. And that soon he will be taking me home forever, and soon is always sooner
than expected.
The anticipation of heaven, and the last 100 miles to home have nothing in
common, yet everything in common. This morning I find myself homesick for the
road, and Jesus is that road. A direction, not just a destination. More than
words on a page or lines on a map, he is the freedom we seek in riding. That’s
his plan for us, to know him and live life abundantly. Overflowing in him....I
wish to be with him in heaven, yet as Paul says I will continue to stay for your
pleasure and joy of faith. Wherever the spirit of the Lord is there is
liberty. Maybe a Coke and Tootsie Roll are in order....a hundred miles from
here. But never far from Jesus.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com