For the three years I lived in Albuquerque, I never lived farther than a
few blocks from Route 66. Central Avenue, or Central as we called it, was Route
66, and 40 years ago just another forgotten old road, by passed by the
Interstate, and being passed by. I used to drive on it every day to work,
crossed it walking to UNM, cruised it on my way to friend’s houses, and ate many
a meal at the old restaurants. My friend Marcia worked at an old motel on
Central, now gone, but back then still proud and unique. But like many of the
landmarks and memories, they are either gone, or renovated and made to look like
new. Or replicas, telling us what it must have been like back then. Even PJ
had his Triumph store on Central until it closed last year, to us just old
Central, now an institution.
I have driven or ridden all of Route 66, or what is left of it over the
years, with only the terminus in Chicago being carefully avoided. From riding
through Amboy and Goffs on it, through Arizona past the Twin Arrows, staying at
The El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, even riding across it when moving west, I too
have been under the influence of Route 66, many times without knowing it. Even
my first ride through Dead Man’s Curve still is etched in my mind. Each state
has its own 66 flavor, but Oklahoma is probably my favorite, although a turnpike
passes by a lot of it, you can ride Route 66 through many small towns kept alive
by it. Towns like Catoosa, Sapulpa, Stroud, and Clinton, which has the best
Route 66 museum in my opinion, through Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and into Missouri
via a short ride into Kansas, I prefer to take the highway, that’s my way,
that’s the best. Words to a song written by Bobby Troup on his way west, who
later played Dr. Joe Early on Emergency!, made popular by Nat King Cole, and
becoming famous after the road was decommissioned and threatened with
extinction. Truly Route 66 is a place to get your kicks, to visit history, to
grab at custard at Ted Drewes, have lunch in Adrian, Texas a the midway point,
and ride onto the Santa Monica pier at its western terminus. So much road, take
a long week, stop and enjoy the past, and see how it really was, and now is.
Route 66 changed a lot of lives, but another 66 can also change your life even
more.
Think of your trip through the Bible as Route 66, 66 books by 40 authors,
over thousands of years. A book to be read and reread, to be studied, copied,
and applied to life. Yet many read it like I used to ride Central going to
work, just another ay to start the day, nothing special. I know the scenery,
and I become familiar with it, nothing new. Some get on at a certain point, and
get off later, jumping off here and there, reading whatever satisfies them,
avoiding new and tough verse. Some go deep, they get off and into where the
spirit leads them, and meet the people and meet the author, while some try to
read it all in a year, never getting more than a bumper sticker saying they were
there. They have ridden through the 66 books of the Bible, but never stop and
see the sights. But God designed it differently, that each time we take that
trip down 66, it becomes a new adventure. That we get our kicks from his 66,
that we spend time getting to know the author, and enjoy the people along the
way, instead of being locked in air conditioned comfort, just looking for the
next freeway exit. When we ride with Jesus, his spirit makes the Bible come
alive, it reveals the mysteries of Christ to us, and we can travel through lie
with the best tour guide ever. It is history, poetry, teachings, and advice for
life. It is personal, contemporary, and the all time best seller. The first
book ever printed. Yet so over looked, when it brings Jesus into our life.
Some by pass Genesis, but if you never get past “in the beginning,” the
rest loses something, for God was there. If you only study Revelation, you may
know the future, but still have to live in today. Jesus is the alpha and the
omega, the beginning and end, but in between is so much that we overlook, so
much in a hurry to get where we are going, we miss out on the side trips he
takes us on. Route 66 has many stories to tell, and reading them brings life to
the road, just like reading the Bible. To Route 66’s that still influence,
maybe it is important what road you are on.
Like my Bible reading there are many places I like to return to, riding
from Williams to Kingman, not much but a lot has changed on the old road. The
Texas Panhandle always has me getting off in Shamrock, spending the night in
Tucumcari, once at the Blue Swallow, standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona,
speeding past Winona, I guess he needed a word to rhyme here, and of course
avoiding Needles, Barstow, and carefully riding it from San Berdoo to the
Pacific. But with no more stopping at Whiting Bros. for gas, I sprayed my last
car at the Cadillac Ranch, there are more railroad cars made into diners to eat
at, and more museums to visit along the way. Each with a story to tell, and I
am glad they all are there. Just like I am for God’s Route 66, for sometimes I
need cheering up, sometimes a lesson in life, at other times good advice, and it
is always fun to catch up on Jesus, to see how he saved us, how he left his
spirit, and still loves us even though we stray. Freeway religion with its
marked exits may get you there, but for me it will always be the old roads,
where the action was and still is. A difference that only Jesus can make on our
trip through life. So pick it up and read it today, spend time with God and get
to know him. Read Paul’s letters like a letter, he didn’t canonize them when he
wrote them, read the Psalms as poetry, read Genesis as a personal history,
endure the laws in Leviticus, and find the freedom in the cross in the gospels.
Something and all things for everyone.
Or you can be like me living near Route 66, and never knowing how close I
had come to it. In may ways it will always be Central to me, I hope Jesus is
central to you. Just a few words from Bobby Troup’s song may tell us more about
the Lord than we knew, “take my way, that’s the highway, that’s the best.” Two
roads converged, and I took the one less travelled. Don’t let your Bible meet
the same fate. If you ever saw the movie CARS, you already have an invitation
to the road, the spirit is inviting you to visit him today. The other Route 66,
where adventure begins....let’s ride. Meet you at Lucille’s...and bring your
appetite. The Bible, the other Route 66. A road that will change your
life.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com