As I stated in my brief bio, I love to ride my motorcycle. I would enjoy it even more if I had a way to more comfortably share it with the lady that is the love of my life. When I say more comfortably, I mean that the back seat of my motorcycle is just not big and cushy like the front saddle and my wife Kerry gets uncomfortable sitting on it for more than about an hour. What is the solution? I guess I need to buy another motorcycle that has a big cushy back seat. :-D Is that going to happen any time soon? I don't think so, but it is a fun idea to contemplate.
We are having a real winter here on the front range of Colorado. It is the first real winter in close to a decade. Some of those who are newer to the area seem to be a bit overwhelmed by it, especially those accustomed to warmer climes. This real winter was preceded by an unusually wet late summer and fall. I explain this because it ties into the fact that my motorcycle has been sitting dormant in my garage for about five or six months now. During that time it has not been started.
Until yesterday.
The temperature here was almost 60, so I decided it was time to warm up the engine, circulate the oil, and see if the rubber would still roll. It took a couple minutes to get it started, but eventually it roared to life. I put on my leather jacket and went for a short ride. Then it all came rushing back…
There is just something inexplicably wonderful about getting out and riding my motorcycle. There is a sense of freedom that could almost be compared to being a bird in flight (albeit low flight), that comes from riding down a road on a motorcycle. Riding in a convertible car can provide a similar feeling, but it just is not quite the same because you still have a vehicle around you. A motorcycle is different that way; it is open to the surrounding world. With every turn and acceleration, every sensation heightens and the adrenaline pulses through the veins. It is a sensation that makes one feel very much alive. My words fail to do justice to the feeling of exhilaration I experience when I ride.
I started writing this because the revitalized feeling of freedom sparked something in me that I wanted to try to express:
God came in human form to set us free. Free from bondage. Free from the chains that hold us. I had been experiencing feelings of being chained up because the freedom to ride had been removed by rain and then cold and snow. In similar fashion there are chains and bondage that we allow to be put on ourselves when we let ourselves get outside of God’s will, when we sin (fall short of God’s glory). Like the rain and then the cold and snow of winter, falling short dampens our spirit and causes us to feel chained up. We can sort of see it, but we feel it is like the winter weather and there is nothing we can do about it. It's just that way we concede.
In reality and very much to the contrary of how we may feel, God gave us the ability to do everything about it because He gave us the ability to choose whether or not to stay in bondage. He provided for us the power to be those who overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimonies of Him. He states that we as believers are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ our Lord.
As I consider these things that God has done for us, I feel more exhilarated than I did yesterday when I was riding my motorcycle. Why? Because the freedom He provides is far greater than even the wonderful things He allows us to experience to gain a taste of His goodness.
4 comments:
Yeah! Amen! There's that inexplicable, inexpressible joy in being freed from the chains of sin and suffering, and let loose to live for the glory of God, that is simply beyond comparison. And it is greater than any experience we can have that's purely of this world.
This is why I wanted you to blog. That post was a huge blessing. Thank you.
yes.
and sometimes the chains of bondage we have were given to us by others. it took years for me to discover the chains i was born into and given through my childhood, and then years to shed them. worth it? absolutely. but extremely painful beyond comprehension. still, there are more that pop up from time to time, but not nearly as many as before.
believe it or not, i've only been on a motorcycle once - and i still remember riding by the ocean where i grew up - yes, very freeing - great analogy.
and yes, i do add my own chains of bondage. nothing like that freedom of letting Christ take them away.
***
ya think our daughters crave that feeling of freedom?! HA! guess your graduating daughter is fixin (yes, i live in texas) to get more freedom than your heart can bear. i do NOT envy you. my nine year old and i just had this discussion in the last week of her needing to spread her wings some more. ugh - it's so hard!
and dating?! eeeek!!! when my oldest was in kinder i walked into her classroom at church to pick her up, and this little boy (who lives in our neighborhood) was holding both her hands and looking googly-eyed at her! i still like that little boy, but he doesn't come over to play ;)
my youngest and i walked up to school to pick up her sister before she was old enough to attend, and this little boy walking toward us not only kept his eyes on her as he walked up toward us, but he turned his head and kept looking as he walked away! thankfully, she was in her own little world!
my ex husband has often said that when boys want to date his daughters he plans to tell them (though he's never been) "i've got a shotgun. and i don't mind using it. and i don't mind going to prison. again."
directed by the posts on Chris's blog, I just saw yours and enjoyed reading it specially the part on motor riding. though i'm almost afraid of that, speeding in any form gives me a feeling of being disattached from all those chains that even spread over your eyes to make you blind of thing possible to be done.
i enjoyed, thanks
To Ali, if you revisit this, and for others, I wish to clarify that I do not advocate speeding. God instructs us to obey the laws of our lands (including speed limits) as we honor and serve our King. The exceptions, of course, are when those laws directly contradict God's laws and there are several examples of that in scripture for clarification.
Every freedom we receive comes with responsibility.
As a side note to this posting... The day before I wrote this a man was riding on the interstate through our city at a speed of estimated at 100 mph. He ran into car and was killed.
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