December 13th, 2013

A little story about a Harley (from this summer)

Well, I have something to admit. When I returned from devo last night, I pulled a turn in my parking lot here at my condo, accidentally hit the front brake on my Harley, and sat the bike on it's side . I was thrown from the bike, and suffered a fairly nasty gash on my upper lip. I picked the bike back up , put the kick stand down, took a moment, prayed, got back on it, and rode onward. All in all, the bike is 100% ok (not even a scratch!), and I'm ok, except for a busted lip and busted ego. Yes, I was more concerned about the bike then me... go figure. 

Then, it got me thinking. Have you ever been "thrown from the bike" on occasion in your life? Life as a follower of Jesus isn't supposed to be a smooth ride all the time. Sometimes, we'll have rough spots in the road. We'll put our bikes on their crash guards a time or two. And yes, sometimes we'll go into the ditch. But, by the grace and power of God through Christ and the follow "riders" He gives us in our lives (ie: our Christian family), we can get moving again, and keep going forward in the name of Jesus. The rough patches, bumps, bruises, even cut lips we might get as part of life should point us to deepen our relationship with Jesus and with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. 

So, to wrap up the point without the Harley lingo: Life is tough. It's sometimes down right brutal. And when life throws you around and tosses you into a ditch (ok, maybe a little motorcycle lingo), remember that your Heavenly Father and His "biker club" (the church) are there to help lift you up out of the ditch, dust you off, and get you moving again.

A side note to this: I called my dad, who isn't a Christian, about what had happened. He came up, noticed that I had a busted lip, blood on both my hands from the injury, asked how I was, and how the bike was. As I got a little down on myself thinking I should have known better than to do what I did, he said "David, I did the same thing a few months ago on your Suzuki, remember?" I am a more experienced rider than Dad, btw. I said "yea, I remember. I guess great minds think alike!" He laughed, and before he left, he said "love ya kid." That is not something my father says much... ever. So, maybe... just maybe ... he's seeing a little bit of Jesus for the first time.