Red spokes, calipers, discs, rubber
Steal and rain forests, fossil fuel and men in a forest
Glory and misery
Praise, glory, sin and exploitation
Men sweating for no money, women crying for a call
Prayers to God for a small child
Ice house chatter, cold beers, immigrant bus boy scrapping in the back
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Red Spokes
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Riding Again!
Finally today! I indeed got to ride again today. After the disappointment of almost two weeks ago, today was they the day. A new battery, and waiting for almost two weeks was a small wait after all. The day started foggy, cold and cloudy. However, by 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was up and bright, and with the new battery in the holder, I had strapped my new helmet on, and was riding down the road. The ride was not exhilarating, but rather one that brought a sense of inner peace and thankfulness to God for being next to me and taking me this far.
But between the start of the day and the ride during the late afternoon, God had called me to do something else. It seems delays were in His mind for a purpose, and before engaging into my own goals, I was to attend the funeral services for a young biker who got killed in a traffic accident earlier in the week. During the services held for this young man, the youth pastor related the story of having, just a few weeks earlier, asked a funeral home to lend him a casket. He had taken the casket to the church and asked the youth to think what it would be like to see themselves, or their best friend, in that casket, knowing that they had not heeded Gods call to serve Him. Comfort was found in the fact that the young man in that casket today, had indeed committed his life to our Creator.
For me the search continues. As I look forward to more riding. As I look forward to achieving my goal of riding to Bonneville this summer. As I look forward to life, I continue to ask myself how am I really serving God? How do I make my passion for motorcycling translate into actions that glorify God and indeed bring His Love to those that have yet to know Him?
Friday, February 15, 2008
When Things Do Not Go As Planned
Last weekend was the weekend I had been waiting for for a long time. It was to be the weekend when I would get back on a motorcycle. For several weeks I had been working on getting my back in shape and I felt physically ready for it. Knowing that my bike had been sitting in the garage for a long time, having only started it occasionally since September of last year, and knowing how cold days and nights can really wreck havoc on batteries, I even ran the battery through the charger the day before. I wanted to make sure I was ready. In my mind I getting ready for a big moment and I had said to myself, "What a better way to get back on the saddle than making your first ride one to church on Sunday and praise the Lord on that day. I had just received a new helmet and took it out that morning, peeling off the protective plastic sheet from the face shield. The helmet itself I chose making sure that the paint job would allow for the inscription on it of some of my favorite Bible verses, namely John 1:4-5 and Luke 17:24.
As you probably already guessed by the tone and structure of the story it seems like the Lord had other things in mind. All the power that had been stored in the battery the day before had been drained off the battery overnight. A few days later I jokingly said to my friends, I seemd like God had decided He needed some lightning Saturday night and He had borroed the power from my motorcycle. At that time though, I did not see the humor in this. Deeply disappointed I made my way to church, and what in the back of my mind was to be a public celebration of Go's healing power, and in the secret crevasses of my mind, a celebration of my own 'awesomeness', ended up in a series of 'My bike did not start this morning' answers when friends asked how come they had not heard the thunder of the Mean Streak.
Dejected and upset, but still with a thankful spirit, I sat in midst of our community to worship God. Half way through the service a visiting lady and her daughters got on to the stage. They had come to our church to sign and praise with us. For the next few minutes, the sound technicians struggled with the music sound track and equipment while the singers patiently waited. Nothing the sound crew did seemed to be working. Not letting the circumstance phase her, and while I was sure that these singers had been rehearsing to the sound track in preparation for this event, the mother led the group in an a-capella performance that filled the halls of our church with a wonderful, soulful, and celestial sound. It became clear to me at that moment how ever present our relationship with God is. We always have an opportunity to be with Him. We always have an opportunity to praise Him. And while it is great to always prepare our hearts and souls when we will be joining others to worship Him, we should not let life's circumstances separate us from Him and take every chance we have to celebrate this, the ultimate of relationships. The thought of God should be with us at all times, and yes, when we stop to think about, we should not be able to help ourselves and just say: 'Dude!' with a wide grin on our face.
I will still get on my motorcycle, just a bit later than what I had planned, and maybe the circumstances will not be the ones I had envisioned, but still His is the road, and I will be praising Him while I rumble down the high way, pistons pumping, chrome and paint shining, and the air He placed all around us whistling by. In the end, even when things do not go our way, He is still with us.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Small steps
I am starting to edit this entry on October 27, 2007. I am putting the date at the beginning of the entry because it will get time stamped when I finally post it, but this one should take some time to complete. You see, I do want to take my time here, and not just post something half b-baked.
After riding the Futura down from Denver to Houston, the Lord has been steering my life in some expected and some unexpected ways. A couple of weeks after the Denver-Houston ride, I put in another 500 miler as I visited my buddy Don P in Wimberley by really going the long way around. From then, I was off from riding getting ready for, and finally driving my daughter, my friend, the most important job that God has entrusted me to California. The round trip was a bit over 4,000 miles. With all the riding and driving I was able to do this summer, I logged over 7,000 miles constantly amazed by His creation.
In September ny life took an unexpected turn. My back started complaining and then one morning, as I got out of bed, pain shot down my whole leg so badly, I could barely breath. During the time it has taken to be treated and recovery, I have not ridden much, or at all. Still I managed to take a couple of demo rides at the Houston International Motorcycle Show. I must say that the crown jewel of the experience was the Kawaski ZX-14.
After that all the time has been spent in recovery, resting, watching a lot of motorcycle movies, and reading. I have found Ted Simmons' Jupiter Travels especially inspirational.
After riding the Futura down from Denver to Houston, the Lord has been steering my life in some expected and some unexpected ways. A couple of weeks after the Denver-Houston ride, I put in another 500 miler as I visited my buddy Don P in Wimberley by really going the long way around. From then, I was off from riding getting ready for, and finally driving my daughter, my friend, the most important job that God has entrusted me to California. The round trip was a bit over 4,000 miles. With all the riding and driving I was able to do this summer, I logged over 7,000 miles constantly amazed by His creation.
In September ny life took an unexpected turn. My back started complaining and then one morning, as I got out of bed, pain shot down my whole leg so badly, I could barely breath. During the time it has taken to be treated and recovery, I have not ridden much, or at all. Still I managed to take a couple of demo rides at the Houston International Motorcycle Show. I must say that the crown jewel of the experience was the Kawaski ZX-14.
After that all the time has been spent in recovery, resting, watching a lot of motorcycle movies, and reading. I have found Ted Simmons' Jupiter Travels especially inspirational.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Getting Home
It seems like a long time since my last entry. I am now back in Houston and able to write again. It is certainly a strange feeling for me to be disconnected from the digital universe, the e-world, for such a long time. I need to collect my thoughts in a more thorough way in the days to come, but I felt I needed to put something down and share it before I get into the longer chronicle of this trip.
When I initially departed from Houston, I picked up the Voice translation of the Gospel according to Luke. One of the things that immediately struck me was the quote from Luke 10:4 "Do not take a purse or bag or sandals" which stood in great contrast with they way I was traveling. Not only was I carrying me regular stuff with me, but I was also carrying over 40 pounds of stuff for the ride back home. This included, besides my helmet, gloves, jacket and boots, all sorts of tools, cable ties, tape, flat kit, and gps. While on the ride back I really wondered, "If something happens here, I may be able to fix a flat, but anything else?" I was really weighing down my ride, but there was some level of comfort in having all that with me. But I try to think about the way I conduct my life, always loading up on things, just in case, when at the end of the day, God will care for us more lovingly than He cares for the birds and the flowers (Luke 12:22-34). There is still a long way for me to go, in order to absorb all this into my life, and find the discernment necessary to differentiate between putting my trust in God's grace, and using the judgment and reasoning skills that He gave me to appropriately set up and prepare for an event.
Throughout the trip, I was able to contemplate the magnificence of God's continuing work, and, on a daily basis was spared the constant and menacing rains that had been plaguing the areas that I was traveling through. As planned, my first stop was at Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs. There I had time to take a quick breakfast and to read more of Luke's Gospel. During this meditation time, I was struck by the story of Zaccheous. Not only did I wonder how he had made it through first grade knowing how to spell his name, but I was also made to think how often I have failed to climb up a tree to talk to Jesus, especially when He is passing by every moment of my life.
Mas later!
When I initially departed from Houston, I picked up the Voice translation of the Gospel according to Luke. One of the things that immediately struck me was the quote from Luke 10:4 "Do not take a purse or bag or sandals" which stood in great contrast with they way I was traveling. Not only was I carrying me regular stuff with me, but I was also carrying over 40 pounds of stuff for the ride back home. This included, besides my helmet, gloves, jacket and boots, all sorts of tools, cable ties, tape, flat kit, and gps. While on the ride back I really wondered, "If something happens here, I may be able to fix a flat, but anything else?" I was really weighing down my ride, but there was some level of comfort in having all that with me. But I try to think about the way I conduct my life, always loading up on things, just in case, when at the end of the day, God will care for us more lovingly than He cares for the birds and the flowers (Luke 12:22-34). There is still a long way for me to go, in order to absorb all this into my life, and find the discernment necessary to differentiate between putting my trust in God's grace, and using the judgment and reasoning skills that He gave me to appropriately set up and prepare for an event.
Throughout the trip, I was able to contemplate the magnificence of God's continuing work, and, on a daily basis was spared the constant and menacing rains that had been plaguing the areas that I was traveling through. As planned, my first stop was at Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs. There I had time to take a quick breakfast and to read more of Luke's Gospel. During this meditation time, I was struck by the story of Zaccheous. Not only did I wonder how he had made it through first grade knowing how to spell his name, but I was also made to think how often I have failed to climb up a tree to talk to Jesus, especially when He is passing by every moment of my life.Mas later!
Monday, June 18, 2007
Change is always part of the road
Day 2 will see me departing from Amarillo early in the morning. I will take a detour as I leave Amarillo, to explore one of Ride Texas Magazine recommended routes. This should add about 60 miles to the day's ride, but from what I hear, it is well worth it. The rest of the day shall remain unplanned, except for the late afternoon arrival in Albany, TX.A few days ago I started looking at the preparation that will be needed to deal with changing temperatures along the way. Thanks to the great variety of online weather information systems, I was able to plot the changes in maximum and minimum temperatures as a function of distance from Denver, the starting point.
With temperatures dipping into the 50s and 40s in the Denver and New Mexico areas, I am looking forward to the desert and to Texas after the first day.While things feel pretty nice and balmy, for people like me, but more like really hot and humid for others, here in Houston, temperature will not be as nice at night or during early morning, at the beginning of the trip.
The ongoing preparation for this journey makes me continue to reflect on God's promise as He spoke to His people through Joshua: "It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled "(Joshua, 24:17). I know I have moved through life, always wanting to do things myself and my way. I have always been a planner and contemplated things from all angles, trying to predict all the pitfalls and all the bends on the road. I have always tried to be the owner of the journey. And the harder I worked at that, the harder my journey has become. In those times when I have now come to the realization that I can only be the project executor for Him, and not the project manager, I must confess that I have found great relief. I am to constantly be reminded that He has brought me so far; that He has reached down for me and did not concern Himself with where I was; that I all needed to do was reach for His hand. And while the temperatures may fluctuate wildly, the sun may shine, or the cross winds may hit us unpredictably, His hand is always there. What better fairing can we ask for. We have one that fits us better than any Italian engineered machine.
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