Today feels like a good day. I think the sun has a lot to do with it, the temperature, a balmy 68 degrees with a touch of breeze. Nine to five Harley riders everywhere are watching the clock for punch out time thinking about a few hours of wind and freedom after work. I have seen and heard a few bikes thunder by already.Gordo took me on the first ride of the year this weekend. Ahhhhhhh. I feel happy, like someone else, living a different life when I'm riding. I know he is happiest then too, unfettered by the demands of pedestrian life.
Everyone seems a bit less freewheeling since Dad died. One aunt seemed slightly horrified that I would risk my life on a motorcycle.
"You don't go on the interstate do you?"
"Yeah, I do."
"On a bike?"
I wanted to say, It's not just any bike, Auntie, it's a Harley.
Might I remind everyone that we are all going to die someday. Of something. I'm not going to hide in a corner and wait for death to come get me. To me, fear is a slow death. The closing off of possibility until you find yourself surrounded by a box.
They say my dad died before his time. Who knows if he really died before his time? He didn't have some digital countdown clock embedded on his body to indicate that. Even if I died tomorrow who would know if I died before mine? I still believe in the sovereignty of God.
I don't wake up mornings thinking, "I could have died in a house fire, or a tornado." But it happens to people. There are no safe places where Death cannot find you or me. People have been shot in church and school, at home and in the street. They've died in their tubs, in beds and at the hands of their children or their parents. People have died in vehicle accidents (since 1899). They've died eating, drinking and laughing. They've died at work, at leisure and on vacation.
People have been killed by falling coconuts, sky debris and freak bolts of lightning out of the blue. The Good Lord protects who He protects and calls whomever He calls. If the Lord calls, you go. He doesn't leave messages.
My dad died in his safe driveway. It could have happened in traffic. On the way home from church. At church. He didn't know how he would go. And I don't dwell on that. Certainly I don't get on a bike thinking how my life will end, or afraid that it might. We are as careful and watchful as we can be. I suppose I'll ride until it's out of my system or Gordo tires of it.
Know this: I am not afraid to live and I am not afraid to die. I will live out all the days the Lord has planned for me. There's no death wish here.
It would be ideal to die in my sleep at home when that day comes, given my choice, that's what I'd pick. If the good Lord is interested, I'd like a no suffering or lingering clause.
I know where I'm going after this and until He calls, I'm living to the full.
