Well Donald and I have been married one year! We squeezed in as much riding time as we could but there wasn't always time for pictures and writing. These pics are from a ride back in July. It's been a crazy busy year full of several moves and a ton of transitions as we meld two 'pushing fifty' lives into one. Fulfilling previous commitments and finding the road God has for us to travel as one, meant putting a lot of miles in between several counties on trucks and motorcycle.
Here we are off on this ride... Donald in front....
and me in again on the biker back seat.
Ah, a brick paver road... kinda like some of the roads in our life.... not very smooth at all....
then there's the occasional sighting of things Donald and I both enjoy that bring a smile to our face....
classic cars and classic pick-up trucks...
Now this one has a for sale sign.... are you 'for sale'? or are you sold out to Jesus Christ?
This is the kind of sign Donald and I have seen way too much this last year...... The road 'Ts' and it's left or right.... I've told Donald on several occasions.... "I think God is saying we can go either way, He will bring blessings either way we choose, however, there is ONE direction He really wants us to choose that will bear more fruit. He wants to see if we are going to pick the right ONE....."
Sometimes you gotta glance in the mirror to make sure no one is crowding ya or trying to force you off the road or off of God's path for your life. Glancing back helps us to remember where we've been. Remembering where we've been is OK. If there is forgiving to do, you forgive. But God doesn't call us to forget. In remembering, we don't repeat actions that put us in harm's way again.
And we always have to remember to enjoy the beauty of God's creation along the way.
And I still think this guy is incredibly handsome!
I am forever grateful that my 'broken road' brought this guy into my life!
And this is my favorite way to ride.... with Duckey's arm against my knee.....
My Knight in black leather on a steel horse, my protector.....
Wow in the middle of nowhere.... steps that lead to nowhere....
kind of like the road to nowhere when you don't have Jesus to lead, guide and direct....
Curves in the road are always fun on a motorcycle,
the curves on the road of life... hmmm maybe not so much!
Duckey and I take our Christian walk seriously. We keep God in the center of our marriage. We pray before we set out on every ride. We pray together when either one of us are struggling during the day. We pray before we close our eyes to sleep at night. We pray about God's direction for our life, we pray for our friends and family, we pray for our ministries. This year we stepped out on a limb of faith as we felt God instructed us to do... Which limb is that.... the one where Donald left his job to partner with me full time at God's Share Program and our North Ave Thrift Store. So here we are, 2 pushing 50 adults, doing RV life, starting over and all on one income. A very modest income at that. And believe me, we work HARD for that income... So while I agree following Jesus is easy in the fact that we say Yes, we believe in Jesus and we choose to follow Him and He loves us and accepts us - finding the direction He has for our life, waiting on His timing for vision He has given us and always practicing the spiritual response verses the flesh response is not always easy. Laying down the 'American Dream Life' to follow Jesus can cost us 'everything' as we know it on this earth.
So we travel forward, glancing occasionally back to reflect to keep ourselves motivated to press on toward the goal Jesus Christ has set before us. With His help we navigate the curves, cruise cautiously over the rough parts of the road and be ever observant of those travelling around us who dart ahead and in front causing us to quickly down shift or brake.
Hey do you see that? Yep, but almost missed it. Another awesome vintage truck. How many things do we miss, or almost miss because we weren't looking in the right direction?
And when we are looking in the right direction the rewards are most beautiful!
Watch out for these roads in life.... Dead End...... The signs are usually there, bright yellow, warning us... This time easy to see but yet this is not always the case ... Dead End roads lead nowhere... There might be some sights to see along the way but in the end you gotta turn around, retrace your steps and find a new path....
Now here's a 'sign' that's easy to read... A closed gate.... No entry....
Don't even think about trying to travel this road...
And then the round-about.... Have you ever heard 'if you don't learn your lesson the first time you go 'round the mountain again'... Well if you don't know the right route to take, if you didn't learn the first time you went through the round about where you needed to exit to continue down the correct path, if you didn't read the signs correctly, if you didn't count the exits correctly to stay on the right path then you can go 'round and 'round and around until you figure it out. If you don't yield to those in the round about and try to enter prematurely you chance a close encounter with another vehicle, a crash or at the least the loud obnoxious blowing of a horn. If you are too fearful to enter the round about and your 'yield' sign becomes a permanent stop, you are going nowhere. So we approach, we observe, we yield when needed,
we follow the curve,
we exit on the correct path and we are off again on our life adventure - generally with both hands on the handlebars.... I took this picture for my Momma..... "look Mom, no hands!!!" (grin)
Oh yes, and beware of cows on the wrong side of the fence....
there has to be a sermon in that somewhere!
and watch our for low flying aircraft...... wait.... say what????? (just kidding.... I hope....)
Thanks again for 'riding' with us on our journey and listening in on my thoughts as I reflect on life from the biker back seat. Stay tuned for our next blog that will take you along on our newer motorcycle on our one year anniversary journey to the Space Coast of FL as we get some serious wind therapy on our long weekend getaway.
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