The Journey.. Choose the Route, Count the Cost, Follow the Signs

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.

Swamped by Green on God's Roadside Canvas

So we headed out today towards the Green Swamp area. 'Course this means passing through the round-about at Deen Still and 33. Brings back fond memories of driving through Tenerife in the Canary Islands for a mission trip. Many of their intersections are round-abouts. I wish there were some round-abouts around some of the areas in my life... but God said there would be trials and tribulations. If we allow it, going through those times makes us stronger and provides us with insight to share with others.

Everything really was green with all the recent rains in the area. The weather gal said rain was likely in the late morning. The clouds looked like they were going to bring that rain ahead of 'schedule' but thankfully they did not. Yep, rain does fall. It falls on the just and the unjust. How fitting that my Momma was quoting that scripture just the other day. But, so glad it held off for our morning ride.

While my husband has been riding motorcycles for years now, I am new to the biker culture. Before meeting Donald who everyone refers to as Duckey, I had only ever been on the back of a motorcycle maybe 3 times and that was um yeah, like 28 years ago....

As late in life newly weds we are experiencing a lot of transition in our lives. So, I have decided to combine his love for motorcycle riding, my love for taking pictures and our love of the things of God in this blog. It was an 'aha' moment I had while riding today. So when I asked him after the ride what his favorite thing about riding a motorcycle was and he said, "making memories", I felt it confirmation. We could journal our motorcycle memories with the blog while adding some reflection with spiritual application.

This was my first excursion on the bike with camera in hand. Gonna have to invest in one with a more powerful zoom one of these days!

One of the great things about today's ride was there was not a lot of traffic on this 2 lane country road. I don't know about you but some days ya just need the wide open spaces. I operate a non-profit ministry and run a thrift store which includes managing a host of volunteers. I've found a new 'happy place' riding on the back seat of my husband's motorcycle. It's a place where I can take in beautiful sights, be close to my husband and just let the stress of life melt away.

So I suppose some thought the gal on the back seat of a bike taking snapshots at 60 mph a bit odd... Oh well. We just have to get to the point that we are comfortable in being the person God created us to be and if we seem a little odd to someone else -so be it - as long as who we are is not a stumbling block to others. There has to be balance in life just like the balance one has to have in riding motorcycles. So here's a photo of Duckey's biker babe on the back seat of his motorcycle, yes Mom with my helmet on(they worry about us even when we're grown...) taking snapshots of whatever trips my fancy.

   

   

 There are so many road signs out there. Do you ever wish God would place road signs along our life path that were bright yellow and easy to understand? 'Course in order to be out here driving the roads we had to take a course that defined what all these road signs mean. Well at least we did 'back in the day'. Do they still do that? I do think God does give us 'road signs' along our way. The question is are we seeing them? Having we taken the book 'course' - you know reading that book the Bible so we understand what the signs mean. Are we really paying attention? Or do we have ourselves so engrossed in other things in life to the extent we aren't as alert as we should be to God's 'road signs' that He has so strategically placed?

 One thing I like about riding with Duckey is that he is ever so vigilant to what is going on around him. I wish I was as vigilant in every situation in my life as to what God is doing/ saying so that I would handle each and every situation that arises in the manner that would be most pleasing to God. On a motorcycle not being vigilant can be a costly mistake. The vehicle pulling out in front of you,  an unmarked speed bump, large birds swooping in front of the bike... all things the biker has to be prepared to respond appropriately to, not react. What a great object lesson for the spiritual life. Be on your guard. Discipline oneself to respond appropriately not react hastily.

 Okay so not all smells out there are good. I have smelled rotting animal flesh and other unpleasant odors. But today there was the wonder aroma of wildflowers. Not only did God give us beauty to look at... He added fragrances for us to enjoy. Now too bad they have not invented scratch and sniff photos!

Yes, I got a lot of clouds in my pictures. This was my first day shooting pics from the back seat of the bike. It's gonna take a little time to learn where to point the lens. At 55+ mph there is no time to look in the view finder, zoom in or out. Some pics I was just too late and most pics I aimed too high. Good thing one can never aim too high in life, right? If we never take aim at anything we definitely won't hit anything. At least I got pictures of clouds and a few other memorable shots to go with them.

 I really enjoy taking pictures of animals of any kind. Today none of them seemed to be up close enough to the road for a great picture. Oh wait.... a cow!

Duckey and I both like vintage vehicles. So couldn't resist getting a snapshot of this ole track hoe. Boy oh boy, I sure hope to keep myself well oiled in the word so I don't get rusty and unable to function as God intended me too!

 We did run into some attitude today... We don't mind sharing a parking spot, but these days with everything that goes on in the world, one ought to question when a vehicle pulls up quick and blocks ya in... A little courtesy would have been nice but the guy just smacked of attitude like he was spoiling for a fight with a biker... This is Duckey standing tall in my eyes. He chose to 'turn the other cheek'. Yep he was fighting to do so but he did. Proud of my man.

 Donald! Tell me you are NOT staring down the guy that blocked you in!!!

 Such a jokster! 

The thing is when one wears any kind of witness wear I think one will always be faced with at least one challenge to respond as Jesus would or react from our human standpoint. And yep, we were wearing our motorcycle ministry vests... Kind of like "here's your mission if you choose to accept it"...

We ate lunch at the Country Angels restaurant in Polk City. On Saturdays, they roll out the specialty hamburger menu! I had a stuffed Reuben burger... delish!!!! Duckey ordered a slab of cow... you know run it through the kitchen and serve it while it is still bleedin'.... well no actually he had a 2 8-oz patty burger. "Now that is how ya cook a burger" he says. He thought he wouldn't be able to eat it all... yeah RIGHT!!!

 Is this guy handsome or what!!!

 Wait... I wanna take that road over there.....

 Love the green tree tunnel!

 Hmmm this is the most rustic Lowe's sign I have ever seen...? Really Lowe's???

 Thank you Jesus for bringing us home safe. So glad that He goes with us wherever we go!

We'll see ya after the next ride when these feet rest themselves on the running boards of the motorcycle while our eyes take in the artistry God has made, smell the aromas of the great outdoors let the breezes blow 'round about us as we clear our minds of the clutter to make room for new thoughts and make some more motorcycle memories.