Up On Two Wheels

Do you know who Ben Spies is? He is a motorcycle racer. Well, he is more then just a motorcycle racer. He is one of the best Road Racers in North America today. The reason I know that is, I watch him most Sunday afternoons. Motorcycle racing has been an interest of mine since I was a teen. I missed the race on Sunday due to the wonderful activities of Canada Day, but that’s okay, I can catch the replay on Tuesday.
If you know anything about riding a motorcycle, you know that most of your riding is on the sides of the tires. In road racing, they are almost exclusively on the sides of the tires. Their tires are made of very special compounds that stick to the road like gummy bears to the wall.
Every year the competition is fierce. The person who wins the year is usually the one who stays up on two wheels more times then the others. Let me tell you, you either go down once in a while or you are not fast enough to win. If someone tells you they have not fallen all season then I will show you someone who has never won a race. It’s just that simple.
There is a lot about motorcycle racing that images our Christian walk. Just like Ben, we win some and we go down some. And just like him, we know how to get up and go again. Sometimes he slips and goes down when he, “Hangs out too, far.” These men and their machines go to the limit of the adhesion of the tires. They say you can tell the proficiency of a rider by how far around on the side of the tire the scuff marks go.
And just like racing, we realize that it is not always the big mistakes that take us out, but the small things. We loss our line around the track and go wide. Believe it or not, racing is also a contact sport. Sometime Ben is bumped by someone or bumps someone himself. Must say that throws you. Next exit, and he is off the course. I have seen many riders go too aggressively into the corner and end up in the gravel. Not a pretty site. There are other dangers, tire shavings, dirt on the road from another rider going into the gravel and out again. All are illustration of life and faith. Could never road race myself but do I do it every day in my life and in my walk with God?
Only raced once and that was on ice. Another story some other time. Oh, by the way, don’t look at the scuff marks on my motorcycle tires. I ride pretty safely.
As I was watching the race last week, I realize there are times when we are in too much of hurry. We don’t want to wait for God or anyone else for that matter. We want things the way we want them and we “hang out” too far only to find ourselves sliding across the tarmac. We think life is a race and we want to get to the end and win. Win what?
It is unfortunate that we push life and God to the limit. We forget to put on the brakes soon enough when we are going too fast. We place too much confidence not only in our own personal abilities but in the tires that carry us through. Unlike these racers, we have never been around this track before. I know God is there to pick us up, dust us off, heal our wound and start us over again, but...
A few months ago I watched a program about dream rides. Three people, taken to a road race course and given lessons from Ben. They followed someone who had gone that way before. Through watching him they improved greatly that day.
Whom are you watching? Maybe the words of Hebrews 12 have a place here. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith . . . ”
Slow down, enjoy the ride and follow His lead. After all, we not only want to get to the end but we want to get there up on two wheels. Rob