Hello,
Last week, I wrote to you from Denver. Well, I got home on the 4th, and I although I am glad to have made my cross-country visits, I am evenly glad to be back home….sleeping in my own bed, living by my familiar schedule, and OUT OF THE CAR! It is a long ride from Pittsburgh to Denver, and for my sake and Duncan’s sake (my travelling companion dog) we broke it up into three days. On the way there and back, I discovered that Kearney, Nebraska is the “Sandhill Crane Capital of the World”, and that Lexington, Nebraska’s (out in the middle of nowhere) high school team is named “The Sailors”.
By in large the travelling was smooth. Traffic wasn’t too bad, and the weather, although really hot, wasn’t too stormy…..except as I was headed east toward Des Moines, Iowa. If you have ever travelled I-80 through Nebraska and Iowa, you know that the horizon is wide open and the road is very straight. So, I had a clear view of the dark clouds into which I was driving. Thick and dark. Towering into the air. Lightning flashing between them, filled with an ocean full of rain.
As it happens so often in long car rides, one passes and is passed by the same fellow I-80 traveler. So it happened with me on my into Des Moines. Every time that I passed this traveler, and this traveler passed me, I knew it was the same traveler, because unlike every other travel on the interstate that day, this traveler was riding a motor cycle. It was one of those loud motor cycles that rumbles along the road, so I could hear him coming. The rider was covered from head to toe in black, with a small opening in his helmet for his face. Even his hands were covered in black gloves, which he would regularly alternatively take off his handle grips and open and close in a stretching motion. He never glanced my way. His face locked on the road in front of him
As we drove toward Des Moines, but more importantly as we drove into the impending storm, I surmised that he and I were harboring different concerns. My concern was to keep awake at the wheel after 8 hours on the road. His concern, I am sure, was far more fixed on the storm in front of us. How bad would the storm be? Would he have to take shelter under some overpass? Would he have to get off the road sooner than he had hoped? In my Subaru Forester, I had no fear of the storm. On his motor cycle, I am certain that the impending storm consumed his thoughts and his fears.
When I consider my journey through life as a Christian, God would want me to know that I am not making my way through life on a motor cycle, riding into storms completely at the mercy of those storms, with consuming fear the appropriate response. No, because of Jesus, God has placed me in a vehicle far stronger than a Subaru….or even a Hummer…actually as Martin Luther derived from Psalm 46, “A mighty fortress”. (Take a look at Psalm 46 and Luther’s rendition of it in his hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”.) So, as I approach the storms of life….and they seem to intersect my path often…I need not fear. Instead, I can proceed with confidence and hope, and even stop and help those who are suffering from the brunt of the storm.
Thing is, I often travel with my windows open, and feel the breeze blowing through the few strands of hair that I have left…..and I can begin to imagine myself aboard a motor cycle. I believe that such imagination is exactly what God’s detractors wish to trap you and me in. And when that happens, the fear that the motorcyclist fears can soon take hold of our hearts. But I hope that the Bungee Cord is a weekly reminder to you of the truth. You are not on a motorcycle….you are in “a mighty fortress”. A fortress…a Hummer….that can contend with any storm…even a severe thunderstorm….even a tornado. So, when you see a huge storm gathering in front of you, sit up straight, put the petal to the metal, keep your eyes open for those who need your help, because you are not riding on a motorcycle….you are riding in the LORD.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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