I had never ridden a bike this powerful, it felt wonderful and turned great. The suspension was so good I felt like I could go as fast as I wanted too, it was absolutely a beautiful bike. This all started there at the Bathsprings track, after winning a few races I discovered it was more exhilarating than climbing the Big Hill at Bruton's. Winning was it, it stroked the ego like nothing I had ever done before. People were coming just to watch you show out, this was perfect! If not winning, just being in the battle for the win was a thrill and a rush, I loved it! Out of Bathsprings a group kind of formed that traveled together and competed at other tracks. It grew into more than a group, more like an extended family. We raced together and cheered each other on. We would pit together and talk the race together, it was really something special that would last for several years. It's been 40 years ago now and we still talk at times and remember all the fun we had. And did we ever, the weekend and the race was everything, it was what we worked for during the week. It was just such a great time, most of us can relate to special times in our lives that brings us to certain joys we experienced.
We need to be thankful for such times, for we should be careful, not to expect too much out of this life. I mean that in the sense that we look to it to be our fulfillment. The Puritan Thomas Watson speaks of this life as a mixture. We do not experience this life without mixture, but it is mixed or mediated with good and bad experiences. The next life will be without mixture, Heaven will have no evil, and Hell will no good whatsoever. So such times that we enjoy are to be received with thanksgiving or at the least gratitude.
Too often our focus becomes entirely on this life, this morning on the way to church we met a man on a bicycle riding the main highway. He was dressed in the best bike gear and you could tell he knew his business. He was giving great detail to his health and well being, extending great effort to strengthen his body and lengthen his life. As we passed, I wondered how much effort he was putting into his spiritual life, the one he would meet at the end of this one.
This past week I watched a tribute to a great motocross hero from my era, I remember having his pictures posted on my wall as a boy at home. He and his wife were killed this year in an off-road riding accident. He was a multi-time champion and lived a great life. In the tribute, he was heard saying how much he was enjoying his retirement. He was enjoying his home, his family, his dogs, all was so good. He commented, “What else is there?” I can only hope he and his wife had not expected too much out of this life, for this one is now over for them, they are faced with the next one that will last for all eternity.
It is difficult, especially when we are young, not to grasp for all this life can offer. As one beer commercial use to say, “Go for Gusto!” The problem with what this life offers is, once grasped, it cannot be held on too. Regardless of our strength, we only find it slipping through our fingers in the end. I can recount numerous accounts of people I have come across who related to me how successful they had been in life. However, they were now alone and in some fashion or another had lost it and living from day to day waiting on a monthly check from the government. Even if they had retained it, for many have, in the end, it will slip away.
The man or woman who lives for God and takes whatever lot they are given in life with thanksgiving and purpose are in much greater peace. Their hope is in heaven, and the earthly joys are but gifts in this life from a wonderful heavenly Father. As they fade away there is no loss, for their eye is on heaven and hope of that which is to come.
(Mat 6:33) What you should want most is God's kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need. (ERV)
(Ecc 1:1) These are the words from the Teacher, a son of David and king of Jerusalem.
(Ecc 1:2)
Everything is so meaningless. The Teacher says that it is all a waste
of time!
(Ecc 1:3) Do people really gain anything from all the
hard work they do in this life?
(Ecc 1:4) People live and people
die, but the earth continues forever.
(Ecc 1:5) The sun rises and
the sun goes down, and then it hurries to rise again in the same
place.
(Ecc 1:6) The wind blows to the south, and the wind blows
to the north. The wind blows around and around. Then it turns and
blows back to the place it began.
(Ecc 1:7) All rivers flow again
and again to the same place. They all flow to the sea, but the sea
never becomes full.
(Ecc 1:8) Words cannot fully explain things,
but people continue speaking. Words come again and again to our ears,
but our ears don't become full. And our eyes don't become full of
what we see.
(Ecc 1:9) All things continue the way they have been
since the beginning. The same things will be done that have always
been done. There is nothing new in this life.
(Ecc 1:10) Someone
might say, "Look, this is new," but that thing has always
been here. It was here before we were.
(Ecc 1:11) People don't
remember what happened long ago. In the future, they will not
remember what is happening now. And later, other people will not
remember what the people before them did.
(Ecc 1:12) I, the
Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
(Ecc 1:13) I decided
to study and to use my wisdom to learn about everything that is done
in this life. I learned that it is a very hard thing that God has
given us to do.
(Ecc 1:14) I looked at everything done on earth,
and I saw that it is all a waste of time. It is like trying to catch
the wind.
(Ecc 1:15) If something is crooked, you cannot say it is
straight. And if something is missing, you cannot say it is
there.
(Ecc 1:16) I said to myself, "I am very wise. I am
wiser than all the kings who ruled Jerusalem before me. I know what
wisdom and knowledge really are."
(Ecc 1:17) I decided to
learn how wisdom and knowledge are better than thinking foolish
thoughts. But I learned that trying to become wise is like trying to
catch the wind.
(Ecc 1:18) With much wisdom comes frustration. The
one who gains more wisdom also gains more sorrow. (ERV)
May God bless,
David
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