The Widow Maker

 

This week will be a continuation of last week's post and looking at the second bike in consideration. In so doing we will take a look at the Widow Maker as some have named it, we just called it the big hill back then. Folks said it was 300 feet to the top, probably not, but it made for good bragging rights. The year was 1978 and the bike was a 1977 Honda MR 250cc Elsinore.

First the Widow Maker hill, it was the main attraction in the Burton's Branch recreation area for those looking to prove their manhood, or perhaps for those who were slightly over-intoxicated. I suppose I would have found myself in the first category. I was a Senior in high school and was feeling an intense need to prove something. As a right-handed young man, I had two left hands when it came to doing anything in sports, especially if it involved handling a ball of some sort. My highest achievements with ball-playing were bench-warming and water boy. Kind of humiliating for a high school Senior. I had over the years acquired a certain amount of talent for this dirt bike thing. I had been asserting this ability in public displays (showing out) whenever possible.

Trying to draw attention to myself, I would pull stunts whenever I had an audience of one or more. Things like riding standing up on the seat while going down the road. Squatting down on one side of the bike like the cowboys when riding by. Riding with my feet and legs over the handlebars, riding wheelies, anything for attention. So you can imagine what a lure climbing this big hill would be to my ego. I had already attempted climbing it on several bikes, the Honda MT 250cc, CR 125cc, and the CanAm 125cc.

It would be the Honda MR 250cc Elsinore that would accomplish the job and put me over the top. My best friend and I had skipped school that day for the purpose of climbing that hill. It took several tries but the victory was finally mine. It put me in quite a unique group, however, to my surprise no one seemed to care. I had no pictures and no one seemed to know what a hill it really was. I tried to paint the picture as best as could, using lots of color, however, it never brought me up to the level I thought it would.

As to the bike, I didn't particularly like it. It felt too soft and you kind of settled down in it when sitting on it. The big metal fuel tank was awkward and in the way, one needed to be real careful in a certain tender area when riding it. However, it did have loads of torque in the little engine, I suppose that was the greatest advantage I had that day.

It was a new bike that never looked the same after that day. It was also the last bike my Dad would buy me, we had gone to Creasy's Honda in Lexington and traded in another bike I had. I have never really understood my Dad's generosity in buying me all those bikes. I never asked for them, it was always his idea, one of which I was very okay with. We had gone through some hard times with his drinking and this may have been away for him to kind of makeup for that. He and I never talked about that much, I just understood there were going to be times that the drinking was going to happen.

Looking back on that day I easily recognize the insignificance of it. Most things in life are that way, on the front side they seem so important, then when we achieve them and look at the back side, they are mostly disappointments. The Scripture speaks of it this way: 1Co 9:25 "All who compete in the games use strict training. They do this so that they can win a prize—one that doesn't last. But our prize is one that will last forever." 

1Co 9:26 So I run like someone who has a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something, not just the air.

1Co 9:27 It is my own body I fight to make it do what I want. I do this so that I won't miss getting the prize myself after telling others about it. (ERV)

Proving ourselves to be men, testing ourselves seems to rest in most of us. Manhood and Womanhood are both to be sought after, yet we must look for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. There is more to being a man or woman than a physical physique. It is the inner man that proves our character and who we are. The steel and fortitude of which we are made. Sense of duty, personal holiness, control, and restraint of our passions; these are the most difficult achievements to make.

Eph 3:16 I ask the Father with his great glory to give you the power to be strong in your spirits. He will give you that strength through his Spirit.

Eph 3:17 I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love.

Eph 3:18 And I pray that you and all God's holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ's love—how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is.

Eph 3:19 Christ's love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with everything God has for you.

Eph 3:20 With God's power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of.

Eph 3:21 To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen. (ERV)

The concept of the Gentleman and the Lady is almost lost to us. The lines between what it is to be a man and a woman and how we relate to each other are blurred. It was at one time just doing what is right and proper. As our culture has abandoned the Gospel our idea of just what is right and proper has been lost in the fog.

In 1978 I was looking to be a man and prove something, it needed to be more than a big hill to climb. I needed to look to my character, my own purity of life which was only to be found in Christ's righteousness and His Grace. Had I been looking to the Gospel it would have formed in me that Gentleman, I would have found my identity in Christ's righteousness and not in my own efforts. All that we seek in this life of any lasting value is found in Him. He has redeemed at the Cross our brokenness, our sin, and purchased true life and peace not only in this life but in the life to come.

What we need to prove has already been proven in Him, all we needed to achieve He has achieved. Put our trust in Him and Him alone and we will be real men and real women.

God Bless,

David