Something marked off my bucket-list: So What?

Something To Think About, 51.4:

I'm going to guess that Iv'e been trying for at least ten years.  This past Saturday I finally succeeded.  I really don't know how.  I do know it doesn't matter--at least not much. I ride a bike.  I do it to get a bit of exercise, and because I enjoy it.  I live in a beautiful area for riding, changing terrain, lovely woods and pasture land.  Sometimes the sky is just breath-taking.  I'd say 70% of the time I take a ride up Potts creek, turning uphill at Mountain Lake.  I head home down the steep side of Pitzer's Ridge.  The circuit is just short of ten miles, and it has the aerobic benefit of being mostly uphill.  The Potts Creek section is what cyclists call a "false-flat."  It looks flat, but all you have to do is look at the way the creek is flowing to know it's not.  It's a slight uphill grade with a couple of bumps along the way.  When you turn uphill at Mountain Lake, unless you have the kind of legs that we old cyclists envy, you have to do some down-shifting.   For a mile or so the grade's not too bad.  On a good day, I can keep a 10 mph pace with a burst of 15 at one point.  For those of you who don't know, that's what good cyclists would call "S-L-O-W."  Then things get steeper.  Usually there is some standing on the pedals.  It's probably bad style, but I avoid using my lowest gear.  Knowing I could down-shift once or twice more if "I needed to."  keeps my head in the game.  There are a couple of switchback curves and then I top out.   The hard work of the ride is done at this point.  There are a couple more switchbacks as you start the downhill, so you can't just let it go.  I watch for oncoming traffic and for gravel on the pavement and work on my cornering skills.  About halfway through the last switchback I start accelerating and after one more gradual curve I'll pedal as fast as I can.  Before long, I can't keep up.  I may continue to turn the pedals, but I'm not adding any speed.  At this point I'm reaping the benefit of the gain in altitude I labored for in the first three-fourths of the ride.  Without really trying I'll get forty-five mph or so.  If I flail the pedals as fast as I can in the upper section, and then fold my body into a less non-aerodynamic position I can hit the upper forties.  It's been a silly goal of mine to get over fifty.   Fourteen years ago I had a bad bike wreck, and even though it didn't involve excessive speed, it causes those who care about me to be concerned for my safety, so very few share my enthusiasm for the "5-0" goal. This past Saturday I felt good.  I flailed at the right place.  I forced my body into a lower crouch than usual--low enough that I couldn't see the speedometer on my handlebars.  The road was clean and there was no traffic, so I could take the best line.  When I raised my head enough for a peak, I saw the "5."     If a cyclist gives a shout of triumph on a deserted road, does he really make any sound?  When I got further down the road I checked--my cycle-computer records top speed--and gravity had propelled me to 51.4 mph. I bored you by telling you about my biking routine so we could get to this important curve in the road.     SO WHAT? A movie of a few years ago, made "bucket-list" a part of our vocabulary.  I've had conversations with people in airports who were spending thousands of dollars in a quest to cross something off a mental list of thing they want to do before they die.  Others make themselves miserable because they realize they'll kick the bucket before they come close to emptying it. I could be all self-righteous if I wanted and tell how my bucket-list item cost nothing, and is a part of my exercise routine, so it actually provides some benefit, but I won't.  The fact is, I don't know why I went faster last Saturday than I have before.  I do know it doesn't matter and that is the lesson in my downhill story.  The Bible challenges us to spend our lives--our time this side of the overturned bucket, doing that which will last to the other side.  Jesus spoke of laying uptreasures in heaven.  The Apostle Paul counselled building our house (life) with "gold, silver, and precious stones," rather than "wood, hay, and stubble," for our life work will be tested by fire.   John 14:3 says Jesus is preparing a place for His followers.  I'm quite sure mine won't have a plaque on the wall commemorating my "Fifty+ mph" achievement. Here is a one-line bucket list:   DO SOMETHING THAT WILL LAST FOR ETERNITY. It's STTA.

Learning from a funny man's sad death:

I've spent my life in what used to be called "fly over country."  The big power-brokers are on the East Coast and the trend setters on the West.  Reporters just fly back and forth over our heads looking for news from the edges of our continent.  To be honest, a lot of the news that comes from DC, NY, and L. A. just flies over our heads out here in the hinter-land.  Some Hollywood starlet was arrested for the twenty-fifth time for DUI--"Ho-hum."   A politician on the take?  "Aren't they all?" Sometimes, though, something cuts through the clutter & kicks me in the gut.  Robin Williams death was like that.  Maybe it is because he was about the same age as me.  He enjoyed biking, as do I.  When he was on, he was devastatingly funny.  I figure nobody can be that funny unless they are serious about it.  I like humor.  I appreciate its power. Bottom-line, the news of Williams's death made me think.   In spite of the vast differences between the movie star comic and the small town preacher, there was enough that Williams and I had in common that I found myself responding to the tragic news of his death with, "There but for the grace of God, go I." There is a Solomon-esque Ecclesiastes-like, very un-amusing  quality to the comics death. "WHY?" Solomon had his gardens, palaces, zoos, and harem.  Speaking about his cycling obsession, Bicycling Magazine said, Williams loves bikes. The actor doesn't own one of the best bikes you can get-he owns them all, packed into a San Francisco mega-garage. He can, and does, without hesitation, indulge one of the most intense cases of gear lust in two-wheeled history. If the urge to pedal a favorite back road in Montana hits, no problem: He loads his bike into a private jet and is there in a flash. And while a spin with Lance Armstrong may be just a sweat-soaked chamois dream for most cyclists, the comic counts the Texan as a riding buddy. When Williams attends the Tour, he's a turbo-VIP, following the action from a U.S. Postal support vehicle. You read this and probably ask, "What would I do with a warehouse full of bikes?"  I think I know.  You'd sell them--maybe I'd buy one--and then you'd buy a warehouse full of something that floats your boat.  There is no maybe to this.  I'm sure.  Whatever you or I would fill our store-house full with, would not, will not, can not satisfy.  By God's grace Solomon or Howard, nor you--since you are reading this--did not/have not come to the bitter end that was the last moment of Williams's life.  Let's use our reprieve to learn some very serious lessons from the very sad end of a very funny man's life.  We are are fallen people in a fallen world. The same brokenness that effects the rest of creation, impacts us to our core.  All of us are born with a birth-defect, sin  (seePsalm 51, esp. v.5).  We help those who struggle with congenital blindness, or weak hearts.  Let's help those who struggle with emotional disorders most of us don't understand. I don't care how much you have, when it comes to satisfying your soul it will never be enough.  Don't be like the rich fool, who tried to fill a spiritual hole with stuff.n this fallen world. We often envy the wrong people for the wrong reasons.  I remember reading the article I referenced above.  I had to deal covetousness.  Now, I look again.  I see nothing that makes me want to change places. We desperately need the Lord.  Only He can truly help.     “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26, NASB95)     Indeed It's Something to Think About.