My yard is not the most well-kept yard in the world- I have lots of things that pop up and just grow like there’s no tomorrow.

Spiderworts are one of those things- my husband considers most things like this weeds, but I tend to call them ‘wildflowers’ – neither one of us planted them, but I enjoy looking at them. There were just a few in a corner of my backyard to start with, but now they are everywhere.  They don’t last very long, but they’re so pretty while they here.

It’s amazing to see how many different colors, texture and designs God created in His garden.

I love riding my motorcycle;  I also love reading about riding motorcycles, or talking about riding motorcycles (do you see a pattern here?). I’ve only been riding a little over three years, so I’m always trying to learn something new.

For example, this last weekend while we were in Panama City Beach for Thunder Beach, I made up my mind to learn to correctly use my front brakes.  I’ve been scared of them since the week I learned to ride. I was bringing Slick around the house, through dead leaves and wet grass, when I saw a riding toy in front of me. I couldn’t find the rear brakes and I wasn’t satisfied I could steer away from it, so I did the next thing I could think of – I grabbed the front brakes quite briskly. In fact, that’s how I learned Slick’s name,  because I was on the ground immediately, still astride the bike.  Grabbing the front brakes had stopped the front tire from rolling, but since I was in a turning lean, the rear tire just slid around to the side.

So I made my mind up this weekend to consciously use my front brakes every time I stopped; at first I used them with my rear brakes to stop, but I finally was comfortable just using the front brakes alone.

But back to my opening thoughts about learning new things- one of the hardest things for me to learn was to look where I wanted to go. There’s a riding rule that says “always keep your eyes on your way out”. When I’m making a U-turn (or hookin a U-ee as I like to say), I don’t need to look at the road near  my front tire; I need to be looking back the way I need to be going.  If I’m coming into a steep curve, I don’t need to look at the road and shoulder right in front of me- I need to keep my chin up and look out at the end of the curve.

Another story- on my first trip to Crestview, not long after I learned to ride, Randy took a left turn at the last minute; I tried to follow, but instead of following him on the street, my bike went off into the grass a couple of feet off the road. I panicked and looked at Randy (who hadn’t realized yet what happened) and I came back on the road.  If I hadn’t looked at the road, I would have kept driving down the ditch, and probably ended up in bad shape.

And it’s the same way in my Christian walk- I don’t need to look at the problems right in front of me, because they’re staying right there. I need to get my eyes on where I want to end up-on the other side, where the solution is.

So take it from me- if you’re headed somewhere and you know you don’t need to be there, get your eyes on where you want to be – there may be some excitement on the way back, but you’ll eventually get back on the right road.

We’d been planning on going to Thunder Beach for several weeks; our reservations were made at a nice cottage; Randy’s time off was scheduled and we were ready to go. Then a week before time to go, Randy’s bike started giving him trouble.  He checked everything he could: changed the coils;  found some wires that had rubbed until the coverings were gone and fixed them; checked the battery; did everything he could, and still the bike wouldn’t crank and run right.

Since we were going to try to leave out early Thursday morning, I tried to have everything packed, but since he was having trouble, we weren’t sure if we’d trailer his bike down, or just go on the Santa Fe.  Most venues have parking for bikes only, so that was going to cause a problem.

And then, our friend Phil stepped up- at church Wednesday night, he told Randy just to come on to the house and get his bike and use it.  So that’s what we did.

It says a lot about Phil and his friendship for us that he’d let us use his bike all weekend – of course he knew we’d take care of it; but because we used his bike, he didn’t have it to ride. That’s saying a lot- he loves to ride as much as anybody I know. This may not seem like a big deal to someone who doesn’t ride, but it really meant a lot to us.  I’m glad to know I’ve got friends like Phil that I can count on.

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