It's alive....IT'S ALIVE!!!!

I'm proud to announce that Clyde, my beloved 1100cc motorized horse, has awakened from his winter slumber. He is typically very difficult to wake up (as most old men are), but after the wind and wet ground caused him to fall onto his side yesterday, he cranked right up (after I picked him up and rolled him into the carport).

You may be thinking, "Wow...Clyde is the coolest name in the world for a motorcycle!" Well, thank you! I endowed this beast with said moniker quite easily because for a very long time I have considered Clyde to be the most masculine name in the English language. It reeks of testosterone. It makes me think of biceps, tattoos, body hair, and B.O.--the four elements of manliness (maybe not B.O.).

Clyde is a 1987 Honda Shadow 1100 that I obtained through a sweet deal with my uncle. Having seen better days, Clyde is not in the best shape. Here are a few battle scars this warrior has obtained:

• No third gear (which makes cruising through a busy town tricky)
• Speedometer does not work (I think I'm getting good at reading the RPM, though)
• No right battery cover (as the picture indicates)
• Right front blinker is connected by electrical tape.
• Choke gave up the ghost last fall.
• Unknown mileage (see the second item in the list)

Other than that, it's in good shape!

There is something liberating about riding a motorcycle on a sunny day. You feel free to take in the surroundings, marveling at God's wonderful Creation, but at the same time you feel wild and powerful. I think that is how God meant for men to be. Wild and free...but in love with Him.

Listen to some of the first recorded words of God to man in the beginning:

And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' (Gen. 1:28 ESV, emphasis mine)

Did you hear that?! "Here Adam...take this entire world and subdue it. I put it under your dominion." God didn't say, "Now Adam, you be a good little boy. Mind your manners. Don't get your clothes dirty when you go out to play. And please keep your voice down...you're not an animal, you know. Oh, and don't wander too far away...you might get hurt." NO! God said, Take this creation and subdue it. He didn't emasculate Adam and make him think and act like a woman (he would later give him an awesome gift that sparked a poetic outburst in Adam, a gift that he would love more than his own body, but that's a different story).


I wonder what Adam thought. "Do what? How do I subdue it? Where do I start? What should I do? Do I have what it takes? I can't do this." I don't know what he thought, really. But if I were in Adam's shoes, those are questions I would have asked, sadly.

I like to think that Adam didn't have those insecurities. After all, he had a Father who walked with him and, no doubt, taught him everything he needed to know about being a man. He had a Father who went on adventures with him, bonding with him. God created Adam for adventure.

"But motorcycles are dangerous." True...but men need to be a little dangerous sometimes. I saw a lion in a zoo a couple of years ago and it was one of the saddest sights. Here was the "king of the jungle" being gawked at by creatures he would normally have for supper. He was meant to be in the wild, free from bondage, but he was trapped...captured. Sure, he has some grass, a tree, and big rock for naps, but he just seemed boring. When you put a lion in a cage, it loses something.

The same thing can happen to a man. When you put a man in a cubicle or on a pew or anywhere and tell him his job is just to be nice, he loses something. Morality, kindness, gentleness, are all virtuous and quite important, but why not do those things and walk with God. Jesus is the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah. 

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10, ESV)

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. (1 Cor. 16:13, ESV)