God told me to take a journey to Nashville on a motorcycle. Never mind the details, though I may tell that story some day as it is also a pretty cool story... But just trust me that God told me to take a motorcycle to Nashville and visit with my friend there. And while I didn't have a motorcycle, or a job at the time, or any money to buy a motorcycle with, I trusted in God (which is to say that I agonized, and fretted, and questioned like crazy why God would tell me something as weird as, "take a motorcycle to Nashville" when I had no earthly way of doing such a thing) and so I patiently (ya right) pursued taking a motorcycle ride to Nashville. Well in spite of my fretting God brought me to the motorcycle He wanted me to buy, and He also paid for it! So with the two largest obstacles out of the way I felt compelled to take a journey to Nashville.
This motorcycle ride would lead to possibly the greatest moment of my Christian life. This ride became for me my most powerful God encounter in my walk with God so far. And I am humbled by the fact that I have had a few awesome moments with the Creator in my life.
I love the apostle Peter. I think most men love the apostle Peter. He's a fishermen, he seems to always be saying the wrong thing at the wrong time (just like me), and I have heard him described as sort of a man's man in the company of saints. I have noticed that most actors who portray Peter look like carpenters, or masons. But I think the thing that so many Peter fans love about him, is that he was the one guy to get out of the boat.
Allow a former youth minister to refresh a great story...
"There they are out on the sea of Galilee. Rough waters and wind have been hammering them, making progress slow, and they left Jesus back on the shore a few hours ago. Then out of nowhere a person comes walking along beside them. Its Jesus, just strolling across the stormy water. He tells everyone it's just him, and Peter, being Peter, says, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come out to you on the water." Who else but Peter the brash, Peter the "jump before you think" would presume to go out with Jesus! And man if he doesn't do it! He starts hesitantly walking out to the Lord, and walks on water. Who knows how long he was out there, events like that seem like an eternity when they are only a minute, and seem like a minute in the scope of eternity, but there he was, out there with Jesus. Then Peter starts to notice the wind, the storm, starts to wonder... Am I really doing this? What If I sink? Who knows what really went through his head, but it definitely caused him to lose faith, to doubt. And he started to sink. Well Jesus saves him, gets him back in the boat. Tells him that he has little faith, but honestly, I didn't see any other guys out there on the water! And they continue on their journey.
I have heard a lot of sermons on this story, a lot of expository teaching on Peter's walk. But for me, the question has never been about the faith issues of his walk, or the implications of his importance among the other apostles. I always wondered what it would be like to have walked on water, just once. Do you, like I, ever wonder if every time the apostles got together Peter would want to tell about that time when he walked on water. That friends and family would get sick of hearing the story over and over again. I mean come on, you don't just brush over the things that these men got to see and do!
I have always thought that every day, for the rest of Peters life, whenever he walked past a body of water, his heart would soar, and break again. I have this image of Peter, sitting on a dock, his feet dangling in the water, waiting to feel that firmness once again. I always thought that would make a beautiful song.
So I have taken my new motorcycle to Nashville. Had a very enjoyable ride up. I found that on a motorcycle I get to a quiet, a calm place that I have never experienced before in my life. So the ride up was a delight. I visited with my oldest friend Kevin for five days. I enjoyed his church, had wonderful conversation with his pastor, and generally had a lovely visit. That was it. Nothing miraculous, nothing amazing. You mean I drove up here, to have a nice visit!? I was confused, I was worried I had missed something. Why would God have sent me to Nashville to see a cool church and visit a good friend! Was there supposed to be more?
I decided to leave a few days earlier then I was supposed to, I think I was going to leave on Friday, but I decided to leave on Wednesday instead. The weather guys were calling for thunderstorms for the next few days, and being on a motorcycle in the rain is a bad idea, being out in a thunderstorm is just stupid. So I said some hasty goodbyes and headed for my four hour ride home.
I was about fifteen minutes out of Nashville when the sky turned purple. Not that nice ominous black that indicates bad weather, but the purple that makes you think that at any second now a cow is going to go flying past your windshield. I see this mess coming up towards me, and I am totally afraid. This is a bad idea. And so I start a discussion with God on the matter. "Well God, looks like you wanted me to stay in Nashville a few more days."
I am driving along, getting ready for an exit to turn back towards Nashville and away from the scary sky, and I keep seeing a big shaft of light to my left. You know how on stormy or cloudy days the sunlight can make a light ray pointing to the ground? Well this was like that. The clouds were starting to cover the sky in front of me, but not behind me, so it was making this really cool light ray that was aiming in the direction I was driving. I just kept looking at that beam of light, and I asked God a silly question. "Are you trying to tell me to keep going God?"
I have heard the voice of God many ways in my life, through leadings, through His word, and even audibly though that has been the most rare of times. Well I heard the voice of God audibly that day, and He said to me, "Ride with me, I am the calmer of the storm."
How do you say no to an invitation like that! So I rode. I boldly drove right into that storm.
After a few minutes the sky has completely covered over. But directly in front of me is a little break in the clouds. More like a lighter shade of gray among the black and purple. But it's an encouraging sign. The wind is really kicking up, and I see a lot of lighting, but it all seems distant, so I just keep on riding.
A little more time goes by and it starts to rain, and I notice the highway is wet, but it never really rains on the section of the highway I am driving on. I notice it's raining to the right of me, so I figure I'm going to get pummeled, but the rain never really gets to the highway, like it just rained and I missed it. After a little while I notice it's raining to my left as well, but again, no rain on me. Now don't misunderstand, it's not like it was raining on the cars next to me, but not on me, like some kind of God umbrella covering just me. The whole section of the highway I was driving on at that moment was always rain free. Sometimes I could tell it had just rained there, and some patches were completely dry yet, but I'm a little over a half hour into the ride, and while its obvious its raining, it's not raining on me! And I am freaking out! I am shouting at the top of my lungs, singing praise songs, praising our God, the calmer of the storm!
I drove like this for over an hour and a half! I was sitting on top of the world. More accurately, I felt a lot like Peter. I felt like I was walking on water, like I was experiencing the true power of this creator God, NO like I was just scratching the surface of the power of our God. I was soaring with emotions and wonder. And I just kept thinking over and over... "just like Peter." And I know that God was feeding me that thought. He was revealing himself to me, and wanted me to make that connection, just like Peter. It was amazing, nothing comes close to how I felt.
There were moments in that ride where the highway would turn left or right, and I would get nervous, because I would be turning away from my little hole in the clouds. I followed that hole all the way to Chattanooga. But every now and then the road would turn. And I would get really worried, like "ok God, now were driving into the dark part, now were in trouble." I would brace for the storm. But just when I started to get really worried, the road would bank back and head back towards the hole in the clouds.
Well I'm coming on to Chattanooga. And things are turning for the worse in the weather department. The sky is now completely closed over, and the clouds are visibly dropping. Lightning is flashing over my head and thunder is rattling my chest. Just checking in with God at this point I ask if I should keep on going, but no real answer... Just my own reminder that He told me to ride. But I just keep looking at that sky, and its getting really ugly.
I notice a bit of a cloud formation, it will sound funny but a section of cloud bank I was driving into was forming into a bit of a ring shape. I'm thinking twister, I am seeing Helen Hunt in the van next to me! I am really getting scared. I just kept watching that sky get uglier and uglier and every time I pass an exit I think, "well now you're going to get destroyed!" "won't be another exit for ten miles!"
The praise fest is over, I am very concerned for my safety. This time, I don't ask if I should keep going, I ask if I can please get off. The ride stopped being fun. For a second time I audibly hear the voice of God that day, "Keep going, I will take you all the way to Peachtree City."
Well God has been parting the storm for me for almost two hours, so of course I'm going to trust Him to get me home. Of course not! I am waiting for the heavens to open like a bucket and I can't take it anymore! I say to God... "Peter had to get into the boat God, and I am no better than he." I see a sign for Cracker Barrel, and I get off that highway before I get swept away.
I quickly unload my bike, as the wind whips around and the clouds get much worse. I run into Cracker Barrel, take a seat and watch for the deluge.
It never came.
It sprinkled a little bit, and then the sky lightened up to a soft gray. I felt like such a fool, like a coward! I sank. I said it to myself over and over again, "You sank," knowing now for the first time ever the full weight of that reproach, "you of little faith, why did you doubt?" It hurt, but I also felt a kinship in Peter I never could have felt otherwise, and so I wasn't too hard on myself. Hey he sank too, and he was Peter!
I finished up my lunch, loaded up my bike and began a much more somber completion of my trip home. I was about five minutes out of Chattanooga when the sky opened up, and it began to pour. I mean buckets. I was soaked to the skin in less than a minute. I felt like mould. "are you punishing me Lord?" I asked aloud. I heard a quite whisper in my mind reply, "No my son, I was trying to spare you." And I knew that God would have taken me all the way to Peachtree City, had I not worried so much about the storms assailing me that day. I wasn't being punished, I just missed the opportunity to soar with God a little while longer. I also knew that I would be safe for the rest of the ride, because while I had sank, God was still with me, still beside me, and I would get home safely. And I did arrive home safely, soaked to the bone, freezing. Filled with joy and wonder at the fact that I had walked on water, and so heartbroken that I had sunk.
The full impact of that day is still being revealed to me even months later. I find myself always coming back to that moment, always holding fast the truths I learned on that ride. In times of fear when the storms of life start battering my little family, I remember the power of the "calmer of the storm," and I am not afraid! When God leads me to do something hard, and I have to step out in faith, I hear again that voice saying, "ride with Me." And I will ride with Him! I will push through, no matter the storms that attack me, because I know that I can! Because I know that He will! And I want to walk on water again! I want to feel that rush, that power, that joy of being cradled in those powerful arms again! So I will step out in faith! And no matter what I am stepping onto, I know He will have me!
I ride that motorcycle every chance I get, and every now and then I scan the sky's for storm clouds, ready to twist the throttle and charge that storm again.
