roadblock appeared out of nowhere. As I write this article, he is awaiting test results to see if he will be diagnosed with lung cancer. He has faced cancer before and not only survived, but he thrived! Today though, they are cautiously awaiting answers to see what direction they need to take. Please keep them in your prayers.
A Biker’s Devotional By Dennis Reynolds Change In Direction/ A Different Road A few years ago, some friends and I decided to ride the eighteen hundred or so miles out to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. The round-trip route we chose would take us through seventeen states and some of the most beautiful countryside America has to offer. Now, we absolutely could have done the Iron Man thing and busted our butts to get there in just two days, but instead we decided to make it a four-day ride so we could enjoy the trip. Days one and two were uneventful, allowing my companions and I to enjoy amazing scenery as we put the first thousand miles behind us with no real issues. Day three would be somewhat different. When you are on a fourteen-day road trip, it goes without saying, you will almost always run into some sort of bad weather. We had stopped on I-29 somewhere near Sioux City, Iowa to take a break when Bill Edwards popped out his phone to make a quick check of the weather. As an over the road trucker he is somewhat anal about doing that, and I am glad he is because we were heading directly into a huge thunderstorm. From looking at the radar, we could tell the storm cell would be crossing our path just before we reached Sioux Falls. This was bad. While we had no issue with donning our rain suits and toughing it out, due to the size and intensity of the storm, we decided to make a left onto Highway 20 which runs to Valentine, Nebraska and then head north to I-90 in
South Dakota. It was out of the way and would most assuredly add time to our trip, but at least we would stay dry. Hopping on our bikes and taking the first detour of our trip, we headed out with the sun shining over a cloudless sky, as we left the interstate and hit Thinking of them, I am reminded of a Tim McGraw song where the person Highway 20. telling the story had received news We had already traveled through hun- “that stopped him on a dime” and how dreds of miles of beautiful country, he appreciated the diagnosis because but we were not prepared for what we it allowed him to focus on things that saw on Highway 20. As we crested a were truly important. hill on the two-lane road, the beauty of God’s creation hit us like a ton of When our lives are rocked with a bricks. The sun was beaming down on disease, or we can’t pay our bills, or the greenest corn and soybean farms some other roadblock causes us to we had ever seen. A north to south readjust and redirect, it just may be wind was blowing across the fields, so because God has a blessing waiting they resembled waves on the ocean for us that we need to see. Maybe and the road twisted through for as there will be people touched by your far as we could see. No photograph story, maybe someone will be encourcould do it justice. As we followed the aged, or maybe you will begin to see blacktop weaving through these fields things in a different and more positive for the next 20 or 30 miles, the maj- light. esty of God’s creation took our breath away. I pumped my fist in the air to James 1:2-4 NIV tells us, “Consider praise God for the blessing of allow- it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, ing us to experience that moment in whenever you face trials of many time. The storm had forced us to stop kinds, because you know that the dead in our tracks and take a different testing of your faith produces perseroad, but we were blessed because of verance. Let perseverance finish its it. I will never forget that day or what work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” I saw… You know, things are always going to come against us as long as we live here in this fallen world. We are confronted daily with deadly disease, terrible crime rates, and natural disasters.
So, when the troubles of life force us to change our plans, we need to take a step back, focus on God, and look for that blessing! It will surely come!
Ride on, stay safe! Dennis Reynolds As an example, I am friends with a Mideast Regional Elder wonderful couple who I love dearly. Bikers For Christ M/M Life was trucking right along just fine for them until recently when a serious
Sunday
September 20th
