In my Bible school classes, we had to memorize a number of scripture verses. One of them was this one: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:6-7, ESV).
This has become one of my favorite verses, but at the time, the implications of it had not yet sunk in. It seems God still had some life lessons for me. One of these lessons was to worry less and trust God more.
Anxiety and worry can be an obsession, and sometimes our ways are not God’s ways. I suspect that if you beg God to eliminate a worry that has not even materialized yet, then too much praying can actually be a bad thing! This lesson became real to me on a Saturday in the summer of 1979 when Brenda and I were dating. We were spending the day together, and now we were riding on my Yamaha motorcycle over country roads to take her home.
The bike was generally reliable, but on this day the engine was sputtering, and it seemed the farther we rode the worse it got. Finally it was barely able to go 25 mph. All along the way I prayed fervently that the engine would keep running. In fact, I thought that the more I begged God, the more likely it would be that he would intervene.
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That actually does sound Biblical, doesn't it? But it didn’t seem to be working.
Suddenly there was a loud noise and the bike wouldn't go any farther. “Aha!” I said. “The engine is shot.”
But then I saw that actually it was the chain that had derailed. This was something I had not experienced before, and it was not even remotely related to the engine's problems. Without tools, it seemed hopeless. Here we were, stranded on a country road with virtually no traffic two miles from the nearest town. This new situation was even more worrisome than the sputtering engine.
It was then that a little miracle occurred. Within seconds another motorcycle came along. Incredibly, it was driven by a coworker from my department at the Woodward Governor Company! He offered to give Brenda a ride to a phone. We hesitated because he was acting drunk, but we didn't have many options. So Brenda rode into town on the back of his bike, giving us both another worry to pray about.
He took her to a bar where Brenda recalls feeling uncomfortable, but she was able to call for help.
Later, with a new chain and spark plugs, the bike was good for many more miles. For me, the lesson I learned is that pleading incessantly with God to get him to fix the engine did not work, but he still took care of us. I have given this a lot of thought, and actually suspect that if the chain had not derailed, the fouling plugs might have stranded us in a much worse place. Maybe when God saw my friend coming along he derailed the chain! So in a way my prayers were answered, just not in the way I would have preferred.
In hindsight, I should have applied the scripture verse that opens this chapter which mentions combining requests with thanksgiving. In my prayers, I failed to recognize our blessings or to express trush. There is also this verse from Isaiah:
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. [Is. 26:3]
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So now when Brenda and I are worried, we try to approach the situation differently, praying a little while not forgetting to thank God for blessings and keeping the focus on trust. It is an attitude, not a formula, but when we trust God to handle our current situation we let go of worry. Life is so much better that way, and I wonder if this simple truth is one key to experiencing God's provision.
Later, in the 1980s, Brenda and I moved north when I started school at North Central Bible College. There is more about that in a later chapter. In Minneapolis, we came under the teaching of Pastor Tom Elie at Praise Assembly. In that church Brenda and I felt unusually challenged to begin placing things in God's hands and letting go. The obvious benefit is that when you succeed in releasing a worry, you can step back and breathe easier. Even more importantly, the real bonus is that God now accepts responsibility for your problems, and it seems he has all kinds of solutions at his disposal! Certainly, this was one time when he answered a prayer of fear with a simple lesson about faith, and his ability to provide.
Obey your parents
I had fewer problems with that bike once hotter plugs were installed to eliminate the fouling. In the end, we rode it about 25,000 miles in a year's time before it finally bit the dust. Along the way, the bike also yielded another experience that demonstrated God's intervention.
Darrell Morris was a Christian in my department who had become a good friend – and still is some forty years later. Darrell had purchased a motorcycle, but on an early outing lost control and slid into a curb. Since he was riding without a helmet, he was knocked unconscious, and wound up in the emergency room. Afterward, his mother asked him to never ride again – a wish that Darrell admits he ignored in later years.
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During one summer when he did not own a bike I was giving him rides to work on mine. One day, he got the urge to ride, and his license was still valid. So at his request I brought an extra helmet and let him drive. After a few miles, we came to the intersection where highways 251 and 173
cross in Machesney Park. As we entered the left turn lane I saw the longest oil slick ever. Darrell was concentrating on making the green arrow. I started to warn him, but it was too late. As we entered the turn he braked and the wheels slid out from under us. Now this could have been very serious.
But in this case, the oil allowed us to slide on the seats of our pants into the middle of the intersection. The bike shot out ahead. Even with the oil, I have never been able to understand why we didn’t tumble with serious scrapes and injuries. It seemed like a miracle! In fact, we both got up, unhurt and laughing.
The bike suffered a bent foot peg and damaged handle grip. Darrell's light colored corduroy jeans were seriously blackened. We were still able to ride the bike the rest of the way, and with a little work it proved good for many more miles. The engine finally quit when one of the hotter plugs burned a hole in the cylinder, just as all the cycle gurus at the bike stores had warned would happen if I kept using those hotter plugs!
If there is a lesson I learned from this it is that even when we do stupid things like letting someone else drive, or in Darrell's case, ignoring his mother's plea, God still loves us and is able to take care of us.
I have related this story because I believe that the hand of God was evident. That said, I don't really know why sometimes bad things happen in life, but I still have faith they are part of a plan that God has for each of us. I believe someday we will understand the bigger picture when our time on earth is up. Both Jesus and Paul compared our temporary troubles to labor pains. Like labor pains, our troubles are small compared to amazing potential outcomes such as the birth of a new child, or eternal life with Christ.
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I brake for squirrels
I have always said that motorcycles are dangerous, and most bike owners I know have gone down on pavement or gravel at least once. This became the main reason Brenda and I sold our bike around the time of the birth of our first child. We wanted to see our children grow up. We also knew that bikes really aren't ideal for family outings.
Unfortunately, before that day came, I had to experience yet one more accident – an accident in which I believe the hand of God was again evident.
The accident occurred after the first bike died. My brother-in-law kindly offered to loan me a replacement. One day, I used it to head north from Rockford on a hot day in the summer of 1980. The tar on Owen Center road was so hot that it was shiny. As I approached Highway 75 a squirrel crossed the road, and I braked hard. Almost immediately the bike went down. My helmet hit the pavement so hard that its foam padding left a temporary indent on the left side of my face, and also a rather intense headache. After this, the bike wouldn't start, and I walked about two miles to a farmhouse to call for help.
When I arrived, I called a person who happens to share my first name. Terry Light, along with Darrell and myself were in a Bible study together at the time, and even today we share a lasting friendship that includes our wives.
On this day, I called Terry for help because he owned a cargo van – a bright yellow one. When he arrived, we loaded up the bike. Since the bike belonged to my brother-in-law, we dropped it off at his house. My sister then insisted I spend the night in case I had a concussion, so I stayed.
Unfortunately, that is not the end of the story. That evening, Karen was reading a magazine article on the dangers of motorcycle riding. She then read aloud a statement that said riders who had bikes larger than 500 cc’s, and had owned them for less than six months, were the ones 61
most likely to have an accident. She said, "That sounds just like Terry Light!" Terry had owned his Goldwing for only a short time.
At that exact moment, the phone rang. My sister answered it, and I heard her say, "You are kidding, I know you, and you are kidding!" It was Terry on the other end of the line, but he wasn't kidding. He was telling her he had just been on his bike, and a car had changed lanes into him, forcing him off the road, where he slid a distance along the curbing and into a light pole. He was now calling from the emergency room. The skin had been scraped off his forearm and leg. But Terry said that my accident had affected him, and this was the first time in a long time that he had worn a helmet. So on the same day, the two Terry's were in separate motorcycle accidents. The lesson for me was to not ride on hot tarry roads, and to not brake for squirrels. The lesson for Terry was to always wear a helmet.
Vega troubles
While we are on the subject of transportation, it would be good to also talk about how God provided for Brenda and myself around the time we were married.
Besides a motorcycle, our other form of transportation was less than ideal – it was a quirky green Chevy Vega. I bought the car for only 100 dollars because the frame was broken, and the bumper moved left and right when you turned the steering wheel. However, by bolting a steel plate across the frame, the car became usable.
Still, the gas gauge never worked, which caused us to constantly monitor how many miles we had driven on each tank. Unfortunately, we often miscalculated. Incredibly, this resulted in a series of little miracles. By our count, five times in a row that the Vega ran out of gas we rolled right up to a gas pump before the car came to a stop!
Another story also involves the Vega. Sometimes God protects us even when we do stupid things. One of 62
those stupid things I did involved this car. One day, the car didn't start because of a bad fuel pump. After carefully looking at a diagram of the car's layout in the owner's manual, I chiseled a large hole through the middle of the trunk floor, thinking the pump would be where it was in the drawing. Instead, I saw yet another layer of sheet metal. At this point, I began chiseling another circle through that layer.
I had gone several inches before I smelled gas, and realized I was chiseling into the gas tank! By God's grace, it did not spark an explosion, and I am still alive. Shaken, I used a small mirror to scope around the hole I had cut. The pump was actually off to one side, unlike the diagram! Then, after sealing the gas tank with epoxy, I cut a hole in the correct place and replaced the pump. Finally, after patching the trunk floor with sheet metal, the car was like new – well, almost. It was a close call, and I thanked God for letting me live another day! •
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