Motorcycle Musings

Just last week, I had the pleasure of taking a short motorcycle trip with my brother and our wives.  We made a loop going over to Clear Lake, then up to Swan River, and then back home – covering some 650 kilometers over three days.  Now that’s not exactly hard riding, but my purpose in climbing onto a motorcycle has never been about conquering distance, but to experience the ride. 

Even in that short a trip, we experienced the beauty and the incredible diversity of changing landscapes – everything from vast fields growing lush crops of canola, wheat and hay, to dense stands of forest; from flat lands to rolling hill country dotted with lakes.  The deep and rich colours of summer were everywhere to be seen – such beauty!  One of the reasons I really enjoy riding a motorcycle is that I not only get to see the country, I also get to experience the smell of it.  As diverse as were the landscapes, so too were the smells.  There was the unique smell of the canola fields, the sweet clover in the ditches, the alfalfa, the new-mown hay, the forest – sometimes even smoke, manure, or slough-smelling water.  The air seemed to be continually filled with some kind of aroma.  It began to occur to me that the immense beauty and incredible diversity of creation was singing for me a song of praise to its Creator.

One of the purposes of creation is to reveal to us the truth and reality of the Creator.  The visible beauty and complexity speaks to us of the invisible reality behind it.  In my estimation it takes a lot more “faith” to believe that all this came into being through chance and random selection.  In the first chapter of Romans, verse 20 it says: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (universe/nature).  For those who have eyes to see, creation speaks a clear message of the God who is, and who creates with beauty and infinite variety.  The verse goes on to say that because of this message, humans are without excuse.

So in your travels this summer (or even your next trip to your garden), take the time to drink in the beauty and diversity of the world around you.  Let it remind you of the God who loves us enough to speak to us through creation and allows us to enjoy his creative power.