June and July have always been my favorite months. As a child it was the annual rebirth of
freedom for children everywhere. School
was out and each day was ours to decide and make to whatever our whim was that
day. Growing up a generation ago, my
choices were not held captive to the restrictions placed on children today “for
their own good and safety.” If felt like
riding my bicycle to the beach 20 miles away, going to the pool to meet
friends, head into the woods to build a fort, or play ball with a bunch of
kids (and no grown-ups to watch over
us), I did it, and I was home before dad was for dinner.
June reminds me of one of my greatest blessings, my
wife. Every year we celebrate our
anniversary in June. This year we
celebrated half our lives together as a married couple. That’s a long time, but not nearly long
enough for me; I look forward to many more.
The month of July brings us the rebirth of summer in all its
fury. Motorcyclists begin a new riding season, with
more events available in which to participate than open days on the
calendar. As a teacher, I now look
forward to time off to spend with my children, even if it’s just having breakfast for lunch
when some of us wake up a little late.
Recently I have been learning, through a family study of the
Westminster Shorter Catechism, about the whats & whys of our faith. The 8th, 9th and 10th
questions deal with God’s creation in Genesis chapters 1 & 2. I found the intermingling of good and evil in
these chapters immensely interesting.
Reading the words we found God’s creation to be “good”; God himself
proclaimed it so several times, and when He was all done, the whole of it was
proclaimed, “very good.” In chapter 2,
evil becomes a present fact of the world as man, God’s highest creation, the
one He to whom gave dominion over all the rest, decided to disobey and choose
the one thing he was forbidden. Since
then, evil lives right here along with us in God’s “very good” creation.
We have so much good in our lives, but even so, in the midst
of trials and tribulations it can be sometimes hard to remember how very
blessed we are. This past month my chapter lost an old friend, one of the early members of Chapter 500, Chris Allen; he was only 53. Several of CMA's leadership regionally have been also
been touched by the loss or illness of a family member. We also lost members who have had to move or give up riding due to economic conditions. At work, my teammates and I lost 5 close family members while 5 of our student suffered the loss of a parent (in one case a young girl lost both mom and dad in a hail of bullets) this past
year.
It sounds like I am on a real "downer", but I encourage you today, as trials come, and they will, to
take time to remember how richly and undeservedly you are blessed. The hurt and confusion will still be there,
but I am certain that it will be tempered with a refreshed understanding of
just how good our God really is.
