Well I finally did it. I finally got a motorcycle. And not just any motorcycle, I got the one I’ve wanted since I was a little boy. I got a red 2007 Kawasaki Ninja 650r. When I was a little boy, I used to see the Kawasaki Ninjas riding around and I wanted one so bad. In college I remember very distinctly seeing Josh Belville riding to Lipscomb on a motorcycle and I thought he was the coolest guy on campus! Then when I got out of college and got a full-time job, I started saving my money to buy one. I had around $3000 saved up and I was just about ready to pull the trigger on a bike right around the time I met Megan. So I quickly made the decision to purchase a ring instead. I willingly gave up on my dreams of ever owning a motorcycle in order to fulfill my stronger dreams of becoming a husband and a father.
But recently we sold our truck and went back down to one vehicle. As Megan and I talked about what we could possibly do so that she could have the car during the day while I was at work, we agreed that the most economical thing to do would be get a motorcycle. So four years after getting engaged, eight years after seeing Josh in college, and ten years after high school, I finally got one! God is good!
This past month has taught me something very valuable. When we place “things” before God in our lives, we will get more excitement and joy out of the anticipation and hope of those things than we will get after we actually acquire them. (This thought is not original; I read it in a book by CS Lewis one time. It has just been made real in my life recently.) As much as I tried not to, I obsessed over getting a motorcycle. I couldn’t wait! Once Megan agreed to let me get one, my mind started racing and I was consumed with getting one. Nothing else seemed to matter as much. I placed getting a bike as the number one priority in my life. God quickly slid to the back seat. Even during my study times, my mind would slip away from what I was reading and dream about what bike I would get.
Then I got a bike. Now don’t get me wrong. So far, riding a motorcycle has been everything I envisioned it being. I love it. I do not regret getting a bike at all. But as I was riding home the first time, I remember feeling a sense of emptiness in me. I remember thinking, “So this is it?” Or maybe I was thinking, “Now what?” There was a part of me that was not satisfied. Riding a motorcycle was not the one thing that would finally bring me complete happiness and I had subconsciously made it out to be just that during my anticipation of getting one.
That’s what happens when you place anything before God. When you fill the “God-sized hole in your heart” with something else, it doesn’t fit right and there will still be a hole there. I have experienced that at a whole new level this month. I don’t think getting a motorcycle was wrong and I have no plans to get rid of it now that I realize that it became an idol for me. However, I do have plans of putting it back in its proper place.
Dear God, you are my Lord and Savior and there truly is nothing else in my life that can possibly replace you. Please forgive me for temporarily searching after something else instead of you and please help me to control the instinct in me to move on to the next “hit” of happiness. Please help me to realize, not just in my head but in my heart that you are all I need and there is nothing that can replace you. Please mold my dreams into whatever your dreams are for my life. Amen!
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