Many years ago, a friend asked if he could leave his motorcycle at my house for a few weeks until he got moved. I told him sure thing and then he told me just to treat it like it was mine and ride it whenever I wanted. This was a Kawasaki 1000 and was akin to a rocket ship. So, a few days later I decided to take it for a spin. This bike would burn rubber in three gears and was blazing fast. I lived far out in the country and there was a long stretch of very straight road right around the corner from my house and I decided to see what that baby would do.
Not a car was in sight on the sparsely populated road, and I took off like the devil was chasing me. I got it to 120 in second gear and had just changed into third when I saw a dog on the side of the road. Oh no! He appeared to decide to cross the road right in front of me. I was doing 130 mph. I just turned my head slightly knowing that I could not avoid hitting the dog going at that speed and I simply said through gritted teeth, “Well, this is it”. Just then I noticed the dog at the last possible minute had darted back. I let off the gas and the bike slowed down over the next quarter of a mile. I drove it at near idle speed around the corner to my house. I put it back in the garage and left it there until my friend returned to pick it up.
I made a promise to God that day that I would never ride a motorcycle again and I haven’t, not as a driver or passenger. Not that I haven’t had the strong urge to buy a Harley mind you. I had a motorcycle most of my early life and really loved them, and those classic Harleys are sure appealing but a solemn promise to Almighty God is a promise I will never break. Proverbs 26:11 states As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness. I have done many foolish things in my life and the good Lord has had His hand on my life every step of the way. I sometimes act like an utter fool but I’m not returning to the vomit.
I believe the Lord ordained an angel to turn that dog back at the last possible moment. Had that not happened the dog and I would be long gone. Today to break my vow to God and jump on a Harley for me would be utterly foolish and would indeed be like a dog returning to its vomit.
I always wanted to get a pilot’s license. I didn’t do so because I know I would not be safe. I would start going through the checklist and after about one minute would impatiently say, bah, and throw it over my shoulder and start taxiing down the runway.
I have often wondered where all this is coming from, sometimes I feel that all my life I’ve been like a wild stallion charging around a corral running wildly about snorting and squealing and kicking at boards and trying to get out. Had I been successful without doubt I would have gone thundering away with reckless abandon and I can guarantee I would not have come to a good end. The few times I successfully broke out I felt the burn of a rope around my neck as I was roped and led back to the corral still kicking and screaming.
God in his infinite wisdom has given me a wife who has been and is on solid ground. She is just the opposite of me and gentle as a newborn fawn. A risk taker she is not, and she admonishes me to this day for my occasional wildness. There is no telling where I would have ended up without her at my side. It has been a monumental task for her, but God has sent her to be my anchor. I thank God continually for giving me a wife who through His strength has helped keep me from drifting into oblivion.
To those of you who have a spouse that loves you and has taken care of you, hang on to them for dear life. God has joined the two of you for His purpose. In our house, we have vowed to settle differences with guns, knives, squirt guns, arm wrestling, or darts but divorce would never be mentioned. I made a solemn promise to God and my wife to never get a divorce. It’s too easy to get one these days and most of the time it ends in loneliness, despair, and darker problems. I have many friends who have abandoned the wife of their youth for a younger version and now deeply regret it. Some have gone down that road several times.
Whether it’s the foolish act of multiple marriages, drinking alcohol to excess, taking illegal drugs, pornography, speeding on fast motorcycles or whatever the fool keeps returning to its vomit. Who wants to be a fool?
They must like the taste of vomit; I don’t.
Proverbs 23:35
“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”