Riding Through Fear

I am actively fighting fear in my life. Fear is that nasty four-letter word that permeates so much of my life when I don’t want it to. This fear comes from internal and external sources. My anxiety tells me I should be afraid all the time and worry about the tiniest little things. The world and its numerous news outlets continuously remind me I have much to fear from the very reality of evil in this world.

I hate fear. It is not of or from God. It is from Satan.

I consider myself a rational, careful person. However, as I look back on growing up, between my brother and me, I was always the one to try something new or risky or fun. My dad taught me to have fun and enjoy life, often in thrill-seeking activities. He will often say “Word hard. Play hard.” As I have grown up, there are still “risky” activities I enjoy such as downhill skiing and ziplining.

There is one activity that scares me. Which is precisely the reason I do it. I ride a motorcycle. I hear news stories of motorcycle accidents. I know there are so many risks. When riding a motorcycle or bike, you are less visible to other vehicles, primarily because you take up less space. I took the safety course that showed in graphic detail the consequences of a crash on a motorcycle.

When I ride, I take a lot of necessary precautions, starting by taking a safety course before I got my license. I wear a DOT certified helmet. I wear an armored jacket. I only drive during the daytime and stay extremely alert to what is going on around me. Even with all this, I know enough to know I put myself at risk every time I get on my very cute orange pumpkin of a Honda Shadow.

This scares me. I choose to do it anyway. It is my very spiritual, mental and physical way of proclaiming (sometimes loudly, like a revving engine) that I will not live in fear. That is no way to live.

Women who are reading in the news about the number of sexual assaults they are at risk of whenever they leave their homes, do not cease, for the most part, to walk out the door. They have lives to live. We all do.

We must know the risks- acknowledge that they are real and then, have the courage to live our lives anyway. We will not be ruled by fear. That is what I am internally saying every time I sit on that motorcycle and leave my driveway.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” – 2 Timothy 1:7

I will not live in fear of what-ifs and what might-bes. That is not living at all. I choose life and all the joy and adventure God created life to be for us. He wants good things for us.

I am seeking to grab hold of all the delicious, vibrant, exciting, good things that life has to offer, all the while praising God for creating this world good, and redeeming it back to himself. If we get caught in the middle of that war, so be it. The goal is to experience love, life and the presence of God here and now, in this life and the one to come.

Ride on.