After a few straight weeks of taking the car to church I thought it was time this Sunday to get back on the bike and decided I would take a trip up the infamous Blue Ridge Parkway. No riding companion this week, so it was just me, a granola bar, and my thoughts (and about a thousand other autumn enthusiasts). Started by Franklin D. Roosevelt and originally named the Appalachian Scenic Highway, the 469-mile project took over 52 years to complete and runs from Cherokee, North Carolina to Rockfish Gap, Virginia where it eventually becomes Shenandoah National Park's Skyline Drive. I filled up my 3.5-gallon tank before I left Tryon, so by the time I'd made it 40 miles through Hendersonville and 20 miles North on the Parkway, it was time to turn around and head back down the mountain to avoid running out of gas. I have experience running out of gas in remote areas, and it's not a good time. The weather was perfect and the autumn leaves were exceptionally beautiful, reminding me that I live in a
pretty amazing part of the country. I wrote a song while I was riding, a favorite pastime of mine, that spoke to the endless possibility that exists in this wealthy nation of ours. When you're living down among the houses, freeways, and concrete buildings, it's easy to get lost in the desire for material objects, man-made comforts, and societal success, but when you're at the top of a mountain the sky's the limit and you want nothing more than the ability to fly! Sitting here reflecting, I am reminded of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, quite literally the bedrock of Christian teachings. The Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer, and the Golden Rule are all part of this famous sermon, as well as Jesus' interpretation of the Ten Commandments. Different denominations have chosen to interpret this sermon in a variety of different ways, some believing that these tenets should be taken quite literally, and others choosing to divide them as either attainable or unattainable, believing that certain precepts were intended to be ways of approaching life, rather than specific instructions for how to achieve salvation. The lines that jumped out at me come just after the Golden Rule: "The gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it...The gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it." Jesus must
have ridden a motorcycle, because this passage speaks to me more than any I have read. Quite literally, you can ride on the interstate for thousands of miles and the beauty is always off in the distance, obstructed by concrete walls and smog and fear and speed limits. Or you can ride 20 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway, where beauty is all around you and the curves ahead keep you from going fast enough to miss the miracle that is each Golden-colored leaf.
After a few straight weeks of taking the car to church I thought it was time this Sunday to get back on the bike and decided I would take a trip up the infamous Blue Ridge Parkway. No riding companion this week, so it was just me, a granola bar, and my thoughts (and about a thousand other autumn enthusiasts). Started by Franklin D. Roosevelt and originally named the Appalachian Scenic Highway, the 469-mile project took over 52 years to complete and runs from Cherokee, North Carolina to Rockfish Gap, Virginia where it eventually becomes Shenandoah National Park's Skyline Drive. I filled up my 3.5-gallon tank before I left Tryon, so by the time I'd made it 40 miles through Hendersonville and 20 miles North on the Parkway, it was time to turn around and head back down the mountain to avoid running out of gas. I have experience running out of gas in remote areas, and it's not a good time. The weather was perfect and the autumn leaves were exceptionally beautiful, reminding me that I live in a
pretty amazing part of the country. I wrote a song while I was riding, a favorite pastime of mine, that spoke to the endless possibility that exists in this wealthy nation of ours. When you're living down among the houses, freeways, and concrete buildings, it's easy to get lost in the desire for material objects, man-made comforts, and societal success, but when you're at the top of a mountain the sky's the limit and you want nothing more than the ability to fly! Sitting here reflecting, I am reminded of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, quite literally the bedrock of Christian teachings. The Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer, and the Golden Rule are all part of this famous sermon, as well as Jesus' interpretation of the Ten Commandments. Different denominations have chosen to interpret this sermon in a variety of different ways, some believing that these tenets should be taken quite literally, and others choosing to divide them as either attainable or unattainable, believing that certain precepts were intended to be ways of approaching life, rather than specific instructions for how to achieve salvation. The lines that jumped out at me come just after the Golden Rule: "The gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it...The gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it." Jesus must
have ridden a motorcycle, because this passage speaks to me more than any I have read. Quite literally, you can ride on the interstate for thousands of miles and the beauty is always off in the distance, obstructed by concrete walls and smog and fear and speed limits. Or you can ride 20 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway, where beauty is all around you and the curves ahead keep you from going fast enough to miss the miracle that is each Golden-colored leaf.
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