A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

October 18, 2016 Retirees who say they're so busy they don't know how they found time to work irritate me. Now that THAT's off my chest, I can get on with my daily gratitude. I know why I found time to work: I got up earlier. One of the benefits of retirement is not having to get up at 5:30 every day. I usually sleep in till at least 6:00 or 6:30, sometimes even till 7:00 or 7:30, except Sundays and Tuesdays. Sunday I'm up early for church, a habit I'm not eager to break, and Tuesdays I have breakfast with Willie at 7:30. Since it takes me awhile to get in gear, I get up at 6:00 for Tuesdays with Willie (Sounds like the title for a good book!). This morning was the perfect day to get up and on the road early. The sun was just peeking over the horizon when I pulled out of the driveway, the air was a balmy 63, and the scarlets, oranges, and yellows on the trees stood in startling silhouette against the deep blue of the almost cloudless sky. On the bike, the temperature changes as I drove from the shade of the trees arching over the road to the sunlight streaming across the main highway, or from the valley to a hilltop accent the different aromas of woodland duff to rotting carcass. My friend Chuck gave me a plaque last summer that reads, "Only a biker knows why a dog sticks his head out the window." There's a lot of truth in that. There are sensations that only a biker feels with the wind in his face. Before the day was out, I talked with six different men about my sidecar rig, gave four of the six one of the tracts I had printed up. I'd have given six away, but it's hard to do that stopped at a light with a guy talking to you as he leans out his truck window, and one of the talkers followed me into Tim Horton's just to re-introduce himself from a conversation we had last year at Starbucks. My Ural has been an evangelistic boon to this introvert. All I have to do is drive it around, and the guys come to me. I've not had anyone refuse my tract yet. What they do with it later is up to them, but I am grateful tonight for the privilege of riding and the opportunities this somewhat odd bike gives me to share my faith in Christ.