My Spot
For me, one of the simple joys in my life from the time I was seventeen has been riding my motorcycle. On any given day, I can find myself heading toward the Sierra Foothills, one of my favorite rides. Sometimes I find myself on a road I have never been on and just see where the front tire takes me.
One bright sunny morning I was on such a ride. The scene looked like a Thomas Kinkade painting. Trees on either side of the twisting, winding road made a natural shaded canopy. A quick glance left or right would expose a small deer or two.
I must have been 20 or 30 miles down this road when it took an uphill right, then left. As I made it over the hill and started to go down the other side, I saw an open area on the right. It was level and just enough space to build an A-frame cabin on. I pulled off the road, parked my bike under the shade of a beautiful five-trunk tree.
When I turned the engine off I noticed something. It was so quiet that I could actually hear my own heart beat. In that moment I knew that this was My Spot! This is where God and I will have our conversations.
For the next couple of years I spent a lot of time at My Spot. God and I had certainly worked through some tough times. But this time, as I was on my way to My Spot, a storm was brewing inside. We were going to have a conversation all right; He was going to hear how I really felt!
When I arrived, I got off my bike, quickly looked around to make sure we were alone, then...
BOOM! I let him have it! I went deep. Got it all out, then waited for His response, because up to this point that's how we played the game. I never knew that silence could be so deafening! I waited longer than usual, but as the tension started to ease I walked around the area not expecting much.
I walked down what looked like a trail going toward a deep valley of trees and found a beautiful rock. After studying it for a few minutes, I started back up the path so I could leave. Just as I reached My Spott, something caught my eye.
It was a seed, you know, one of those tree seeds that spin. As I looked directly at it, nothing else seemed to matter. It was spinning so fast that it took forever to come down. When it hit, it kicked up a small amount of dust which caught me off guard as I slightly recoiled. Then, just as I have come to expect, God dropped a building on me! He said, "This seed will never grow, this dry rocky ground is you!"
"Well, don't ask the question if you don't want the answer" was the first thing I said to myself. Matthew 13:1-23 speaks to this, specifically verses 5 and 6. It says, "Some seed fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root."
A quick note, when God says that you have more work to do, TAKE THE CHALLENGE! It will be hard, but worth it!
As of this writing, it has been about two years since I have felt the need to return to My Spot. Last weekend I went for a ride and for some reason my front tire knew where I wanted to go that day, so I let it do its thing. And what would you know, I ended up at... My Spot!
I parked my bike, got off and gasped! Someone had clear-cut an area of dead and dying trees and cut them into large chunks, some, roots and all! As I stood there looking at this mess, trying to find a way to roll some of them down the hill, God spoke to me gently.
He said, "Now that we have cut up some of the old rotting growth, root and all, it's time to plant some seeds." Tears of joy ran down my face, and for the next ten minutes, I could not stop thanking Him for finding me worthy of His grace.
Look around you! We all have a Spot. And if you don't, find one!
1Samuel 3:10 says, "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening." And if you are patient, and quiet, and listen very carefully, you just might hear the words...
Wake Up Christian
