The Checkbook Chopper
“$15,000 and 1,500 miles do not make you a biker!” Back in the old days, around 2006, just before the financial problems of 2008, when it was deemed okay to buy everything on the equity in your home, we witnessed the phenomenon of the Checkbook Chopper. You could go into a local shop, take a test ride on a stretched out, chromed out, and tricked out bling machine. Some of the small but influential manufacturers included Big Dog, Orange County, American Iron Horse, or if you were really a player, you might have a Count’s Kustoms bike with a Sugar Bear springer front end. That may well be the pinnacle of on the road awesome.
But the slogan, “$15,000 and 1,500 miles…”, implies something significant; there are riders and there are bikers. Riders like to ride, but bikers have to ride. Several years ago, when I was neglecting some aspects of my health, I decided to trade my Road Glide in with another vehicle so my wife could buy the Jeep she wanted. I was being so selfless…. Jeeps are mega-cool!
All was well and good until I started twitching every time, I heard a Harley go by. And going to look at used bikes on my way home from Church; I knew I wasn’t over it regardless of my momentary exhibition of selflessness in supporting her Jeep purchase. So, about 6 months later, I plunked down 8 Large and got a cool Softail Standard with fewer than 6K on it. But, again, being large myself, I had to trade back up to a touring frame-based bike. Hence the ’06 Road King; turns out it was the one she wanted me to get because it was all chromed up. And, sorry guys, but chicks dig bling! Guys like blacked out. But I digress!
A fact of life is this; not everyone who starts something finishes it. Whether it be a home-improvement project, the book you were always going to write, the customization of your vehicle, finishing well is much harder than starting with enthusiasm. History is littered with the unfinished symphonies, self-improvement resolutions, and those “I’m-going-to-get-back-to-it” projects. One of the bits of life-wisdom I recall hearing my parents say was “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”
So, I’m encouraging us all to go the distance, to finish what we’ve begun, to become the man or woman God has called us to be. In the Bible, especially, there are stories of those who began well, but faltered and quit along the road. Hebrews 3:16 warned the original readers: “For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?” There’s much to that story, but it comes down to this; not all who started to follow God under Moses’ leadership made it to the Promised Land. Unbelief, complaining, rejecting God, or wanting to turn back to Egypt was just a few of the reasons they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. And there was that Golden Calf thing too.
‘Riders’ like to get started with God; ‘Bikers’ will make it to the finish line. Don’t give up; He’s calling your name and waving you forward!
Off the main highway: Keep moving forward in your walk with Christ! Even if you’re on the main highway, but stop moving forward, you’ll get run over! Never quit!
