Fear

 July 4, 2018 

 1986 Honda Fatcat (left) Honda Shadow (Right)

                                                               

Fear is defined in Merriam Webster's Dictionary as an unpleasant, often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger.

    When I was about five years old, my dad bought an 80cc Yamaha motorcycle for the purpose of tooling around the farm.  If you are not aware of the term "tooling" around somewhere, it just means that you need to get from one point to another and you are not in a hurry, and that motorcycle is how he got around the farm at the time.  I quickly learned to love and ride that motorcycle. I had no fear of riding.  Up to that point in my life, those 80cc's had been the fastest and most powerful thing I had ever been in complete control of, and it was awesome!! I don't remember exactly how much time passed between me learning that I had a love for riding and learning respect for that two-wheeled piece of freedom, but the lesson stuck!  

    Terrace rows in a pasture are small hills that are cut into a field to help with erosion and water drainage when the field is used for crops.  Well, when the farmer decides to use the crop field as pasture land, those terrace rows are still there, and they make for some awesome jumps for a five or six-year-old boy who is unleashed on an 80cc Yamaha motorcycle!!  During one of my terrace row jumping sessions, I hit one of those rows just right.  I think I was about 100 ft in the air, well, it felt like I was about 100 ft!  When I hit the ground, the front wheel wobbled, and I lost control!  I went over the handlebars and when I hit the ground, I lost a tooth, my glasses, and slid through a pile of cow dung! That event SCARED ME!  It was after that event that I developed a healthy respect and fear for what could happen when riding a motorcycle.  The point is, I didn't quit riding motorcycles after that event, I had many more spills on that Yamaha and I developed appreciation and skills from those spills. Even at this point in my life, I am still learning that I am not judged on my "spills", but what I learn from them.  I want to encourage you today, just as I need encouragement from others.  Don't quit, get up and learn, so that you can be better the next time.   Mark Twain said, "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear." Don't make your decisions based on fear.  God didn't give us a spirit of fear.  I can't wait to share with you all some more stories about my adventures on motorcycles, but we will stop here today.