The gray skies quickly began to dominate as we moved through the gorge and onto the mountainside. We were headed up and over the pass. As I rolled the throttle off and on in a strangely rhythmic pattern, I realized the ride was becoming increasingly intense! Beyond the ever present but out of one’s control danger of falling rocks, one rode with the growing expectation of unexpected potholes, thin water flows across the road, and electrifying gaps in the railing. Even my awareness of what was just beyond the road at hand was drifting to the back of my mind.
Flashing lights on a scooter ahead told me that I needed to slow down. As we stopped in a covered portion of the road, I realized I was on the edge of extreme beauty! In three directions I could see deep green valleys, high m mountain, gray clouds, and in one, distinct shafts of light illuminating everything in its path.
I stood in silence, helmet on, not wanting to lose the moment. It seemed impossible that the sun could penetrate only one spot. All around it, dull colors gave way to a fuzzy floor and an intense gray ceiling. The shafts of light clustered with each other, almost as if there an artists had made four or five swipes with his hand of light.
For a time, I was lost to everything around me. There was no sense of tiredness, the adrenaline rush of moments just past, or the edgy awareness that things were dangerous. All I could see was beauty, peace, and the ability of Hope to dominate any and every situation. I could hear the whisper of a psalm echoing in my mind; “Yet you, God, are sovereign still, always and ever sovereign.” (Psalm 102.12)
Soon I was back on the road, leaning into the turns and rolling on the throttle to take on the mountain. As I look back, I realized the shafts changed my approach. I rode knowing there was warmth and more to come. I rode knowing there is a future.
