Easter Reflections

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. - Kahlil Gibran, 1883-1931

A busy weekend...drive out to El Paso Thursday night, ride the Trans Mountain Pass, load up and drive back early Saturday, Easter services at church, lunch with Mom, and trying to get a little rest in the middle of all the bustle... yeah, good luck with that.

First, the drive out to El Paso was interesting, in that we drove into a storm in West Texas just beyond Van Horn. We watched a freaky lightning show for a while, and did come up on a fire beside the freeway which had been started by the lightning strikes we were watching. But then we hit quite a bit of rain we hoped would put that fire out.

Trans Mountain Pass. Jeff had said he wanted to take the bikes and get in a ride while we were in El Paso. This was going to be the first time back in the saddle since the bike wreck. Needless to say, I was a little apprehensive about taking on any significantly difficult ride. We originally talked about a fairly flat ride,  but that wasn't to be the case. Smuggler's Gap is at the top of Trans Mountain Pass; a 1200-feet elevation change and about 6.5 miles up. And of course I managed to find the one tiny little thorn that was waiting for me... flatted about a mile from the top. And this may have been the windiest ride I have done, which would have been fine if it had been head or tail winds, but this was all cross winds or crazy twisty winds between the peaks. But it was a great test of the shoulder - and the mental state post-wreck.

The drive back was pretty awesome. We saw a gorgeous sunrise rolling into Van Horn. The colors in the skies were mind-blowing. Coming back through Fredericksburg we saw a bunch of bicyclists and motorcycles, all of which were having to deal with some pretty strong winds.

Sunday brought a chance to sit and ponder a number of things, which I will get to in a minute. But the sermon and the music selection were really enjoyable. Pastor Matt does a very entertaining presentation of the gospel without taking anything away from the message. Then lunch and some time to spend with Mom. 

So, when you stop and think about the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus, and you step back just a bit with a different perspective... all kinds of things come to mind:

 - "what if I had fallen just a little differently, or a little harder? what if nobody was around? what if the helmet or sunglasses or riding gloves had not done their job? "

- "what if one of those two surgeries had not gone as well as they had? "

- "what if that doctor had given a different diagnosis? " -- Love you, Amanda!

- "what if they had not detected her cancer this soon? " -- Love you, P1 !!

- "what if you had not met the people you have met over the last 7 years?" -- Best of friends you would never have known.

It all comes back to the same thing - He has a plan, and He has known it for all eternity. We are too busy with life too often to acknowledge that. I feel like I have finally started taking the time to see the more important things; don't sweat the small stuff, don't think you can fix everything for everybody because sometimes you just can't, pay attention to what you CAN do, who you CAN help. I just know that I will do what I can to support the causes I believe in, and the causes that affect me and those close to me, because there are so many things wrong out there. Everybody has something that they can do, in whatever arena they feel they need to be... if you don't want to play in my sandbox, that's fine - go build your own. Just do SOMETHING, because it is important that you do.