Day 37

Live

I started my day having coffee with the boys at the fire house. The topic of discussion was not my bike ride. It was of the horrified look I had in the middle of the night when I was awoken by the fire tones. At this point in my journey, I thought I had heard them all, not so in this case. The tones sound like you are being shot at by an X Wing Fighter, or other laser shooting destroyer type craft. I sat up in bed and thought, what the, holy, I’m dead, or close to it. Where am I? What is going on? Where am I? Who are these people? Then I thought, well at least I’m not on an ambulance and went back to sleep. Thanks so much for the laughs and hospitality, boys.
So, my ride started off like most. I rode awhile and stopped to eat breakfast. I headed out and turned on an audio book on the iPod. The book was “Wild at Heart.” It’s a book about living your life. Not just settling for a good job, etc. It’s about living your destiny. It’s by a Christian author who puts that spin on things. Most of the book was stuff I already knew. It was nice that the author gave permission for boys to be boys. It was not until the end of the book that my life changed. The last line reads like this:
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive. And go do that, because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” I was overcome by emotion as I thought, “That’s what you are doing out here, you are coming alive.” Then I looked up at the horizon as I rode. Everything was speeding by and suddenly I was a part of the landscape. I was no longer a spectator from a bike, I was part of the show. It was not one nice tree, one crop of corn, one cloud, it was all of it. Suddenly I realized, I am alive. All the life around me said, “Congratulations you are alive, now go live.” So I ride. I am alive and I extend an invitation to you, come alive.
I pulled in to eat at an outside patio by myself. A couple invited me to eat with them at their table. They were retired school teachers. We swapped stories and ate our meals. How nice to share a meal with total strangers. I’m not sure about religious matters, but I’m sure offering your meal table to a stranger is on the right track. Thank you guys.
Tonight I will be staying with the guys from Oregon, Ohio Fire Dept. Station 1.