I was about an hour away from home when the surprise storm rushed in. The rain was not something I’d faced yet while riding. I also wasn’t expecting to experience my first rain while on the highway.

This video was taken when I finally found an overpass to get underneath of – note the red knot on my face from a pebble that got kicked up from the road and beaned me. Fun stuff.

My borrowed motorcycle will be returned to it’s rightful owner soon, and that will leave me in a serious motorcycle void. I wanted a motorcycle for all of my fairly short adult life, but after riding one regularly for about a month I’ve come to some conclusions on the subject:

* I need to own one, and soon.

* I want one that looks like this…

Or this…

Or this…

* I love how I can focus on riding, and nothing else. You have to be fully present on a bike. You can’t daydream – you’re in defense mode all the time – everything is a possible obstacle that you’ve got to be ready for – nothing can distract you.

* It’s amazing how much you miss in a car. The sights and smells. Metal and Glass keep you contained in a way that blocks you from the world you’re driving through. Riding a motorcycle is like the being back on the front porch of your house, the way we used to be before we were afraid to be outside.

* A camaraderie from other riders in the same club as you. It doesn’t matter what kind of bike, they look at you…give you a nod or a wave, and acknowledge that you know something that they know too.

* An excuse to veer from the path. I find myself wanting to take routes in which I don’t know the destination. In a car, it’s a hurry to get there in time – on the bike, I’m usually not going anywhere at all…just window-shopping the roads.

So this is what it feels like to be the Red Baron. Wind in your face and sun on your back, clothing flapping around to join the symphony of the exhaust pipes and outside world. Hoping for that stretch of open road with no one else around, yet not disappointed with company either. I am part of this machine and I can feel it quickly becoming a part of me.

I am officially without vehicle. My 4Runner was sold to a man named Chih a few days ago. He came from Columbus and I stood in my driveway with an odd discomfort as he drove away in my car.

It wasn’t a mistake to sell the car though. People are assuming that we were stuck in a bad spot and that’s why I had to sell it, but to be honest…I just decided to sell it while I could still get good money for it. Getting rid of this car would give us an opportunity to do some other things. Work on the house. Buy a motorcycle. Get a cheap car with better gas mileage…blah, blah, blah.

I’ve never been attached to a car before. My personal automobile history is more numerous than most people my age. I’ve always driven cars that were a bit on the crappy side, so it didn’t really matter when they were gone. That 4Runner though…I think I’ll always miss that one a little. Other cars I’ve owned would include:

85′ Honda Accord (1st car I bought – learned to drive a manual with it – transmission went out at 240k miles)

87′ Ford Taurus (worst car ever – downshifted so hard it felt like you were hitting a brick wall – it did have some nice masking tape racing stripes though)

93′ Toyota Celica (the car I was most excited about getting, with the worst performance – replaced 2 engines in this lemon)

93′ Mitsubishi Eclipse (probably my 2nd favorite car ever – this thing just ran excellent, it was comfortable, fun to drive, and then I gave it to someone who needed a car – and he destroyed it)

85′ BMW 528e (while driving this car on the highway, the driver’s seat broke loose from the mounts and I fell straight backwards – I had to crawl up to my knees and use my right hand to operate the gas/brake to get to safety)

87′ Mercedes-Benz Turbo Diesel Wagon (Gold of course – approximate 0-60mph time…43 seconds – awesome car – terrible to deal with in the winter)

96′ Infinity J30 (beautiful car – bought cheap from an auction – threw a rod and was too expensive to repair)

96′ Toyota Tacoma (The little truck that could – if it had a backseat that would fit kids, I’d still be driving it – this little guy was a champion)

98′ Plymouth Voyager (filled a need for a time – took large groups of friends to random places – I actually like having a van…I’d even like a 15 passenger)

At this point I am borrowing cars until I get my new ride in September. My little sister-in-law Allayna is moving to Redding California to go to the Bethel School of Ministry. She’ll be leaving her car behind and getting something out there – I’ve been promised her current ride and I have to tell you…

…I’m pretty stoked about it:

1990 Honda Civic Wagon

Don’t be jealous. She probably gets around 84mpg and besides that, she’s a real head turner. Except mine will be blue. And rustier. And a little dented. But more awesome.

Who needs a fancy car anyway?

So my question today is this…
…what car have you gotten rid of that you miss, and what do you miss about it?

Coming back to work has been interesting over the past few days. I’m finding that I am interested in the things we have going on more than I have been in the last several months. One of the cool things is that we’ve just started a new series called “Belonging” which has to do with people having a place where they are truly welcome. To accompany each weekend teaching, we’ve been creating videos of people who are in small groups at Vineyard Westside…we call them life groups.

Here are the first two videos that my friend Josh put together:

(nice freeze frame face on this one)

I’m wondering what you’re experiences are with small groups…good? Bad? Life-changing? Unimpressive? Does the idea of belonging to a group like this interest you or frighten you? Does it seem helpful or does it seem ridiculous?

What I know is that we are a church of more than 600 people and we only have 3 of us that are on staff full time to serve people. The rest is up to volunteers. Much of the serving, shepherding, discipleship, and overall ministry goes on in our life groups. Each of the group leaders has the difficult task of being a “pastor” of their group. Sometimes this works well, and sometimes not so much.

What, if any, experience do you have with a group such as this?