A MOTORCYCLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

It was in the wee hours of the morning when I was awakened in the motel room by the sound of a motorcycle, its engine being revved while stopped at a red light and then its loud acceleration when the light changed. The sound of the exhaust shook the whole room, or so it seemed. It fully awakened me. I was between legs of a long journey and desperately needed sleep. That motorcycle did not rev or accelerate itself; it had a driver. My irritated thought was, “That motorcycle rider can’t have the faintest idea that he just awakened me and kept me from falling back asleep.” It probably never passed through his mind, as he sat on street level, that several floors up at the nearby motel, he had changed someone’s day. He probably didn’t. But he should have. At least that’s what I was thinking. He made a decision to gun his engine just for his own pleasure of hearing his pipes’ staccato-roaring rumble; or, perhaps, to impress a nearby driver. That angered me in the moment. Then I realized, I would have been far angrier at him if I believed he had done it realizing that he would awaken folks, namely, me, in the nearby motel, but not caring that he did. Or, that he had done it maliciously, in order to awaken folks. It lessened my anger to believe he, deciding to wind up his engine and let his exhaust roar in the middle of the night, never realized the impact it would have on an unrelated, worn-out stranger in the motel tower nearby. Struggling to fall back asleep, my thoughts turned to a serious parallel: People are constantly making choices with their lives never considering the impact directly or collaterally their choice has on others. Being a pastor, I thought of decisions people make about their spiritual lives with seemingly not a nano-thought of the lasting influence it will have on others. One jettisons the life-style convictions he has had for years never taking thought of the spiritually detrimental impact that will have on those who have looked to his example. Parents choose not to be faithful to church seemingly without any realization that their choice will have devastating impact on their children and, ultimately, grandchildren. A father chooses a habit for personal pleasure and alters the path his son will take when grown. A mother elects to have an affair which leads to divorce. It not only impacts her children, but a co-worker thinks, if she can enjoy a tryst, so can I. The examples are endless, and so are the effects. One may be aware that those closely tied to him will feel the effects of his choices yet never thinks of the continuing ever-widening concentric waves that affect those at a distance. An evangelist makes a big change in his message and a man who respected him after having heard him as a young teen camper, just one face in a sea of hundreds of youth in a tabernacle, is so disappointed that he makes destiny-changing choices. Again, it is bad enough to have this collateral effect on others not realizing it. It is worse to realize one will have this impact with his choices and yet choose to do so despite that reality. To me, the man on the motorcycle served as a sobering reminder. When you choose to rev your engine in the middle of the night, you will awaken someone, you can’t even imagine, in a motel room. What impact our choices have!

A MOTORCYCLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

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