an exercise in song lyric references

Got my bike back tonight. Yeeehaw! Four weeks to the day from when I left it at the shop. And what a perfect night to get it back. Above the lake, Venus twinkles astonishingly bright. As if hung from Venus on a string, sister moon sits just below with the corners of her mouth turned up- a sliver of silver. A silver boat being lowered onto Lake Murray. Louis Armstrong’s smile while he sings, “skies of blue, clouds of white, bright blessed day and dark sacred night, and I say to myself, what a wonderful world” with a twinkle in his eye. Al and I rode over to the dam and watched his smile yellow as it drooped closer and closer to the lake. But the twinkle in his eye never dimmed.
So forgive me as I rejoice in the return of my steel horse. I’m a cowboy. I walk these streets, a loaded six-string on my back. Now the journey to anywhere is made enjoyable. Whenever I feel like I don’t want to go to work I just say, “wait! I can ride my bike there!” There’s so much beauty around us for just two eyes to see. Everywhere I go, I’m looking.
Since day one, my bike has been for me a metaphor for the joy in the journey. I’m fascinated with the journey. It’s amazing how many years it took me to notice that my photo albums are full of pictures of roads, lanes, paths, bridges, railroad tracks and trestles. I enjoy going as much as getting there. There is a joy in the journey, there’s a light we can love on the way. There is a wonder and wildness to life, and freedom for all who obey.
Okay, so it’s a bit dangerous. Shortly after I got my bike, Pastor Don bought me a leather jacket. Go ahead and laugh at me if you want, but my pastor buying me a leather jacket? I took it as a God-smile at my new bike and the jacket also became a metaphor. The full armor of God. Protection for the dangers of the journey.
Truth is, we could have just been created and placed at our destination. There must be a point in the journey. Anything can happen. The point of the journey is not to arrive. I must journey until I get there. But the journey is not what is going to get me there. I can only be taken there. The journey is part of being there.
There must be abundance available. “All those who seek it shall find it, a pardon for all who believe. Hope for the hopeless and sight for the blind.”

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T.S. Eliot


*Special thanks to T. S. Eliot, Louis Armstrong, Jon Bon Jovi, Michael Card, Neil Peart, Sting, and Rich Mullins.