But as my tired eyes struggled to read the notifications on the phone (my vision is always at its worst when I first wake up), I remembered I have been cleared for new glasses and need to try to get in somewhere today if possible to get my prescription. I may not be home today after all. Leah drove the cage today, which means that if I go anywhere it will be on the motorcycle. That actually appeals to me, because I wanted to ride yesterday and didn't. I wondered, though, where my full-face helmet and my heavy hoodie are.
I opened the door for a quick temp check and the full-face helmet may wait a little longer, but the hoodie or a jacket of some kind will be necessary. The don't worry about needing more covering than a T-shirt on top or not bothering to keep the wind off my face days may be over for the year. Today is the tenth, and it looks like November in East Texas may have finally arrived. Meaning a person could wear short sleeves and flip flops and be cool but comfortable under normal conditions, but when the wind is hitting you at 70, like it does on the bike, that cool air turns cold and painful, cutting through the body, tensing you up and making the muscles hurt and the eyes water, hindering vision. When the temperatures begin to drop, the body must be shielded from the wind to make riding a motorcycle something other than pain and misery.
I stated above that Leah drove the cage to work today. I felt sure you, Dear Reader, would understand by context that I meant the four-wheeled vehicle with doors and a roof and such...the car, or in this case, the mini-van. Some may be familiar with the term cage I used though. It can be a bit of a derogatory term bikers use for cars and trucks, because it's restrictive and like being locked in a box to drive. There's a feeling of freedom on two wheels that most of us who ride love and prefer, except in the rain and winter. There is also danger though, and that cage of metal and frame around the driver does more than restrict; it protects. If you ride a motorcycle long enough it's not really a question of whether or not you'll go down. It's more a question of when, why and how bad will it hurt? And when something does go wrong there is little to no shielding in all that wonderful freedom of not being surrounded by a metal and frame. Body meet road. Road here's my body. Y'all play nice.
My mind went another direction this morning as well, because today is Thursday. What does Thursday have to do with anything? I'm glad you asked. You most likely realized that the theme for the day is protection or shielding. More specifically the truth that God Is My Shield. It might have been obvious from the title, but since I don't decide on a title until everything else is written it may be that only the context of what has been written says shielding. Anyway, this year 2016 is the 50th anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Series.
The first season of Star Trek aired for the first time 10 weeks and 50 years ago on Thursday night, Sept. 8, 1966. Leah and I watched the first episode together on September 8 in celebration. Well, I was celebrating, and Leah was tolerating. My wife enjoys the later Star Trek movies and Deep Space 9, and she's probably almost a true fan of The Next Generation and Voyager. Leah is not a fan of the original series though. I love my wife, so rather than subject her to Captain Kirk every week, I have been watching each episode of the original series on the 50th anniversary of its air date, only I watch during the day while I eat and Leah is at work. Today I'll be watching "The Corbomite Maneuver," and I know I will also hear a phrase every sci-fi fan is familiar with, no matter how they feel about Star Trek. Shields Up!
Shields are a staple of science fiction. They protect from the weapons of enemies, extreme temperatures and more. It is this type of, often invisible, shielding that usually comes to my mind when I hear or read that God is our shield. We tend to think that King David, who probably wrote about God being our shield more than any other, only meant the hand-held wood or metal shields that soldiers used in battle. But I don't think so. I think he did understand that type of protection, and I am not saying it wasn't included in his thinking. David though understood the importance of every aspect of a shield. He ran for years from King Saul. He used the walls of mountains and caves to shield him as much, if not more than, a shield that could be carried into battle.
God being our shield is about more than just protecting us in battle or spiritual warfare. Synonyms of the word shield include: protection, guard, defense, cover, screen, security, shelter, safeguard, protector. Yes, it is all protection. God is our protector, but His being our shield covers more than the fight.
He is our protection against more than the spiritual enemy known as the devil. He is our protection against sin, misery, hopelessness, despair and more. He is our guard against temptation. He is our defense before the judge in the face of our accuser. He is our cover that shelters us from the storms of life. He is a screen between us and those things and people that would damage and destroy us, even if unintentionally. He is our security for our safety and needs that is more trustworthy and capable to help than any amount of money in savings and the best insurance in the world. He is our safeguard against all that could go wrong that we could and will encounter.
All these forms of protection, shielding, and more are covered with the concept of God is our shield. Most important and all encompassing is that last synonym: protector. God is our protector. Our protection and shielding is not found in metal or wood, in frames around us, in walls or warriors, in political leaders, in financial accumulation or insurance, in eating healthy and exercising, or in any particular or type of noun. No matter what person, place or thing we put our trust in for protection, it can and will fail us. All will fail. But God.
So today as we go about our lives, let us remember that there is no protection and shield for our heart and soul outside of God, but that He is more than capable and faithful to protect us. Find your security in Him. Let Him keep that cold winds of life of your soul and yes, the arrows of the enemy from hitting their mark.
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