A Midnight Ride

I was on call from 0930 to 2330 yesterday so I couldn't get in a bike ride.  Cherie and I are doing DALMAC for our 5th year in a row, so I need to get in some miles to get my legs in shape.  I decided to go on a bike ride after I got off call at 2330. 

When I started it was dark and overcast with the temperature in the 50's.  I have a beautiful 12 mile circuit that is all back country dirt roads except for the last mile or so.  I crunched along on the dirt with my light casting a dim glow in front of me, far enough so I could ride reasonably fast.  There was no one out at that hour—I saw only one vehicle in the whole 12 miles.  I split a herd of deer at about mile 7; there must have been 15 of them. 

The overcast broke with about 3 miles to go and I was out on this open spot with farm fields on each side of me.  What was left of the clouds zipped along past the almost full moon.  It got so bright that the moon cast shadows and I could see clearly for a half mile or so.  I slowed down, not wanting to end the ride when it was so beautiful outside. 

It's easy to believe in God at moments like these.  Such beauty and order can hardly come about by chance and random processes (the thought is laughable to me).  At that moment God demonstrated that he is the master artist in all the universe.  Who could conceive of such a scene, more less put in place the natural world to create it. I think this is what Paul meant when he said in Romans 1 that men are without excuse because God's eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen through what has been made. 

If you can't see God's power and artistry on a mountain bike ride in a full moon at midnight, then you truly are blind, not to mention pitiable.