Living on the Edge

When you fall in love with a fighter jet pilot, naturally you fall in love with prayer.  The adventure this man seeks in his life is both thrilling and nerve-wrecking at the same time.  There have been many times when I've thought, “How did his mother survive his adventurous spirit?  Poor Rosie”. 
 
I remember when we were first dating, talking to a friend about him and saying,  “Yeah, he rides motorcycles.  I’m not sure I want to date someone who rides motorcycles.”  To which my friend responded, “Motorcycles?  Do you actually know what a Harrier jet is?  Motorcycles are the least of your worries”.  I really had no idea.  When Chris told me he was a pilot and he flew this airplane called the Harrier (I’ve since learned, it’s not an airplane…it’s a jet.  And apparently there’s a difference), I was basically like, “That’s nice.”  That was the extent of my consideration into what he did for a living.  After thinking about the motorcycle, and with prompting from my friends, I actually looked up this Harrier “airplane” and realized I was in trouble.  Like I said, falling in love with him was committing my life to daily, continuous prayer for his safety.    (Just to be clear, I prayed before I met him.  I pray all the time, for many things.  Now I just pray specifically for his safety…every single moment of the day.)
 
I used to be rather boring (not very adventurous) so the fact I’ve ended up with this adventurous man is just comical.  Thankfully he brings out the wild, relaxed side of me;  I mean, I’ve even been on the motorcycle several times!  I even OWN my own helmet and gear.  I know, I know….I’m living on the edge.  Today I was thinking about this wild man, as he started a cross-America motorcycle journey where he is riding coast-to-coast, I thought about what it is to “live on the edge.”  And  I thought…the edge of what?
 
I worry about his safety more when he is flying or riding his motorcycle but shame on me thinking he is any more or less in danger than any other moment of the day.  He is in God’s hands.  And this week I was reminded, every moment is according to God’s timing.  A childhood friend lost his sister this week.  She was 19.  She went out for a jog and a vehicle jumped a curb and killed her.  I think of all the miles I run each week and never once have I really been worried about a car spinning out of control and crashing into me.  Again…God is in control of every single moment.  No moment is more or less threatening to my (or his) safety than any other moment.  Every moment is equal.  Every boring moment and every adventurous moment.  God owns every moment. 

Matthew 6: 25 - 34
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?  “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
 
So as my love sets out on his cross-country adventure, I put every moment of his life, of my life and the lives of my loved ones in God's hands. 
 
Harriers, motorcycles and a wild side,

Ashley Lucille

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