Every motorcyclist quickly learns that the greatest danger comes from other drivers, despite their best intentions. They are the ones who, for whatever reason, don’t look for you and often don’t see you. So they make a left turn from the right lane, or change lanes without signaling, or otherwise come too close when they cross your path.
So a lot of us ride in what we call a “bubble,” maintaining a safe distance from cars all around us, while staying alert to possible threats at the edge of the bubble. (Is a nearby driver looking in his rearview mirror and, perhaps, about to change lanes? Is a driver talking on a cellphone and unaware of you?) My bubble burst recently. And I found out that it’s not enough to fill it with caution and common sense. You have to fill it with the Christ, a recognition of the presence of God as the only power and force that surrounds you, in which “we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). This recognition must include an active denial of any other power than God.
I’ve ridden motorcycles for 45 years and had never had an accident. I consider myself an exemplary rider—safe, skilled, and adept at reading other drivers. On a beautiful day last June in New York City, I was approaching an intersection at about 25 mph and saw an SUV coming into the intersection from the opposite direction. He didn’t look like he was going to turn; he didn’t signal that he was going to turn; and then he turned—right into me, striking my entire left side with the front grill of the SUV, popping me off my bike, into the air, and then onto the ground.
