Lessons from the Back Roads

What truly defines a life? What makes us who we are? It is, in no small part, our life's experiences and those who surround us. It is the setbacks, the triumphs and those people in our lives through which the potter's hand gradually molds us into the shape we are to become. I had been molded in many ways - A brother's death in Vietnam when I was 7 years old, a motorcycle accident that took my father's life when I was a senior in high school, and an embarrassingly short ten day marriage in my early thirties. I was molded through positive influences as well - the unconditional love of a faithful mother, the positive role model of an older brother and my Christian faith, which sustained me against life's many piercing arrows. And I was molded by my love for motorcycles...From riding in the 5 acre field behind my house as a kid, racing the Mexican Baja peninsula, trail riding through the Sierra Nevada Mountains and riding my Harley throughout the country. These experiences prepared me for this journey.