Romans 8:38-39 and a Motorcycle

When I was young, eleven or twelve, I had some behavioral issues at school.  Suffice to say: sixth grade was not my best year.  I was constantly in fights, or mouthing off to teachers, or just being a butt-head to everyone around me.  Part of this was that I just didn't care about school, I was smart enough to be a smarta$$ and so I spent most of my time making profane jokes and causing trouble for the administration.

One thing I did care about, though, was motorcycling.  I grew up in a family of two-wheeled enthusiasts (fanatics really).  I basically grew up on a motorcycle, spending countless hours riding and riding.  I loved it.  I had a beautiful YZ 80.  I loved that bike.  I would read and re-read all the magazines and spend my nights lying awake dreaming of the next race.

All this being true, there came a time in which my love affairs with the two-wheeled machine and being a pain-in-the-neck came to a head.  My grades were abysmal and my father was sick of having to come to the school to pick me up.  Rules were made and guidelines were set, just as the rules were broken and the guidelines left in the dust of my bad behavior.  The consequence: I would not be allowed to race in the upcoming race; I would have to sit it out.

My father (and mother) separated me from my motorcycle because of my behavior and disregard for their precepts and commandments.  It is this separation that I was thinking about today as I read this:

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in al creation, will be able to separate us fromt he love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:38-39).

God's love, unlike my motorcycle, is not some external thing.  Instead, God's love rests inside of believers.  Because of this, no external happenings can separate believers from God and His love.  In the end, the only thing that can separate the believer from God is, in fact, the believer!  Sin, apathy, disbelief, this are the things that can separate man from God's love; the hindrances to the connection between God and man are only internal on the part of the believer.

Perhaps it is like my parents and the motorcycle: it was me that caused the the separation between the bike and myself; it was my own doing.  This prompts me to remember the aforementioned words of Paul all the more, for while nothing externally derived can separate me from God, I can.