Lessons from the Road of Life - Take a Ride with BJ Emerson

There was a time I wanted to cut down my family tree. It was broken and without hope. But then something happened to change the trajectory of my family for generations. You see, God had a better idea, and he turned a string of crimes into a string of miracles. And now, we're rooted. What does it mean to be rooted in the gospel of life through Jesus? Rooted in community? And rooted not only in the Word of God, but anchored in the heart of God? Let's find out what it means to be rooted. VICTORIOUS LIVING Hey, Victorious Living family. I'm B.J. Emerson, Digital Media Manager here at Victorious Living Ministries. I'd like to introduce myself by saying, I haven't been where you are, but I've been where your children are. When I was 14 years old, my father was arrested by the FBI and was facing 76 years in prison for a string of crimes, which God ultimately turned into a string of miracles in my family. I saw the full circle restoration of three generations in my family, and I'm here today to encourage you. Today, I'm inviting you to take a ride with me. I enjoy an occasional ride on a motorcycle, but today, I hope you'll sit back and enjoy the scenery. And along the way, I want to talk about some lessons from the road. So, let's go. The first lesson from the road comes in two parts. They both deal with the same topic, and that is navigating the curves of life. We all have them, and we're all going to face them. How we face them is going to make all the difference in whether we crash or flourish and enjoy life.

So, let's talk about the first part of lesson one, how to see beyond the curves. Curves could represent a number of things. Toxic relationships, unhealthy habits, or past failures. These are obstacles that, if fixated upon, can throw you off balance and land you in a ditch. In motorcycling, target fixation is a real danger. If you look at an obstacle, you will be drawn to it and hit it. You have to train your eyes to look where you want to go, not to where you are afraid of landing. You have to look ahead, pick a point where you want to be, ahead of the curve, and focus. Then, do it again. Don't get trapped into focusing on the obstacle. Don't get fixated on what you fear along the side of the road. Look beyond it, and you'll get through it. Just as a rider must look through the turn rather than at the pavement immediately in front of them, life requires us to look toward God's promise rather than our current obstacles. Here's the point. If you stare at the guardrail, you'll hit it. If you look at the exit, you'll find it. Proverbs 4, 25, and 26 says, Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet, and be steadfast in all your ways. Now, if I could tie this into my own family story, my father wasn't going to see the end of his 76-year sentence that he had.

He didn't end up doing all that time. He started looking at a different future that God was imagining for him. He focused on the hope he had in Jesus and the restoration God wanted to bring into our family, and that made all the difference. You can look toward a different future for yourself, one that God invites you into but will require focus. I remember hearing about a similar concept in pole vaulting that says, throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow. Here's the application. Maybe you're in a season where all you can see is the gravel of your past mistakes or the guardrail of your sentence, but God is calling you to look through the curve. He's already at the exit waiting for you. What is the line for you today? Maybe it's just staying humble during a difficult interaction with a guard, or choosing to pray for your kids instead of dwelling on regret. That's your curve. Navigate it, then look for the next one. Where you fix your gaze determines your direction. Fix it on the designer of your restoration, not the obstacles of your situation. Hebrews 12.2 says, He's the author and perfecter of our faith, and it says in Philippians 1.6, that being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Okay, so that's part one of navigating the curves. Part two is take one turn at a time. When you're navigating a motorcycle through a series of curves, trying to master the entire course at once is a recipe for disaster. You have to focus on the entry, the apex, and the exit of the specific curve you are in. Perhaps the course you're facing is a long sentence, or a damaged reputation, or broken relationships.

What we need is a biblical framework for navigating life's ride one curve at a time. And there's great wisdom in handling this one curve at a time. Going too far ahead or trying to solve problems before they exist can be futile. Matthew 6.34, Jesus says, Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. And on the road, if you're thinking about a bridge five miles ahead, you might miss the gravel right in front of your tire. If you're obsessed with a release date three years away, you might miss the deep work God wants to do in your character this afternoon. As I'm riding, I'm not thinking about the gas station in the next town. I'm thinking about my throttle control right here and now. God promises you daily bread. Just take this one curve. Just get through this one count, this one meal, this one phone call. You take the curves one by one because you know there is a destination worthy of the hard work you are facing. For my family, that destination was the full-circle restoration of three generations, and that didn't happen in a day. It happened one curve at a time over about 35 years. The road doesn't stay twisted forever. Eventually it opens up, but you only get to the straightaway by being faithful in the turns. Every time you choose to allow God to work on you in a difficult moment, you are successfully navigating a curve that leads to the restoration he has planned for you. Let's move beyond the curves of the ride and talk about lesson number two. Real freedom is not found on the open road. If you've ever driven a motorcycle, or ridden a horse, or maybe even ridden in a convertible car, you remember the freedom you feel when riding. Even a bicycle can feel this way, where the wind hits you along with bugs and you smell

the surroundings much more than you could in a car. A motorcycle ride offers a sense of liberty. But real freedom isn't about moving through space, it's about more than that. It's about who is moving through you. Here's my point. You can be on an open highway and still be a prisoner to your past. Conversely, you can be behind bars and be the freest person on earth. Second Corinthians 3.17 says, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. There is a common lie that freedom is just being on this side of the fence. I've known plenty of people out here with the wind in their face who are more locked up by bitterness and addiction than anyone in a cell. Real freedom isn't about the absence of walls, it's about the presence of a person. You can be outside the fence and still be in a cage of your own making, but you can be exactly where you are and be the freest person in the yard because the Spirit of the Lord is with you and in you. So the lesson here is, don't wait for a release date to start living free. Victory is an internal state before it's an external reality. And if you don't have the Holy Spirit, ask for it. Pray for the Holy Spirit to come and meet you, show himself to you. Internal freedom is not dictated by external constraints and the confines of your physical situation. The Holy Spirit can meet you where you are. Physical incarceration creates a perimeter of concrete and steel, but the Holy Spirit provides an access pass to a kingdom that has no boundaries. Just as a motorcycle... allows you to travel toward a distant horizon. A life in Christ allows your spirit to roam where your feet cannot go. If the Holy Spirit lives in you,

you have access to God's peace and the vastness of his promises every single second of the day. Psalm 119.45 says, I will walk about in freedom for I have sought out your precepts. So freedom is an internal state, not a geographical location. It's often mistaken for the ability to go wherever we want, but true freedom is the ability to be whoever God created us to be, regardless of where we are. Maybe one more metaphor. Some people have the keys to their cars, but they don't have the keys to their own peace. Jesus sets you free, you are free indeed, no matter what the sign on the building says. Moving on to lesson number three. This talks about the solitude of the road and the value of being alone with God. On a bike, the wind and engine drown out the world, forcing you to be alone with your thoughts. This isn't isolation, it's an opportunity for intimacy with the Father. Here's the point. Use your time alone, not to dwell on regret, but to listen for the still, small voice. Luke 5.16 tells us that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed by himself. And my tie-in is that I saw my father

take advantage of his isolation, his solitude, and his most powerful moments of growth happened in those moments in the federal and state penitentiaries, where he was while I was growing up. You see, you can turn your isolation into an altar. My father started praying for sons he couldn't see and a father he didn't even know. Don't just sit in the silence. Talk to the Father who is sitting there with you. He's the only one who can navigate the road when the map doesn't make sense. You see, solitude is where the fruit of the Spirit grows, where the seeds are planted. It's not where God has left you, it's where he finally has cornered you so he can love you. And I'm gonna close with this. Motorcycles require attention, complete and total focus. They demand your presence, your control, and this is a discipline I think we've lost, simply put, our attention. But while I'm out here on these country roads, it's just me, the engine, and the wind. It's quiet in a way that forces you to concentrate and listen. Motorcycles require us to be present in the moment. The devil does not want us to be present. He wants us to be distracted, unfocused, hurried, anxious, and out of control. But anxiety flees when we are present.

Jesus often withdrew to be alone with the Father and you can do the same wherever you are. You can reframe the space you are in from isolation to alter. Alone often feels like abandonment. On a bike, alone is where you find your focus. In your cell, when the door closes, it's just you and your thoughts. But don't view that as a cage, view it as a chapel. I know there's a lot of noise in prison, shouting, clanging, the static of everyone else's drama. But God's voice is often a still, small voice and you can only hear it when you let his presence drown out the static of your situation. Psalm 46.10 says, be still and know that I am God. Consider that this might be the perfect time to have the deep, long conversations with the Father that you can't have in a crowd. You are in a unique position to be the powerhouse of prayer. You have the time that those of us on the outside often squander. Use your solitude to spend time with the Father. These may be the best moments that you can have. Matthew 6.6 says that when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen. Most people are scared of being this alone. You need the radio on or a phone in their hand, distracted by something. And out here, I realize that being alone isn't the same as being lonely.

If you're alone today, the Father is in that room with you and he's been waiting for it to get quiet enough for you to hear him say, I love you and your story isn't over. I hope you have enjoyed this ride today. Let me pray with you. God, I just thank you for those listening. Just know that you wanna help them navigate the curves of life. You know their story, you see them. and you long to be with them and to speak to them. I just pray that they're encouraged today that they know your presence and they can sense your Holy Spirit and that they're free as a result of knowing you wherever they are. Let them know that you're with them today and encourage them and just bless them in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for watching our broadcast. Are you an incarcerated brother or sister who needs encouragement? Write to us at Victorious Living Correspondence, P.O. Box 2751 Greenville, North Carolina 27836 or email us at hope at vlmag.org. To view Victorious Living Magazine in its entirety, please have your chaplain contact us at 352-478-2098 or email us through our website at vlmag.org. We are happy to provide our Victorious Living Magazine free of charge, in bulk, with or without staples.