Ride of a Lifetime

A ride story by Scott Wille
I was part of a group of Christian Riders; nation wide, most are members of M25 where the leader Gary Burd set this ride up across the Holy Land. 71 bikers did a run across the Holy Land in Israel. This was no small feat in the logistics, since it was the first time it has been done, to get the bikes and riders over to Israel together.

 In the USA we see rolling bikers in formation, which is an awesome sight and an encounter that's near impossible to miss. Yet in the rest of the world, the big bike culture is absent and doesn't thrive as here. The sight of rows after row of low slung American Crusers rumbling past straddled by leather-clad riders would be rare, if not unimaginable. So seeing this group of Christian Riders, in a country with as many problems as they have with Christians, was an awesome impact on the people that saw them rumble along in formation. I had the chance to participate in this ride of the Holy Land; yet it was not just for fun.

 The first ever "Run to the Wall, Israel" was a seven day ride to show support for Israel and its soldiers. I heard of the ride in a meeting with Rev. Gary Burd while he spoke to a men's group at Weddington UMC in June, 11. A trip to Israel was on my bucket list, and to do it with my bike was just too much to pass up. This was a spin off of the USA national event "Run for the Wall" in support for our Vets to Washington DC from Cal. We supported the Israeli Defense Forces with the run from Tel Aviv to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Each bike had an American Flag and an Israeli flag on it as we left the docks where our bikes had been shipped. Even thought the ride was only 70 miles we logged over 700 miles riding around the country drawing throngs of curious onlookers, media coverage world wide and declarations presented by the Mayors of several cities. We had over 100 Israeli bikers join in the run at times.

 As we road, if we met or saw Israeli military members, we handed out olive green bandanas with Psalm 91 printed in English and Hebrew to all the solders. Psalm 91 is a prayer of protection and blessings. We also took over $600K in medical needs for the people of Israel.

 We had 3 things we wanted to do with this run:

1.        show support for them as a nation

2.       support the military, past and present

3.       Take over medical supplies that are needed. (uses for Jews and Arabs as needed.)

 We road in the missing man formation, this was for lost and wounded/hostage Israeli Solders. Every morning we would honor an Israeli Solder and then kick stands up right after breakfast and off we went. We ate like kings, great sleeping accommodations and the people showed us love everywhere we went. This can be seen on U-tube as many took pictures with their phones and posted it on this sight. You can see some of them by going to Run to the Wall Israel ... CBC has a very good one. We saw the holy sites, and all were sprinkled on by rain and re-baptized in the Jordan River.

 Just riding across the Holy Land was just flat-out fun, but I learned so much about the history, and the people. The daily grind they go through with high tension of attacks by people that want to destroy them daily. This deeper understanding for the nation of Israel and the importance of the US supporting an ally in a land surrounded by enemies of both countries. I read the Bible in black and white, now I read it in color.

 If this sounds like something you would like to do, the trip for next year last week of Oct/12 is being planned now. Go to M25 web site to get information, and just tell Gary that Scoot sent you.

 Peace,

 Scott "Scoot" Wille