The Search for Eden

Mountain Biking and Spirituality
“The Search for Eden”
An Essay Series by Ben Biggerstaff

Deep in the depths of our memory we know we were created in most beautiful place ever by the most beautiful being ever. In our spiritual DNA we have been passed down an appetite for the place where mankind began, a place called “Eden”. This place was a place unpolluted by the hands of selfish humanity, now unimaginable, where everything everywhere at all times radiated with a jaw-dropping, eye-blinding, heart-filling wonder! All around us spoke of the craftiness of the hand of the Creator of all things. And all nature, man, plant, and animal were in one accord with the Creator is it was bliss! Some things have changed since then. Mankind became selfish and ruined almost everything. But still within us is a longing to be back there.

We mountain bikers find this deep memory welling up when we find ourselves deep in the backwoods with trees taller than we’ve ever seen! We start to remember when we reach the peak of the mountain and, from the heights, look all around at the beauty with such a macro view that it seems as if nature had not been touched by mankind. We remember when we stop at the stream to hear nothing but rolling waters over smooth stones. We long for beauty and this longing draws out of town and into nature.

We know as we leave the garage driving to the parking garage and through the walking tunnel into the office, not catching a bit of fresh air, that something is missing. We long for the weekend not simply to get a good ride in but something deeper, we desperately want to be back in Eden. We want to be back where all things are in sync with one another. We want to be back where beauty is everywhere. We want to be back where things are unspoiled, where we can be in the quiet and possibly hear from the Creator of it all. For, it is the Creator that dreamed up all this beauty in the first place. And it is the Creator that is revealed through the beauty to which we are drawn.

This longing lies deep within us all. If it is not mountain biking, it is fishing or hunting or can be seen in how we drool over a simple sunset. We are being reminded of something that has been lost, beautiful relationship with all things. But in an ancient text it says, “behold I am making all things new”. This God-Man, Jesus, is saying he’s bringing all things together again. It has begun already and will be finished one day. The beauty calls to us on the trail, the Creator calls to us on the trial through the beauty. He reminds us we were made for beauty. He beckons us to join Him in making all things new and beautiful again!