what ride is complete without food?

After nine days on the road, and 3000 miles, we had eaten many meals consisting of hot dogs and hamburgers along the way.  We were grateful for the free meals on the 2005 Torches Across America ride, but the murmuring had begun.  But one stop in Troy, Illinois had been a great break from tube steak and cow chips, but with fresh pulled porch, home made cole slaw and potato salad, and fresh corn on the cob, we were gluttonous, and gorged ourselves.  With little room for dessert, but being a biker, we somehow found room for the cake, if only just one piece.  It was a meal we would remember until Brooklyn on 9/11, when the locals came out to feed 15,000 of us with all the great foods only New York can offer.  Real subs and spaghetti.  Some Chinese food, and of course hot dogs and hamburgers.  Where the line was the longest, which confused me, why when all this great food do you choose the basics?  With visions of Troy still ruminating in my stomach, it was subs and Italian food, but yet many went for the burgers.  I still don’t get it, but it did make my line shorter.  But after eating and talking, as we had for the past nine days, we stumbled upon one obvious fact.  We had gotten so used to burgers and dogs, we began to complain like the Jews led by Moses in the desert had.  Manna for days on end, provided free and fresh every day, and they still complained.  Even willing to go back to Egypt in slavery, where at least the food was better.  And when this was brought up, we were humbled.  Never looking at burgers and hot dogs the same ever again.

Live to ride and ride to eat we hear often among bikers.  We like big portions, real meat and potatoes, and all the fixin’s with it.  We will still ride over 100 miles just for a meal, but not a hamburger.  Passing all the signs bragging about their “World’s Best Hamburger!” in search of real food.  For what is a ride without food, how many rides end up at a destination to eat?  So road food has become a big deal, we plan our trips around lunches, we one time even BBQ’ed across America.  From fried clams in Two Lights, Maine to fish chowder in Appalachicola, Florida, to cheese steaks in Philly, to real steaks in Oklahoma, the answer is we need to eat, so let’s do it right.  Stop at Ted Drewes Custard Stand in St. Louis, eat a concrete at Culvers across the Midwest and moving west, Steak and Shake milk shakes are a meal unto themselves, and the best subs come from Jersey.  With one memorable meal with Fr. Al in Somerset, Pennsylvania, where I was thinking local fresh food, and he took us out for Mexican!  In Pennsylvania?  Some of the best I ever had, the brothers who owned it were gourmet chefs from the interior of Mexico, Rey Azteca, if in the neighborhood try it.  Fr. Al and I laughed about eating Mexican in Pennsylvania for years...but I did get my Taylor ham and eggs for breakfast with him the next day.  Ummmmm!  Which makes me think of his sister’s sausage and peppers...suddenly I’m starving.

With Easter approaching, we are into the time frame of the Last Supper as it has become known as.  An interesting title, referring to the last meal Jesus had with his disciples, a very special time in the Jewish tradition, as sitting to eat is a time to talk, visit, and unwind while eating.  Almost a holy time, as it is personal and intimate.  But to the disciples it was just another meal at the time, they had no way of knowing it was the last time they would gather to eat with Jesus.  That their lives would be changing drastically, that this upper room would never be the same, and where they now ate in intimacy, they soon would gather in, hiding and in fear from persecution after the crucifixion.  How each relationship would change after that, but no Biblical mention of there recollection of that last meal together.  How different it may have been if they knew Jesus was about to be arrested and killed, how different they would treat Judas, and how different the world would look at them.  That night Jesus changed lives, that of Judas and others, but it wasn’t until later they would understand it.  They would go on to eat many more meals, with a memorable one with Peter and Jesus on the shore, with Jesus cooking.  Which makes me think, of food of course, but of the last meal I had and who I had it with.  Was I a blessing, did I minister, was it a good and intimate time, or just another burger on the run?  Would I look back at it, and how would it affect me?  All things the disciples never thought of until after.  We see Jesus much different after that meal, they did too.  But how do you see him today in your life?  Is he the bread of life to you, is saying grace a ritual or are you truly thankful for him providing?  If offered just one meal with him, what would it be? 

“Do this in remembrance of me,” Jesus told the disciples, and shared the bread and juice for the first communion.  Do we look forward to communion, or is it just another first Sunday of the month interruption?  Do you remember Jesus and what do you remember about him?  If you could have one final meal with him, would it be gourmet, a burger, or would you be content with manna from heaven?  Jesus still sends us manna for heaven every day via his spirit, for we don’t live by bread alone, or what we put between it.  We are fed by what comes out of the mouth of Jesus, how many of eat enough of him?  Gorge on his word?  Do we ride to eat of him, or is life just another meal?  What would that last meal be with him?

The next time you share in communion, it is not about the juice and cracker, make sure you don’t over emphasize the elements.  Consider Jesus, maybe for the first time, and look forward to eating with him again and again.  He may have fed the 5000, but how special is that meal with him?  He saw nobody left hungry...he offered more, yet some only ate the fish.  Take some time today and think on Jesus.  Maybe have cup of juice and a cracker, and hopefully this won’t be the only time you consider him today.  The disciples never knew what was coming, but we do.  We just don’t know when. Enjoy the manna he provides, the ride to eat it, and the table you share with others.  Tip the waitress, if only they knew then what they were to find out, it was Jesus who left the tip on the table for them. 

So is a ride complete without food?  Maybe, but a ride without Jesus will always leave us hungry for more than something to eat.  We saw the hand of God feeding us on the trip, only after we were reminded.  The Jews wandered around for 40 years and never got far from home, but never any closer to God either.  Jesus provides the bread, what you put between it is up to you.  Primonti Bros. in Pittsburgh, a whole meal between the bread.  A variation on the words of Jesus some 2000 years ago.  With no Tripadvisor to guide.  Buon appetite!  Vaya con Dios!  Let’s ride!  Let’s eat!  Let’s pray...that you will never again eat alone.

love with compassion,

Mikematthew25biker.blogspot.com

checklist Christianity

I was never one to make lists until I semi-retired on a disability.  I could keep things in order in my head, at least to my standards, and very rarely wrote myself notes.  But the past few years I have started making lists of things to do, and crossing them out as I did them.  But I find I don’t make the list so I remember to do them, but the satisfaction I get from crossing them out when completed.  A sense of accomplishment since my job requirements are gone, and being a part time pastor, if there is such a thing, my days are consumed with an abundance of right now, my only planning is for our next trips.  But I watch as many do makes lists of things to do today, and then add more to it as the week progresses, never completing the tasks on it.  But when they do, checking off the box next to it, then on to the next assignment. Taken in no particular order, we tend to do the easy ones first, and find that unknowingly we are bound by that little list we made to see if we are progressing or regressing.  If we are being successful, or not.  To see if we can go out riding after completing the list.  We are bound to a list of things to do without even knowing it.

I send out prayer requests sometimes, I have learned to only burden those who pray regularly with important items.  These prayer lists can be as small as a Bible study, or go international via emails.  But very little follow up is ever provided via the answers, we just pray on, very rarely hearing how God answered our list.  So we don’t know which ones to check off, but do we still pray even though we don’t know or haven’t heard?  Is you prayer list like ringing doorbells, ringing and running away before any anyone answers?  Or are you afraid to hear the answer, for fear it may not be what you want and possibly inconvenience you?  Why do we ask if we don’t want to hear the answer?

Having sat in way too many meetings, both at work, in ministry, and at church, afterwards we all leave with a checklist of things to do.  Check them off as you do them, feel like you served God that week, then show up for another assignment sheet.  Once the job is done, go on to the next, very impersonally and unloving.  Not knowing that good answers raise more questions, and many prayers take time to be fully answered.  We check off the answer, breathe a sigh of relief, thank God and go on.  Forgetting, but God doesn’t, fortunately.

There is a legalism within Christianity, where we make checklists, maybe written, maybe just in our minds, that hinder our walk with Jesus.  I know men and women who do a daily routine, and wonder why they never grow.  Wake up, read the Bible for 15 minutes, or at least one chapter.  Read through it in a year.  Spend 10 minutes in prayer.  Study for next weeks study.  Go to midweek service as required.  Go to church Sunday, and the list goes on, checking off each one as they are done.  No freedom in doing it, we are trained to obey, but miss the freedom of the spirit.  Like a kid who completes his chore list and says “now I can do what I want,” too many lead a life like this.  I’m done with all my God things for the day, now I can do what I want.  And miss out and miss God.  What I have described is a rote religion, that which Jesus showed was not of him, or his spirit.  Read your Bible for fun, not just for study.  Do you read a letter from a friend to study it, or enjoy it?  To digest the contents, to answer.  Or is it, “I’m done reading it, what’s next?”  I once fell into the trap of not reading my Bible enough, or so the voice from the pulpit told me.  So I would read my Bible first, then the same amount of time my magazines.  Like a trained monkey, and never enjoyed either one.  What if I wanted to read more Bible?  Why quit at a pre-presribed time?  Same with prayer and TV, trying to balance my secular with my spiritual, and ended up a mess.  Then I started reading whatever whenever, and found I wanted to read the Bible more, because God was urging me, not some checklist.  And now I enjoy both more.  Scripture tells us it is not what goes into a man, but what comes out.  Is a 24/7 Jesus on your checklist?  Do you mark him off after doing time with him? 

The root word for religion means bound.  If Jesus Christ in your life is one of a list of things to do or requirements, you are religious.  Maybe the best advice is from Solomon, I may question his taste in women, over 1000 wives and concubines, but he ends Ecclesiastes by telling us to love God and enjoy life.  Do you enjoy your walk?  Is the joy missing?  Take a break and spend some time with Jesus today.  Blessings means happinesses, and he loves to give them.  There is no reward for forced worship, for love doesn’t demand of itself.  Religion does.  Read your Bible as a book of letters from a friend, let the spirit guide your reading, not the clock.  God has no checklist for your life, and if he did, you wouldn’t listen anyway.  Remember the Ten Commandments?  Laws to get along with God and man.   We have Jesus.  With one commandment, love.

Finally list your assets, and as long as they are the most important list you will never fully have all of Jesus.  You see lists stand between us and grace, us and mercy, us and forgiveness.  Counting on a list to grow in God just doesn’t work.  It is impersonal, for God knows the heart, which may be revealed in your list.  You may be fed today, but will be hungry again tomorrow.  Only God knows what you need, no list can provide, only show your shortcomings.    You cannot serve God legalistically and spiritually, the law and the spirit are at odds with one another.  You may know Jesus but not experience his fullness and grace.  Checklist Christianity....so easy a caveman can do.  Only Santa needs a list, are you list-ening?  There’s always Craigslist.....

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

the three R's-reading, riding, repeating

Those of us who have a passion for motorcycles, and motorcycling have been trying to figure out why it has been receding in the past decade or two.  Yes the prices are higher, but the bikes are so much better.  The deals are out there, even Harley is discounting, and financing is relatively low.  But yet dealer’s sales floors are knee deep in discounted machines, and us older guys wonder why?  And yesterday, I got the answer, which was not what I expected.  But first, the facts...

Talking with a European store last summer, he said he could only finance 3 out of 100 millenials, after a two-three week shopping and then finally deciding.  To many had low paying jobs, still lived at home, or had too much debt at a young age.  But an  underlying reason it took so long was there was no passion to ride.  They were transportation, the thrill of speed and of going places didn’t exist.  They approached a motorcycle much like buying a TV, read the specs, shop for price, then go to Amazon.  It was no longer about the ride, and so the new bikes sit.  As us seasoned riders stop in and wonder why...

Now there are many hard core facts, but one intangible exists, or existed, and has been overlooked.  The magazines.  As kids we used to read with great anticipation about the new Mach III, the Z-1, the new 750 Honda, and each issue had ads and stories that made us want to ride.  To buy that new bike we dreamed of, or to want a Kerker header, buy K81’s, or read about how to adjust the valves on a two stroke.  We were mesmerized, the issues read and reread by our friends and non-riders, who would wonder what it was really like to ride.  Cycle had Cook Nielsen racing and winning at Daytona, and suddenly we were one of him, with him in the pits, and he was one of us.  Peter Egan took us on rides in Cycle World from his garage, Cycle Guide gave us an honest look at road tests, Road Rider tested bikes by riding them thousands of miles and across time zones, Rider took us along, showed the maps, and Road Runner, the new kid on the block, takes us along on the roads and places to stay.  Yesterday it all became clear to me why motorcycling is dying when I got my last issue of the new Cycle World.  Once monthly, now it is quarterly, $11.99 an issue, and not one road test in it.  The kind of magazine you find in the seat back of an airplane while flying, and I cancelled my subscription after almost 40 years.  I am ashamed and embarrassed for them, they have lost touch and the passion s gone.  Motorcyclist, its sister at Bonnier, has gone semi-monthly, and again the same format.  I’m sure some focus group advised them, but I’ll bet no riders were included.  And no new ones will join in.  The passion is gone, the road tests are gone, the type got smaller, and after 10 minutes, I had looked it all, and only Kevin Cameron’s stories stood out.  My wife who rides and reads also, said it looked nice, but after looking inside, the stories were as impersonal as the cover.  The lack of passion within the industry is gone, it is all about making a profit for stockholders.  I’ll stick with my old issues, in between riding. I have been shown the future, and I rather go back.  Finding out I never left. 

But it will always come down to people, and a visit to a multiline dealer and talking with the GM who I have known for years, told me how he was overwhelmed.  Not by sales, but by work, as the dealership had been sold to a conglomerate, who saw motorcycles as a way to make money.  He now works seven days a week, has no time to ride, and the sales force has a high turnover.  No familiar faces to relate to.  Unlike a BMW store where I have known them for years also, and we talk trips and rides, how do I like the new Triumphs, and they are always busy, selling four bikes last Saturday.  The still care and ride, for we have this common disease called motorcycling.  We just choose to ride different brands.  But we all ride!

Today church boards meet with ideas of how to grow the number in the body.  When Saul of Tarsus became Paul of the Bible, he had four things going for himself, his ancestry, orthodoxy, morality, and his activity.  Which all refer to the flesh, it was only when he gave in to the holy spirit did his life and ministry change.  He had been all about the church, all about the external, now it was all about Jesus.  He found you cannot have confidence in both Christ and the world at the same time, one will always win out.  All his education, study, prayer time, and good deeds that shown were for nothing without the spirit guiding.  All the things that make you confident in the flesh are useless without Jesus, neglecting you have all you need in him.  We train or are taught how to respond in any situation, yet cannot find the words based on teaching, but we can on the spirit.  Some memorize and brag on it, some read the entire Bible in a year, some are so overwhelmed with study they never learn anything, it is all to feed the physical, while the spirit goes hungry.  Are you more confident in the things you know than of the Jesus you claim to know?  Has your passion become one of keeping up with the other believers, or making it personal with Jesus?  Whom do you place your confidence in, Jesus or man?  Reading or studying?  Have you or will you ever come to the point of saying all is loss for me Christ is gain?  You cannot have both, your actions show your choice.  Your words may only condemn you.  All the education without the application of love is pride plain and simple.  The passion for the spirit is gone, many still are saved, but never grow in grace.  How many church boards seek Jesus or success in numbers?  The truth is out there, just look and see.  Do we really trust Jesus?  Or just what we have been taught?

And so churches like motorcycle magazines have to compete in the marketplace for customers.  Subscription numbers help advertising rates, membership numbers help feed the ego.  But it goes back to the passion, of wanting to have the aura of speed and excitement.  Of wanting to be thrilled and a bit scared, it comes down to looking forward to the next time we do it, and we count the days.  It works for motorcycles too.  The headstone of the church reads the same as motorcycling, “gone riding.”  Some sit in pews, some experience Jesus first hand.  Some read and want more, some just look at the pictures.  Your actions will reveal your passion, sorry Cycle World, you lost it.  Motorcyclist too.   As a Christian don’t you.  Step out of yourself and into Christ Jesus.  You can listen to the testimonies or be in them.  Shopping without buying is still shopping.  And saying nothing for Jesus is still saying no.  Ronald Reagan was once asked why he left the Democratic party.  He replied, “I didn’t leave the party, the party left me.”   Motorcyclists please take note....Cycle World too.

love with compassion,

Mike

maatthew25biker.blogspot.com