a tale of two shops

My automotive career started as the assistant service manager at La Plata Motors in Durango, Colorado.  I started knowing very little about the automotive business, and left knowing even less, but did learn about people.  In domestic shops, GM, Ford, Chrysler-they were an American company back then, the different tasks were designated by type of work, you had a tune up specialist, a front end man, brake man, interior man, and a heating/AC man.  Your car may come in with a rattle, see one man, service the transmission to the next, brakes to another, and finally having the front end aligned by another.  Which meant some were always busy, while others stood around.  With a pecking order of the best jobs, read quickest, cleanest, and the ones the mechanic could make the most money on.  The pecking order ruled what you worked on, and time at job, and time at dealership weighed heavily in what you worked on. 

This was 1978, and the oldest mechanic was a guy named Ernie, who had joined the shop just after WWII.  He only wanted the gravy jobs, such as setting cars for the altitude, cars came from the factory to sea level specs, and in this non-computer age, you changed jets, and settings on carburetors.  It paid well, all new cars had to be adjusted, as well as Texans passing through, and Ernie was a master at it.  It paid two hours flat rate time, it took him about 20 minutes, and he thrived on them.  When he was done, he would stand at his toolbox, which meant get me another car, and one morning, we were slow, and he just stood there.  When I explained all I had was a 1965 Mustang 6 cylinder that needed a clutch, he didn’t move a muscle.  So I pulled it in his bay, and went away not looking at him.  He was cheesed off at me, and about 45 minutes later I saw him standing at his toolbox, where I had left him.  When I asked him “you going to work on this?”  he replied, “it’s done, get it out of my stall.”  He had taught me a lesson, he could do the jobs, and very well, he just didn’t want to.  With only a bumper jack, he had done a job that should take a few hours in 45 minutes.  I had gotten the message.

But things are different in foreign shops, where techs now are bumper to bumper.  The same domestic car that might have the fingerprints of many techs on it, would only have one in a foreign store.  Which meant they had to work on all problems, from AC to radios to fixing rattles and rebuilding transmissions and motors.  Each man might have a specialty, but each man had to be able to work on every area of the car.  We did have one AC guy who could replace a leaking evaporator, which meant taking out the entire dash, it paid over 20 hours, he could do two a day.  But he too would have to repair whatever was in his bay.  So each man might have a specialty, but they were responsible to be a bumper to bumper technician, a far cry from the days of Ernie.  Two shops who did the same thing, repair vehicles, but each one doing it differently.  Leave it to the Germans to design a shop that was not only more efficient, but where the techs were well rounded.  Where the specialty was any tech could do any job. 

Scripture tells us that each Christian has been given a special gift of ministry by God.  That doesn’t mean that is the only skill set they should have or use, yet I know many churches where the pastor’s specialty is teaching, or healing, prophecy, or organizing others to do the other things he is not called to.  I once went into a new church with a question, and when the receptionist asked me what the nature of it was, then called for the appropriate pastor.  Notone who was available, but the one she felt best qualified.  Seems bumper to bumper pastors were not the norm at that church, and fortunately the pastor she recommended was not busy, and I saw him.  But later when visiting another church, I was just given to the next pastor on the list.  They rotated dealing with whoever came in unless they asked for a certain person.  One man gave me insight as per his specialty, the other and I sat for two hours and I was ministered too.  Has your personal ministry become so specialized you have become useless to actually minister to anyone else?  Think about that one for a minute....

On any given day, Jesus would heal the sick, teach, organize as he did when the 5000 were fed, cast out demons, visit people and pray for them, and encouraging those in their faith, while performing miracles.  Jesus came to die for us, imagine if he just went to the cross only, we would be saved, but have no examples of how to minister.  No miracles would be recorded, no blind given sight, no lame walking, nobody forgiven.  He had one job to do, but many ways to accomplish it.  Have we become so specialized in our walk we are missing out on blessings and seeing a side of Jesus in our prejudices?  How is his life affecting your life?  The spirit works different ways in each person as per the gift given, but we need to remember Jesus showed them all, and in love.  Pastors learn this, as they never know what the next problem will be, but without the spirit guiding them in love, the answers are not personal, and may be what is taught out of a manual, not of God.  We need to be fully equipped as the gospels tell us, for all seasons, and all reasons.  Ministering occurs on many levels, and does not have to be a specialized process.  We have all been given Jesus’ spirit to guide, and I have seen little old ladies minister to big bad bikers, and bikers minister to little kids.  We can do all things in Christ when it is his spirit, and his strength.  For all gifts are from the same spirit!

One time visiting a new church, I asked which one was the pastor.  “Oh, just look for someone helping someone, that’s probably him.”  Would that probably be you?  Which one are you?  Gifted and specialized, or gifted and ministering in love?  With age brings experience, not necessarily wisdom.  That only comes from God.  Maybe if we lived and ministered like I learned in the shop, we not only fix cars, we fix people too.  Bedside manner, Jesus calls it love.  An action word, but also a noun.  God is love, but he is always actively loving.  Which shop do you go to get fixed?  Or your fix?  If you haven’t experienced the fullness of Jesus Christ, remember Jesus tells us he will show us an even better way.  Love.  Do what you love and love what you are doing.  The word for that love is Jesus, expressed by your actions.  It takes the spirit....who ministers bumper to bumper, yet still specializes.  We are all important to God, trust him and find out just how much by showing love.  A specialty we all need to work on.  Love is the  only specialty we need.  Which we all can do.  Now about that rattle you are hearing...

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

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