the last sleep out of summer

Although we still have another week to go until summer officially ends, growing up Labor Day meant the end of summer, and the beginning of fall, and the school year.  On our street many summer nights were spent sleeping out in each others tents, spending our 15 cents on candy to get us through the night, filling our canteens with water from the hose, and grabbing a comic book or two, that never got read.  It was Joey’s big four man tent  you could stand in, as opposed to the pup tent with no floor we started out in.  We graduated up to a tent with a floor and screens, but Joey’s was deluxe, with even a Coleman lantern to keep us lit up late at night.  A big deal for me sleeping with the older guys, all of three years older, but teenagers.  It was during these sleep outs that we would discuss important subjects such as who would you pick, Betty or Veronica?  Was the new Schwinn Varsity 10 speed worth $66.95?  The big guys talked of learning to shave, Beatle haircuts and which after shave had the best aroma.  What new TV shows would soon be on, we were tired of reruns, how that would change in later years, and did anyone notice the new girl Judy-WOW!  It was times like this that went far into the night many times, trying to stay up all night, but never quite making it.  But the last sleep out of summer meant that summer was coming to an end, somehow it didn’t work with a school schedule, football games on weekends, and the nights getting longer and colder, the days shorter and cooler.  That last night was going to have to last all through the next school year, with each year learning the next would be different as we were all growing older, just not up.  Girls and soon cars would occupy our conversations, but nothing would ever beat those summer nights, out of the house and on our own, sleeping in Joey’s backyard.  Looking back it was more fun being a kid than looking forward to becoming a grownup.  I wonder, do kids today still wonder who they would choose, Betty or Veronica?  Do they even know who they are?  Schwinn went out of business years ago, and 15 cents no longer buys three candy bars.  The stories of back then seem made up to our kids and grandkids today....what marks the end of their summer?

The transition to becoming a Christian can be a tough one.  Suddenly faced with a new set of rules to live by, a new set of friends to share them with, and a past you have to lave behind.  It is an exciting time, learning about Jesus, seeing the Bible come alive, and having our minds regenerated.  We are justified by faith, but not sure of what it means, our hearts are changing, but our minds seem to be slow adapting.  The temptations of the old life loom larger, things we enjoyed now we see as sin, and it seems other believers are quick to advise us how to live.  Pointing out our sin, while neglecting their own.  Scripture calls it being unable to see the log in your own eye while trying to remove a splinter from another.  We all mean well, but it doesn’t always come out that way.  But when something ends, with God it means a new beginning, and walking with him is exciting.  It goes far beyond the laws and rules of denominations, of the thou shalt not religion, it is based on freedom in the spirit.  Or as it was so aptly put, the only way to not break any laws is to have no laws.  We find that Abraham was a friend with God long before the law, and we can long after the law.  God calls it grace, which cannot be earned as it is a gift from him when saved.  But when we accept the peace he gives, and grow in his grace, we look ahead instead of behind.

Yet today I meet Christian men, some who have been so for many years, still clinging to their old lives.  Their summer of sin has ended, but they don’t embrace God in the new season he has given them.  Puffed up with knowledge, they carry on behind closed doors, the double minded man James refers to, one life at church, another at work, and still another at home.  Even for us older fast guys, it is difficult to be three places at once!  They neglect that the spirit has given them a new birth, they are new creatures, and the old one has passed away.  They are the ones going back for one last summer sleep out, thinking it will be just as it was, but finding it never can be.  With some even lying to themselves about how great the reunion was....but miserable inside.  Ever go through this, the way back is not more study, more prayer, or even more church.  We need to stop and go back to when we first met Jesus, when his peace filled us and we were excited about him.  Go back and remember the things God has promised and expect him to be faithful, when we aren’t.  Remember how we all once vowed we would never sin again, then did, and over and over again making excuses, but feeling miserable?  All the time looking at ourselves, failing to remember that it is not based on us, but on Jesus.  This where justification comes in, and we let God be God, my standing with God does not depend on me, but on him, and somehow he does it.  Love truly covers a multitude of sins, and we can live in freedom with Jesus.  Maybe a daily occurrence for some, sin will always be available, but so will the spirit to guide us, comfort us, and provide for us.  Just like the last sleep out of summer, we have a new season ahead of us, where the older guys go to junior high, and we go to fifth grade.  Where the horror stories of changing classes, multiple teachers and dressing for gym scare us, but when we look at who has gone ahead, we can have faith to also.  In Christ we have a reason to look ahead, and we aren’t alone.  For he who saved us will never abandon us, nor forsake us for another.  If only my old sleep over friends were so accommodating.  Justification sounds like so much work, yet it is all about Jesus doing it in us, we cannot do it ourselves. 

Paul reminds us that we are not to think like kids anymore, since we are to grow in God’s grace.  We are to put off childish thoughts, and I agree.  But for one last night before I get too old, I would like to pitch a tent in the backyard, maybe on Labor Day, and invite a few friends over for the night.  Remember childhoods, but focus on Jesus.  I’m sure the talk will be different, but one question will remain, Betty or Veronica?  Summer sleep outs don’t answer all the questions, they just prolong the answers.  No matter our age, there will always be a bit of Archie in us, I wonder what stories he tells his grandkids?  Oh for just one more night in the tent....

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

the facts of faith

Years ago when facing a legal situation, I had two friends from opposite cultures providing insight and advice.  And both were right on.  One an ex-chief of police, the other an ex-Hells Angel president.  Talk about opposing cultures, but both were correct in their assessment, they just came at it from different angles, as one told me.  Seems a bit of insight mixed with experience never hurts, we were thankful for their input.  We valued it, but still weighed it based on what the spirit was guiding us to do.  And God performed a miracle only he could, one so evident that you knew it could only come from him.  We never wavered, maybe drug our feet a bit, but our trust in God was rewarded by him doing something no man could do.  Supernatural, compassionate, and forgiving, mercy at its height.  With faith reaching a new height as he result.  Answered prayer will do that, but praying “thy will be done” will give you access to the heart of the Lord, and an insight he shares. 

A key to faith is having faith in the object of your faith, Jesus Christ.  It is so stylish to say “prayer changes things,” but it is the only one who can answer prayer that affects the change.  Your words don’t, his actions do.  Credit God, not you.  Big faith, little faith, waning faith, all the same, it depends on the size of your God.  Abraham faced this with his inability to have children with Sarah, all the practice with the same results.  But two things about God were called into practice here, he gives life to the dead, resurrection of our souls, but also to the dead womb of Sarah.  Old and incapable, it was dead.  To all but God.  The second thing is the creativity of the Lord.  He created life, us out of nothing but dirt.  He is able to call into life the things that don’t exist, things way beyond our wildest comprehension or dreams.  He sees things that are not as if they were.  And gives us entrance to that kind of faith.  Just might change your prayer life and relationship with him.

As Paul was chained in prison, he had to deal with the fact of where he was, who was watching him, and what was the possible outcome.  Faith deals with facts.  Too many times we wander off into a spiritual dream world only to find reality staring us in the face.  We tend to look at the situation in our own eyes instead of those of Jesus.  When faced with how to feed the 5000, Philip offered the same answer as an atheist would have.  We have no food, we are far from town, Burger King closed at 6.  All facts, but in the midst of it, Jesus showed who he was, by providing for everyone with some left over, so they could be reminded at the next meal of the one he provided then.  Faith never evades the facts, it acknowledges them, and then trusts God to make the changes.  Again, not what, but who changes things?

And when God does deliver, do we give him all the glory?  Check your Facebook, so many brag about the numbers who prayed, as if when it hit a magic number God would answer.  Or that it was their prayer that made the difference.  It might have, taking the glory from God and leading a weaker one astray.  Get your millstone ready.  But sometimes we see God’s promise as the obstacle, doubting even he can do it, and when not immediately or on our schedule, we doubt.  Ye of little faith.  Jesus even asked his disciples “couldn’t you have stayed awake another hour?”  You slept through the bet part of the show, the miracles.  Just because it sounds too good to be true, do we doubt God?  When in a coma from heart disease and open heart surgery I should not have lived through, I saw Jesus, a glimpse of heaven, a peace I can only describe as I want to go back to.  “Am I dead,” I asked.  “No, you are very much alive.”  The doctors and nurses were in disbelief, even Peter my cardiologist told me “it was evident that God intervened.”  And yes I want to go back, and know I will someday.  Some might say I beat the odds, but with Jesus it was always 100% in my favor.  Alive on earth to tell about him, or alive in heaven with him.  You never lose when trusting Jesus.

Right now God is at work for us, allowing situations so that he can show himself to us as worthy.  Don’t stop praying, but start acknowledging him and who he is.  What he has done.  All things, good and bad, work together to those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.  All.  His purpose, knowing Jesus, and obtaining everlasting life.  Faith may be the evidence of things not seen but believed, but I have seen him.  He reveals himself daily, are we looking?  Are we listening?  Faith leads to obedience, that builds trust.  Ask Peter, he obeyed when Jesus called to him to walk on the water, it wasn’t faith, he saw Jesus and obeyed.  Read it.  That’s a fact.  Which he carried with him the rest of his life.  Do we have the faith to say “if that is really you Lord, bid me to come?”  Or are we too busy praying about it?  The facts of faith are it is the one who answers that is the important concept.  It takes faith, blind as it may be, to turn on the light switch, it takes real faith to trust British electrics.  We cannot see how it works, it just does.  Do you give God the same chance?  I have the scar and the records to prove my miracle, Jesus has scars to prove his.  Thomas believed without touching, we can believe only when Jesus touches our heart.  Like we learned, all things work together.  What part of all don’t you understand?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

one afternoon on the side of I-10

As many of you know and now all of you know, I ride press bikes for Triumph.  I get them out of the crate, with zero miles, and put on between 500-1500 miles.  A rough job , but someone has to do it.  I have also put miles on custom bikes such as the Carpenter head Rocket 3, with 220 hp on the dyno, and for celebrities such as Christine Aguilera, it seems the bike of choice to be cool in Hollywood is Triumph, so Triumph comes through for them.  Some years I have ridden over 25 bikes in a year, some as few as ten, but always a new adventure, as a new bike on the same road can be different.  I have put over 1000 miles on a Daytona 675 in 18 hours, only to have a magazine editor crash it, and have done many 500 mile days when deadlines must be met.  Quick trips to Monterey, Easter vacations, and other times off have been times to ride a press bike.  I have gone months without riding my own bikes, almost six months once, and have put so many miles on Tigers since their intro in 2011, I should have a high mileage award.  But when Triumph decided to bring out the new generation of Bonnevilles, Modern Classics, suddenly there was a rush to get them broken in and out to the magazines.  With the new Street Twin, needing 500 miles in two days in the dead of winter.  Yes, we do get winter here, and it can be cold.  So I just dress warm and go riding....

But with a cover shoot for Rider magazine in two days, the bike had arrived late and they had a date with the printer, I was off and riding in the 40’s, sun and 60 felt warm.  I usually take all kinds of roads to see how the bikes really operate, this time was freeways, away from cities.  So off I went east on I-10, with very few cars, and lots of headwind, which fortunately turned to tail wind on my return trip.  I have had police officers pace me, look at my rides, even stop me and ask questions, but today was to be different.  I was pulled over by the CHP for going 84 in a 65 zone, just him and me.  And the conversation began....

At first he couldn’t understand why I had a California license and the bike had Georgia plates that read DIST.  And no registration papers.  As I tried to explain who I was, what the bike was, and what I was doing, he got more confused.  I even gave him Triumph’s number to assure him, but too many details confused him.  Plus it turned out he rode, and had never heard of a Street Twin before, and when I tried to explain deadlines, a new model, and my speed, he got more confused.  So he started writing, still not fully comprehending, and them leaned over to me, “if someone goes by, pretend to look like you are signing a ticket.  This is just a warning.”  He was cool, I was without citation, and the cover story had an interesting story to go with it.  I made it back in in time, actually a day ear;y, swapped bikes, and the cover came out perfect.  Which Rider magazine named as their Bike of the Year, and I made a new friend in Mark Tuttle, Editor in Chief.  Plus one CHPpie who shall remain nameless.....

I have been blessed by being able to ride as much as I do, God has given me the desire to ride, and then provides bikes and situations that without him would not be possible.  I can boast, but I have no control over it, I can brag, but I have found it makes some others jealous.  I find that when crediting God with the gift, when thanking him for all I meet when I ride, I get to spend more time with him.  Time that a some may claim is all about riding, or all about the bike, maybe all about the road, but it is really time with God.  Peace and fellowship with Jesus in an Arai.  I could stop there and brag, but not to God who sees me as I am.  He sees the selfishness, the greed, the self righteousness, and how pride can show up when I least expect it.  He sees all my clever maneuvering and still loves me.  Therefore all these actions can be meaningless to God, and can get in the way of our relationship.  I felt completely different after pretending to sign a ticket than when I was first pulled over.  But God humbles me,and uses Abraham as an example.

One night he took Abraham out and showed him all the stars in the sky, promising him to number his descendants as the number of the stars, countless.  Paul writes Abraham believed God and it was found righteous, and God called him his friend.  We cannot be righteous on our own terms, in some circles I would be a big shot, along the side of the road, just another scofflaw.  When we base who we are on Jesus Christ, when we are spirit driven, when it is what he did and not what we do that is important, we see a glimpse of the righteousness that Abraham did.  But the key ingredient is that Abraham trusted God.  He was given a choice of roads to take, and he chose the lesser of the two, Sodom and Gemorrah being the most attractive, the rolling landscapes beautiful, but chose the desert instead, and in doing so chose Jesus.  He learned that righteousness that comes from performance is useless, but when it comes from God it is valuable and eternal.  When we truly seek Jesus first, he adds his righteousness, we cannot.  Lest we boast about ourselves.  We all want to be accepted by God, and many strive through acts of their own to gain it.  Fact is there is nothing you can do to make God love you more, or to gain his favor.  But you can bask in his glory, and spend time with him, and be found a friend as Abraham did.  Jesus even told us “you are my friends if you do the things I ask.”  What does he ask, to love him first with all your heart, and then all men after the same way.  You can either be religious or righteous, one based on man, the other based on Jesus.  God forgives, man doesn’t.  Religion binds, the spirit sets us free.

So I am blessed because I let God bless me.  I hope to give him the glory by telling you this story, there was nothing I do to get to ride like I do, for it too is based on a relationship with a friend, who is the National Service Manager for Triumph Motorcycles.  When we see it all comes down to relationships, we can see Jesus more clearly.  If only we could see him as clearly as Abraham saw the stars that night.  I tried to explain to the CHPpie, I don’t think he ever got it.  But showed me mercy.  Don’t wait to get pulled over to pray, inside your Arai, your half shell, or your jail cell will do.  Abraham is known as a man of great works, his greatest work was trusting God.  How great is your God, it will only show by how great your works are.  His works in you.  And may God credit them to you as righteousness...

Which sure beats explaining to the man on the side of the road.....

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

you can now turn your cell phones back on

In high school when we were not too cool for school, BH was asked to write how he would end the war in Viet Nam.  We had a teacher who had just returned from infantry duty there, and was pretty hard core, at least for us middle class white kids.  But among the “we need to negotiate,” use nuclear, then called atomic bombs, draft everyone and over run the country, he had a common sense solution, most unlike him.  Just interrupt and destroy the paper flow as it was called then, in other words, hack their emails.  Think about it, without communication, the enemy is always guessing and unable to coordinate a fight plan.  It doesn’t need to be hacked, just short circuited for a short time, like when your cable goes off and we all panic, and you have them.  Confused and disoriented, and a step ahead.  A reverse sort of propaganda, how can you answer a message you never get?  He got an A, we all thought it was brilliant, and in some archive of his, I know he saved the paper.  I copied it the next year for a history class and got an A, but she questioned if it was really original?  It was to me.....evidence of why we study, to pass the test.  Learning optional, where available.  This was public school in the early 1970’s.  Now just ask someone to turn off their phone in church and get ready for the dirty looks.  I rest my case....

So much controversy used to be made about those in Africa who didn’t hear the gospel, was it right they went to hell?  Usually after a traveling missionary was there seeking cash.  When asked by my friends from the USA, Union of South Africa, where they sent missionaries, they said the USA, us.  Seems both continents are equally dark to the other.  But much was said and is said about hearing the gospel, must it be face to face, via radio or satellite, dropping off tons of Bibles, or via the internet?  Depending upon your venue, each one is superior to the other.  With one exception, who does the saving?  Who changes hearts?  How were people saved before modern technology, if at all?  Maybe it’s a good thing we came along when we did, or not.  But Paul answers the question in Romans for us.  Ready, here it comes...

God judges by light.  Not the Ten Commandments, covering all born pre law.  And pre Jesus.  He judges us based on what he has placed in our hearts like he did Adam and Eve.  And how we base our actions and decisions on them.  Not knowing the law will be no excuse, just as “I didn’t know it was wrong to go 136 in a 55 zone” I used one night.  Ignorance is no defense for sin.  Adam tried, using clever words, but he knew.  And so do we.  They and we will perish because we knew the right thing to do, Jesus, but decided not to.  Those in the past chose to go against what was right, their decision and their fate.  Our lives are an example of what we know, the difference between right and wrong.  Some rely on only their conscience, but neglect how deceiving the heart can be.  When any other standard than God’s is proposed, the answer is death.  Even in the 10 Commandments there is no salvation,  no forgiveness, yet they are a great way to live.  It takes a someone rather than a something, and so he sent Jesus.  Not based on situations, but based on his forgiveness.  Our hearts are dark often, I am glad I live in the age of grace, pre law  or the law, chances are I might not have made it.  My conscience defiled, just like it says in Romans.

The spirit that hovered over the earth in creation and then gave it shape, does the same today, we are void without Jesus.  And any interruption of service between the holy spirit and us, saved or non, can lead to disaster.  “The message may not get through,” we are told, as if God needs man to save others.  He does use us as instruments, but only as instruments, only Jesus saves.  Not us. So why many use worldly ways to spread the gospel, God and his spirit have always been at work.  A still, small voice heard above the storm.  Light in the dark, peace in a time of turmoil.  To some he was referred to as the unknown God, to us we know him as Jesus Christ.  God will not judge us by what we don’t know, but by what we do know.  Do you know Jesus?

Spiritual hacking is nothing new, and lies are as old as the garden.  But the truth still sets us free, and Jesus is the truth.  So maybe next time you are asked for a donation, told “how will they hear if we don’t go?” remind them of the holy spirit’s job.  The perfect evangelist, who takes no collection.  Rather than worry about those who haven’t heard, maybe you need only to look to yourself first.  Now you have heard, and who do you say Jesus is? 

Jew and Gentile will both stand in judgment.  “War is not the answer, falling in love can complicate,” Marvin Gaye once sang.  He asked “what’s going on?”  The what is a who, Jesus is going on.  Will you go on with him?  You can now turn your cell phones back on.

Based on Romans 2:12-16.  Long before technology there was Jesus.  And will be long after too.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

a whole #6 for $1.30

As a kid growing up in Scotch Plains, downtown didn’t have much to offer.  No real place for kids to hang out, and Wallis Stationery sold anything form pipe tobacco to toys, but was never friendly to us kids. But if my dad was along....Smitty sold appliances, and Jean’s Beans on the corner sold take out food.   But rather nondescript, the old Shop Rite still there, but the new one on Route 22 got all the business.  It was Alphonso’s for pizza, Snuffy Jr.’s for a burger, but in between, no shops or real reasons to go downtown.  So we rarely did...it was off to Westfield, which its downtown was actually closer.  With auto stores like R&S, where I bought the fuzzy tiger stripe seat for my Schwinn Stingray, and later would look at all the Pep Boys type displays, promising me that’s my engine would quit burning oil, the slipcovers would help my worn out seats regain their factory appearance, and other ways to separate my money from my wallet.  A must on any Saturday.  The Leader Store sold clothes and sporting goods, we all wanted to shop there when we got older, it was Ivy League all the way, but we weren’t when we came of age.  A trip through Woolworths with the old wood floors, women clerks everywhere, and the coolest pet department ever, if you were into parakeets and fish.  You could hear the birds singing all through the store, although I never saw one purchased.  Out the back door, across the lot, and it was our final destination, Play Fair.  The ultimate toy store before Toys R Us, the front of the store was for kids, but the back was all about car models, where big kids, teenagers waited on you, showing off the complete models they had built, and a glass case full of Matchbox cars.  How many hours the average kid spent just looking isn’t known, I consumed at lest a few weeks worth, and my completed models still never turned out like theirs.  How did they get the gluey fingerprints off the windshield?  How come their wheels would roll?  How did their parts seem to fit together?  And no way you could get a brush job to look like that!  But at 39 cents a can for spray paint, who had the money?  I guess it was reserved for the big guys...in our dreams we would could see us behind the counter, showing off our new models, only to be brought back to reality by “hey kid you looking or buying?”  I looked a lot, shopped at Two Guys where the same model was 40 cents cheaper.  Were those big guys in ties really making 40 cents an hour?  WOW! 

Lunch meant Dukes for a sub, #6 roast beef, a whole for $1.30, made while you watched.  Lots of paper route money was spent there, then home.  But things were changing and so were we....

The traffic cops we used to think were fun to watch as they directed traffic at the intersections, now gave us menacing looks as we rode by on our Hondas.  Play Fair was gone, couldn’t even look back to see what was there.  Woolworths would fold, and be torn down.  R&S out of business, and no reason to shop at the Leader Store, psychodelic was in at Dead Ice Cream, and Dukes moved, then closed.  Stopping at a Jersey Mike’s the other day, who is owned by a guy named Pete, they try to pass off a sub like Dukes, but fall short. For only $8.25.  But if you never had a Dukes sub, you’d never know.  And the kid serving you wouldn’t care.  Oh to be a kid again, if for only one sunny Saturday, I wonder if R&S would have seat covers for our Mustang?  And would I have enough cash on me for a whole #6 with extra onions.....

Times change and so do we.  So many of our past memories are not there when we travel back again.  Just trying to get directions from a new resident can make you feel old, or crazy.  A few years back I inquired about a Flying A station with café in Fanwood, I used to eat there Saturday mornings with my Dad when finishing their new house. It’s gone, and no one could remember it ever being there.  No history on the books, “was I sure?”  I knew better than to pursue it any further.  It seems we all can be guilty of normalcy bias, a psycho babble word for if I didn’t see it, then it didn’t exist.  Used by those who deny Jesus or at least his deity too often.   The New Testament was written and widely read within 50 years of Jesus’ crucifixion.  Yet it takes the historian Josephus to back it up, not the other way around.  Seems many who were there would have protested, maybe even quietly if it weren’t true, but we forget that God inspired the Bible, and is known for his accuracy.  When telling stories of when I was a kid, I get “boy you must be old,” when really it is “you must be young.”  Neither a crime as far as I can tell.  But God has always been and so has Jesus.  They remember and also forget.  They remember from before the day of creation, but forget our sin when we ask forgiveness, as if it never happened.  We do the opposite, I can remember many who wronged me years ago, but forget how Jesus loves them too.  Seems we all are guilty of the same sins, yet we see them through different eyes than our own.  The wording making the difference.  The lie and steal, we stretch the truth.  Others betray, we are protecting our rights.  Some show prejudice, we have convictions.  Some murder and kill, we exploit and ruin.  While we yell “stone them, arrest them!” but fail to realize we are guilty of the same sins.  Imagine if we heard the sound of stones hitting the ground rather than pummeling others, but sin will always be sin, fortunately Jesus will always be Jesus. 

Just the opposite is faith, trusting in someone we cannot see, cannot here, or cannot fully describe, yet we place our whole lives in his hands.  Some to the point of ridicule or death.  Walking the streets of Jerusalem today many sites are claimed to be where Jesus walked.  But the people he walked with are long gone.  We cannot be sure where exactly he walked, but we can be sure he is still alive today.  And we can walk with him.  And for those who do, we have an eternal future of grace.  We may not know what tomorrow may bring, but we know what eternity brings.  What a difference forgiveness makes.

Sometimes we need to go back to see how far we have come.  To see how we are testimonies to how Jesus Christ changes lives.  In my mind I can still see the models at Play Fair, or taste and smell Dukes.  No photos to back up either, but no photos of Jesus either.  Who wasn’t camera shy, but out among the people.  Just like we were as kids.  Maybe a trip back downtown is needed to see how far he has brought us.  Park the car, break out the old Schwinn, walk the sidewalks, and see how far we have come.  Keeping our eyes focused on Jesus, seeing into a future unknown but with great anticipation.  Giving us a reason to live.  For he is life.  Downtowns, home towns and even the street names may change, Jesus never does.  How do you get better than perfect?  I would just love to see the model cars he built as a kid.....hands so delicate they could build the details, yet so tough they took the nails for us on the cross.  Life begins when Jesus enters your life, we may only have a finite amount of years to look back, but have forever to look ahead.  Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there will always be something about his name.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com