the night I met Big Don

BH and I were best riding buddies in high school, and so when he went away to college, it was a place to ride to and see him on weekends.  180 miles away, I put on a lot of miles to and from, and was welcomed into his crazy group of friends because I was his friend.  Think of the A Team and Animal House combined, that was them, us.  With one guy Big Don, an integral part.  Don was from the South, drove a Hemi Cuda that was rumored built around him, as he was 6’ 9” tall and 360 pounds of red neck.  We could picture him on the assembly line having parts of car added to him.  But despite my first few visits, I had never met him, until early one morning.  After striking out girl wise on campus, we went some 40 miles down the road to another in my car.  I got lucky, they didn’t, so they left in my car, the price of success, and I figured I was in for the night.  Until I wasn’t allowed back into her dorm, and was on the street, cold, no jacket, no phones on a strange campus, with only my walking stick, that I had borrowed from Arch Angel.  Which was how the campus police found me, and after warming up in the station, cut me loose around 4 am, just as they had found me, the one concession was dropping by I-80 so I could hitchhike back. 

Now cold is one of those things that defies temperature, when  you are cold, you are cold, and late October nights in Pennsylvania mean frost.  I am not sure how long I waited, but a tank truck stopped to pick me up, and as I opened his door,  his chains fell out.  Cold steel on cold skin, don’t try this at home, his cab heat never felt so good.  And he was able to drop me a few blocks from BH’s dorm.  With the sun coming up, cold and frozen, hung over and hurting, I could barely see, and inside the dorm, knocked on the door with the pink crowbar BH left outside of it.  After banging and yelling “open up!” the door opened, and I kept looking up at a person bigger than the doorway.  “What do you want?” he growled, holding me by my wrist in front of him, feet off the ground.  I had knocked on the wrong door!  So as I explained who I was, he let me down, told me BH was across the hall, said he was glad to meet me.  And that is how I met Big Don, aka the Biggest of the Dons.  We would meet more times after on campus, I was in the crazy group of friends, but somehow felt uneasy.  What if he remembered being woken up that morning....what if?  A lot of what ifs crossed my mind, so I was always respectful to him.  And every time I see a pink crowbar, or a Hemi Cuda I think Big Don. 

While hanging by a crowbar in front of Big Don, and thinking on a night where it couldn’t get any worse it was about to, knowing BH and having him as a friend may have saved my life.  In a world where size matters in warfare, I was outgunned, out maneuvered, and out manned.  But mentioning BH set me free.  I wasn’t saved at the time, but some months later when I was, the name of Jesus set me free.  Where I had gone knocking on a door to be let in, he was knocking on mine to be let into my heart, and save me.  So often we can see the physical, it is tangible, but we are told the things we cannot see are eternal.  With God providing reminders everyday of his presence, and even how before we were saved he loved us and was looking out for us.  So many are looking for God, opening the wrong doors and being let in, safe and welcomed at first, until the lies expose themselves.  Truth will always win, but it is our decision to choose or reject it.  Jesus is the truth, the joy we have when we trust him, and know he will protect us, even from ourselves.  I am not sure in my old fallen state of mine what I would have done if someone knocked on my door that early,  but I am glad it was Big Don who did, and maybe spared my life.  But God is for us, so who can be against us?

When a young teenage shepherd named David was to meet a nine foot tall Philistine with six fingers and toes, his friends feared the worst.  Sound familiar?  But as he was listening to his pregame pep talk, more of a “where do you want the body sent?”  he remarked, “why are you worrying?  Was not God with me against the lion?  The bear?  Why should  I fear now, for he is with me?”  And we all know how he defeated the giant with one stone, even having a few extra just in case.  He might only get one shot, and he made it a good one, but was hedging his bet just in case.  But God came through in a battle he was sure to lose if not trusting God.  Today we will be tested as David was, as I was, and who will we depend on?  The weapons of man or the weapons of God?  He has given us his spirit, and even unto the  cross, when Jesus was crucified, it seemed all was lost.  But an empty tomb, where the angel explained where Jesus was, reminding them of his words of how on the third day he will be resurrected.  In the darkest hour, God still had everything under control.  The devil may have had his day, but we have eternal life in Jesus Christ.  But I doubt he did, as he knows the scriptures too, and knew Jesus would be resurrected.  And today knows his days are numbered as the end is near, and Jesus calls his family of believers home.  The rapture we call it, when in the blink of an eye we will be with him in heaven.  The blessed hope we all live for, but for now, we are here on earth, on borrowed time, as his spokesman for the gospel. 

If you don’t know his man Jesus who stands knocking at the door, you can today, as today is promised as the day of salvation for many.  Tomorrow is not promised, and saying nothing is really say no to him.  You may fell abandoned and cold like I was, buzzed and upset, not thinking clearly, angry and resentful, and you have all the qualifications for salvation.  Jesus loves you as you are, he wants to give you better things, so you don’t have to stay that way. He wants to forgive you, so you can forgive others, and forgive yourself.  So you can tell others of how he saves, and how he saved you.  So when the days seem darkest and death is at your door, you fear no evil, because he is with you.  David knew that, and true believers know it too. Life will offer you many what ifs, I care to not think about what if  had never met Jesus?  I was going to hell, and my life style was helping me.  I will always remember the night I met Big Don, but will always forever and ever remember the day I met Jesus Christ.  I was dying, dead, and didn’t know it until he saved me and gave me a new life.  Like the song says, “you don’t know what you’re missing till you meet the Lord!”  I hope all of  us can sing that some day......together with Jesus face to face.  But for now, I know that he is with me until the ends of the earth, never leaving me nor forsaking me.  That wherever I am, his spirit is with me.  You never know what or who is behind that door.....but you will never have to face it alone.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

marketing-why if it's good for Harley, why isn't it good for God?

Time flies when you are riding fun. And over the first million miles I have met a lot of people, ridden a lot of roads, and stopped at many motorcycle shops along the way.  A few years ago we went back through Durango where we lived for seven years and stopped in Handlebar Cycle.  None of the old familiar faces of 40 years ago were there, except for Gary, who had been running the place before we came along.  After doing some 30 years since we last saw each other catching up, I mentioned the Harley store down the road, and the fact I was surprised they didn’t own it.  Knowing Durango and how tough a town to make it in it can be, he said Harley had approached them, but they weren’t interested.  They had a plan, down to location, hours, how many bikes he would sell, and how many employees he would need.  A plug in location that Gary would own, but they would dictate, really an arm of Harley.  It seems the motor company who advertises the Great American Freedom Machine allows no freedom for its dealers.  So Gary told them no, they weren’t interested, and as he had seen so many dealerships come and go, he didn’t want to join them.  Or Harley.  In a what is good for Harley is good for the dealership owner, over 40 years he knew better, but it seems Harley isn’t the only one. 

Stopping at the Triumph store in Dubuque, Iowa, he has been Honda and Triumph since the fifties.  Confessing that the only reason he keeps Triumph is because he likes the bikes, the factory stinks.  In a town of under 100,000, he is expected to sell thousands of dollars of shirts a month, sell a certain amount of new bikes, and accessories.  A trend I see across the US of A, with the dealer getting little or no help form the factory.  Like the Great American Freedom promise, the promise on one side of the counter is different than the promise on the other.  Marketing plans only work if based on the market, using experience that cannot be taught.  But yet our motorcycling freedom is being threatened by lack of good dealers, and being replaced by new ones just in it for the money.  Now I want my local guys to be profitable, I want then to be there when I need them, but you cannot dictate success, loyalty, or profitability, and despite Amazon style buying sweeping the nation, we are not yet ready to give up the one on one personal relationship with our dealers nor our motorcycles.  Nor our God either!

In an ever changing world, it is refreshing we have an ever lasting God.  Things had changed over the 40 years ago we lived in Durango, old places replaced with new faces, with a few exceptions, Handlebar and the Durango Diner.  So many businesses had come and  gone, some losing everything, some just getting out by the skin of their teeth.  Some cashing out early and going on to another endeavor, and some still not sure what was going on.  It happens in business, it never should happen with Jesus.  God stays the same, Jesus never changes and can always be counted on, his love never fades or changes.  Yet the places we worship do, I wonder, how many churches could survive a month, a week, without donations or collections?  Budgets set by their organization, and pastors being held accountable to them and not to God.  Programs replacing God’s promise that is he doesn’t build the church, we labor in vain, yet I have been part of discussions of how to get more people to our church, how to reach the young and lost, and failing.  Inviting strangers to church, and being told no, or like a local example, setting up a food bank miles form where the homeless are, and then when it fails blaming them. 

Do you want to minister?  When I first decided to go into ministry, I read the ads for help in churches, I lacked the degree although I had the experience, as if knowing the Bible via seminary was equal to knowing Jesus.  A man I know who was called into ministry, finally accepting God’s challenge after his wife confronted him, “how much money will it take to obey the holy spirit?”  So just as there are false prophets, there is false profit also.  If God calls you to do something, he will also provide all you need, including the funds.  Somehow without motels, franchised food, and no internet, the gospel flourished under Jesus, and still does today in third world countries.  Maybe Mother Teresa said it best, when confronted by a reporter in a make shift hospital filled with disease and dying, exclaimed “I wouldn’t do this for a million dollars.”  Her reply says it best, “either would I.”  The question is, would we?  Do we?

Thirty years ago who would have thought Harley would be selling so many bikes?  Or would be betting on the first mainline electric bike from a major manufacturer?  Or that the Great American Freedom Machine would be found at  store with no freedom?  Test rides that have come and gone, now coming back, some with incentives because business is down.  That crowd rides would be an attraction, and $20k and 20 miles would make a biker?  Yet going to a church will not make you a Christian, only knowing Jesus will.  His freedom comes in the spirit, no rules, only one request, love him first, and others as you do him.  No fancy stickers, Bible covers, or shirts proclaiming what a great Christian you are, show it in love by your actions and attitudes.  Time still flies when having fun, but are you sure where you will land?  Will the dealer, the church be there when you need it?  Will they stay late or open early when you need them?  Those of us in Christ know better, that there is none better.  So seek him first as he asks, then all things will added unto you.  Open arms and open doors, no appointment needed. 

By the way I heard Kennedy’s Cycle in Oceanside closed, Bill finally retired.  Closing the shop when no one was interested in running it anymore.  Seems the dedication to motorcycling is failing along with the churches dedication to Jesus.  The riders will be there, they will find another shop and talk of the good old days.  Only in Jesus do we have the blessed promise of tomorrow, some will try to take over for Kennedy, just as some try to take over for Jesus, but the truth will still be the only thing that sets us free.  After 44 years of being a Christian, I can say Jesus never failed me.  His door is always open, his hands outstretched to embrace me.  If only the church and Harley got the same message.....it would be like an old Mercedes Benz ad.

“We have a dealer who is selling more cars, what should we do?”  “Send him more cars...”  Now that’s a marketing plan.  Unless God builds the church, us, the body of believers, we labor in vain.  You get religion, the very thing Jesus came to set us free from.  Freedom is nothing new to Jesus, he has been setting sinners free for centuries, for those who are in Christ are free indeed.  I hope you can say the same....Time isn’t getting faster, we are getting slower. And now we don’t call them motorcycle, they are powersports dealers.  Marketing, if it’s good for Harley, why isn’t it good for God?

love with compassion,
mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

keeping up with the Harleys

Lead, follow, or just get out of the way!  This may be one approach to Harley Davidson and its motorcycles.  From being rescued from the brink of extinction by some savvy businessmen, then with the help of President Reagan enacting a tariff against imports over 700cc, then the marketing move to rival the return of Classic Coke, Harley rides on into the night.  In each case, a move that kept them alive and prospering, selling more bikes than anyone else in the US of A, without any distinct improvement of the product.  Call it an insolent motorcycle, since the V-twin became its calling card, it still is underpowered, overweight, too expensive, and a place to buy a t-shirt for twice their value.  While the metric guys tried to scramble-no pun intended, to keep up with such clones as the Honda Fury, Kawasaki Vulcan, and even BMW had a horribly styled cruiser styled bike some years back, they kept changing paint, adding models, upping prices, and leaving out performance, which could be purchased under their Screamin’ Eagle brand, and moving the product out the door.  But while other brands marketing spent time keeping up with the Harleys, their engineering department was miles ahead, for less money, more reliability, and way more performance.  Measure it in miles per gallon, or smiles per gallon, their engineering was behind, but their sales were still ahead.  Go figure....I’ll ride.

The local Harley store just took on BMW, now to me that is a strange marriage, as both are elitist motorcycles, and attract two different types of riders.  I stumbled in the first day they were open with BMW, and a long time Harley rider was trading his Ultra Glide for a six cylinder touring bike.  Seems he had reluctantly ridden his friends, and the Harley mystique was his Harley mistake.  His Harley buddies with him were making fun of him, but after one test ride, another talked trade, and the third’s wife said “we’re leaving, we don’t have this one paid off yet.”  I was offered a ride, I know the salesman, who rides a Yamaha FZ09, and he saw my Street Triple, and said, “sorry...”  Seems some can keep up with the payments, they cannot keep up with other riders.

But for now the industry is still keeping up with the Harleys, even though Harley has finally adding features from 20 years ago to its ranks.  Its marketing department teaches their skills at a college, they are the only dealer in town that has free lunches and concerts on weekends, but Indian has hurt them.  And now with their Flat Tracker, fast and attractive, Indian has performance while Harley has the Sportster.  Both brag on tradition, both are expensive, and are each others main competitor.  Maybe the signs are there, Harley has a store right across the street from the Indian factory, and our local Harley store handles Indians.  With the other Indian dealers around selling metric rides also.  Across the US of A as we travel.  And Triumph in Kansas City.   It is a great time to ride, but maybe not a Harley, as their trade in values are dropping, higher retails meant higher resales, and one dealer was offering gift cards for free rides.  Ten years ago no one sold a Harley for sticker, now they are dealing.  Who is keeping up with who, or is it whom?

While dealers speak of conquest sales, I find it within churches also.  Programs, processes, and procedures are the new evangelistic tool, kids programs, Harvest Festivals, Vacation bible School advertised as a play date, and add in special speakers, concerts, and the like, it sounds like marketing rather than Jesus.  At an outdoor concert a few years back, after we left the grounds looked like Woodstock with so much trash on the ground.  Now we know the disciples picked up extra baskets of fish and bread, but what about the trash?  I am on various mailing lists, from pay to pray, to unlocking secrets of the Bible, and all with an admission fee, I wonder, where’s Jesus?  Has the church gone the way of Harley Davidson and forgot about the product and substituted marketing for the gospel?  While bookstores are crammed with how to books about God, they reference the Bible instead of the Bible being the book to read.  Even marketing has given us women’s, children’s and I have a police officers Bible on my shelf.  add in the CMA version, and again I ask, “where is Jesus?”  Do we respond to a book cover instead of the holy spirit?  Years ago we were able to get different colored New Testaments from the Gideons, red for HA, black for Mongols, green for Vagos, and so on.  They each took one based on the color, I never had one refused.  So maybe marketing moves Bibles, but does it save souls?  Have you ever met a Bible student so versed in scripture but not knowing Jesus?  Knowing about is different than knowing him personally.  Maybe we need a day of rest alone with God.  He calls it the Sabbath, a day of rest.

And it was made for you.  To rest in him.  Yet I see different versions of it, and even Jesus was wrongly accused by the Pharisees.  Bad marketing of the truth of the Sabbath, even with some churches meeting on Saturdays under the old covenant.  Too many rules means too many rules to break, there is no rest in that.  Some years ago we decided to have no plans on Sundays.  Sometimes it was spent reading or riding, sometimes working in the yard, maybe go out for lunch.  But we found ourselves to be rested for Monday, able to think clearer, and spent a low stress day, doing what we wanted, not what we had to.   A Sabbath is meant to be a day of rest, to enjoy God with no outside influence, to worship freely, and enjoy the gifts he has given you, to honor his works and bask in his love.  Try it....you’ll like it.  Just you and Jesus, cleaning a flower bed, detailing your bike.  Catching up on your reading, maybe just with family.  No rules, no marketing plans, no appointments.  Resting in God as he wants us to. 

So while some try to keep up with the Harleys, the church next door, the guy across the aisle in church, why not try Jesus.  Who offers rest.  Physical, emotional, and spiritual.  The three things he asked Peter to do on the beach that night, “feed my sheep.”  You may find you end up with a refreshed mind, a clean flower bed, and detailed bike.  A low pressure lunch, good conversations on the front porch, and time with Jesus, as he is with you.  Maybe an insight of why the Jews gave special meaning to gathering for meals, and why we need to eat and fellowship together.  Religion wants us to keep up with Jesus, he offers rest.  Rather than a book on how to, we need to ask how come we don’t rest?  Which we all need....a rest from our works and to thank God for his.

We are in the race to finish, an endurance not a sprint.  Progress has been a good thing, it may be going on too long.  Jesus offers “come to me all who are weary, and I will give you rest.”  If a Harley and a BMW can reside under one roof, maybe the lion laying down with the lamb is really possible after all!  Sundays will never be the same when you rest in Jesus.  All without a how to or marketing plan.  Or fee.  And it’s fun.  And all the rest...and riding you need.

love with compassion,

Mike

mattehw25biker.blogspot.com

the rivalry

Labor Day weekend is upon us, and for many it means hitting the books instead of hitting the beaches.  The end of summer, the beginning of fall.  Baseball winds down, and football takes over.  With football being the guiding force in two towns in Eastern Pennsylvania where my parents are from.  Two small towns totaling about 6500 residents between them, where it is all about football.  With game day crowds from 7000-8000 to prove it.  The show Friday Night Lights may have touched on it, but having a family that grew up where you were with Methodist or football, you made a choice.  But as much as they anticipated the season starting, it was all about them facing off on Thanksgiving Day, and who had the bragging rights until next year.  You may have won every game, but if you lost on Thanksgiving, that was your legacy.  You may be All Conference, have a full ride scholarship to Penn State, but if you threw the interception, dropped the pass, or missed the tackle, that was how you would be remembered.  I can remember being at the Park with my cousin, and having someone pointed out, “his Dad blew the game in ‘49,” or “she might be pretty, but her brother threw the interception last year,” and she would be forever tainted.  But their all time great halfback Woody Petchel was a friend of mine, wonder if he is still dodging tacklers and scoring touchdowns today?  Winning or losing would dictate the mood over the dinner afterwards, some were very quiet at my Grandparents when they lost, and exciting when they won.  The cars going by honking and waving, with all of us waving back, but when you lost......and this year they celebrate 100 years of the rivalry. 

Football was winning on Thanksgiving, my parents told of one year the opposing quarterback was kidnapped right before the game, and returned right after.  They knew who did it, no charges filed, all was fair that day, with winning being the only thing as Vince Lombardi once said.  He could have been talking about this rivalry.  But the story that I heard over and over, was how one Thanksgiving,while everyone from both towns were at the stadium, some thieves went through both towns and cleaned out the businesses.  A huge loss financially, but coming in second to who won and lost on the field.  Heroes were made that day, and heroes lost, boyfriends and girlfriends would break up, families quit speaking, and employment might change.  What it was, was football, and your future might depend on it.  48 minutes that would change the life of many.......

The story is told of how Jesus met two men along the road one Friday afternoon.  They were men of no reputation like he was, they had been convicted as thieves, Jesus as claiming to be the Son of God.  Not much is recorded of their conversations as they hung on crosses for hours, but one man recognized Jesus as the savior, his savior, and despite his past, was promised heaven.  No classes, no rote prayers, no joining a church, no going forward at a service, evangelism in its most basic form, one on one with Jesus.  His past was all he had up until then, now all he had was a future, all predicated on his winning that afternoon.  While the crowds ridiculed him, made fun of Jesus, and taunted him, he heard the voice of the holy spirit calling to him, and his simple words, “Jesus remember me in paradise,” told of his repentant heart, his recognition of Jesus as his Lord and savior, and his final choice of where he would spend eternity.  Sadly his other thief friend denied the very thing he embraced, choosing his past over his future, being prideful until the end thinking God would never, or could never forgive him.  One house that night would claim victory, another in defeat. 

I think of all the winners I have known over the years, having it all but forsaking it and denying Jesus Christ.  Like the rich man who was told to sell all he had and give to the poor, is riches drug him down and he drowned in his sin. How much will Bill Gates leave when he dies?  Everything, you cannot take it with you.  Handsome, rich, powerful men dying with all the toys, yet not winning eternity.  Their Thanksgiving Day game of life hinging on what they have, or thought they had, fumbling themselves into hell in the final moments.  The spirit is always calling to us, Jesus is knocking, just not one knock, but knocking, to be let in.  Yet they turn up the sound, trying to drown him out.  His love never failing as the person he calls to does.  We may never know what exactly transpired on the cross between the three men that day, it is as personal as when we come to Christ, but Jesus once again proves that winning is everything, and the only thing.  One thief that day won the only game he ever may have won, but it is how he will be remembered, and remembering Christ.  The other who denied him will not be there, but spend eternity knowing who and and what he rejected.  We are not guaranteed tomorrow, and today will be the day of salvation for many.  Don’t blow a great career for a big loss, or forego heaven because of your past.  We are all born into sin and fall short of God’s glory.  But Jesus gives us all that one last chance to make it to heaven.  No matter where you may be hanging out or hanging out with...

Overtime and sudden death have new and different meanings to Christians.  Overtime is where we will spend eternity in heaven with Jesus.  The others who have rejected him over time, will know sudden death.  Life begins at death for a Christian, it ends when you deny Jesus.  Don’t be like the woman at the airport who recognized All Star first baseman, John Kruk. “You’re famous, you’re an athlete, aren’t you?” she asked.  “No mam, I’m a ballplayer.”  Some are in the game to play.  Some are in the game to win, today you may be the comeback player of the year by being saved, or mourned over for denying him and losing everything.  Personally I have gotten used to winning in Christ....I have taken up my cross and followed the man on the cross.  Three men, one conversation.  Choices to be made.  Just might give you a whole new perspective on Thanksgiving....and football.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com