...and then along comes Mary...

My friend Lance used to have a crush on Mary Tyler Moore.  Just mention her name and his face would light up with that Lance smile and go “ahhh...Mary,” and then we had to withstand all the praise and accolades he had for her.  But it wasn’t MTM that he worshipped, it was her character, Mary Richards on her show, the associate producer who coddled Ted Baxter and Lou Grant with a sensitivity and grace far beyond our understanding.  It was that Mary, the one who washed her own 1970 Mustang, who was Rhoda’s best friend, who dated but never married that he adored.  In a world and at a time when sexual themes were changing, Mary had a virgin like quality to her, morals we would call them, and respected herself, as others did her.  But she was also real, as laughing at Chuckles the Clown’s funeral, and somehow always being the bridesmaid, but never the bride.  It was these real life qualities we all could relate to that made him and us love her, and we weren’t sure if there was no man deserving of her, or she was deserving of no man.

Pastor Jon Corson tells of his daughter Jesse who hadn’t who hadn’t decided on a date for her prom.  A God fearing and wonderful Christian girl, she loved Jesus, ministered to many in love, and at age 16 already had a legacy much like Mary Richards.  One night before the prom asking period, one of her brothers told her that no man was good enough for her because she was too good, had too high standards, Godly standards.  No one would ever reach her standards for good.  Where was she ever going to find the man deserving of her?  The next day as was her habit, she took communion before school, and on the way to school was in a single car accident, her VW slipping on ice and she was killed.  Similar to how Jon had lost his first wife and in the same area.  While overcome with emotions, his daughter taken but in heaven, it was his son who running home when he heard the news announced, “Jesse has finally found the man worthy of her.”  Jesus Christ.  How many of us would or could rejoice in the midst of such a situation?  How many of us ever feel not worthy of Jesus?  Yet his love for us is not based on what we do, but who he is, and not who we are, but what he did.  When we put him first, and use him as the highest standard, he honors us, and we see him clearly for who he is.  A witness to others of him and his love, and truly her brother saw the truth.  A time to see a side of Jesus and his love we might have otherwise missed. But still the pain of losing a loved one remains.

Years ago when a girl I was ministering to died, I talked with her grief stricken father at the service.  He loved and missed his daughter, when leaving I told him, “please pray for my sons, you can sleep in peace tonight knowing where your daughter is, I cannot because I don’t know where they are.”  Last week another friend confided in me how his son just died unexpectedly, and poured out his heart to me.   I was taken aback at his trust in me, and the words God gave me were what he needed to hear.  “When Absalom died, David was grief stricken, but remembered, I can go to him, he cannot come to me.”  Tonight those who have graduated to heaven are well, it is us who still suffer in this world, and if not for Jesus Christ would be perishing.  Grief like love is a private relationship with God, and without his spirit guiding us we too will be overwhelmed, when we can be overwhelmed by his love.  A choice we make, and a tough course to follow, but we too will pass, and how will we be remembered?  Like Lance and his adoration of the character Mary, will it be our character, or a character the world sees us as?  Just when all seems lost, along comes Mary, or someone like her to comfort us, to remind us all is not as bad as it seems.  That there is hope and it is found only in Jesus Christ.  Why as Christians do we relate more to Mary Richards than to Jesus?  She is a sit com created by a writer, Jesus is real, and revealed through Biblical writers.  Who do you put your trust in?  “Ahhh Mary, or  ahhh Jesus?  Might just tell us more about our true religion and relationship than we care to share. 

Years ago I cleared my trophy case and wall of all the awards I had ever won.  There was a time they meant something to me, but over time they lost their value.  Are we in it to win it or win the trophy, the accolades?  But I kept two trophies my bikes won, for being Best European Bike at a Christian bike show.  All the Harley guys were out to win a trophy, I was out to ride.  They were competing, I really didn’t care, no trophy would make me love my rides any better.  But in the face of all the mocking of what I rode, I won the prize.  I dared to be different and not ride what everyone else rode, and I choose to live my life in Christ the same way.  Keep your religion, I’ll keep my relationship.  I look forward to heaven, and seeing Jesus face to face, what has your religion promised you?  I worship the truth of Jesus Christ, not a watered down, emaciated gospel.  And I know that because of who Jesus is and what he did, I don’t get what I deserve, but what he has promised.  If your prayer time reflects “ahh Mary,”  it needs to be “ahh Jesus.”  Religion will keep us down, and then along comes Jesus.  And that’s the way it is, and will always be.  The gospel, good news to those who are perishing.  Jesse and all who know Jesus personally have finally found the man worthy of them.  Can you join me in an AMEN!

Jesus, who can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile.  Might just be a sitcom theme song there....

love with compassion,

Mike

mattehw25biker.blogspot.com

football-five seconds of action followed by 40 seconds of rest

It has been years since I endured going to a Padres game, they kept interrupting the between innings entertainment with baseball, which can be a pretty boring thing to watch.  But soon we will have football to watch every Sunday, Monday, and Thursday again, which if you consider it, can be pretty boring itself.  Think of the 40 seconds between the five seconds of action, and most of the time spent watching is spent watching a gathering of men huddled together with their backs to the audience.  Faces covered with only a number to tell who they are, with their name above it.  If you saw guys like this on the street, faces covered, you would consider them suspicious, add in their harsh behavior, and you may call 911.  But on a playing field, you pay big bucks,and celebrate the violence.  And we call that entertainment? 

Consider the baseball players on the field, they spend their entire career looking at the backs of their teammates, unless you are the catcher, wearing a mask and protective equipment.  He has a clear view of what is going on, maybe the best view on the field.  So it is up to sportscasters to make the game interesting, to keep us awake, to keep us from changing channels between innings, while at the ballpark keep us going to the concession stands.  All to watch guys who are All Stars if they hit .250, being successful 25% of time, and getting paid big bucks for it.  Try that at your job, would you hire a surgeon who had a 25% success rate?  A mechanic, a barber, or even a trash man?  Yet they make millions, but before you get upset with them, they aren’t the fools. It is the people who pay the price.  Imagine if they got paid like I did in sales, commission.  So much for the love of the game.  Get paid for a touchdown, completed pass, strike out or double play.  No pay for losing, errors, or striking out.  No money for sitting on the bench, pay to play, the politicians have been doing pay for play for years, why not ball players?  Might even make them a better player, take them back to the days when athletes had off season jobs, selling shoes, driving trucks, and running companies.  And then the alarm goes off.....just a nightmare...

I cannot recall the last church service I attended where tithes and offerings were not collected.  While the worship team played, talk about false, talk about the worship/love of money!  I know some churches who place a box at the back you can give if you want, but somehow I cannot imagine Jesus passing a bucket, a hat, or even placing a box for his audience.  Now I know that the church needs money to take care of business, but as I sit in the air conditioned chapel, watching the pastor on a big screen, I wonder if maybe the entertainment value of religion is like watching sports?  As my eyes wander, too many on cell phones, some falling asleep, and others feigning interest.  Has a church service gone on too long, past our attention span?  I ask pastors “why can Billy Graham share the gospel for 20 minutes and people rush to the stage, you talk for over an hour and they rush to the doors?”  But maybe the more things change the more they stay the same...

Jesus was talking to his disciples who had fallen asleep, “guys, can’t you stay awake another hour?”  Isn’t our ministry exciting enough to not fall asleep at half time?  To hold your interest?  All without an i-phone insight, and you think they had it rough!  Years ago we attended a church who had a Harvest Festival in lieu of celebrating Halloween.  We had our booth set up with our motorcycles, and let kids and their parents sit on them.  Starting conversations, and sharing Jesus, stopping many times to pray, to minister as needed, and one comment from an organizer sticks with me.  “In our church outreach setting, you guys are the only ones we see praying and ministering to others.”  How sad, yet for the first few weeks after when new attendees from that night attend, they brag, but when the entertainment ends, so does their attendance.  So they try to outdo it next year...with live animals, carnival rides, and food trucks.  Large crowds, but little ministry.  With one sad example, a man I know has two sons, but because he had to work the show for his men’s group, couldn’t spend time with his sons, so I did.  You can only imagine the looks I got showing them off as my grandkids, they are Chinese!  So we need to ask ourselves, where is Jesus in all this?  Does he have any entertainment value?  Does he need any?  Or is he just another app in the i-phone of life?

Now ministry can be simple, see a need and meet it.  As you go, as the great commandment states, preach the gospel.  You life should be a witness, not witless.  Inviting someone to church or a festival is not evangelism, it is Jesus working through you via his holy spirit, and others seeing, the spirit drawing others to him, not some wild carnival.  But yet religion stumbles on without Jesus, with boards meeting to come up with new ways to grow the body, to entertain the people, and keep the doors open.  Do we see a pattern here?

Paul writes “not that we can do it ourselves, but that he is adequate in all things.”  Not too much, nor too little, just what we need.  How do we know what we need?  The spirit opens our hearts to it and then supplies it.  As we need it, when we need it.  “Thanks be to God who always leads us in Triumph,” not necessarily on one.  So if your relationship with God is like an old Dennis the Menace cartoon, bragging about the party he just left, “not a bad party, busted six balloons and a window,” maybe we need to stop, repent, seek what the spirit is trying to tell us, and then obey.  No fancy programs, and no long rest periods interrupted by God in action.  If we seek glory for ourselves, our church, our ministry, or religion it may be short lived at best.  With no fruit of the spirit, but when we give him all the preeminence, when Jesus gets all the glory, we get the blessings.  You can either sit in the stands and watch, or get involved and play.  Yet some sit and only hear of the great things god is doing, when they can be part of the action themselves.  Availability instead of ability....or you can end up like football, five seconds of action followed by 40 seconds of rest.  In the game, at the game, or just watching the game.  The best players get the biggest rewards, those closest to the action in Christ get the biggest blessings.  Don’t think you can do it, remember even a broken clock is right twice a day!  What’s your excuse for not letting God bless you? 

Even if your best seat is aisle 224, row 7, seat 101 at Wrigley Field, you may know just what I mean! 

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

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