headlines you may never see and hope not to

In a sound byte world, and with the attention span of a two year old, the latest generation has become a glancer rather than a reader.  I can be guilty of it, and I blame it on the headline, and even the size of it.  Many times misleading, fraught with a grain of truth, here are a few headlines you will never see, other than here.  And remember, you saw it here first!

CHARGER ON THREE GAME WINNING STREAK!  SUPER BOWL MATCH UP-CHARGERS VS. LIONS!  MASSIVE SUV RECALL-SURVEY FINDS THEY CAUSE CANCER!  AMAZON OPENS CHAIN OF BRICK AND MORTAR STORES!  HARLEY INTRODUCES $3995 SUPERBIKE!  CHEVY ANNOUNCES RETURN OF THE CHEVETTE!  TIJUANA RIVER SEWAGE FLOW INTO PACIFIC STOPPED!  NEW JERSEY VOTED BEST CLIMATE FOR RAISING KIDS.  DISNEYLAND LOWERS PRICES TO $19.95.  ACTUAL MEAT FOUND IN MCDONALD’S BURGER.  CALIFORNIA LOWERS THE GAS TAX!  JIMMY HOFFA FOUND-WORKING AT MIAMI CAR WASH!  TEXAS ADMITS EVERYTHING NOT BETTER IN TEXAS!  SUPREME COURT FORCED TO REMOVE SUPREME FROM ITS NAME, ACLU SUIT CLAIMED!  MAN CROSSES CAT WITH BUNNY-GETS A CABUNNY!  NYC TAXI DRIVERS TAKE OATH TO SPEAK ONLY ENGLISH.  PUBLIC SCHOOL KIDS FOUND TO BE GETTING AN EDUCTION.  NO ONE CARES TO KEEP UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS ANYMORE!  NFL SUED OVER SUPER BOWL ADS-THE GAME KEEPS INTERRUPTING THEM!  BROOM GETS NEW HANDLE-GOODALL FIRED!  MR. ROGERS MOVES FROM NEIGHBORHOOD!  PONTIAC NEW TRANS AM MODEL TO GO ON SALE NEXT YEAR.  PEOPLE DYING TO GET INTO NEW MAUSALEUM IN BROOKLYN.  ARIZONA CHANGES NAME TO ARIDZONA-NEW TAGLINE FOR ADS!  SURVEY FINDS UNEMPLOYED REALLY CANNOT FIND JOBS!  THIRD STRAIGHT DAY OF NO TRAFFIC JAMS ON THE 405!  SOMEONE REALLY WELCOMED TO THE HOTEL CALIFORNIA!  UNDER COVER POLICE MUST DISPLAY BADGE!  WALMART GOES 100% USA MADE PRODUCTS!  MAJOR OIL COMPANIES INTRODUCE REBATES FOR OVERCHARGING!  A FIRST-NO ONE ON 405 FREEWAY WENT SLOW IN LEFT LANE!  PASTOR GOES CRAZY-TAKE WHAT YOU NEED FROM COLLECTION PLATE!  And the list goes on....I hope you get the point. 

But there are some headlines you don’t want to ever see, and the only way to avoid them is not turning off your i-phone, or turning off your TV, but in accepting Jesus Christ as your savior.  MILLIONS MISSING-DEMS BLAME RUSSIAN COLLUSION.  GROCERY STORES OUT OF FOOD-CLOSE DOORS TO LOOTERS!  ALIENS ABDUCT MILLIONS AS CROWD STARES!      EVANGELICALS GONE-PEACE BREAKS OUT AMONG RELIGIOUS!  POPE DECLARES “DON’T BELIEVE THE BIBLE, BUT WHAT YOU SEE.”  MAYAN CALENDAR FOUND CORRECT AS MILLIONS DISAPPEAR IN DEATH.  JOEL OSTEEN LAUNCES TELETHON TO INCREASE HIS WEALTH, SAYS “SEND ME MONEY TODAY!”  THREE DAYS AFTER DISASTER INTERNET RESTORED.  GAS SELLING FOR $59.95/GALLON.  CHRISTIANS GONE-WORLD SAVED!  LEFT BEHIND BOOK SERIES BANNED-TOO CONTROVERSIAL!  CHURCHES CLOSED AS ATTENDANCE DROPS!  WHERE’D THE BODIES GO?  MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES DON’T EXPERIENCE PEOPLE MISSING-DEMS BLAME THEM FOR ATTACK!  NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER CANCELLED!  “WHY ARE WE STILL HERE?” CHURCH MEMBERS CRY.  And the list goes on.....for when the rapture occurs, God will be effectively removing Christians from the earth, taking away the salt and light we as Christians are to provide.  Jesus doesn’t know the day and we are not told, but we are told to live like it could happen at any moment.  Many dismiss the Bible prophecies, “He hasn’t come back as he said,”  but forget Jesus is patient so that none should perish.  Today can be the day of your salvation, or the day of your death, both physically and spiritually, God leaves it up to you.  Even the elect can be deceived, as many in churches think they are saved by attendance or membership.  But it takes Jesus, the only way.  So why some try to figure the time and date, why I cannot fathom, if saved you will be in heaven and who are you going to tell who will be impressed?  But instead of studying for the date, get out and minister as scriptures advise.  Taking care of the widows and orphans, the poor and needy, and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ as you go.  Sharing your testimony, relating it to world events....God could be putting out a final warning!

But what if the rapture doesn’t occur in our lifetime, have we lost anything?  What part of love and joy, peace and patience won’t make for a better life and world?  How can caring for your neighbor be bad?  Living a sinless, or less sinful life has its benefits.  Forgiveness has its own benefits.  So turn to Jesus today, avoid the headlines.  But anticipate the words of Jesus,”welcome fellow servant, good job, welcome to heaven!”  Only the truth can set you free and will when you trust it and accept it.  The truth has a name, Jesus Christ, and you can know him too. 

Meanwhile in Los Angeles....if you missed him the first time, you don’t want to be here for the second.

love with compasson,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

an honest self check

Something to consider today, and everyday.  An inconvenience to some, awake up call to others.  You decide.  Sound like someone you know....

Mike

1) Keep them busy with non essentials. 2) Tempt them to overspend and go into debt. 3) Make them work long hours to maintain empty life styles.

4) Discourage them from spending family time together, for when their homes disintegrate there is no refuge from work. 5) Over stimulate their minds with television and computers, so they can’t hear God speaking to them. 6) Fill their coffee tables and nightstands with newspapers and magazines so they have no time to read the Bible.

7) Flood their mailboxes with sweepstakes promotions and get rich quick schemes to keep them chasing material things. 8) Put glamour models on TV and on magazine covers to keep them focused on outward appearances. That way they will be dissatisfied with themselves and dissatisfied with their mates. 9) Make sure couples are too exhausted for physical intimacy so they will be tempted to look elsewhere.

10) Make Santa and the Easter bunny bigger than Jesus to divert them from remembering the real meaning of the holiday. 11) Involve them in good causes so they won’t have time for eternal ones.

12) Make them self satisfied. Keep them busy working in their own strength so they’ll never know the joy of God’s power working through them.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

Mr. Clemente, we need you-NOW!

There was a joke years ago about the Latin American ball players, “baseball been bery good to me,” and it was very true.  But how many had been good for baseball, or used their celebrity status outside of baseball?  During the Viet Nam War, many ballplayers did USO tours, with pitcher Ron Taylor of the 1969 World Champion Mets becoming a doctor at age 38 after seeing the horrors.  But one All Star, not mentioned much any more, actually ended up giving his life in service to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.  A 12 time All Starr, batting champ four times, Gold Glove winner 12 times, and hitting over .300 twelve times, and at his last at bat, unknown at the time, got his 3000th hit.  His number 21 retired by the Pirates, the Commissioners Award renamed in his honor, and a new rule of election into the Hall of Fame introduced after his death.  A career .312 hitter, how many know of or even remember Roberto Clemente?  Maybe on the field us old timers may remember, but do we remember his death, flying to Nicaragua with supplies for earthquake victims on December 31, 1972?  How it wasn’t his first time giving back, as every winter he had taken supplies and baseball items to Puerto Rico to the poor and needy.  He was the first Latin American player to win all those awards, but I remember him not as the man who always beat up on the Mets, which he did, but as a man of character, who gave from the heart, not in words, and more than from his wallet, that he was a doer and not just a sayer.  Whose character showed when needed, and Mr. Clemente, we need you-NOW!

My friend Nitro jokes how you can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead.  We love to hear of the testimonies of those like Clemente, but very view spring to action, pick an excuse, we are all guilty.  So many warm pews every Sunday, maybe grudgingly reach into their credit card to give, getting the tax deduction of course.  But Jesus tells us to not only be hearers of the word, but doers. He tells us that we have no greater love than to lay down our lives for our brothers.  To love your neighbor as yourself, and then tells us we are all neighbors.  But why are so few doers, but complainers?  A young David faced this, and his prayer in Psalms reveals the answer.  Not more classes, more prayer, more giving, or more religion.  He says “grant me a willing spirit,” how many of us ever pray that one?  In Peter we find “he has given us his divine power for everything we need in life and godliness.”  But when we ask, and are given his spirit, do we act on it?  When I decided to get into ministry years ago, I visited with men who I felt were deep spiritually, only to find them bankrupt to the spirit.  “Raise money, build up a support group,” I was told,and when I questioned them, as Jesus told his disciples to only take what is in your pockets and he would provide, I was blown off.  Labeled as a rebel, and a loser.  In Christ maybe we need  more losers, not more fund raising.  But we are then called to action, few things bother me more than those waiting on God with their hand outs, when so many needs are right in front of them.  Waiting for the feeling to act, at the right paycheck, the right position, when you could be acting in faith, you can do what you need to do and God wants you to do.  By his spirit...not ours, but his.  By the way, next time you write asking for money, and sign off “in his service,” who is the his, you or Jesus?  Where God guides he provides, a concept few fully grasp hold on to.  David acted, and yes those who wait upon the Lord shall be blessed, he also knows those who delay.  And so do we.....and your true character is revealed.

So Mr. Clemente we need you, NOW!  Or more church all stars to step up and out of their religious experience and into a spiritual experience.  If your whole Jesus experience has been church, you might have missed the calling.  You can either be in God’s way or in his way, you cannot be both, you cannot expect glory for your actions and not give God his.  It takes the spirit, and your willingness to trust and obey.  It can be simple or you can make it hard, but it takes you and the spirit.  Your actions today will tell us more about Jesus in your life than all the money given, studies attended, or religious affiliations. 

Some might say Clemente took one for the team, character will do that.  Some may add he was a fool to go and help those he didn’t know.  What kind of fool are you?  For Christ or for yourself?  To me all his stats add up to nothing compared to his humanity, what do your achievements add up to?  How are you known, how do you want to be known?  In humility Jesus gave, he still works on his birthday, on the Sabbath, and never sleeps or slumbers.  Ask God today to restore the joy of your salvation to you, to be set free and live in liberty.  When he grants you his spirit do something, knowing he will sustain you.  I can do all things in Christ Jesus who gives me the strength, and nothing without him.  As St. Francis of Assissi once said, “preach the word daily, using words when necessary.”  For God so loved the world he gave.....what are you giving?

Arrrgh matey...you see, not all Pirates are bad!

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

understanding the rules of the game

That’s Entertainment! is the best way to describe sports anymore.  This time of year we have football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer, all going on at once.  Where once we had baseball or football season, and the beginning of spring or fall, now it is 24/7 sports.  I mean entertainment.  Somehow the game has gotten lost or forgotten as we feel the need to be entertained.  Monday night was a good example, watch the Jets get destroyed by New England on Monday Night Football, or the Astros lead, then fall behind, then win it on a walk off homer in the last of the ninth.  Lots of channel surfing in between....both got boring.  But after listening to the announcers on MNF, take a sleeping bill and wake me after the game, wait they are the sleeping pill, I started listening to all the stupid things they said.  And drew my own conclusions...

Only in baseball is the field different at each stadium.  The bases are still 90 feet apart, the pitcher stands on a mound 10 inches high and 60 feet, 6 inches away, but all else is different.  Yankee Stadium has the porch in right field, Fenway Park “the wall,” in left, and a homerun to center in one park may be a long out in another.  Some years back when homeruns fell off, the call to shorten the fences went out, with a few parks moving the field ahead, leaving the fences alone.  Shrewd planning.  Another thing unique to baseball is defense doesn’t win games, scoring more runs does.  In football and basketball, defense can steal, intercept, or recover a fumble and score, a great catch in baseball only prevents the other team from scoring.  Just a thought.  Baseball has no clock, and can go on for hours, it has defined rules as opposed to football, please define pass interference and just what is a catch.  Basketball rules allow walking, double dribbling with a great latitude,  just how far is two steps?  In baseball there is no penalty for a foul, only arguing with an umpire will get you excused, 6 fouls in basketball, too rough in football.  Too rough in a game based on hitting?  But baseball does have its foibles, aka the strike zone.  Pete Rose once turned to an umpire after a strike call, the umpire explaining he did miss the pitch, but it sounded like a strike.  Why can an outfield catch a fly ball under the infield fly rule?  Why do baseball managers manage, but not in football, where they coach?   When you are replaced in baseball, you are out of the game, you are out for good, can we try that in football?  Add in TV time outs, reviews by the refs, and you wonder why we channel surf....

Religion like sports has rules of its own.  Dress this way, its own language, rote prayers, certain beliefs differentiating them, and the ability to not get along with other religions.  Some have strict rules, some are lax on rules.  Some preach grace, some preach works.  But all claim to represent God, but maybe not the same God.  Definitely not the same Jesus in many cases.  In some churches Jesus never made it off the cross, in others he is not Lord, his mother is.  Some only preach from the New Testament, denying his presence in the Old.  Some deny healing, claim you must be baptized to go to heaven, and don’t allow instruments.  Some baptize by immersion, some a sprinkling.  Some when a youth joining the church, others when saved and a choice we make.  Some preach all day, some multiple services, some short and to the point, others you leave wondering what was just said.  Some have Bible studies, but advise you against reading it in church.  And in every case, only one question should be asked, where’s Jesus? 

Ball parks may differ, Jesus stays the same.  Rules to worship may change, who we worship shouldn’t.  Getting together with like minded people should not be confused by unity in the spirit.  The pulpit is not a place to sell your book, or promote political views, we need to be about God’s business instead of our own.  So many times we talk of how the first church was and envy it, but how many of us give our goods to the Lord when a need comes up?  Gather in the spirit instead of a denomination?  How many are excited to give, or pay a tithe grudgingly?  When going from religion to Jesus at first I was a stranger in a strange land.  He was a friend, savior, and Lord.  We prayed openly, read not studied our Bibles, were excited to meet other Christians, and showed the gospel by our actions.  We had a freedom not found in religion, not mentioned in denominations, and forbidden by some pastors.  We had a joy that was beyond a happiness, we wanted to give before we were asked, and repented when we fell.  We grew in grace, not in religion, we wanted to be more like Jesus, and left it all up to him.  We looked forward to the end, but were able to enjoy the right now because we knew what was coming.  With no TV time outs....or blown calls from God.

So if you relationship with God is like sports, games on but nothing to watch, if you channel surf churches, if once you enjoyed the game but left and want to come back, Jesus is waiting.  He offers you love, joy, peace, and patience.  He won’t trade you after a bad year.  No judgment calls on sin, he puts it out there, or on being saved either.  We know the size of his ballpark, our records are not stored for future use, aka our sin is washed away, and he never changes.  A foul ball will always be a foul ball...

And hitting a home run will never be a long out in his park.  No “oh I didn’t know that was a rule here” from him, and the rules don’t change for love.  He is the love of the game we all search for but seldom find.  And when we do, we win, big.  You may be losing with minutes to play, behind with two seconds to play, or down to your last strike, and walk away a winner in Jesus.  Religion won’t make you a winner, only point out your faults, which rules do.  Try Jesus today and start enjoying the game of life he trained you for.  Love and live, forgive and forget, give and then receive, all because Jesus cares for you.  Live by the size of your God not the size of your park.  And if you happen to have fun doing it, now that’s entertainment!

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

The Midnight Special

Some say the legend began in the deep South, while some versions say it came out of Texas.  Some words base it on a black man, some a Mexican, and some a white.  No matter, it has been around for over 120 years, a hit in many different music genres, it even gave name to a TV show, and the origin still remains a mystery, while many different variations of the lyrics appear, but they all have on thing in common.  A light shining out of the dark....

The song is called The Midnight Special, about a train racing by a prison in the night, and on certain occasions, when the headlight shines into a cell, the person will get a reprieve.  A true legend that no one has ever been able to verify, but the Midnight Special still “shines it light, or life down on me...”  More than an urban legend, or even a suburban legend, it is more than a prison or even a railroad legend, it sings of a man incarcerated and then let go by a divine providence when the light shines down on him.  Maybe even a hint of the gospel involved, such are the ways of a legend, maybe even might make a good Twilight Zone.  Add into it “People Get Ready,”  “you don’t need no ticket, you just get on board,” any aspiring Christian singers out there, this may be your next hit!  I can hear it in a bluesy background.

Now all lies are based on truth, in some cases becoming a truth, but varying from the truth of Jesus Christ.  Take freedom for instance, and many are trying to take it from you.  When Pearl sang “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose,” lack of taking care of yourself becomes another’s burden.  Ask Cain, we never did get an answer from him when God asked “are you your brother’s keeper?” We assume we should be and some are, but are we really?  Or is our love for one another just a truth, only when someone is looking, or do we really love on another?  Lock and load, let society take care of them, when God calls to us to take care of others, a major failing of the church today.  But when the church, the government, and even well meaning ministries fail, Jesus never does.  Anyone behind bars, or in a bind, or in a hopeless situation is looking for a way out.  Religion may last for awhile, like being on parole with certain rules, but only Jesus can save you, and change your situation, by changing you.  A quickie nirvana may feel good for a moment, but that train is still coming, and unless it is Jesus, look out.  It is his light that truly shines on us, showing us the way, through and not around.  A train must stay on its tracks, while we are often off track.  But whatever cell we find ourselves prisoner in, when Jesus’ light shines on us, we can find freedom, true freedom in him.  Where his spirit is there is liberty, available to all, no matter your sin against him.  Sin loves the darkness where it can hide, but Jesus will expose it and deal with it, but only if you let him. 

But first a few things about sin, if it wasn’t fun you wouldn’t do it, and until you realize it is sin, you won’t change.  Changing your habits will not get you saved, only Jesus will, and the change will come from within, shining out, to light the way.  Like when a door is opened in the rats scatter from the light, evil cannot stand in God’s light, and in Jesus there is found no darkness at all.  No sin found in Jesus, he was without sin, a train I like to ride on.  And it shines in brightest day light, not just in the darkest night, for God is light.  Imagine no light and you have no God.  No wonder evil likes the dark and avoids the light.

But your sin will find you out, Jesus is not on a campaign to smear you or to highlight your sin.  He has come to save us from the darkness, letting his light shine down on us, like the moon reflects the sun’s light, Jesus reflects the father’s love for us.  But with a day of reckoning coming, when the train will leave the statin for the last time, and darkness will have its way for awhile.  People get ready is more than a song, it is a call to Jesus, and he is the ticket to eternal life.  He is the Midnight Special, shining down on us, bringing light and life to those in darkness.  He is more than a legend, more than folklore, more than a hit song, he is the truth, he is the way, and in him is the life.  Without him you live a lie, going the wrong way, and dead in your sin.  There may be variations of the song’s words, but not of God’s word, Jesus.  We may not know the song’s origins, we know Jesus’ origins, and we can return there with him, heaven. 

So let the Midnight Special, Jesus Christ, shine down on you.  Let him light up your life, privately, publicly, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  Let him save every aspect of your life, not just what shows.  There is debate about where the true Midnight Special originated, only one was found on an Illinois Central line in Mississippi, but the oldest origins go back to North Carolina.  We know the origins of Jesus, no debate there.  And only one version of the gospel.  Let his light shine down on you today, be set truly free by his spirit, know where you are going after death here, many claim the origins of the song, maybe that explains the different versions.  Jesus was a hit long before the song, and will be forever.  You don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord.  And let his every lovin’ light shine down on you!”

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com