"My Pappy says..."

Before he was Rockford, James Garner was Maverick, a slick, hustling, card player, who always just  made it out  of town in time for next week’s show.  While playing, he was always offering sage advice to those who would listen, starting with “my Pappy says...” and then reciting some real gems.  Sayings that were funny, and somehow based on truth, if he was writing the rules.  A few were:

“Work is for killin’ time, but a shaky way to make a living.”  “A man does what he has to do-if he can’t get out of it.” “If at first you don’t succeed, try something else.”  “Man’s the only animal you can skin more than once.”  “Marriage is the only game of chance I know where both people lose.”  “The only thing more important than money is more money.”  “If you haven’t got something nice to say about a man, it’s time to change the subject.”  And he wonders why with such wisdom, why he was always in trouble.  Some rules may work on the street, maybe once or twice, but no way to live life.  Yet we all have certain rules or codes we live by, and they always seem to benefit us first.  Of course, since they are our codes, why not?  But of course, we need to take another course, or pay the price, which often times we cannot. Which makes me wonder, why do the dumbest people say the coolest things that don’t work? 

After sitting through my millionth Bible study where they dissected the verses word by word, and letter by letter, I knew where Jesus was standing when he spoke, what the was wearing, what he had for lunch, and who his next appointment was with.  I knew all about the man the teacher was talking about, if I saw him in a crowd I may even recognize him, but I didn’t know him.  I may have even heard his words, but if I didn’t know him I may just dismiss them as cool sayings.  But when I know he is God, that he is who he says he is, then his words make sense.  When I know who he is, then I understand why he came, and his words make a difference.  Education today gives us more information than we can ever use, we just lack in the application.  Of knowing what to say, when to say it, and what it means.  Only by the spirit he has given us will we ever know.  Take one line for instance, “you are a new creature in Christ, behold the old has passed away.”  Looking in the mirror I see the same old face, where is this new man?  And so we start to doubt, and maybe Maverick’s words are true, if we don’t succeed with Jesus, we go somewhere else.  Ever been there, know anyone who has?  With the advice given to just spend more time in the word, the pastor or counselor has successfully passed the buck, sometimes we just need to be heard, we have real answers, someone to pray with, and it seems there work is for just killin’ time.  Ours.

The time when all good Christians wore WWDJ wrist bans, “what would Jesus do?” has fortunately passed.  But what if you were asked what would Jesus do?  Would you know?  As a Christian you shouldn’t have to ask, how many have become part of an argument because they didn’t know and when cornered their pride exploded?  Know all the answers, maybe like a Bible teacher I know who is referred to as “the Bible man,”  you haven’t heard all the questions.  He studied so hard to be approved his approval rating went down when he was confronted, if you are the fastest gun, you better be when drawn down on.  Or like a camper who was asked, “do you think you could outrun a bear?”  He answered, “no but I just have to run faster than the guy I’m with.”  Such love....

Here are some scriptures I never hear quoted for instance.  Ever hear a successful man on the way up quote “it’s all gonna burn anyway?”  Or a teacher tell you “knowledge puffs up?”  It’s like a friend who used to witness based on the four spiritual laws tract, going through them one by one taking a long time to do it, and wondering why his evangelism failed.  And getting upset when I joked “spirit and law, aren’t they at odds with each other?”  Then he was at odds with me, it was my fault.  I guess I need more teaching.  He really didn’t  like my answer to the Roman’s Road...it’s in Rome, right?  But yet we go out and try being a Christian on our own, thinking we can do it alone, neglecting to take Jesus with us.  When we really just have to let the old man, the old us die, and leave it to Jesus.  With no apologies to Beaver.

Today church’s, denominations, ministries, and other well meaning Christian spend time coming up with ways to share the gospel.  They spend more time planning and less on delivering the message, rehearsing until they know the lines, then blowing them when their audience is reading from another script.  If only they had trusted the spirit to give them the words or to keep them quiet....but they just had to answer, then argue, then walk away defeated.  Blaming God, because they believe it is his fault.  Unless God builds the church, they labor in vain.  Vanity is a shaky way to make a livin’, or to be a Christian.  So we need Jesus, we couldn’t save ourselves from hell, what makes you think you can get by in the same world without him?  If he can save your soul, don’t you think he can rescue your day?  Or was Mary Richards the only one “who could take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?”  Do we know Jesus, or do we just know about him?  Is God just 10 Commandments that no one can memorize, or one, like Jesus gave, “love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor the same.”  Putting God first makes a difference, how different do you want to be?  Or is it time to just change the subject?  Maybe it is time to get to know the man you know so much about, to have that same man come alive via eh spirit he has given you.  It’s time for lovin’, so we can start livin’?” 

So try what I asked the Bible answer man to do, let Jesus start your prayer today.  The spirit knows what you need, and let him be Lord and lead.  It isn’t what you know but who you know that gets you in, and when you know Jesus, you have all the wisdom, of the universe available to you, and the knowledge of when to use it.  Maybe Maverick’s Pappy was right, if it at first you don’t succeed, try something else.  Make that someone else other than you, let Jesus be that someone else.  Be that new creature, don’t look for the old one you used to be, and watch as you grow in grace.  As you love, you forgive, as you forgive, you trust, and as you trust, you no longer wonder what would Jesus do, you know, and your actions show it.  My Pappy, my father in heaven loves me so much that if I was the only sinner he still would have sent his son to die for me.  Don’t be the man who gets skinned more than once.  One more quote by “my Pappy,”  “a coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero only one.”  Is Jesus your hero?  Scripture tells us we are to die to self, who are  you dyin’ to?  Who are you dyin’ to meet?  Jesus did what he had to do because he wanted to, he leaves the final choice up to us.  What does your Daddy say about that?  What do you say?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

 

"Is his name Vince?"

It had been an unusually tough day at Charlie’s Garage.  The regulars had come by like Carl to have his oil checked for the third time that week, after dropping his wife off at the beauty parlor for an estimate.  We had answered every question correctly, only to find they had asked the wrong questions.  We had repaired other shop’s mistakes, and were expected to do it for free, of course, and now the day was done, we shut the doors, and as the guys finished off a six pack, I was drinking the hard stuff, Classic Coke, no sissy diet stuff after a day like this.  And as always happens, we bench race about strange things that had happened before, and look back and laugh, hopefully that day would be one of them in the future.  The conversation had drifted to off road racing, and I started to tell of a guy I met through it, who was the stone in my shoe of life.  Not a bad guy, not a pest, just a nuisance.  The kind of guy that showed up 5 minutes to closing with a two hour problem that could wait, but made you stay instead.  The guy who offered to let you borrow his tools if needed, but never brought the key to his locked tool box.  Who would use the last of the toilet paper and not tell anyone or replace it either.  We all know people like this, but his one gift of annoying was he was a tinkerer, he thought he was an inventor, and was always trying to make something work better.  He was the kind of guy who set out to reinvent the wheel and ended up with a flat tire, usually your tire.  He was good at interrupting conversations that were important, and then sharing his newest invention with them.  Usually at the start of race, making them late and holding everyone else up.  A fine tuned art of annoyance, made even worse when he brought his best friend with him, allowing you to finish third in a three man race, then bragging about the trophy.  Unavoidable at races, the stories soon became laughable, until Charlie asked “is his name Vince?”  He knew him, had done some ring time with him, and told his Vince stories.  Somehow the pain of Vince turned to laughter, and the day was soon behind us.  And we would work happily ever after the next day.

In case you were in the doctor’s office like I was yesterday, you probably saw the great eclipse.  I missed it, but saw the last ones in 1973 and 1979.  Pretty cool, with so called eclipse worshippers driving off to various places where it would be most pronounced, my favorite being Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska, where a man after seeing Stonehenge in England, came back and built one out of old Vegas, Pintos, and others from the seventies.  A detour we took last summer to see it, as no one just happens to be in the area.  The news later showing people getting all emotional about it, one man crying when it ended, “why did it end so soon?”  Now before you start castigating me, I know that the most similar one will be in only 600+ years, but this one was unique to the US of A, just as the one in 2019 will be unique to Europe.  You still have time to make you travel plans...

But the emails from the doomsayers, the prophets of what day will Jesus return, and the numerology sickos were out in force.  Reminding me that there are a lot of self inflicted wounds in the body of Christ.  That they follow the signs, but forgetting that the signs do not lead to salvation, Gods’ words, not mine.  They get their eyes off Jesus, if only for a split second, and lead others astray when they misquote the Bible and become a joke.  They are well known among the churches, yet the church somehow encourages them.  They are allowed to mislead people in the name of religion, yet no one has the integrity to wave them off the track before they hit the wall.  They are the essence of the Fosdick Syndrome, where someone shoots in the crowd, but they miss their target and hit innocent bystanders.  And many who want to know are only confused or bullied by them.  Maybe one example will suffice as an example...remember, if Jesus doesn’t know the day he will return, why would they?  And as for playing with numbers, figures lie and liars figure.  Edited, because it was so long and wrong....

Have you noticed the convergence of 

"Owth" (biblical signs in the sun moon and stars see Genesis 1:14 )

with "Moed" (appointed times, seasons or Feasts see Leviticus 23) ?

The Great American eclipse

is definitely a Biblical sign saying:

Repent

for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And look up, and lift up your heads; for

your redemption draweth nigh.

But it could also be pointing to the Revelation 12 sign on Sept 23 (Feast of trumpets)

or the UN Peace and Safety conference on September 21

But it could

Possibly mark the beginning

of an important 7 year period of time

ending with the 2024 American eclipse.

Only time will tell!

The paths of these two eclipses make the ancient symbol

TAV in the Hebrew alphabet which has a numerical value of 400.

This numerical value becomes significant

as you understand the miracle of an eclipse!

We take eclipses for granted because

they happen twice a year somewhere on earth

but eclipse's wouldn't be possible at all

if the Sun wasn't exactly 400 times farther away

from the moon which is 400 times smaller than the sun.

Convergence of years and milestones
The year 2017 / 5777 is also a convergence of years and milestones

500 years since Martin Luther's Reformation 1517

120 years since1st Zionist Congress 1897

100 years since the Balfour declaration 1917

70 years since Israel became a nation November 1947

50 years since recapturing Jerusalem

two days after the UN's peace and safety confrence

Virgo gives birth to the "King Planet" Jupiter

on September 23

Revelation 12 sign

Now a great sign appeared in heaven:

So they join the ranks of the Mayans, those who cancelled plans for December 22, 2012, and all those who deal in astrology, witchcraft, and the dark arts.  Looking for a secret that only God will reveal to them because they are so special.  I can only ask, “is his name Vince?”  Does the spirit of anti-Christ have a name?  Anti-Christ meaning in place of Christ?  Is this how the gospel is portrayed in your life?  Remember the scriptures tell us “these things shall follow them that believe.”  What’s following you, better yet, who are you following?  I choose Jesus, and to be led by his spirit, sadly too many are like Carl’s wife, going to the beauty parlor for an estimate.  And never getting the work done.  You see you can be in God’s way, being led by the holy spirit, or be in God’s way, interfering.  He has given us his spirit so we know the difference.  So I will make no predictions here about Jesus, other than to say he doesn’t know, I don’t know, but I know him.  Which makes all the difference.

As for the eclipse, it reminded me of how we are more concerned the sun than the son of God.  How light can be blotted out for an instant, but that the darkness cannot stand in the light.  That the son wins, and those in him are winners.  It is true God has set his hand on the heavens, and has them all under control.  Yet we look at the stars instead of the one who made them.  If only we looked at Jesus the same way.....instead a great spiritual eclipse covers lives and they don’t know it.  It has been said that religion is man’s search for God, and Christianity is finding him.  We do not know of the time of his return, but soon is always sooner than we think, and today could still be your day of salvation.  Tomorrow is promised to no man, except where you can spend it.  I in no way endorse those who parade their numbers and predictions, but the above example says it all.  For the truth about eclipses try the NASA website, for the truth about Jesus truth the Bible.  It says you must be born again......and it applies to Vince too!

I think I need a rest, with shades of Carhenge dancing in my head...

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blotspot.com

 

 

 

RIP,TBA

Today they only pump gas, or rather you  pump the gas, but when I was a kid and when I started to drive, they were called service stations.  You ran over a hose which rang the bell, and an attendant showed up, filled you with gas, or “two dollars worth” as my mother always said, they washed your windshield, and off you went.  Stacks of oil and trans fluid stood by the pump for when needed, but it was inside the small office where the good stuff was.  Maybe they had a Coke machine, sold cigarettes, or even candy, but the major brands were highly merchandised with auto related products bearing their company name.  And each one of our Dad’s had his station.  One friend’s father preferred the ESSO station, Henry’s dad owned the Texaco, and Willie, who lived next door,  owned the Gulf station.  And each store carried all these goods just in case they were needed, and allowed the owner enough profit to stayin business.  Making 2-3 cents on 22 cent/gallon gas was no way to make a living, these items helped.  From polishes, oil treatments, patch kits, glass cleaner, white wall cleaner, and insect repellent, it was these items that boosted their profit.  In this day of free goodies just to get you in, they needed to sell anything and everything they could, including service.  But it was the big items, the tires and snow tires, the batteries, the big ticket items that were a mainstay.  Buy the snow tires from them, and every fall you had them installed, and then in the spring taken off, with a chance to sell an extra set of rims for them.  Each fall when you winterized the car, and had the battery checked, the slowcranking meant no cranking when it got cold, and the service station could sell you the battery before you had to call AAA.  How many dads had a Humble Oil/Atlas battery, the trademark of ESSO?  Texaco snow tires?  Only used Sunoco oil at their 3000 mile oil and lube?  Or knew that Good Gulf was good enough gas, so used their other products when needed.  Need wipers, installed while you sit in your car while it pours outside.  Yes, it was this TBA, tires, batteries, and accessories that brought in extra income, and would make the difference between profit and loss.  It started early with the kids, and as we got older we too went to ours father’s station.   Things have changed today, as we shop for the cheapest gas, there is no service, and all the TBA now consists of beer and soda sales, add in chips and beef jerky and they are now called convenience stores.  I prefer the old convenience we used to have....

Remember when maps were free also, just another way to get their name in front of you, now  an i-something has taken its place.  It seems back then there was a product for every need, and some for needs that were only desires.  You stopped for gas, but they hoped you would need something else, or buy something on impulse.  Today as then, too many sales are made on impulse, just check out the check out lines, quick moving high profit items while you wait to pay for your purchase.  Same in gas stations, as TBA was not only sometime spontaneous, but also interesting.  Would your whitewalls ever get clean again?  Were Atlas batteries better?  What was 3 in 1 oil?  All these things my dad used to say no to, but that someday we knew we would.  Such was a trip for gas for my parents, much different for my kids and me now.  The one stop shopping the gas stations offered is now called convenience, and all I wanted was a Big Gulp.  But while I was there.....the secret to successful marketing, either increase customer count, or dollars per visit.  Worked then, still works today....well, sorta.

Our cars were not our own, just as our bodies aren’t our own.  Yet many live the life of “it’s all about me,” a far cry from the early Jews who realized everything came from God, and they had specific sacrifices for each.  But it too has gotten out of control, where the holiday is more important the the reason for it, and far away from the God we celebrate.  Blood sacrifices were required, to remind them of the cost of redemption after a life had been taken.  Blood for blood.  He was teaching that sin had eternal consequences, and it goes farther than just a church service or exercise of the mind.  It takes participation, and Jesus set the example, all for us to be reunited to his father in heaven.  Everything he did he pointed to God, do we do anything that points to Jesus?  In their sacrifices they honored the fact that  God had a rightful place in their lives, and they called him Lord, he owned them, they were his.  And we become God’s property when we come to Christ, our bodies no longer are our own, and you do not have the right to do with the things of God whatever you want.  Sin has a price, and just like the TBA that was offered, someday we might need it, and that someday is now.  An important aspect of becoming a Christian is to recognize the rights of God, and live within them.  We do have a free will, but that free will was bought and paid for.  We all have choices to make, and starting with Jesus makes the difference in all the others we make.  Just like some men were ESSO men, or Texaco, Sinclair, or Gulf, we get to be children of God, of the living God.  And as children we get his inheritance, his rights, and his wisdom, and so God has a place in our lives and decisions.  He earned it!

“You can trust  your car to the man who wears the star!” Texaco boasts.  Do we trust our lives with the one who made the stars and put them in place?  Do we winterize our lives for the next season, do we add oil when needed, do we wait  until it’s raining to replace the wiper blades?  A common occurrence was dads in the neighborhood lining up for snow tires and waiting when the first snow hit, when only weeks before they were on special and no waiting needed.  Or send their wives because they had failed.  Back then service stations catered to the the ladies, who liked to be fussed over.  You just knew that the Gulf company had something just for them too.  So do we listen to the warnings, or wait until it is too late?  God sent his son, are you sending your wife for putting off what is needed yesterday? 

Jesus knows our needs for today and tomorrow.  He has already made the sacrifice for our sin, and by his spirit we can be guided.  We have all the wisdom of the heavens here on earth, do we use it?  Or are we suckers, putting off till tomorrow the blessings we should have had today?  Fram reminds us “pay me now or pay me later.”  Today will be later for some of us, and too late for others.  Gas station owners knew what we needed, it was our choice to make.  But today no more TBA, RIP,TBA, the offerings are still there, but no one to guide us.  No relationship with the guy who filled your tank and washed your windshield.  Self service leads to self service lives, still we are not our own.  Thousands of years ago, the Jewish people knew that, do we?  Our dads worshipped at the station of their choice, they had a relationship with them.  If it works for TBA, tires, batteries, and accessories, imagine what it can do with the creator?  ESSO wanted us to put a tiger in our tank, have you let Jesus into your heart?  It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark...only those who were God’s got in.  Father still knows best today, yet some still live life a quart low.  If the love of Christ doesn’t appear on your dipstick, turn to Jesus now, and put a lion in yours.  And trust your life to the man who made the stars!

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

in the Nick of time

There is an old Mafia term called buckwheats, which refers to slow beatings, and this has been a week of buckwheats.  Starting Monday with being stung by a bee for the third time in three weeks, to no treatment at the ER, to finally being bullied and lied to when I complained, it has been tough.  Physically I have suffered only mildly this time from the sting, headaches and swelling, but have lost sleep over it.  Emotionally it is tough when you are lied to and then bullied, but somehow my spirits haven’t wavered, well maybe a bit, but God got me through to Friday again. But if it was a stormy Monday, by Thursday I was tired, and then Thursday hit.  It was my mother’s 89th birthday, and her sharp mind didn’t recognize my voice.  Then the news broke about Barcelona, and as Christopher and I watched, he knew the area, it was right where he had lived for three summers.  Fortunately his friends there are OK, some frantic calls to them had good news they were safe.  And he was here and safe, bringing my truck back from LA to help me move a bed for a mom and her two daughters, who had previously been homeless, but now called Dustin Arms home.  I had put the call out for a bunk bed, must be metal due to bugs, and no response for weeks, until Sam and Kay came through.  Two long time street ministers of the gospel, they saw one while driving around and got it, a trundle bed, only God would have thought of that, we were thinking bunks due to room size, but it had no mattresses.  They too fly under the radar, and provide clothes and bedding for us at Dustin Arms, along with the time they spend on the street.  Like me, no income, but God provides all they have and need.  We need more Sam and Kays.  But when I called Nick to bring it down, and he was bummed because of no mattresses, I told him we would go to the Salvation Army where I bought two.  And the bed and mattresses were home, their new home, and I was on my way home.

My ER experience was still being ignored by the hospital, and so I went by, wanting to just end it, but walked into the lion’s den much as Daniel had.  A nurse in charge who had been sorta friendly, now turned on me, tried to bully me, and intimidate me with a security guard.  He was trying to bait me, I didn’t go for it somehow.  And when I confronted his lies, he kept shouting “I don’t like the feeling you are giving me.”  Then told me I was no longer welcomed there, I should leave, and I left.  Stunned and amazed a caregiver would treat me like that, and that a professional would lie when we both knew the truth.  But I was still determined to have justice, and the agencies, both state and federal I had contacted began to call back.  It was then I knew that Jesus had been with me that afternoon as he had all week, for his truth, his light was shining through me, and the darkness couldn’t stand it.  That was the feeling he didn’t like.  I didn’t so much feel God’s presence as I knew he was there, as he always is.  Then just as we are getting ready to eat dinner, I get a fact twisted email from the hospital telling me they have investigated the issue, they did no wrong, and this time a verbal bullying, which I read in dismay.  More lies, more bullying, first the physical, this guy was at lest 5 inches taller than me and looked like Sgt. Rock, now in words.  Then a second email arrived, from the chairman of the board of the hospital, she was looking into it.  I felt some relief, then Nick called.  With great news, and the message I needed to hear.  Just in the Nick of time....

It seems the mother had a restraining order against the father of the girls, and he turned to the courts telling them she was living in squalor, and the kids should be removed.  They had been sleeping on the floor or sharing an air mattress, and the social worker had just shown up to investigate the complaint.  What she found was the new bed, see the pictures, and no evidence of neglect.  The worker later told Nick if there had been no bed, she would have been forced to take the kids.  In the Nick of time, God was there, preserving the family, and showing is love.  From Sam and Kay finding the bed and bringing it to my house, supplying the sheets, bedding, and pillows, to Christopher and I delivering it, to Lucious and Kelly taking it upstairs, and  Nick putting it together and dealing with the social worker, God had used us all to be his hands and feet.  And to reap his blessings.  All glory to him, for in the lion’s den, in the fire, and on the street, he never left us nor forsook us.  A testimony I hope you are encouraged by and share with others. 

Psalm 23 tells us that though we walk through the shadow of death, that death cannot touch us.  The evil that is out there cannot stand in the light of Jesus, and when we walk in that light, it must flee.  God has everything in control, if only we can see that in the process rather than when we look back. 

The Lord has called me to be a advocate to those who don’t have anyone, and in the ER situation I had to be my own advocate.  At first I felt alone, and I was wrong, as he was my advocate the whole time, and justice will be done.  Jesus is my defender, and his strength is made perfect in my weakness.  This week we took on the government, ER abuses, and the lies of the world and God has strengthened us because we turned to him and let him.  Even when being physically bullied, I could stand firm, and even when a family was threatened by breakup, God was right there.  With this closing note.

The numbers of those killed by terrorists is staggering.  We focus on them, but neglect to remember the individuals involved.  Those who died, those who were maimed, and those emotionally scarred for life.  Scripture tells us about Jesus returning for the one in 99, and we are that one he returned for.  His love is individual and personal, intimate.  Don’t be wowed by statistics, God isn’t, and the polls don’t effect him either.  He is there for each one of us, no matter the crowd size, the casualty list, or the size of the lion.  Today, Friday, I can look back and know that.  I only wish I had that same confidence on Monday.  For like the old blues songs says, “they call it stormy Monday, Tuesday’s just as bad.”  But for every Good Friday Jesus has promised an Easter morning.  Two little girls and their mom slept good last night as a reminder of how he never forgets.  And how he never is late, but always there in the Nick of time!

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

fast aid

Theresa and I were riding Highway 25 on our way to a Hollister Rally when we came upon two bikes off the road.  One was a shiny new a Harley, the other a dented and dirt covered Harley laying on its side in the weeds.  Stopping immediately, the man covered in dirt and clutching his arm to his chest explained he had overshot the corner, slammed on his brakes, in Harley speak his rear only, the rear end came around and he went down.  He was shaken, in shock, we got him calmed and they admitted they had no cell phone service, big surprise for where we were.  So I hopped on my Bonneville and sped off, passing two farmhouses where no one was home, finally finding two men working in a machine shop adjacent to a ranch who had a land line.  They never looked up as I asked to use it and told of a biker down, they kept at their work, almost as a request to use their phone happened all the time.  I was able to contact the sheriff, who dispatched an ambulance, and thanking the men, I took a slower ride back the twelve miles I had gone to find a phone.  Even at a slower pace, I still beat the ambulance coming from King City, and we prayed with the men while we waited.  We had no means to give first aid, but had given fast aid via our motorcycles, with my adrenaline pumping it never felt like the almost 100 miles per hour I had sped looking for a phone, and 25 can be a wicked teacher if you mess up, as the Harley rider found out.  A quick but less stressful ride took us the final miles into Hollister.

But talking with both men while waiting, they both confessed they had only used their rear brakes, Harley guys don’t use the front for fear of doing a stoppie, and had slid sideways, over compensated, and slid off the road.  An accident that didn’t have to happen, his speed may have been too fast, but if he knew how to brake he wouldn’t have crashed and would be riding on two wheels instead of a passenger on a gurney on four.  Throughout the  weekend I saw the same rear braking applied a few times with almost the same results, one time narrowly avoiding hitting a line of parked bikes, the driver laughing at his stunt.  It’s bad enough we have to look out for cars, but not another motorcycle!  Maybe it is true, if you have to ask you wouldn’t understand.  The guy who got the ride in the ambulance knows better, ask him.

When we got home a few days later, the downed rider’s wife had called and thanked us.  He had a separated shoulder-OUCH, lots of bruises and scratches, and his bike was totaled.  He would heal, but probably wouldn’t ride again, and all because of not having braking skills.  We can accelerate fast, corner hard, but how many can brake hard?  When I first learned to ride we played a game of who could stop the fastest, invented by me who had the slowest bike, I got my revenge by braking better, but the lesson learned form that game 46 years ago has saved me a few times.  With only a stoppie or two to show for it.  Maybe a lesson for life as well.

As a Christian living in the world but not of it, too many times I feel I have to keep up.  I like nice things as well as the next guy, but have learned that too many things get in my way of Jesus and me, and I have to put on the brakes.  Sometimes hard.  And with a family, sometimes the extra weight of trying to stop can be overwhelming, and God reminds me of why he is trying to slow me down.  He knows what lies ahead, and although the road looks clear, a bear with her cubs could run across it like a ride in Yosemite once.  Or being chased by an eagle riding through John Day in Oregon, fortunately the FJ1100 could outrun it, but one ride to Hollister, we couldn’t outrun a duck who flew into our path, I ducked, it hit Theresa in the helmet.  We were OK, but the joke that weekend was “I said duck!  And you didn’t!”  You never know...

But God does, and when thinking in the spirit as he does, we can avoid problems and inherit blessings instead.  We get to see ourselves as we really are, how our families are, and how God is at work in the world despite our short sidedness.  We are on our way back to the original relationship with God we once had in the garden, sometimes a stop along the road that is unexpected remind us like it did me.  When we divest ourselves of myths like rear braking only, we can live and ride in truth as opposed to a myth.  Ivan Stewart once told me “it wasn’t the bumps along the way, it was the sudden stops at the end that hurt.”  My Harley ride would agree, as would any of us who has been down.  When we abide in the vine as Jesus tells us, we live in grace as opposed to ending up wrapped in a vine.  When we see how God is working in us, wholeness, healing, and love will abide in us.  When the spirit is at work, when we participate with him, we can pick our lines better, ride safer, and enjoy the ride more. 

That morning I supplied fast aid, after first aid.  Prayer is like that, HELP! can be the best and quickest prayer we need in the situation, the longer, drawn out response in praise later.  What we didn’t know, the downed rider’s wife told us later.  The two men were Christians and prayed for help.  We showed up. We didn’t panic, and the Bonneville earned its name in speed and grace.  God always answers the same way, but at his speed and in his grace.  Fast aid, there before you ask or even know you need him.  Something to remember every ride we take.  Never ride faster than your brakes can stop you or your angel can fly.  Whether fast or first, keep Jesus first and he will do the rest.  Which brings up the question, has anyone ever seen a Harley do a stoppie?  Send picture if you have one.  If you have to ask, I’ll understand.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com