stoplight showdowns

As long as anyone can remember, and those who are dead may remember, 0-60 was the criteria by which performance was measured.   We didn’t need timing lights or even road test times, just a stop light, and two cars willing to duke it out.  All pride of ownership based on and bragging rights based on the moment, which can change at the next light.  But with so many things to be considered, rear end gears, manual or automatic, add on engine accessories, and of course the driver himself, so many things come into play, so the true comparisons were never found, only who got to 60 first.  And by whose speedometer....as even small things as changing tire sizes would effect its reading, even stock there are variations, and then there is always the loser’s side of the story.  These stoplight showdowns were unofficial, serious fun, and only the hard core raced for pink slips.  In most cases it was who got there first, and was quicker, until the next light turned green....

While many record quarter mile times, 0-60 still remains the standard most of us live by.  Something we can all do, without specialized equipment.  Today magazines use dynos to measure speeds and acceleration, but a few still head to the track for the thrill of it all.  Just a few years ago it was under seven seconds to be considered quick, then five, our Mustang is in the fives, then the fours, now the threes, where the quickest bikes are found, and also supercars.  In less time than it takes to read that last sentence you just went 0-60, but in that two second difference at 60 mph or 83 feet/second, you were either half a football field ahead, or half of one behind.  The winner sitting waiting while you are still accelerating.  Still think you’re quick...

But as long as there are two guys willing to duke it out, there will be races.  The distance maybe not the most important thing, only who gets there first.  We were invited one weekend to a motorcycle club race, a huge party with the main event an 1/8 mile drag race on gravel, for whatever you brought with you.  Get in line, and whoever is next to you is your competitor.  And whoever crossed the finish line first won, and you could race all day.  All unofficial, and fun.  With one factor included, a ditch at the end of the track, you had to go fast and stop fast also, or you ended up in the ditch.  You could actually win, but still end up in the ditch!  Which happened more than once, it seems winning was everything, not the only thing.  But it was for fun, and seeing anything from Z-1’s with knobbies to Harleys on nitrous, it was like any race, getting there first.  No trophies, just bragging rights, until the next race.

It seems bragging rights go far beyond the stoplight showdowns.  Based on ego and fueled by pride, no one wants to finish second, or not be the best.  Years ago when part of an international motorcycle ministry, some big mouths in another club bragged on how they were better.  One guy known for his big mouth confronted me, how he was better because of the things he had done, as if we were in competition.  After bragging, he asked, “so what do you think of that?”  All I could say was “get behind me Satan,” and he shut up.  In fact, he hardly ever spoke to me again.  He thought his showdown was with man, he didn’t know our battle was against powers and principalities, that we are not competitors but team mates.  Sadly his attitude is not an isolated event, too much infighting among so called believers, whose ministry, whose fellowship, whose pastor or worship leader is better, which doesn’t promote unity, but only causes division.  We may all agree in church, but do we agree in the spirit?  When these so called like minded men are alone, who do they depend on?  Seems we are all fast or fast talkers until challenged.  When the flag drops, the BS stops, or is it just put on hold? 

We are not going to win every race, every contest.  There will always be someone faster, quicker, with more horsepower or more stickers.  On any day you may be champ but end up chump.  Jim Ryun was the world’s fastest miler, everyone picked him to win the Olympics in the mile, but when he got bumped off the track, and crashed, he didn’t even finish.  Years of training, devotion, and in a split second it all ended.  Paul says we are in the race to win it, the prize being Jesus Christ, a race in which we all can win.  And a race that without the holy spirit we will lose.  It will not be based on what we do, but on what Jesus did, not on who we are, but on who he is.  Yet many brag on what they have done, which will not get you a better place in heaven.  You cannot win your salvation, it is a gift, so no one can brag.  It all comes down to Jesus and who you say he is.  Not by your denomination, your pastor, the things you have done, or traditional prayers or actions.  Who do you say Jesus is? 

Ask the thief who lost all in life, but when confronted with Jesus won the big race.  The blind man who received his sight, or ask Steven, who died in his faith.  Whose prayer in the final seconds was “Lord do not hold their sin against them, they know not what they do.”  His eyes on Jesus, his main focus that Jesus would take him to heaven, and he was not disappointed.  He knew his enemy was not the crowd although they were hostile, he knew his enemy was Satan, and the only one who could and did defeat him is Jesus.  He went out with a winner as a winner.  And we can do the same thing.

Know our unity can only be in the spirit, not in anything of man.  We will not win every race, every confrontation, but we will share in the trophy Jesus won on the cross.  I still get the eye sometimes when on my Street Triple, those who know them respect them, those who don’t learn a lesson.  But it is the races I don’t engage in that I still win, I don’t want to be embarrassed or embarrass the guy next to me.  I may see the cop behind me, he may not.  My ego doesn’t need massaging or another ticket.  I have found like Steven did, my confidence is in Christ.  Yes I still like to go fast, to wind it out, 115 in third is fast to me, but I have won the only race that really counts, I have defeated death and in Jesus Christ.  He gets all the bragging rights, I get to go to the victory party.  When you finally realize who your competition is, it will change how you race, how you view victory or defeat.  Our race is not against each other, but a spiritual one Jesus has already won.  Against evil.  When we get that, we are all winners....so what do you think of that!

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

going generic

Back in the seventies when money and jobs were both tight, someone came up with the idea of marketing items in plain white packages with black lettering identifying the contents.  No brand name, no picture to tell what it was, just “corn,” “green beans,” “tissue,” or “dog food.”  Generics they were called, and they became a brand of their own, priced less, often with lesser quality than a real name brand, and much less expensive.  Soon they were found on everyone’s table, at least once, some were pretty bad, but the idea stuck, a brilliant marketing move, and I’m sure lots of money was made from it.  We all liked the lesser price, but after the lesser quality, we soon turned back to our old favorites.  Perhaps the prime example of the marketing creating the product, but the product not being able to keep up with the marketing.

Cruising down the 15 the other day, a cursory glance showed very few cars of color, unless you consider white, black, and varying shades of gray color.  But also it seems the world had gone to SUV’s, even Ford  quit making cars except for the Mustang, and they all have the same generic shape.  To me they all look like the cartoon cars when I was growing up, generic four door sedans, same profile, same rear end, only a few changes to the front end distinguishing them.  And it occurred to me that the world has gone to generic cars, only they don’t know it.  It is hard to tell any Japanese cars apart, Chevies and Jimmies are basically the same, Rams have that big front end, and Fords look like Chevies.  Nothing to distinguish the brands any more, a sad thing to consider when we used to buy cars based on looks.  When we used to look back when we parked them with admiration, how many look back except to see the lights flashing confirming they locked it?  So we can add generics to cars, trucks, SUV’s, and in some ways motorcycles.  With maybe the only thing distinguishing the brands apart is advertising.  Remember when you could tell a Honda from a Kawasaki by sound, one look at the engine and you could tell the brand.  Now even the motors are hidden behind panels, with Metric bikes looking like Harleys, Indians wanting to look like dirt trackers, and  performance second nature.  They too are becoming generic looking, doubt me, cruise any multiline dealer and check it out, then you decide.  Does the brand Hondasakisuziyama mean anything to you?  You may be riding one and not know it....

It seems everyone wants to be part of a crowd, from Facebook to religion, we all want to fit in.  Chat rooms provide common issues, forums keep the same like minded members on the same page, and sadly, religion has brought us a generic God.  At one time the denominations each had taken a Biblical stand for their beliefs, now they too are mainstream, not wanting to offend anyone, lest they leave and go elsewhere.  My father in law once told me he liked being a Catholic because e didn’t have to participate, and the services were the same everywhere.  Like when they mispronounced his wife’s name at her funeral...again a generic funeral.  Just fill in the blanks, if you can.  But if you want to stand out and become a target, take a stand.  While churches today are hot on social issues, they remain soft on the one thing they were set up by God to do, to stand out from the world and take the gospel to it.  Where Jesus was once the man thing, now he is neatly avoided, sin is never mentioned and salvation is via church membership, some even claiming they have no members, at least on paper.  Until get an email for money or to attend.  Like the cars we used to look back at, how many look back after a service and say “wow, I was really moved by the Lord today.”  Instead rushing to eat, with informal good byes.  Even generic sermons based on holidays, seasons, tithing when money is lacking, and skillfully avoiding the gospel.  Mention Jesus to be trendy, and today many trendy churches exist, but call him the Christ, Lord, or Savior, you may get some raised eyebrows.  Where is Jesus, where did he go?

Fact is he never left, we moved.  He never changes like styles and social issues do.  Some of the things he wouldn’t do are found as bragging points for some churches, he wouldn’t be found harassing homosexuals, berating women going into abortion clinics, he wouldn’t shoot anyone, burn a cross or hate his enemies, he wouldn’t run for political office, attack the poor or side with the rich, and you would never find him endorsing his name on any merchandise.  When the popular “what would Jesus do?” bracelet came out, how many considered what he wouldn’t do?  And if you are a true Christian, do you need to ask?

Long before he was a hit on Broadway, he was a superstar, a super man before the comic came out, and a rebel with a cause long before James Dean.  Cool before McQueen, in before Flynn, and a popular name before taken in vain.  He was and is the only true son of God, not a generic body on a cross around your neck.  He isn’t an hour long service to endure, not a genie in a lamp to ask things from, and not your enemy.  Yet he is portrayed as these things today.  Only he can take the generic life religion offers and fails at and give you life.  If your Bible cover, bumper sticker or t-shirt are the only way you know and represent him, you have gone with a marketing system not the true gospel.  And beware, for even the devil himself can appear as an angel of light....

So next time you cannot find your SUV in the lot without hitting the panic button, when you cannot tell the difference between brands of soda, when you shop for your next motorcycle based on price, you may be going generic.  Even my Harley friend Mark will tell you, there are only two colors, and both are black.  Again generic Harley colors.  Only in Jesus Christ can you ever be all you can be, a long time before the Army promised it.  Living a boring, mundane, generic life?  Maybe it is the god you serve, for in Christ you find life, and life abundant, worth the living.  Nothing generic about Jesus, you can copy him and come close, or think you do, but for free you can have the real thing.  If your god comes in a generic form, turn to him and flee religion.  Remember it was the generic Pharisees who were trying to catch and persecute him, he reached out to everyone individually, in love.  Only he can forgive, only he can give life.  Only in him will you find true peace.  Nothing generic about Jesus, can you say the same thing about your God?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

shelter from the storm

There is an almost surreal feeling inside a rain suit when it is pouring all around you.  But first you must put on the rain suit,which I always wait too long to do.  The rain will stop I hope, after getting soaked,and wishing I had.  But too many rides in the rain have taught me to keep going, sometimes neglecting God’s common sense telling me to stop.  I was riding across North Dakota, in my rain suit, and after 190 miles the rain stopped, it got cold, 39 degrees, and I noticed my tires worn on the side of the tread, like I had been cornering, in a sense I was, riding at an angle.  Or after eating at Lucille’s in Oklahoma, the sky was dark, but at the next exit got off after a Fedex truck and trailer blew across two lanes.  Rainy and windy and cold, at least I was dry.  Or after Theresa put her rain suit on, I again waited, and the puddle on my seat soaked my crotch.  Making little kids laugh and point when we stopped to eat at the Machine Shed.  Stupid hurts at all ages, humor funny at all ages too.  But then there was the time I stopped in Springfield, Ohio, flooding up to my tank.  Pulling into a gas station seeking shelter, lightning hit the bowling alley next door, suddenly we didn’t feel so safe....

But if you ride, you will face storms.  Not just rain, but storms of health, relationships, finances, and broken parts.  Just like Jesus warned, “in this life you will have tribulation.”  That ought to be a faith builder.  But without a storm, there is no rainbow, God’s sign he would never flood the earth again, and a sign to those he rescued in the flood.  A sign and promise for us, he is with us in the storm and will take us through it.  Sometimes kicking and screaming like Jonah.  Despite God’s efforts to bless him, he rebelled, even to cursing the people God saved, and cursing the plant he sent to protect him from the sun.  Sound familiar?  But did it ever occur to you that a detour to us is a plan of blessing from God?  How many detours or wrong turns, or changes in plans have led you to blessings?  to roads not on maps, to rides better than the one you had planned?  One choice took us down the Snake, more turns and less traffic than the Dragon.  Another across Wisconsin based on a recommendation from another biker, whose wife had brought 21 pairs of shoes with her for the weekend.  On their Harley.  Or my ride last month down the PCH, in a t-shirt!  But yet, some only can relate to “if only I had listened...”

God has given us his spirit to guide and protect, to bless and minster to.  He is along for the ride, and when we seek him first, he becomes the ride.  A ride that doesn’t have to end when the road does, or the storms break out.  Like getting caught in a bad rain and wind storm in Southern Illinois, far form anywhere.  But providing a small local truck stop for the bike, and its riders.  Meeting the locals and learning the area.  Safe and secure, not what we would have planned.  How m any times have you not listened to God and wished you had?  One is too many...

So when it rains put on the rain suit, don’t be like me.  Or don’t neglect to take the jacket, it won’t get cold, when warmth is only a bungee away.  Or pass by the gas station hoping another is within your range, or hoping the diner is still open, despite it being after hours.  I have learned by doing and by not doing, finding that like scripture tells us, “obedience is better than sacrifice.”  Like the carpenter tells us, “measure twice, cut once,” and check the weather before heading out.  It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark, the whale was;t planning on making a u-turn with Jonah.  We hadn’t planned on hail that day riding into Albuquerque, but God knew, and so can we.   If only we sought him as furtively before as we do when we are in the situation how life would be different.  Trust Jesus, not the situation, and enjoy the ride.  Let God bless you, and give you shelter from the storm.  Like Dylan sang “come in she said I’ll give you, shelter from the storm.” 

No rain, no rainbow.  Real bikers ride in the rain, real Christians hang with God in the storm. 

And then there was the time I rode 800 miles in the rain to visit a girlfriend, who broke up with me when she could have done t over the phone....at least I got to ride!

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com