from here to obscurity

 There are many urban legends surrounding the Model T, from “you can have any color as long as it is black,” which Henry Ford never said, but most were because black lacquer dried faster, to inventing the assembly line, he didn’t, but in 1914 when introduced, he was able to drop the time to build one from 12 hours to 90 minutes, and pass the savings on to his customers.  He didn’t invent interchangeable parts, which made the assembly line possible, but just created a car for everyman, before Porsche did the people’s car, the VW Bug.  He made the distance between the wheels the same as a carriage so they could follow the ruts in dirt roads, used chrome vanadium steel for critical parts that made them last longer, and priced them so anyone, not just the rich could have access to a car.  From being called Tin Lizzie to being chopped up and melted down for two world wars, perhaps no other car changed the face of the auto world like it.  And from 1908-1927 sold over 15 million, the largest number of any nameplate until VW passed them some 25 years ago.  A car like no other, for a time like no other, outselling most other car makes combined for some years, in 1927 it was time for a change, and shutting down the assembly line for months, he then introduced the Model A.  Henry’s Tin Lizzie had become a lady, and would again sell in record numbers, but nowhere near what the T did, nor with such affection.  From here to obscurity, try to find one at any car show today, from open car to closed car, to TT truck, to station wagon, they were all things to all drivers at one time.  My dream is one day to learn to drive one, as their planetary transmission requires three pedals to drive, the third one not a clutch.  Explain that to our two pedal point and steer driver of today.....

In our world of fuel injection and computers, the T fed a carburetor from a 10 gallon tank by gravity feed, and would go up some hills backward so the fuel would get there, also for  lower gears on a hill.  Still started by cranking until the late teens, and controlling the spark and advance from the steering wheel, it was as simple as it could be.  Anyone from blacksmiths to farmers could repair them, a detachable head and cast in black cylinders were simplicity itself.  Remember this was the dawn of automobiles, the Otto cycle engine was new, and gasoline, a product that had little use before the car, and was dumped as useless.  Try to create a product today, a market today, and deliver it to the public at a low cost that would last for years, yet the Model T did it.  For almost 20 years making its mark, and a mark it has left today.

But cars come and go, so do people.  Yet one man made an impact on the world in only 3 1/2 years, and is still impacting the world today.  Unlike the Model T, he came here, died, but never went into obscurity.  Yet today many fear him, and try to bury his memory, destroy his book, and persecute anyone who is his follower.  Jesus Christ came to earth in obscurity, born in a barn to a teenage couple of no reputation.  Trained as a finishing carpenter, he changed vocations at age 33, the age a man enters the priesthood, to fulfill his father’s plan for him, and for 3 1/2 years changed the world forever.  When he was found innocent of all charges, he was still crucified, what did the people think they would replace him with?  A newer model?  What he offered for free they could never have paid for, yet saw so little value in him.  Others would come and claim to be God, to be the messiah, only he could in truth and love, because he was God incarnate.  God got him right the first time, no updates or new options needed, no new colors or accessories for next year, yet religion has tried to.  And succeeded to a point, but Jesus will always be who he said he was, no matter what you believe, the truth will always be the truth, and he will always be. 

Yet as many wait for his return, many mock him for not returning.  To them I say if you missed him the first time, I hope you don’t the second.  For afterwards it will not be easy, read Revelation and see.  Of course you could hang around just to prove him right, but he desires you know him and avoid hell.  Unlike cars and motorcycles, it does matter what you drive, and what drives you.  Not driven by his spirit, you are driven by another, only Jesus will accept trade in as we are.  We need a simple gospel again today without all the footnotes and lessons of scripture.  But if you don’t get Jesus, the rest of it is meaningless, for knowledge puffs up, only Jesus saves.  For all, to all, he is the savior of the world, no matter what you drive.  He does what religion cannot, save.  Many have tried another way, only Jesus is the way. 

So the Model T may have gone from here to obscurity, Jesus came from obscurity, and is here today.  He died on the cross, but left his spirit like the song says.  “Thank you oh my father, for giving us your son, and leaving your spirit till his work on earth is done.”  The gospel of Jesus Christ, simple so we can get it, free so we can afford it.  In any color you want, not just black.  Not mass produced religion, but a person you can call your friend, as he calls us friend.  His book still is the best seller of all time, isn’t it time you got to know the man it is about?  Just pick it up and read it, no studying involved, read it like you would a magazine, and find life, excitement, fear and joy, and all the things in life we encounter, with the answers for the tests of life provided.  Then study if you want, but let the spirit show you the mysteries of Jesus, and make it personal.  Just like the car you fuss over, but never trade in Jesus for a newer model.  After 20 some years the auto world had changed, the T couldn’t compete anymore.  Today religion has changed and is changing, but still cannot compete with Jesus anymore.  Here and obscure, he wants to reveal himself to you by his spirit.  The T was described as practical and affordable, just like Jesus.  Let him change the way you drive today. 

Production line religion may be quicker and more efficient, only Jesus is the model we need with everything included.  And at prices you can afford....the Model T was an essential part of life, almost 90 years have come and gone since the last one.  To never return.  Only Jesus is and will return, now what else can you get for 1920’s prices today?  Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Today was tomorrow yesterday.  And by the way, the black was really called Midnight Blue...until WWI when they changed to all black.  Religion like legends often get it wrong....don’t you.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

but did you fix the problem?

When I first met Burke he had recently moved to the Golden State from Texas.  Answering an ad for a service manager at a long time, family owned Chevy dealership, he was hired over the phone, not knowing where or what the condition of the dealership was.  After driving by the day before he was to start, he immediately went home and started to look for work, but kept the job until he got another.  The dealership was old and family owned, in a bad area of town, where no one fixed cars, when they quit running they just parked them and stole another.  Business was very slow, and to a man who was used to getting things done, this was not what he had signed up for.  He was gone within a few months, the dealership a few months after that, and stopping in before it closed, the parts manager told me he had gone to a Ford store, and I found him there.

This was just as bad, but just the opposite, as it was so big and busy it was out of control.  I was glad to see him, as I had purchased a Ranger pick up there, and had some problems with it.  Every other time I put it in reverse, it stalled.  Take it out of reverse, it would start, but never in reverse.  Which fortunately they could duplicate, but could not find the cause.  Because of Burke’s tenacity, and our friendship, he put an experienced man on it, and one afternoon, the call came.  They were about to condemn the transmission, the likely candidate since it was failing, and when the tech was underneath the truck looking for a serial number tag, saw the problem.  The ECM, engine control module wiring harness was routed wrong, and when the truck was put into reverse, the linkage would pull on it, pulling the two connectors just far apart to cause a short, and the truck would stall.  With me under it, he showed me the problem, it took only a few minutes to fix, we got in and drove and after several times putting it in reverse, it never stalled.  Problem solved, now his biggest problem was how to get paid for the warranty work.  The tech had spent hours trying to diagnose, no part had failed, but there are ways, he knew them, and he got paid, as did the tech, the truck was fixed, and ran until it was stopped by a tree at 165,000 miles.  A loose connection caused it all, not a failed part, and the diagnosis it took was unique, as no one diagnoses any more, they swap parts per the flow chart on the computer.  Or by process of elimination, the part that remains must be at fault.  No one wants to pay for diagnosis, and too many times as a service writer and manager I saw parts thrown at a problem, fixing a problem, but not fixing the problem.  The guys like Burke are gone now, the new breed is young and inexperienced, and like one guy I hired, told me the most important tool in his tool box was the pen he wrote the estimate with.  Proper diagnosis, once common factor, is now a fine art.  A few have it or want to use it.  if you find a guy who does, treat him well, he is worth his weight in brownies.

“I don’t care what the problem is, just fix it!” we often hear.  We are in such a hurry we don’t care about anyone else but us. and it shows.  We want to get on with what we want to do, and could care less about the cause.  Our pride only allows for us, and a thought about the woman who gave two mites may reveal more about us than we care to reveal.  In the story Jesus tells, a poor widow, gives publicly all she had, two mites, and only Jesus notices.  Everyone else was busy watching those who gave big amounts, who called attention to themselves.  In a society where charity was needed and used often, look to those who had it, kiss up to them, and hope for some spare change.  Even in the church, as the giving was to be to God, it was known who were the givers and why.  Who gave and for what reason, and in the midst of this public giving and adoration situation, woman, a second class citizen, almost just property, dares to go up and empty all she has.  Imagine the embarrassment to those rich,”what is she doing here?  Who let her in?”  But they say nothing, as  no one seems to notice her but God, and Jesus tells us she gave more than all the others combined.  She gave from her poverty, the others gave from their abundance.  And God saw the difference.  Is that all God sees?

The woman was not afraid to be seen among the big donors of the day, she knew why she was there.  Do we?  I have a poor man at Dustin Arms, heavily medicated, who will give me buttons, and things he finds to put in the offering.  He wants to give, as he was given, and often a can of corn for me so I don’t go hungry.  I readily accept it, his offering for God, as his heart wants to give and be a part of ministry.  As God has given him, he wants to give to others.  He wants it to be our secret, because he is humbled, and thinks no one would notice or care anyway.  But somehow he knows God does.  That is ministry, meeting a need, that is love, giving from our poverty, and that is what the church should be doing.  He makes it personal, takes it down to ta basic level, one to one.  And like the poor widow, remains nameless except unto God.

For us giving could be reaching over and turning on the petcock of a new rider about to stall at a light.  Opening the door for a man in a wheelchair.  Giving away food and clothes.  Meeting a need, that takes time, and the sweat of our brow,and that which we may not get paid for.  It takes our participation, no substitute was given for Jesus on the cross, he paid it all.  Can we at least pay it ahead for others?  It cheeses me off to see plaques in churches for pews or wings donated, as if the person built the church and should be recognized for it.  Does not scripture say “if God doesn’t build the church we labor in vain?”  What do you have that God has not provided for you?  The widow knew that, do you?

Burke will tell you he was only doing his job.  Sadly he went above and beyond what is the norm today.  So did the widow, who had to depend on handouts, but still gave.  Are you robbing God?  Do you only pay 10% and miserably?  Jesus saw the value in a cheerful giver, the one in who his spirit dwells.  Do you give hilariously like the scripture says?  If not, don’t.  God doesn’t need your money, he needs your heart.  What are you showing about Jesus in your attitude towards giving?  Some tithe out of fear, God sees that too.  But it is when we give of what we have the least, we see God’s richness poured out the most.  We need Jesus to be saved, not a healthy tithing history.  We need to be guided by his spirit, not our denomination.  There is a difference....

Burke ended up giving more than he got paid for, but he did the task he was called to.  Can we say the same?  Why do you write a check to church each week?  Is God your storehouse, or is the church?  Do you help others as the spirit moves you, or are you all tapped out from tithing?  If you give, you will never go without.  You cannot out give God, no matter how many church pews you donate with your name on them.  When called to action, what does the spirit show you to do?  Would you empty your wallet to help a poor person if God asked?  Or even give them a ride?  To whoever does this to the least of them, does it unto Jesus.  What have  you done unto Jesus today?  Do you want to undo it?

Where God guides he provides, he will never ask you to give that which you cannot.  The money like the trans was not the problem, it was the connection.  Who you are connected to makes all the difference.  Stay plugged in tight to Jesus, we will reap what we sow.  So do not sow sparingly...ever wonder why you tithe so much and have so little, while others give so little and have so much?  By our actions we will be known...he who dies with the most toys still dies.  Jesus gave it all, all to him I owe.  Brother, can you spare at least a dime?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

choices my Grandpa had to make

My Grandpa, although he may have never realized it, was a GM man.  He was a Pontiac guy, driving cross country twice in the early fifties to see his son and family in Texas and Colorado.  His diary has comments of the mileage and condition of his car, one comment from a gas jockey of how “he had never seen such a clean ‘48 Pontiac.”  The first car I remember was his 1956 Buick Special, a two door hardtop, yellow with a  white roof.  A way cool car, that he sold to my Dad when he bought his new 1959 Buick Electra 225, gray with red leather interior.  Huge fins, and four doors of success to the world.  To my sister and I it was just a source of arguing who would sit on the rear center armrest while riding with him.  Ahh, the good old days.  But a few years later he became a Cadillac man, buying a used 1962 Coupe DeVille, in black, the proper color.  How rich and important I felt riding with him in that car.  Until he traded it for another Cadillac, a 1964 Sedan DeVille, silver with red vinyl roof and red leather interior.  And how impressed my girlfriend was when he let me pick her up in it, having just gotten my license.  Cadillac back then was still the sign of success, and the world knew if you were driving one you had made it.  I wonder what they thought of a 17 year old kid behind the wheel, “was his father some big shot that his kid could drive a Cadillac?”  But Grandpa’s last car was to be a 1972 Pontiac LeMans Sport, two door silver with black bucket seat interior.  He used to like to shift the auto manually, as if he was racing, and then it seemed he was too old to drive any longer, and he sold it. 

So maybe my Grandpa was a GM man, his driving tastes and choices would support it.  But what a difference between him and my Grandma, who drove Ramblers.  Renewing her license in the sixties, she had a pink Rambler wagon of late fifties heritage, then a blue 1962 two door Rambler American, and finally a 1969 Rambler American Rouge, a sporty two door.  Which she let me drive on occasion,and made me a believer in AMC.  She dealt with Pat Ronco who owned Ronco Rambler, and when she needed a car, called Pat, he would tell her what he had and what she wanted, he gave her a price, and she wrote the check.  Such was the way she did business.  I could never see my Grandpa doing that, as he was thrifty, and would negotiate for a nickel, he remembered being poor and jobless in the depression.  I can only imagine how successful he felt when he bought his first Cadillac.  I always wondered if it was just for the huge trunk to bring us Christmas gifts.....

But under the same roof a couple had much different views on cars.  To my Grandma it was transportation, she rarely if ever left Bangor.  To my Grandpa it meant leaving town, at age 21 he had hitch hiked cross country with a friend.  The stories he would tell.   But cars bring out different emotions in us, to some just getting from point a to point b, to some an image to present to others, like a girlfriend you are trying to impress.  Speed and performance attract others, while some brag on horsepower, some brag on miles per gallon.  But each purchase reflected a choice to be made to fulfill the need they thought existed.  Sadly we have a new generation, the i-gen who cold care less about personal driving, my good friend refers to them as i-diots.  You can quote him on that.  But with the loss of individual driving choices, we give up freedom to go where and when we want, depending on the bus, taxi, Uber, or a friend.  Maybe they are idiots after all, for who would give up freedom?

Watching the Scientology series by Leah Remini has opened many an eye to the cult.  The last show showed how they are only after your money, and how many will sell or forsake all, including family and kids to obtain a billion year sentence to heaven.  Include reincarnation, and it gets too weird, and my first question is, who would pay, or even go into debt, for something that can be had for free?  Scientology offers no guarantee, and has severe penalties for crossing them.  Why would you want to join anything like that?  Pay to play, you have a better chance at blackjack, whose odds are only 7 to 1.   If something so important to my grandparents was the car they drove, how can we fail to seek a true God, where eternal life is the reward, or eternal death the sentence?  What gives here?

You cannot negotiate with God, his offer is Jesus, the one and only, the best one you will ever get.  Your choice, yet we try to weigh all the options, to see what is best for us now, instead of the future.  Some girls I once knew used to sing a song, that even if there was no heaven, knowing Jesus on earth would be worth it.  I always liked that, because it is true, and then we get heaven included.  I think of all the joy of knowing Jesus, the blessings and fun I have knowing him, so much that sometimes I don’t want it to end.  Which bothers me, because I want to go to heaven ASAP, and asking God why I can enjoy one and then the other, he tells me he loves me and wants to bless me.  So I let him, and will forever.  Enjoying the freedom he has given me in Christ Jesus, not to be an idiot, but to choose life over death.  Freedom over bondage, light over darkness, it is our choice and only God lets you choose.  Cults, religion, some churches and denominations tell you “our way or the highway,” neglecting to note that Jesus spent most of his life on the road.  Are you enjoying all the freedoms of the Lord?  Are you taking advantage of his counsel to make decisions?  Are stuck taking the bus of religion, which tells you when to come and go?  Miss that bus, another will come along, if only you had the freedom to drive yourself?

Freedom of choice doesn’t always mean we will choose freedom.  It just allows us to make the decision.  True love does not demand its own way, only Jesus lets you choose.  There are two things in life  you have no choice in, the day you were born and the day you will die.  In between you will cover a lot of miles, how and who you do them with is up to you.  No matter your choice, your last ride on earth will be in a hearse, a car.  Never saw a bus hearse...maybe there is a lesson in there.  Who you ride with now makes all the difference tomorrow.  I wonder how impressed my girlfriend would have been if I picked her up in a bus?  Probably never would know, if she ever got on, it would be my last date.  Make the right choice, and leave the rest to God.  Cadillac was the standard of the world, Jesus is the standard of the universe. 

Don’t be left on the side of the road thumb out not knowing who will pick you up, or when.  Make the right choice now.  Top down, wind in your face.  If a car can be that exciting, just imagine riding a motorcycle!  Do you have enough imagination for God?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

 

the Art of the deal

I have known Art for many years, stopping in at his old Triumph dealership, and bench racing.  Later when he moved to their new digs, I would stop in every once in awhile and visit, usually with the latest new bike from Triumph the dealers didn’t have yet, and we would talk.  He had a true love for motorcycling, was in the business to make money, the object of capitalism, but also promoting motorcycling.  A few years back he told me if I wanted a new bike, he would pass it on at his cost, how can you pass up a deal like that?  But I did for many years, over biked and under garaged, and in between the press bikes had plenty of new Triumphs to ride.  But on a ride a few weeks ago, we stopped in on a hot Saturday, and we visited, and today I am picking up my new T120 Bonneville.  Maybe the last thing I expected, but I’ll deal with it.  It seems the garage seems empty without at least one Bonneville in it.....and will be remedied later today.

But I know many Triumph dealers, who want my business, and offered me a price a cost.  Seems there is a great deal of variety in dealer cost, which can vary from a few hundred to over $1000.  When my local dealer and friend offered me one at his cost, it was over $500 more, he explained a $235 fee for the service department.  Huh?  Another showed me an initial cost of over $1800 less, but added on the same amount in freight and set up.  Confirming with Mick who should know, these guys are charging over $1300 for hooking up a computer and downloading the program, charging the battery, and checking the fluids.  The bikes come fully assembled, when I reminded him about adjusting the mirrors, he laughed and said “there’s the difference.”  They may take a few minutes, between answering the phone and going to the head....Freight is consistent, the factory charging a flat rate of under $500.  They all pay the same for the bike and freight.  So why the difference?

In auto terms it is called packing, an added profit added to the cost, then the profit figured from there, so when being offered at cost, depending on the pack, the dealer cost is different.  So much for the days of “I can get it for you wholesale...” I don’t want any dealer to lose money or go out of business, but I don’t want to either.  My money is just as important, so is my bottom line.  It seems in all the prices offered, only Art was telling the truth, the others, when I gave them a price to match, a bit higher than his, all told me they would lose money.  Instead they didn’t make a sale, the profit on a non-sale is still nothing.  But my telling of others my great deal, never revealing price, will be a great goodwill to Art, I hope it helps sell him more bikes, at a profit.  I like having him around, and find it refreshing to find a man who stands by his word.  We know that as the truth, maybe the final frontier.

For 50 years now we have been told by Captain James Tiberius Kirk that space is the final frontier.  We have been there, touched the edge of it at least, and seem to be on the same leading edge with truth.  We are close, but not there yet.  I will admit that choosing which bike I wanted was an emotional ordeal, but it came down to the one I would look back on after walking away, the one that I would look at from the diner window, and want me to go riding again.  The T120 was my first choice, the silver and red, traditional colors, but an all black had me for a few moments. But I let my head help as well as my heart, and my first choice is my final choice.

We are told the heart can be deceiving, how many have made a decision based on emotion, only to change emotions and wish they hadn’t done what they did?  When we start with the heart, it is always us as the starting point, which immediately puts us at a disadvantage.  I am getting better, telling my sons to never make a decision on a high or low emotion, but I am still a work in process, or progress I hope.  There is truth out there, but we seek the truth, which can only be found in Jesus Christ.  To some a truth may be one dimensional, to others two dimensional, but in Christ we find it three dimensional, as in the trinity.  And when spirit driven, we find a dimension we never could imagine, and cannot put into words.  The basis of all lies may be the truth, but as soon as you stray from the truth, you are off course, and missing your target.  The target hasn’t moved, Jesus never changes, we do.  All truth is based on the truth, and in Christ we have the way, the truth, and the life.  Not a way, a truth, or a life, THE way, truth, and life.  For just like dealer costs may vary, so can a truth.

Some religions deny the deity of Jesus, some deny the trinity, dropping him to a great teacher only status.  It is when we go beyond the physical dimension, and into the spiritual dimension that we see Jesus for who he is, and begin to understand why he came.  The first step to truth is the truth, and only found in Jesus.  Yet many let their hearts desire make the choice,and pay too much and get too little.  Not quite what they wanted or bargained for, the truth is the bottom line, not how you get there.  Jesus is the bottom line of truth, so while others concentrate on the journey, making plans and then seeking God, he wants us to seek him first in all things.  He is the bottom line and knows how to get there.  That is the way.  That is the truth.  That is the life. 

Visiting Riverside, Iowa last summer, we saw the future birthplace of Captain Kirk, in the year 2238.  A headstone for the future, a truth based on the creativity of Mr. Roddenberry.  There are many truths based on his fictional stories, based on truth, which can lead us to stray from the truth.  If only we can look at the present as flatteringly as we look to the future, the truth may not have to set us free, but keep us from being bound.

God tells us the path is straight and narrow, the quickest way between two points is a straight line. He wants nothing to get between us and him.   Yet he provides the curves to sharpen our skills, and to remind us of how much we need him and how much he loves us.  Also because he loves us and wants bikers to have fun, a frontier many Christians have yet to explore.  Today I will get the Art of the deal, and I appreciate it and Art.  42 years ago I made the best deal when choosing Jesus.  A priceless deal, yet he paid the price.  His bottom line is salvation, which is God’s will for us, to know Jesus.  That is the truth.  Anything else is just added profit for man, at a cost we cannot afford.  Make the deal with Jesus today, enter a frontier where only man can go via the holy spirit, the truth, let it be your next and final frontier.  We will be spending eternity in the future, some truth is profitable, some prophetable.  Only in Jesus is the freight included....and gives a whole new meaning to “beam me up Scotty.”

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com