I wish to go on record as a low tech guy. I am slowly adapting via Triumph
to ride by wire, programmable traction control and engine mapping, and ABS.
Slowly. In our 2015 Mustang you have more gauge info than anyone should be
allowed to read while driving, more entertainment than info. From heated grips,
to cruise control on my newest bikes, I am adapting. Seems now the latest point
of contention is the size of the screen on your motorcycle, where the clocks in
Britianese used to be. Spending 2000 miles on new Street Triple RS with them,
and a joy stick, they were actually easy to navigate with. Seems the line I
drew in the sand has moved, or is it me, but one line I refuse to cross is using
a GPS. I’m a map guy, and have even been known to stop under pressure and ask
directions, but every time follow someone on a GPS. they get lost, or we do. On
one ride with four of us, after the same street looked familiar after the third
trip past it, we headed down a side street and saw the diner, and were about to
eat when our fearless leader on is GPS finally arrived. On one trip in the
Mustang using Theresa’s cell with GPS, we followed it into a neighborhood,
telling us we had arrived, with no sign of at the country club in sight.
Backtracking and seeing fairways, within 30 seconds we were parked and ready to
eat. Even I know my right from my left without letters on each glove to remind
me. And last week, again following the GPS, we could see our destination, only
the road it told us to take didn’t exist. Some quick thinking, aka common
sense, got us there in a few minutes. Some swear by the GPS, I swear at
it!
My first experience with the GPS was over 20 years ago in off road racing
in Mexico, and it was cool. You could keep tabs on where the race cars were,
and dispatch a pit crew if needed. But yet somehow those in a GPS-less ride
still finished. On a course that was pre-run, with directions given. With GPS
coordinates for the wealthy. But it always comes down to one thing when you get
lost, one question we ask when calling the place we want to be at, after telling
them we are lost they ask “where are you?” And my first thought is “if I knew
where I was I wouldn’t be lost,” but maintaining cool, give an intersection,
usually to find I am close, or within a time zone.
The first question God asked Adam in the Bible was “where are you?” He
knew, he wanted Adam to see where he was and how he had fallen. God saw him
hiding in the bushes, he thought no one could see him or what he had done. God
could have asked him “how did you get there, what were you doing, what has
happened to you?” but he chose to zero in on their relationship, and asked
simply “where are you?” And the excuses, and lies followed. Sin had taken him
on new course, and without God, he had no way of escape. And today we all
suffer from the sin of the first Adam. But Jesus makes it all right, if we ask
“where are you?” Or in the words of Jesus, the first ones spoken in John, he
asks the two future disciples, after being identified as the lamb of God, “what
do you want?” So, what do you want from Jesus?
Remarkably the first words of Jesus come in the form of a question, so how
would you answer, what do you want from God? Before you answer, consider the
answer you may give, and how Jesus will answer it. Scripture tells us he will
give us our hearts desire, and when he is our hearts desire, we are wide open to
the leading of the spirit. When it is all about us, we are following our own
desires, and would you follow another lost person if you are lost? Funny how
when we panic, all buildings, all trees, and all roads look the same. If only
we stop and ask Jesus, it would make things a lot easier. But then we need to
follow his directions, I knew there would be a hard part. But that is where
faith comes in, and trust builds. But when meeting the two men, he asked what,
not who do you seek. Today men seek a what, when they need a who, but Jesus
asks differently, he makes them think, and he confronts them with what they
really seek or want. What do you really want, that is the most important
question in life. Which later was followed up by Jesus to Peter, brother of one
of the two, when he asked “who do you say I am?” And Peter answered
rightly,”you are the Christ, the son of the living God.” So what do you really
want from life, and who do you say Jesus is? Your answer may have eternal
ramifications.
You see God knows just where you are, what you want, but most importantly
what you need. When Jesus said “I am the way,” he meant it. No GPS religion
needed, he knows, do we? So the most important question we need to ask is where
are we, Jesus isn’t lost, and he stuck right with us. We need to see where he
is and follow, remember he is the great shepherd, whose job is to lead his
sheep. And who else but the lamb of God would know best what sheep need, who
else could be the great shepherd? And their actions confirmed their words, they
followed Jesus. Before they met him, they knew the answer was him, and they
followed, before they spoke, they went with him. Just like
today.....right?
They encountered Jesus on a spiritual level, today churches are filled with
physical answers to prayer,and miss the point Jesus was asking about.
Concentrate on the physical, when Jesus warns us the things seen are temporal,
the things not seen are eternal. Do you really trust him who you haven’t seen,
but know exists? Where are you in Christ? If you don’t know where you are
going how will you know when you get there? Could it be that when the holy
spirit comes into your life you have the most high tech device that will ever be
formed, at your disposal? Yet too many settle for a 3x5 inch screen for
direction in life.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day, can you afford to take the
chance? Are you filled with information, memorized the word, but yet are lost?
Have you considered the application of what you know, based on who you know and
who provided it? Makes you wonder, if Moses had a GPS, how would it have
affected him? Yet God directed him where he wanted, fed him, and provided shoes
that never wore out. Leading him to where he wanted him to be. Something to
remember next time we ask in prayer, it doesn’t take a Big Mac to be supersized
in God’s economy. Trust Jesus, follow his spirit, and the road you are on just
got a lot more exciting and interesting. Where you are in Christ will tell us a
lot about where you are going. Maybe Jesus was such a low tech guy after all.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com