“In the beginning,” God says, “I created the heavens and the earth out of
nothing.” Which we believe by faith because none of us was there, but the Bible
tells us so. But soon he added the animals, and then created Adam. Think of
the stories and conversations between God and Adam, naming all the animals, the
walks in the garden, watching the sun rise and then set again. Being told all
about the stars, and his creation. Now we know how many years Adam lived, but
we don’t know how old he was when God created him in his image. Then God let
Adam sleep and created Eve taking part of his side to create her, so that they
would be the same only different. I can only imagine the conversations, did he
ever tell her how it was when it was only God and him? Seems his good old days
were as different to her as God’s were to him. They were all contemporaries,
but each with a different date when their past began. And then again how
different their past would be when they had kids, and grand kids, and cousins
and aunts and uncles. Each with a new past, as God looked back and oversaw it
all. All having him in common, but each with a different view of the past. The
same only different.....
Just like the other day while visiting the local bike shop. A group of us
were talking about the fastest bike when we started riding. For me it was the
Mach III, for only $999 the quarter in 12 seconds! But within months the 750
Honda changed all that, but for $500 more. A lot of paper route and yard
cutting money, to be robbed or properly reinvested from your college fund. But
only four years later it was the Z-1, 900cc, and the price and engine size had
both doubled, but so had the thrills. Then another guy who started riding in
the eighties talked of the 900 Ninja, the GSXR 750, and all for under $4500!
Seems my older bikes were just old to him. Two others joined in about the
nineties when they started riding, making the Ninjas and first GXRS’s obsolete,
but the new kid on the block at age 20, raved about the supercharged Ninja with
over 200 hp we were standing in front of. For only $17,000, none faster or more
advanced. All words and phrases we had used in bragging about our times. Seems
we all had motorcycles in common, and got the urge at the same age. Just spread
over four decades....with each one of our pasts starting at the same age, just
different times. I had much to look back on, and we all wondered what the next
group in ten years would lust for. So when did you get the urge, when did your
past begin?
All of us who call Jesus Lord have come to him in personal but different
ways. Mine was on the beach, some are in church, many in hospitals or in
prison, some at a young age, some in their last dying breath that God kept them
alive to mutter. One God and one way, Jesus, but many roads to get there.
There is no standard way to come to Christ, yet religion today has caused rifts
in our belief system. Some are based on faith, some a procedure, some on saying
a special prayer. For some you must join their church, and in too many cases
Jesus is not the focal point. Jesus and do this, not Jesus is enough. Yet each
one of our pasts begin with him when we come to realize we are sinners and need
a savior. When religion and the world are not enough and our spirit calls out
to the holy spirit “save me!” With each one of our beginnings unique but
sharing the same Jesus. The same Jesus scripture tells us that is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. We change, he doesn’t. We don’t have to worry
what he will be like next week, we know from his past. And we also know from
our future. To the thief on the cross it was being remembered in paradise. For
Stephen it was “not holding their sin against them.” For the multitude on
Pentecost it was sharing the gospel in their own native language so they could
understand it personally. The same Jesus who met Paul on the Damascus road is
the same Jesus who greets us today and offers salvation. No matter the
language, it will always be all about Jesus. Simple so we can get it and free
so we can afford it. Unlike the motorcycles we used to dream of....
So when did your past begin in Christ? What do you have to look back on to
share in your testimonies? Is he as fresh today as he was the day you met him?
Has he changed you, or has religion changed him? The same God who created us
out of nothing, who when we were void like the earth was, has allowed the holy
spirit to hover over us, at one time giving the earth shape, and now giving our
lives shape. Will today be the first day of your past with Jesus, or another
day to look back on the time spent with him? Wise men still seek him, this time
he brings the gifts. All you bring is you. For over the 45 years I have been
saved, Jesus has never left me or deserted me, although I wandered from him. My
past is intertwined with him, maybe today I can meet some other Christian men
and we can talk like we did over motorcycles, how it was for us. And how it is
now. Generations and decades apart, Jesus makes it all real. When my past with
Jesus began it pointed to a bright and heavenly future. I still don’t know it
all, still haven’t even heard all the questions, but I know Jesus, and that
makes all the difference. Add in heaven and my future is secured.
Now....
If only I can stay away from motorcycle shops, there is this Z900RS that
looks like my old Z-1, and a new Tiger 900.....seems that most of us never grow
up, but continue to grow in grace. When your past begins with Jesus your future
has a new future. I don’t know what the future holds, I only know Jesus holds
it. Motorcycles and prices change, so does performance. Ladies and gentlemen,
the new new and old performance king, Jesus Christ. And for those who doubt God
created the earth, bring your own earth. Courtesy of the one who created you
and gives life. Some dream, some ride. I do both in Christ. Do you?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com