some of my favorite roads

Everyone has a list of their ten best or favorite roads, but what about the ride?  Maybe a subtle difference, but a difference none the same.  For example Highway 1 between San Luis Obispo and Carmel is a favorite road, but not even on my list of favorite rides.  Why?  Because of the weather, rain, cold, wind, and fog never get me to fully enjoy the road.  I have ridden it in rain and in sun, you never know what you will get.  So I ride elsewhere.  Route 66 is just the opposite, one of my favorite rides, but not on my road list.  I love the history, old diners, and the atmosphere of the 50-60’s, but most of it is just boring. I like the small towns, but stop light after stop light gets old.  So I ride elsewhere.  All the locals rave about Palomar, I avoid it.  Good road, too many riders in the way, one squid is all it takes to ruin everyone’s day.  Interstate 79 in West Virginia is one of my favorite rides, but being an interstate, as you approach Morgantown, it is just another freeway.  Ever ride the Chesapeake Bay Bridge?  17 miles of bridge and tunnels, it scares my wife, it fascinates me.  But on a windy day....and you go from Delmarva to Virginia Beach, hmmm?  How about a bridge?  The Astoria bridge is a place I love to ride, just back and forth over it.  High, windy, then straight and floating over the Columbia, when we are in the area we ride over it a few times.  Nothing to me of great value on either side, just the bridge that brings them together.

On our last ride to Tucson, not a good ride for the most part to get there, it is boring to get there, we took the back roads to Silver City, and found some beautiful riding roads.  No traffic, great curves with elevation changes, and good pavement.  Far away but close enough to society that you are never more than an hour away from help if you need it.  I will not disclose the roads, they are yours to find, mine not to share.  If in Pennsylvania, ride SR 32 from Easton to New Hope.  What a road if ever was made for riding, but look out, watch your speed, for the curves may have warnings, the cops don’t.  But slow down and enjoy the scenery, and of all the times I have ridden it, the last one is always my favorite.  The Snake in North Carolina and Tennessee boasts more curves in less miles than the Dragon.  But without the hype, is more rideable.  And at the intersection at the bottom, you have a choice of 4 ways to go.  Top that! 

Some roads I have ridden so many times that they have fallen from my let’s ride list.  I like new roads, ones I haven’t ridden before, ones that the trendy group doesn’t know about and hasn’t found yet.  Back roads that seemingly go to nowhere, but really is somewhere.  Most disappointing is stopping at a cycle while riding cross country, and they have nothing to offer.  Don’t you guys ride?  Where is your sense of adventure?  So I follow squiggly lines on the map, look for back roads and cut offs, and alternate routes.  A road less travelled, but a lot more interesting.  Two roads in Iowa come to mind, one in Indiana, another in Arkansas, and numerous ones in southern Minnesota.  Places you may avoid, but I have discovered, and want to keep secret.  Part of the ride is the discovery, the thrill of the first time.  For the rest of you there are a GPS.  Or take the bus.  But whatever road you choose, I hope you enjoy the ride.

For years as a Christian motorcyclist I struggled with the scripture about the road  to God being straight and narrow.  Then why did he invent curves and motorcycles to ride them?  And on one curvy road one day, he explained.  He gave us the curves to enjoy and to be blessed.  He made the ride to him straight and narrow so no one would miss a turn.  Add in the shortest way between two points is a straight line, and he wants no delay in us coming to him.  And suddenly, it all made sense, at least to me.  We are all on different paths, different roads, but on different rides.  Some cruise through life, never being challenged, but missing out on aspects of God they will never see.  If you don’t know or haven’t found the hard times bring you closer to Jesus, hang on.  You will be blessed, but pressed at the same time.  Maybe a road less taken, but a ride that only with Jesus you will arrive at.  Some rides will last longer, some shorter, some cut off.  In all we can see the grace and mercy of God if we have our spiritual eyes open.  Five years ago we set out for a 22 day ride to Wisconsin, 54 days later we come home in a rented Camry after I had my aorta replaced in Albuquerque.  After being life flighted from Durango.  A tough road, but a ride I could never have taken without Jesus.  A ride that brought me closer to him than I ever thought possible, and I thought I was pretty close.  Boy was I wrong, but that straight and narrow path between us was ever so short when I needed him, even before I could ask.  Which it is hard to do in a coma. 

We don’t know where today’s ride will take us or where it will end up.  Or how.  But you can be sure Jesus will be with you if you invite him along.  If saved, he already is, if not, an invite is in order.  You don’t have to be paranoid to see that everyone is out to get you when riding, or not.  One afternoon on a ride in the Sandia Mountains reminded me.  Old SR 10, now SR14 is made for riding, but is also very rural.  Lots of old pickups maxing out at 25 mph.  You never know if one is around the curves you cannot see.  But God sits on top of the mountain and sees everything.  And one afternoon his spirit warned me, and I slowed where I normally would not have, narrowly missing an old truck, the rancher waving, never knowing how close I had come.  But Jesus did, and that makes all the difference.

Is he making a difference in your life?  Do you let him?  Are you riding by skill alone?  Without Jesus today, you may never ride tomorrow.  So enjoy the ride today, with one final example of God’s grace, initially interpreted as my stupidity.  I rather give God the credit.  We were going to go to the Billy Graham Library which we thought was in Boone, North Carolina, where he is from.  No one could tell us where it was.  Later that night in our motel, as we watched the weather, over 600 lightning strikes had hit the ground in Charlotte.  Where Billy’s library was.  And if we had been there, it could have been disastrous, but God knew, and what was a wrong destination at first was one of comfort and security from the storm.  And when we visited the next day, the place was aglow in bright colors because of the rain.  As if God had done it for us, and I believe he did. 

Favorite road, but rather my favorite ride.  He gave me a testimony, and a safe ride.  Allowing me to see his love for us in the curves too.  Like meeting the fellow Triumph rider on Skyline Drive, or making a new friend we never met but guided us through SR 128 one afternoon.  Or...so whatever road you take, know that Jesus is what makes the ride.  Can’t say that on a bus can you?  Jesus, my favorite ride, no matter the road, I know where I will eventually end up.  Can you say the same?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

 

we're leaving home, bye bye

At the tender age of 21, when most are still trying to find themselves, I had found Jesus.  My surroundings, New Jersey were beginning to cave in around me, as my past life led a lot to be desired.  But the one dream that I always had was to be on the road, and move to California.  Inspired by the Beach Boys, weather I could ride in year round, and California girls, that was my dream.  But only the leaving Jersey part would be fulfilled, at least for now.  And then.  After doing time in New Mexico, Colorado, then New Mexico again, 12 years later it was the time to go to California.  I had done my time elsewhere, and looking back, didn’t realize the trip Jesus had taken me on so I could make it out here.  I had been a Beach Boys fan since 8 years old, he had given me the California girl of my dreams and a family with her, now it was time to live in weather where could ride all the time.  But in each move, it was saying goodbye, and leaving home.  Going to a place where I had never lived before.

My last night in Jersey we had a wild going away party, only brought back to reality by having a gun pulled on me.  It was time to go.  Sadly my parents took too long to recognize that, themselves moving away from their parents and home town, I guess it is different when you are the one moving.  Leaving New Mexico for the last time was due to economic factors, I had lost my job, and I knew it was time to move farther west.  I had lived in the west, the real west, now it was the west coast.  My final destination on earth, and this week we celebrate 30 years here.  My home, our home, but somehow it doesn’t always feel like home, and on our cross country trips we search for the perfect small town that doesn’t have winter.  Last year after getting serious about selling the house and moving, god reminded me h e had given me all I had asked for, “why would I even consider moving?”  What was this call to move, really a call for the open road all about?  I was living scripturally without even knowing it...

Scripture tells us we are all sojourners, visitors just passing through, earth is not our final destination. When God promised Abram a family and heirs that would be countless, he couldn’t imagine.  With a barren wife, both above conception age, he still hung on, and God rewarded him.  He was given a choice of the land of milk and honey, or the high desert, he passed on what would have been our first choice, settled in the desert, and flourished.  Which I can relate to, I love the high deserts of New Mexico, but my heart was here, and after time at 8300’, God said it was time.  California was calling, and it would be my new home.  At last.  Till death do us part, California, not God.

We are not told about any good bye scene between Jesus and his father when he came to earth, it must have been hard for both, for they both knew the future.  But 33 years based against eternity is nothing, and Jesus knew he would return home someday, but with countless new family members like Abraham did.  It was God’s wish that he be reunited with us, without the years of Jesus on earth, it would not have been possible.  We needed a savior, and only Jesus would do.  But just as we are not told about any going away party, we are told about a wild welcome home party, where all the angels celebrate when we come to Christ.  My Jersey friends kept telling me “you’ll be back,” but I knew different.  Thankfully when Jesus said that he will be back, he did and we will be resurrected just like him at death.  No matter what your  current address is, you have a final destination, and you get to choose where.  The most important choice of your life, so don’t blow it.  For our earthly address is temporary, our final destination eternal.  We are told all about hell, why anyone would choose that I cannot understand.  But heaven isn’t, we are only told “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor mind imagined the kingdom of God that awaits us.”  So whatever you think heaven to be, it will be much better. Because God is love, and will express it in a heavenly way without the burdens of sin here on earth.  But hell will also be worse than we can imagine, and those of us who choose Jesus will never know.  We will be in eternal bliss, in the presence of God, worshipping freely, while the others who denied, will worship too, but in agony, confessing Jesus as Lord, just not their Lord.  For every knee will bow, both in heaven and below the earth.  And if you do not profess Jesus on earth, he will not profess you to his father. 

When The Beatles sang on She’s Leaving Home, “fun is the one thing that money can’t buy,” and being saved is the most fun you will ever have this side of heaven.  Jesus Christ is the one thing inside that we have always denied for so many years, the way home.  That yearning for more, to be on, to move on, to live our wildest dreams in him, we do not see when we deny him.  But when we make him the desire of our hearts, he gives us the desire of his heart.  Do you include Jesus in your plans or dreams for tomorrow?  Jesus Christ, someone inside who was always denied for so many years, isn’t today the day you start to travel with him?  To be ready and excited to go home? 

We struggle all our lives to get by, to be free from the burdens life lays on us.  In Jesus we can life on earth as it is in heaven via his spirit.  Knowing that every night when I lay me down to sleep, if I die I know where I will wake up.  All by one simple choice to accept his offer, to recognize him as God, and to be forgiven.  Abraham had no idea what lied ahead, I had no idea when I moved west.  Do they speak Spanish in New Mexico?  Aren’t all places we call home the same?

If home is where your bike marks its spot, I am glad that Jesus has marked a spot for me in heaven.  It’s quite possible there was never a good bye between father and son, because Jesus never left the presence of his dad.  And we won’t either.  Someday we will change our address, until that day stay in contact with him.  And if that something inside that was always denied for so many years was Jesus, be glad heaven awaits.  And a homecoming like the world has never seen.  Abraham knew and trusted God.  After living alone for so many years.  Bye, bye.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

looking for a great deal on a used Harley?

Cruising, I use the word in a different context than the way I ride, through the various motorcycle dealers in my travels, they all share one thing in common.  No matter what brand, what size or location, each one is complaining of lack of sales.  Which puzzles them, and me too, for right now has the potential to be a Golden Age of motorcycling.  Great models from 300cc to 2300 cc, performance like never before, reliability, and discount pricing, and no one can figure why they aren’t flying off the shelves.  It makes no sense, Suzuki is discounting a standard GSXS 1000 I see in stores for under $8000.  Last generation Bonnevilles if any left are $6999.  Yamaha selling a cool FZ-07 for under $7000.  Only BMW hasn’t discounted yet, but the financing deals are there to get you hooked.  If the price don’t get ya, maybe the warranties will.  From 12/12,000 miles to 36 months/unlimited miles on some bikes, add in the reliability and you can be riding farther, longer, and with more confidence.  Even some new 2015, 2016 models left over, and that is just new bikes, so why aren’t people buying?  

On a recent visit to a multi-brand dealer, with all the Japanese, plus Polaris and Victory, they have a used section that is larger than most of the stores of 40 years ago.  With one section devoted to used Harleys, and the days count was 30 recent model, less than three years old Harley Davidsons.  At lower prices than at your badge and shield outlet.  Just looking, black is the color preferred, the mileages were low, most below 10,000, and they were sitting too.  One with just 915 miles on a 2016.  Wasn’t it a short time ago when HD stores added $3000 to each bike, and you paid it or rode a different bike?  Remember how snobby they were?  Now with 0% financing, some leftover 2016’s, and discounting, who thought you would see a Harley discounted, business is still off.  But here is some advice from the seat of the pants, where I spend most of my time when riding, go to a Metric dealer and look for a used Harley.  They have them, they are priced well, they will finance you and instead of HD standing for $100, it can stand for “hot dog, look at the deal I got.”  And since they all look alike, who will know it isn’t new?  And you can join in the stylish crowd of lifestyle riders! 

Other great deals are used Triumphs.  They have lousy used value, I should know, but are reliable and even the 105,000 mile Tiger in my garage ran up over 110 mph yesterday.  The bargains are there, are we looking?  The dealers are dealing, money lenders want to lend, and you want to ride.  So what has happened?  I would like to think my downsizing from nine to three last year hasn’t saturated the market...the deals are out there, what are  you waiting for?

The ads say “stop dreaming and start riding.”  I agree.  But in other things, we do the same thing.  So many are looking for something, they are afraid, uncertain, and trust has been lost in many areas of society.  But one constant, Jesus Christ remains the same, yet people aren’t buying.  They delay, which is different than waiting, making excuses, and some do unto the point of never finding salvation.  Next week, next month, next year, if he hasn’t returned like he said he would, maybe he isn’t.  Add in the hoax of the 2012 charlatans, the Mayan calendar, and other doomsayers, and when it doesn’t happen, well maybe it ain’t gonna happen.  So they go on spreading their own gospel, and deny Jesus.  The psycho babble experts even have a name for it, normalcy bias, which essentially means “if I haven’t seen it, then it hasn’t happened, so it must not be true.”  It seems any excuse the devil can keep you from meeting Jesus he will use, and we fall into.  Salvation was, and is, and always will be the ultimate deal.  For the gospel is simple so all men can get it, and free so all can afford it.  No age limits, no special discounts.  FREE.  Like Jesus wants to make us when we are saved.  Free is a concept we can understand, so what are you waiting for?  Stop dreaming,and start living!

Today is the day of salvation, why not yours?  You’ve spent time reading the ads, maybe even picked up the Bible.  Prayed but forgot to listen.  Maybe even stepped foot inside a church and the walls didn’t fall down. You are seeking....the spirit is calling, so what are you waiting for?  Is the fear of dying without Jesus and facing hell so appealing you rather enter eternity without him?  Or is he just for women and children? The fact you are looking tells me that the spirit is already at work in you, for no one puts “seek God today” on their calendar.  Jesus is calling....

Yet so many lives are like the abundance of used Harleys.  They tried the ride, found the lifestyle wasn’t for them.  They actually had to ride the motorcycle to be a biker.  The real guys who rode saw right through them, so they went on to the next trend.  How stylish.  Religion has done that to people too.  Rules and regulations, demands on the person and their wallets.  Studying, tests, attendance, and where is the freedom?  My kids, my boss, my wife and my friends all tell me how to live, now you want to add religion to that also.  Sorry...All reasons you should seek Jesus.  The religious hated him, his gospel was a threat to their lifestyle.  The truth that could have set them free they rebelled against.  What is your problem with Jesus?  Have you already made a decision based on rumor and innuendo?

So here’s the deal.  Learned from a song in Sunday school.  Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.  Still looking for love in all the wrong places?  Jesus has come to you, for you just as you are.  No forms, no membership, no applications.  He will take you as you are in trade.  Try that at a dealer...

So if you are looking for a great deal on a used Harley, go to a Metric store.  But for the best deal on life and eternity, go with Jesus.  There are many V-twins out there, Harley is the original.  And when it comes to gods, there are many out there, but only one true God, Jesus Christ.  What part of being blessed don’t you get?

And you never will until you come home to Jesus...

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

 

Diavels, Diablos, and church folk

Because I get out and around a lot, I get to meet a lot of neat people, and also some not so neat.  Somehow I got hooked up with Cycle World and Ducati, and was invited to do a ride with them, on their new Diavel.  Not much for cruisers, I figured it would be fun, and it was.  Breaking up into groups, with Ducati rep and CW editor in each group, I hung towards the rear as I always do on group rides, so I can ride my pace and avoid those who think they can but cannot ride well.   The editor for this group was a guy named Cernicky, who hung back with me, and we enjoyed riding together.  It was a nicely laid out course, and most of the speeds were way above the legal limit.   Cernicky hung behind me riding sweep, until we hit one 90 degree curve marked 15 mph.  I went into it at 25, and to my right, he was blowing by me, all crossed up, flat track style.  When we stopped, I asked “bored?” and he just smiled.  I was too...

But when I got back, I talked further with another man from Cycle World named Andy.  He asked what I rode, and we talked about all size bikes.  When I commented about the new 250‘s and how cool they were, his interest picked up.  I told him I felt I was an ambassador for motorcycling, and encouraged new riders to take an MSF course, to buy used first, then new, and not everyone needs a Harley or a 150 hp sport bike.  He seemed impressed, then asked what I did.  I explained I was retired on a disability and in ministry, and his face changed.  But as I went on, and explained what I did, and how, he was interested. Seems most Christians only preach at him, invite him to church, or point out his faults.  I had encouraged him, and we shook hands, he gave me his card, and asked for mine.  Andy and I parted new friends.

When I got home, I looked him up.  His card said publisher of Bonnier Motorcycle Group that publishes Cycle World, Sport Bike, and Motorcyclist.  Seems he was a world class 250cc road racer, set the best lap time at Willow Springs, and  was an internationally known and respected racer.  He was a somebody.  But the email he sent me made me feel like a somebody too.  He told me it was great to talk with me, and thanked me for my efforts in promoting motorcycling.  He was impressed with my ministry and wished me well in it.  A note he didn’t have to send, but did.  He had made my day, after I made his.  Just by being myself and not pushing any agenda, he was able to see a Christian motorcyclist who loved riding and loved Jesus.  Without preaching, he got to hear my testimonies of Jesus Christ changing lives.  All because I had been invited to test ride a Ducati Diavel.  By the way, Diavel means devil.  For which later a church goer reminded me of, and how I am not to mix with the world.  When he saw the Pirelli Diablos on my bike, he seriously doubted my salvation.  And by his comments, I doubted his.  I wondered if he ever filled the tanks of his friends cars like we do for each other who ride?  Did he ever wonder who would fill his?

Jesus spent his time on the road talking with those who weren’t saved.  To hookers, homeless, junkies, bikers, and church folk who needed to hear the truth.  He never became like them, he drew them to himself, and saw their lives changed.  Yet a certain group feels that we need to be shuttered away from the world, and loses out.  We are in it, not of it, there is a difference.  What spiritual law was broken when someone shared with you?  Shouldn’t you pass it on?  Yet we see small minds with a small god living in them making comments like they did to me.  No wonder their witness and testimony has no impact, they are not of Christ, but have their own gospel, according to self.  They would never engage in dealing with the downtrodden, think anyone  in sin is demonic, and if it isn’t the way they believe, it is not scriptural.  But where did they learn this?  Someone exposed them to this, I don’t think it was the holy spirit?

Pride shows up in very subtle places, this is one.  When we are the barometer of Jesus, then it is called judging.  But when you compare the person or situation to Jesus, and really care and pray, and show it, then it is discernment, a gift from the spirit.  I had no idea who Andy was, nor did he of me, but we visited, and who I was came out in the conversation.  By my words and attitudes, I showed the gospel, and left him wanting more.  I was just a seed thrower that day, someone else will water, but it will be God that provides the growth.  By his spirit, we are changed.  Not by the name on a bike or its tires.  Lest you be led astray. Or lead someone astray.

New rider, take the MSF course.  New Christian, you need to be discipled.  To be encouraged in and by the spirit.  How many come to Christ only to find a new set of rules and thou shalt nots, after hearing of the freedom in Jesus Christ?  How many ride once or twice, because no one invites them along and shows them how to be a better rider?  I used to ride at the front, now I hang back and can see better, what is in front of me is where I am heading.  I can see how each one rides, and make adjustments.  Except for maybe Cernicky, who when I told Mick about him, immediately told me “don’t ever let him ride your bike.  Never.  He crashes a lot.”  Jesus reminds us we are in an endurance race to the end, and the prize is heaven.  There will be Andy’s, Cernicky’s and church folk commenting on how you live along the way.  Remember they chastised Jesus too for his peer group.  Pharisees and their type will do that.  Remember that next time you begin to comment...the next person you meet may be your next riding partner.  Or cellie.  Or spouse.  A pastor.  Or someone who is looking and doesn’t know it, but God does, and appointed you to be his representative that day.  Or of course you could always take the bus.....

By the way, bus riders need Jesus too.....

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com