RIP-motorcycle brands of my youth

 When I started riding in 1967, Kawasaki was just importing bikes to the States.  Suzuki was a two stroke 250cc Hustler, Yamaha was a DT-1, today called an adventure bike, then it was a scrambler, or dual purpose ,or an enduro.  However you rode it, it would be.  All names we recognize today, but what of the ones we don’t remember, that went away never to return?  Legendary names like The Vincent, BSA, Indian-again and again, brands like Bultaco, Ossa, Penton, Montesa, Jawa CZ, Cotton, Matchless, and Hodaka, who didn’t want to race a Wombat as a kid?  So many of these I only saw in garages or shops, as they were too old or fragile to ride by this 13 year old, yet I can remember the sights and smells.  The real steel, the smell of racing castor....and then Honda changed all the rules.  Almost single handedly shutting down the Brits, the Spanish, the Italians, and Honda became synonomous with motorcycles.  In fact look at early Honda ads, they never call them motorcycles, they really did change the world.  Motorcycling was changing, you were meeting the nicest people, and a ride out of town, past the city lights was possible without fear of a breakdown.  Race bikes went more than one race between teardowns, and money spent on parts was now spent on more motorcycles.  Never a bad thing.....
But how much have things changed?  Harley Davidson now sells more bikes domestically than Honda.  Yeah, that Harley.  Triumph quit making bikes, but never went under, and now is a luxury brand.  Indian left, then returned, then repeated said process two or three times.  No one makes two strokes any more, Ducati is owned by Audi, Honda dealers feel cheated at dealer meetings because they don’t have the product Yamaha has, it’s great FZ series, or Suzuki with its GSX-S series, or even Kawasaki, Ninjas and Versys.  Moto Guzzi still sells bikes, Aprilia and KTM have high end but very expensive rides, Polaris just left us, but some models absorbed into Indian, and now you meet the nicest people on all brands, including BMW if you can keep up with their SS1000R, or its GS1200.  BMW making high performance bikes, weren’t they the Cadillac back then?  In case you haven’t noticed, Cadillac has changed too.  Some we mourn, some it’s good grief, some are forgotten or mispronounced, some are just a figment of an historian’s bookshelf.  But we still ride, motorcycles still excite, and all those who thought we could never get by without the Brits were shown to be wrong.  The times and bikes change, but the spirit that calls us to ride never does.  It just gets more exciting.....
As bike brands left, the void was filled with others, no one quit riding.  But we found as the bikes got better, so did our skills, our rides, and despite the ones who left, we really never missed them.  What had been given to us was much better.  Jesus had a similar discussion with his disciples, telling them they would do greater things after he was gone.  Because he was going to the father.  That unless he goes away, the counselor, the holy spirit will not come.  You mean there is more to God than just the father and his son?  Yes, and we have him today upon salvation when the holy spirit enters us.  He releases the life of Jesus in us, so it is still Jesus doing these greater things.  Spiritual, not only physical.  Not us doing better things than Jesus himself, but through us he continues, in spirit like when he was here in the flesh.  Nothing we can do of ourselves, don’t waste your time trying, it is the spirit that gives life and power, for without him we are nothing.
Yet today with only remnants of the past of motorcycling found in museums or textbooks, the physical is gone, the spiritual aspect found through memories only remains.  We rely on the physical so much we deny the spiritual aspect of Jesus, but if the miracles and signs were so powerful, where were all those healed, fed, taught, rescued, or touched physically by Jesus?  Why did only a few meet him at the cross, where were the crowds then?  Miracles do not change men, they are only superficial, they only touched the surface.  Jesus offers more, do you desire more?  Is it not strange those who he healed did not follow him to the cross, yet the 11 how his spirit entered did the greater things he promised?  The fact they stayed with him, took the gospel to the multitudes, and were all martyred for it, the fact they faced death with Jesus rather than flee in the face of it was this greater thing.  Something so deep spiritually it defies words, but remains after death.  Things done in the flesh are temporary, anything done by his spirit is permanent.  All that Jesus healed or raised from the dead died again.  Only those who were and are changed by his spirit live eternally.  That is the greater works, and he calls us to be part of them, by his spirit.  There are miracles, and then there are eternal miracles.  You get to choose which is the better....
At one time 14 second quarter mile times were considered quick.  Breaking into the 12’s, the 11’s, the 10’s and now the 9’s.  Faster and quicker with reliability than we ever dreamed.  In each generation of bikes, new ones come and the old ones fade away.  Don’t let your life reflect that, but let it be reflected in Jesus.  Follow his spirit today, let him work through you today, and see the greater things Jesus talked of.  RIP the motorcycles of my youth, but when I finally go to my rest, let me go with Jesus.  So while here, let his words of “on earth as it is in heaven” be real.  By his spirit, for when the gift becomes more important than the giver, we both lose.  We remember the names, do we remember the logos?  Something to remember about your last ride, and your next.  Jesus never met the nicest people....can we say the same.  Now that’s a greater thing we all need.....possible because he went to the father.  So we can go farther.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com

picked a part-a quick tour of a junk yard

Traveling through the midwest in farm country, we are reminded of the passing of another American icon, the old car junk yard.  At one time a blight on many landscapes, laws, social pressures, and the EPA have crushed or recycled many of these places out of existence.  Now for sure I wouldn’t want to live next door to one, but they sure are fun to visit, and those remaining are often hidden behind high metal fences, which can be more of a blight.  But at one time for my generation, and those preceding us, they were a ready source of cheap available parts for fixing our first cars.  We learned the term junk yard dog from the old barking beast we were warned would get us if we ever climbed in over the wall after hours, usually he just liked being petted.  We learned what to call certain parts, where the best ones were to pull, and using the Hollander manual, which parts would cross over from one model and year to the next.  Truly a learning experience denied by today’s generation, where parts are labeled on how to recycle them, online used parts buying has replaced it, the computer age changing junk yards forever.  Now they are salvage yards, how stylish.

Mention the term junk yard today, and visions of garages appear, but to us junk yards meant adventure, as many encouraged you to go pick your own part.  Bring your own tools, NO TOOLS LOANED, and you were on your own.  And many times going home with hood ornaments, gauges, knobs, and trim you hadn’t planned on.  As we picked our parts, the cars were picked apart, until finally nothing was left to use, and they were finally crushed.  Sometimes sad, as to us seemingly good parts were crushed, and it was sad to see an old car finally put to rest, it had become a friend.  Cars that although they were no longer drivable, were still useful to help others along until they to finally were used up.  Frequent visitors actually would notice when one was gone, or while on the lookout for parts for another friend’s car.  A time and a place in Americana that is lost forever, with just stories from the old timers of finding starters for $5, hood ornaments for a buck, AC compressors for $10, and that needed part no longer available from the dealer still functional and available if you picked it yourself.  How many older or wrecked cars gave their parts so remaining ones could live and survive was never recorded, only the annals of our memories record them.  As today’s kids look on in wonderment of our tales.....

But also just as sad was the passing of the parts counter guy, the one who gave you a hard time because you were a kid, who seemingly gave you an education while giving you a hard time.  They knew their cars and their parts, often by number, and location.  Sometimes giving you a better deal because you were out of cash, no plastic back then, or he could see how close you were to finishing a job.  “Get me next time, now get out!” never reminding you, both never forgetting.  Bonds of friendship made that we pass on to the next guys fixing their rides.  Experience not found in any school curriculum or web site, for experience cannot be taught.  Seeing how the car was built by taking off parts gave us an inside look to how they were made, a look behind the scenes, and a life story reminder of no matter how old or picked apart, there was still some life left in them, and us. 

Proverbs reminds us that our children’s children are our crown, and the glory of children is their fathers.  Something lost in our society today.  But becoming a grandfather for the first time last week, my joy is found in my son and his joy in becoming a parent.  How he looks to me for advice, uses our experiences as an example of what to do, and what not to do, and blesses us by showing us his love for his son.  Sadly too many old people are shipped off to homes, being robbed of the joy we have, but also robbing themselves of the joy of their fathers.  Jesus made it clear that everything he did he did because of his father, and to please him.  So close were they, they operated as one single unit, and along with the holy spirit have everything under control.  He never gives credit to himself, but tells his disciples that every word he gives them comes from his father.  He gives God the glory in them, and this is the example he wants us to see.  His relationship with his father is the example he wants us to follow, to gain entrance to all the joys of heaven, on earth as it is there, now, and then later.  But yet many are just waiting for heaven, missing out on the right now, neglecting to see that when Moses asked “who do I say you are?” God didn’t answer “I will be tomorrow or I was yesterday, he clearly stated “I am.”  An eternal right now, out of time, but in time perfectly.  When Jesus told them “I am in the father and he is in me,” it is and was and will be right now to us.  But with our disobedience, or lack of trusting, we see too many lives on the junk heap just waiting to die, picked apart, vandalized, and finally used up and crushed.  Their purpose served, sold for scrap.  Aren’t lives more valuable than cars?

As I get older I find more opportunities to share with the younger ones.  I may be an old rider with over a million miles under me, but through my experiences the younger ones can learn, as my son learned, and as he will teach his son.  And on and on.  But without that relationship of father and son, my life is just picked apart, with many parts still useful, hidden away and not seen.  Only God knows, and that is where the relationship with Jesus and his father shines brightest, God knows.  And because I know Jesus, I know God.  The best thing a parent can pass onto their children, Jesus Christ.  And as long as you still have breath, you still have value to them, for your young men will dream dreams, and your old men will have visions.  What you see depends on where you have been, which influences where you are going.  You cannot teach experience, but you can attain it, you can visit it, and you can be a part of it.  Just as old cars tell a story, so do old men, just waiting for the right audience, you may be that audience today.  God is giving you one right now with him....

So seek counsel from one who knows, who has been there.  Listen to their testimonies, ask them questions, and spend time with them.  Don’t wait until they are picked apart, see your father as Jesus saw his, and begin to really live.  That old junk yard dog may have been barking because he really only wanted to be petted....don’t forget to bring a treat or two, and make a new friend today.  Used doesn’t mean used up, after all, if new was so great, why do they come with a warranty?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

Tweety Bird's mom

As a young Christian and wanting to fit in with the new crowd I was part of, among my classes at UNM I included “the history of Christianity,” and “the Bible as literature.”  Sounds like two good courses any Christian new or old should take, so on my way to a degree I would never earn, I took them.  At that age, I hadn’t been shown the difference between the church and God, or religion and Jesus.  But I was soon to find out, that true teaching and wisdom comes via the holy spirit, which were absent in both classes.  The history class was taught by a Mormon, a non-Christian who didn’t believe Jesus is deity as per their religion, and a conservative Irish Catholic, a Jesuit, who believed the Pope had authority over the Bbile, and who had a skill of avoiding any question asked.  There were about six of us who were believers in the class, even a Church of Christ pastor who I got to know, who operated on shaky scripture, but to the others it was just a history class.  Where the title said history of Christianity, it was really a history of the church, which isn’t very pretty and needs to be separated from God, because too many times they were.  I got a c in the class, the final was “document the three most important events in Christianity,” and I did beautifully.  The birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus are the most important, and I documented them well using scripture, which obviously was not an approved text.  Such events as the Borgias, Joseph Smith, and Martin Luther’s 95 theses were the answers, I should have known in a secular environment, God would be left out and mocked.  But I did learn that the only reason you study is to pass the test, I had passed the course, but succeeded in my walk with Christ.  I knew him, they taught around him, such is the liberal world of today.  Some things don’t change over time, and sin is still sin....so much for those who studied to find themselves approved, they forgot to ask “by whom?”

But the second course I took, again the same Christians and Pastor Sam, was taught by a woman who looked like Tweety Bird’s mother, an elderly sweet grandma looking woman, silver haired with a bun in the back, even wore long dresses and talked sweet.  About the only thing she never offered were fresh baked cookies, but what she did offer was teaching that the Bible was not God inspired, and just stories, just history, that some men had put together.  Dated and a hard read, she made fun of the stories, would point out how God was unloving and harsh, and had a way of making you feel stupid when asking questions, “now no man with half a brain would believe anything like that,” when asked about the gospels.  Using a voice more suited to talking baby talk than teaching about the scriptures.  I left the course, was singled out as a Christian who had low tolerance, and was socially hurt, as what kind of Christian would quit a course about the Bible?  I must be wrong, she sounded so sweet, words of blasphemy dripping with honey.  But where was Jesus?  A question we all need to ask when reading, including this, or listening to a pastor teach.  I had learned the hard way, but I did, and it pushed me closer to God, the spirit revealing the truth that no man could interpret without him.  

I have heard more inaccuracies from pulpits and the men who should know than I can handle.  Sermons that don’t challenge, that are just to make you feel good, because God doesn’t want you unhappy.  Religion taught within denominations that contradict the word of God, by teachers who studied everything but, relying on quotes and external references, but not on the holy spirit.  Politics and candidates endorsed from there, their control and grip over the flock amazing, proving what sheep we are that have gone astray.  I even heard how God needs to change to meet the social conditions of today, how he is out of touch, and needs to be brought up to date.  Add in global warming, deny creation, abort fetuses who they say are just tissue, and we are denying life, and Jesus says he is life.  Even denying Jesus as God, but he was a good teacher, philosopher, and prophet.  How stylish and trendy.  But where did they hear this, from whom?  Again, where is Jesus in this?  

I met a man who was referred to as “the Bible answer man” he knew all the Bible, so I had a question for him.  Seems he had all the answers, but had never heard all the questions.  He got confused, then defensive, then angry, and I was the bad guy.  All without Tweety Bird’s mom sweet voice...I saw where Jesus was in it, he wasn’t.  Later I talked with others who sat under him, and what a great man of God he was, how he knew scripture so well, and I must change to meet the church’s beliefs.  I don’t go there any more, and when others who believe as I do see the lies, they stay.  “It’s the same everywhere,” and continue to fill the pews and the collection plate.  After all it’s a mega church, it must be doing something right.  The pastor sells his books, he is on radio and TV.  He goes to Israel twice a year.....but where is Jesus?

God has given us his spirit of discernment, to tell truth from fiction.  We are told to test the spirits, and test my writing against the scripture.  If it ain’t all about Jesus, it is about someone or something else.  I want to see all grow in the spirit, to get all the blessings God has to offer, to be resurrected when we die like Jesus was.  I want the truth, not just any truth, which can only be revealed via the holy spirit. God is real, and like Jesus says, “if it were not so I would have told you.”  Tweety Bird was so nice to look at, but mean to Sylvester the cat.  Who wasn’t as bad as Tweety made him out to be.  Do not be deceived, seek truth in Jesus Christ now.  Deny and abandon all those who teach otherwise, and seek the spirit God has placed in us when we were born again.  Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).  The gospel of Jesus Christ, simple so we can get it, free so we can afford it.  Maybe the best advice for today is to be wise as serpents but gentle as lambs.  Jesus is the way, no other, the truth, not a truth, and is life, not a lifestyle.  

Spiritual unity, not a group or congregation or classroom in agreement, but agreeing with Jesus.  Try that one, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

hitting the fastball

Every batter goes to the plate thinking he will get a hit, every player goes to the foul shot line thinking he will make it.  Every running back has seen the play on the board and many times in practice and knows if he breaks free he can go all the way.  Even though the chances, the averages are against them, without an “I can do it” attitude,” they are doomed to fail.  I used to be a pretty fair ball player, notice I didn’t say athlete, remembering the quote of John Kruk, who when recognized getting off a plane, a woman confronted him, “you’re an athlete, aren’t you?”  Smiling back, John replied, “no mam, I’m a ballplayer.”  Lest we get confused, I played ball.  Demoted by John’s confession.  But I played senior league baseball, was the catcher, got to play a lot, but was a lousy hitter.  I had one tragic fault I kept to myself, I was afraid of being hit by a pitch.  Too much testosterone in teen boys trying to prove themselves, so I was shy, afraid of being hit.  Never admitted until now...

But my friend Tim Dixon was a great pitcher, had a great fastball, and struck out a lot of guys because of it.  But he had great control, and when facing him, I had no fear.  He was trying to strike me out, and intimidate me that way, so I went up, knowing the pitches would be in the strike zone, and was able to hit him.  Much to the surprise of my team mates, coach ,and even Tim.  Who once when we fought over the same girl and she picked me, claimed “you’re better looking, but how could she still pick  you over me?”  Now I had done it to him again....one of the best and I had done well against him, I was a star at least in my own mind until next week.  Then it was back to just being a ballplayer...

Jesus told his disciples “let not your heart be troubled,” the key word being let.  A decision we make to often, cancelling plans or changing routes because of fear of bad weather.  Living life in an “I could never do that world of failure,” and never using the talents God gave you, but making excuses for everything, ready to give up before you even get up to bat.  Winners don’t, look at the Tom Brady comeback in the Super Bowl, Game 6 in the 1986 World Series, and the infamous “Dewey Wins” headline when Truman beat him in the election.  But being human, we know at any given time we can give up, so Jesus warned his disciples.  Because they were scared, they could be executed with him, they were upset seeing the danger, and even though had seen the miracles, none of that mattered now.  Just like us, we know the word, we tell others, then faced with danger ourselves, we panic.  Here Jesus tells them “don’t panic in a panic situation,I am with you always,” his spirit never leaving them.  They could die with him, but could not bear to live without him, and he had warned them his time had come, and he would be leaving them.  They forgot the part about him leaving his spirit, as we all do today.  They would rather face death with him than life without him, how about you?  “Do not let,” meant the disciples had a choice of what to do about it.  They could trust Jesus, and in doing so trust God, or they could fall apart inside, and turn into a quivering mass of humanity.  But God was and still is in control, with great plans for them, and he took them through it, just like he does today.  “Trust in me,” Jesus says, and that is the secret.  Trust God.  And live.

Funny he gave the advice he did, simple, trust him.  No great programs or procedures for the moment, no special prayer, no offering was taken, and no meetings held of what to do.  Just trust, unlike the church world of today.  A question to ask your pastor is “if you lost all your financing today, how would that affect your ministry?”  With so many mega churches depending on the flock to give, you would see where their trust lies, Jesus sent the disciples out with only pocket change.  No letter of credit, no Mastercard, he was the Master, what about you?  So “do not let, yet trust God.”  Who has all the wisdom, the power, and backed by his spirit.  The one who drew you to Jesus, can perfect you until the day you enter heaven.  Trust, our money says it, do you?

Life can be as easy as hitting a fastball, or as easy as bailing out being afraid of being hit.  I stood in there and hit, which amazed even me, I still don’t want to get hit by a baseball, or anything else.  But God’s ways to teach come in everyday events, what has he shown you before?  What will he show you today?  Trusting your heart, which is weak, or your God, who is strong?  In your decision we can see who your God really is.  So ask yourself the same question you will of your pastor, what procedures, processes, programs, and policies drive your relationship with Christ?  Religion is out there to strike terror into your life, Jesus came to save us from it.  How do you face the fastballs?  Can you hit the curve?  A batter with a .250 average is only successful one of four times, can you afford to live like that?  We aren’t all athletes, but we are are all players.  Play the game to win, whether at the plate or in the heart, trusting Jesus is always best.  If you never remember any other secret, never forget the words of Jesus, “do not let,” the choice is still ours.  In God we what?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthw25biker.blogspot.com