surviving winter-advice for those who ride

Now that it will be unofficially fall this Sunday when we go back to Standard Time, and our clocks fall back, many a rider has been taking time to store their motorcycle for the winter months.  Moving into my 45th winter as an owner/rider, there has been only one year I had to put it away for the winter, living at 8300’ in the Rockies, with over 500” of snow on the ground.  Ever the most hard core must agree I couldn’t or shouldn’t be riding in that, plus with below zero temps, a warm fire reading about next years trip was in order.  Survival of the fittest.  Living now in So Cal has changed my perspective on winter, I still ride every day, except in the rain, too many who don’t know how to drive in it, and it takes too long to clean up the bike after-vanity, pure vanity.  But for that one winter I made preparations, simple but effective, for hibernation from riding.

Before trickle chargers, it gave me an excuse to go down to the lower level and start in up, twist the throttle, sit on it and listen to the header.  A song of summer.  A 1975 Z-1, after removing the bed sheets, we were poor and used what was available, I’d start it and for the next 15 minutes let it idle into the winter air.  Promising myself that someday I would ride again, as I looked at the snow piled up to second story windows.  What was I thinking when I moved there?  But soon it was back to a fire lit and heated cabin, even sitting on a bike in zero weather is cold, and back to dreaming.  Soon, but never soon enough the snow would begin to melt, the roads become clear and dry, and spring would be here, just never soon enough.  Maybe more than anything that was the deciding factor to move south, it would take me another seven years before we loaded up the truck and I moved to Beverly-Escondido, that is....

We have become weather wusses here, I know guys who when it gets below 60F won’t ride due to the cold.  At 50F they begin to get frostbite, and follow the procedure I did in Colorado.  But real riders, not just “I have a Harley, too” guys ride, including many who ride HD’s.  Behind the barn door fairing of Gold Wings and Ultras, it is quite warm, a being a passenger on the back of an Ultra gets you extra heat.  I am not a windshield kind of guy, but one press bike, a new Trophy SE with one, made me lean in that direction, no pun intended, after one chilly ride in the low 50’s in only a t-shirt.  It was actually warm behind there, I’ll just go the dressing in layers route, thanks.  But it keeps them riding, even in weather challenged San Diego.  But still cold and rain can be relative, and many a winter afternoon is spent in the garage waxing, adjusting, or just spending time with the bikes.  Or at the table, reading maps, no GPS here, real men use folding maps, and dreaming of the trips to come.  A few days in the spring, being ready for a Santa Ana in February, the bike ready to go, we are.  Like the Boy Scout motto of “be prepared, “ we are, and with no snow to fight or shovel, it seems the riding never stops.  Maybe that is why the places we ride to look so good when we do, the rain and snow brings out the green and foliage, while we continue on in shades of brown.  But brown is a color too, and for the added days to ride, it is the most beautiful color a rider can find.

If you ride, you know of what I speak.  If not, you may not understand, or think I am nuts, possible, or settle back in your heated house, thermostat set at 72, sweater and Uggs on and battle the winter months here.  Too often we speak the truth, but have no consideration of our audience.  Working with immature Christians, I spend a lot of time on the basics of Christianity and who Jesus is and why he came.  Simple stuff, but so deep if you don’t know him, yet we can get very deep on a very simple premise.  And when trying to explain how it is personal, sometimes I cannot find the words.  After years of being told abut the freedom in Christ, and about making it personal, religion has stolen most of it, or tried to.  “You are set free in Jesus, now here is what we believe, and you need too also.”  And soon a cold wind enters the heart, one colder than any winter storm in the Rockies.  “If we are free, why do we need rules?”  Isn’t grace enough, isn’t that what we were taught, isn’t that what the Bible says?  And the excuses begin...

Soon the answerer begins to sound like a fair weather rider, too this, too that, you need rules, you need to follow the denominational line, you need everything but Jesus, he gets put away for the nice days.  And when winter sets into a heart, it can be a long time until it thaws out.  Bad doctrine can come form anywhere or anyone.  As a young Christian, a wacky pastor, he really was, told me I was not bearing fruit, and so I wasn’t saved, as per his denomination.  For over a year I fought it, until God showed me by his spirit the truth, backed it up in scripture and set me free.  And I remain free almost 40 years later! 

We are told we are new creatures in Christ, a heaven bound creature still in human form.  We still live in a fallen world, we still have temptations, and we still need Jesus.  It isn’t salvation and that’s it, to be discipled in Jesus, to be led by his spirit, to trust and obey God, it takes participation.  Some sit out the winter months complaining, but God is alive and well and just as active in them.  No storm can separate us from him.  We can either remember the past when we were wretched sinners, or enjoy today the fact we aren’t, and anticipate the future in heaven.  We can walk in the spirit, or be bogged down by the law.  Religion does not set us free, only Jesus!

So as winter begins to set in, as we set back the clocks, as we change our wardrobe for winter, be assured Jesus never changes.  In the storms, or in the sunny days, he is the same.  And he wants us to enjoy those days, hot or cold.  To seek him and not the conditions, he set us free for sin and the bondage of it, in him we find total freedom.  Winter is no time to hang him up, but rather a time to draw closer, to enjoy each day more, to seek him, for riding season is coming again soon, a reminder of his return.  A sort winter for most is appreciated, but if Jesus should return for us sooner, well, that is OK too.  But start each day with him, spend time thinking on him during the day, and rejoice in him at how he somehow got you through the day, no matter the weather or drivers out to get you.  I believe God made So Cal for those who love to ride, one Rocky Mountain winter can confirm even the harshest critic.  But no matter the weather, ride with Jesus.  Read with Jesus, stay warm by the fire with Jesus.  Make it personal, hand him a polishing cloth, and listen to his words as he wipes off your bikes with you.  As he notices things that need attention on your bike and in your life.  Hang out with him every chance you get, he’ll answer the call, and it will be personal.  And if he offers to bring along grace, and no she isn’t a girl.  Meet grace today, Jesus fought the law and grace won.  And you thought this was a story of how to survive winter...and it is!

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

who were the other three?

The other day a friend told me “what  a lousy time for an accident,” and I replied “what time is?”  How many of us have said that, when an unplanned accident occurs?  Of course if it were planned, it wouldn’t be an accident, would it?  Yet so many times things interrupt our day, change our plans, and we need to make a decision of what do we do now?  They can range from a major catastrophe to a flat tire to running out of gas.  And looking back, after the fact, utter the other famous words “if I had known what was going to happen, would have gone another way.”  Seems we have this 20/20 hindsight thing down, well sorta.....

Sometimes we are the victor, sometimes the victim.  Leaving Orange County Triumph, a newbie on his new Bonneville sat revving his engine next to us.  Proud of his new ride of 500 feet, as the light turned red, he stalled, and coasted to a stop.  I pulled up next to him, turned on his petcock and rode off. From pride to fear to relief, all within a few seconds.  Another time, and many times, I have been the victim, like riding across western Oklahoma laying on the tank of my 650 Honda, after thinking I can make it to the next town, then finding the next town five miles further than my gas tank would go.  Riding flat out at 40, I must have been a sight, but I made it, now I fill up often, and before I run out.  Sometimes.  We had just come across the Carrizzo Plain on a press bike, a 2013 Triumph Explorer.  Expecting to find gas in New Cuyama, the station was closed, it was 65 miles to Santa Maria, and the miles to empty light said 50.  Setting the cruise at 60, then 55, then 50, we almost made it, pushing the last 100 feet to a station, 6 months after my open heart surgery.  But we made it, and since then, every time I have passed the station, it has been open.  Except that one day...

Laying in cardiac critical care after my open heart surgery, I still hadn’t been out of bed to walk.  I had seen many patients come and go, the latest was dying in the room next to me.  Christopher had ministered and calmed his wife, but we felt the pain as we heard them trying to revive him.  Then the cries and wails of pain, he died.  Looking at each other, Theresa and I said “that could have been us.”  And it almost was.  But what to the unsaved may be coincidence, good or bad luck, karma, or dodging a bullet, we know as God’s will.  Devine intervention, for he truly has everything under control.  He knows how far you can go on a tank, if he petcock is on, when to fill up, and if a station is open or closed.  Also our time to die...a time no one but he knows.  So the choices we make in between birth, the other day we day no say in, are important.  How many of us wait to pray until it is too late, wondering where God was the whole time?  When he was there all the time, in full control, if only we were listening.

I asked a pastor one day “when Jesus told Lazarus to come forth, who were the other three?”  A play on words, he finally got it, do we?  Remember he was chastised by Lazarus’ sister, “if you had been here Jesus, he would not have died.”  But Jesus was trying to show her something more important, resurrection.  In her anger and concern for her brother, she lost faith in Jesus, but I am sure regained it when he walked out, coming forth.  No word on the other three.  We get to read it and chastise her, “I would never act like that,” right before we do, and again 20/20 hindsight.  If only we trusted him as much as we say we do.

But God allows trials and tests in our lives to remind us of his love.  To know to turn to him in our times of trouble, and seek him before, to avoid or be prepared.  I have come as close to death as you can come without dying, and I am excited to go home to heaven.  I have seen God’s glory, and know the whole heart ordeal was to open my eyes to his greatness, and prepare me for ministry.  Life was much different when I did hospital ministry, than when I needed it.  I have seen both sides of Jesus in it, and know, in fact never doubted the whole episode was all about Jesus.  I have been one of the three that God called forth, I look forward to meeting Lazarus and the other two.  I was sick, and didn’t know how bad, God did, and had everything prepared for us, again looking back, but in the midst, we saw him in action, and woke up every morning excited to see what he would do for us that day.  Just like Martha and Mary did with Jesus, right?  Just like we do.....

I love to hear testimonies of how God took people through a crisis.  It builds my faith, reminds me how he has everything under control, and how much I need and love him.  Maybe as simple as stopping within inches of the car ahead of you, or him stopping within inches of you.  But what of the accidents, the trips to the hospital, the bad choices we make and suffer the consequences?  All known to God, for nothing takes him by surprise, so let me leave you with this encouragement.  Isaiah 65:24, “before they call I will answer, while the are still speaking I will hear.”  Before it happened, God knew.  Before you prayed, he had the plan in action.  After a pastor shared this with Theresa, I looked at my situation differently.  And pray much differently, too.  I trust him more than ever, and when asking him “why was it so important that so many prayed for me? his answer was simple.  So he could show his greatness in the result. That is love, a great love that in the midst of knowing what was to come, sent Jesus voluntarily to the cross anyway.  He never doubted, love never fails.  So when he called to Lazarus to come forth, remember the other three, but always think of Jesus first.  If we ask Jesus to come first, will he ask us to come forth?  Just like he does for us.....

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

an audience of one

September 11, 2006 was to be a special day for me, I knew it, but didn’t realize the impact it would have on me.  I had heard of Father Al and the Flight 93 Chapel, so called him offering assistance to help clean up or do traffic control.  Being with Torches Across America, I knew many bikers would show up, and just wanted to help.  He asked me to speak, to address the bikers, to make them feel welcomed, and after some hemming and hawing, gave in, not sure what I had said OK to.  But contacting those I knew from previous Torches, put me in touch with other biker clubs, and it looked like 9/11 at the Chapel for the five year anniversary of 911 would be filled with bikers.  As of a week before, I had confirmation of 700 bikers to show up, and we began to worry, not worry, but where are we going to put them all?  Fortunately God knew.....

It always rains or mists on 9/11, the locals will tell you that God is shedding tears over Shanksville, for God so loved the heroes.  And true to form, it poured, causing delays, the tent that held 250 to swell to over 500 inside, but only 13 bikers showed up, plus us in the rain.  Now these guys were used to the weather, rain is no big deal other than SoCal, so that was not an excuse.  But the ones who did show were a new CMA chapter, and would go on to honor the Chapel, and also comfort Fr. Al in his last days dying from cancer.  The message I had prepared for hundreds came down to 13, so trusting God I gave the same message he had given me for a larger crowd.  I have learned since to tailor my message to an audience of one, Jesus, and let him do the rest, that morning he showed me why.  If a large crowd of bikers arrived, they would detract from the heroes, and be a disturbance, not at all what they wanted to do.  But God gave us all special times with the families of 9/11 heroes, we sang, we listened, we cried with them, and met the Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania, who with her bodyguards visited with me.  "I’m a biker too,” she said when she saw me, and we talked motorcycles, bikers, and the heroes of Flight 93.  In a very kind and loving way God showed me why I was there, it wasn’t about me or the bikers, or the numbers, it was about the individuals and their families, and a time of healing and blessing.  I left more blessed than if I had received a standing ovation, as God used me to share Jesus, encourage others, and see his love in action.  A day that truly goes beyond words, and with a changed heart for ministry.  It is all about Jesus, not me.  We forget that sometimes, as we are the center of attention, but when we make Jesus the audience of one, good things happen.  I read recently an analogy of water going through a hose, the hose is just the messenger, it is the water inside that it delivers that quenches our thirst. Too often I fret about the hose, that day I was glad to be one, and let his spirit flow through me.

There is an event not being carried on secular news about the NFL, seems protesting your rights are more important than exercising your responsibility.  Carson Wentz, the quarterback of the Eagles is a Christian, and God is using him to bring many members of his team to Christ.  Even performing baptisms of team members in motel pools, the practice field, and a unity among the men that is truly making them team mates in the Lord.  All without drawing attention to themselves, the spirit of the Lord is changing lives, and Wentz claims he plays for an audience of one.  I like that.  While some protest, these men are making a statement, putting Jesus first, and setting an example for others.  Rather than causing dissension among a team, they are building a brotherhood.  Now I will not say that is why they are winning, but the team that God builds will face the same trials as a worldly team, only in Christ will they have direction. 

What is your focus today, to be heard or to bring glory to God?  Is the messenger more important than the message?  Remember some thought John the Baptist to be the messiah, yet his response was one is coming that is so humble and pure I am not worthy of even tying his sandal.  Soles or souls, be glad when we call on Jesus he gives you an audience of one.  Be glad he isn’t in a hurry and always has time for you.  Be glad that while some are looking for glory, he is the glory we seek, and makes it personal.  Just like he did on the cross, to his disciples, and like he does for us.  And like he did that day at the Chapel for me.  When God gets the glory, we get the blessings, and we cannot keep them to ourselves.  For love must be shared, as God shared his son with us.

I am not ready to be an Eagle fan, the whole NFL attitude is putting me off, and I find there are other things to do, like riding.  I stand for the National Anthem out of respect.  Out of what it stands for, and what it means to be an American.  A nation where God shed his grace on thee, like no other in the history of the world.  I see Jesus in it, and stand for him, and with him.  When I bend my knee it is in reverence and to pray, not to protest.  By my actions I hope Jesus will show in my life.  If you are protesting something, what are you standing for?  Are you the center of attention?  The Eagles players get it, they have won the battle, and next week will have another.  In this world we will have tribulation, but all things work together for those who love the Lord and are called.  It works in locker rooms, it worked that day at Shanksville, will it work in you?  Curtain time, your audience awaits.  Let the spirit begin....and in of all places Philadephia, the city of brotherly love, that once booed the Pope! 

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

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

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