the truth is out there....but so are the lies

Mark Twain once wrote, “the most outrageous lies that can be invented will find believers if a person only tells them with all his might.”  Around a group of women, we call it gossip, to men it is bench racing, but to an unsuspecting public, or even suspecting, they are known as urban legends.  Things so unbelievable, but that sound so true, they must be true, and are never tested for veracity.  Like the old telephone game we played as kids, the message that starts it often is not the message that the last person gets.  And the very best ones make the truth sound boring and more like a lie.  Go figure.  They are often stories not based on fact, but sound good, and rumors passed on to others, that keep getting passed to others.  We cannot live without them, and there are some pretty good ones out there, for instance, the one told to us in Jersey growing up.  And they always start....

“I know a guy whose mother used to work with the uncle of a guy whose aunt played bridge with his second cousin for awhile, before she was arrested for insider trading, so you know the source is reliable.”  Never heard first hand, always passed down via someone else.  And this urban legend is about a couple dating, then parking in a remote area.  Warned of a madman on the loose, they lock the doors and lose track of time.  When they go to leave, they find they are out of gas, and he volunteers to go get some, his date remaining locked in the car.  While gone, she hears scratching and horrible noises, but stays in the car.  Her date never returns, but at daylight a police officer does, and has her get out of the car.  Where her date is found hanging from a tree branch above the car, the noise she heard last night.  Variations on the theme are good for Boy Scout campouts, parents warning their kids about parking, and telling ghost stories.  Unverified, it is common lore in New Jersey, each state has its own.....

But my favorite is buried anonymously among Jersey State Police legends, a man and his friend are going to pick up his friend’s girlfriend at the hospital where she works.  Trying out his new car to see if it will do 100, the are doing the ton when a grey, unmarked police cruiser pulls up next to them, holding up a sign that says “STATE POLICE.”  Pulling over the officer in grey mechanics clothes, tells them they were doing 100, but forgot his ticket book, and will bring the ticket to his work or home tonight.  Asking “why were you going so fast, were you on the way to the hospital?” the answer is yes, and the officer can barely keep from breaking out laughing.  They go on to pick up the girlfriend, who is mad, and the man is trembling, he will lose his license, his parents will take his car, and he worries all through work that night, and all night sleeplessly at home.  But no ticket nor police officer ever shows up, it was a mechanic on a test drive, and you almost busted him with the hospital answer.  Funny now, but back then I was terrified, as I was the driver!  And Lance can verify my story, as can his girlfriend.  I can only imagine the mechanic telling the story, “when he said hospital, I could barely keep it together!”  My parents still don’t know.....

But for some reason Christians seem to think they need to improve on God’s word and the story of Jesus.  Years ago TBN, the Christian equivalent of CNN’s fake news, reported how a drilling team in Siberia had drilled deep enough, 14 kilometers, and an intense heat came out.  They could smell sulfur and brimstone, and reportedly heard voices in agony screaming out for release from a microphone inserted in the hole.  Terrified they abandon the project, it never happened.  But was good enough for TBN....

Around the turn of the century 1900, a story came out of a man swallowed by a whale in the Mediterranean, and lived in it three days and then washed up on shore.  Meant to duplicate and prove the story of Jonah, it too was proved false.  For one thing Jonah got swallowed by a giant fish, God should know the difference, whales are not common in that part of the Mediterranean, and his wife can explain his whereabouts that day.  He was in England at the time.  It never happened....if Jesus quoted the story in his New Testament, why do we need to add something false to help prove it?  Even Cassie Bernal, a shooting victim at Columbine is treated to fiction, supposedly saying she believed in God and shot rather than being spared.  Witnesses on the scene deny any interaction between her and the shooter.  From playing Stairway to Heaven backwards, found on Youtube, to Proctor and Gamble’s trademark supposedly being Satanic, we should have enough truth to prove our point.  Which is the spirit’s job anyway.  Yet from the Seven Sons of Sceva being misled, and paying the price, we find many burned their books and divinations, nearly $1 million in todays’ money.  If not for the Sceva’s we would have no Acts 19, yet the evil spirit that drove them is still alive and well misleading many in churches today.  Interesting when the demons addressed them, they said they knew Jesus, a personal knowing, and heard of Paul, an inquisitive knowledge.  Are the demons smarter than the guy next to you in church?  We are to be as wise as serpents,but gentle as lambs....

The Bible tells us to let every matter be established.  2 Peter 1:16 tells us “we did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you of the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  The truth can stand on it own without our help.  Remember that next time you forward a story on your email, you may be a Sceva in disguise and not know it.  But like Agent Mulder used to tell us, the truth is out there, and one final test.

Do you know that there once was a neighborhood, or group of neighborhoods under Dodger Stadium?  Going by the name of Chavez Ravine, these five ravines were home to LA’s poorest, until the 1950’s, when they used imminent domain to claim the land and chase them off.  Later when the Dodgers came to town, using it to build the stadium.  Razing the five tall hills around the valley, they filled it in, and a two story school house is buried beneath it.  Many shows from that time period were filmed there, a fact only the old Angelino’s know about.  But it really happened, today Chavez Ravine being the home of the Dodgers.  Just a piece of history to good to be true that really is....the truth, Jesus Christ will set you free.  Are you living your life based on hearsay, or what Jesus says?  There is a difference...and for those who must, we have an autographed picture of him, for only $4.95, shipping and handling, which will add to the décor of any room.  Or would you like a picture of the man escaping from the whale?  Me, I’m just glad I didn’t get the ticket!

And in the news, dateline Las Vegas, Elvis declares his candidacy for President....

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

all the tools in the tool box

When traveling, we stop at Friends of the Library and buy old magazines, then donate them back.  Better than the $6-10 50 page ad conceived today, and they are a bargain at 50 cents.  But I also hit up antique stores, and find magazines to my liking, old Car and Driver’s, Poplar Mechanics and Popular Science.  A 1967 Car and Driver I bought for a buck has road test of a 1967 Z-28, Firebird 400, and a 280SL Mercedes Benz.  And some interesting racing results.  But my favorites are Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, where all sort of innovative news and ideas are presented.  I found a treasure trove of them one weekend in Paso Robles from 1946-1964, and for $15, filled my shelf, and my saddlebags.  But one issue from 1951 has caught my attention lately, from three years prior to my birth.  Seems the auto industry was experimenting with catalytic converters, and showed how they used them in warehouses for tow motors.  How the 1951 Plymouth rode smoother because of new shocks, verified by Wilbur Shaw, an Indy 500 winner.  An article on atomic sand, that sticks to soldiers boots and only kills the enemy when placed in enemy territory, saving lives and the destruction of the innocent.  Even a new way to make curved windshields that would be standard on all cars later on.  All the stuff we take credit for as new, was new before I was born.  Only the names and games are changed, so much for the innocent.

But one article, one a new invention, that had been successfully tested on dogs, caught my attention.  A mechanical pump, used to circulate blood during an open heart surgery, the grandfather of the one used on me.  It detailed how the dogs tested had been on it for up to 70 minutes and survived with no ill effects, and how soon it would be tested on people.  How a device filtered the blood, then oxygenated it, maintaining a steady pressure, allowing the heart to be removed from the body if needed for repairs.  All mechanical and chemical, a simple life saving machine, that I am thankful for, at least the 2012 edition.  In June of 2012, I had open heart surgery, and my aorta replaced, after it exploded on the operating table.  The machine mentioned was hooked up to me for hours, as my heart was out of my body for 5 1/2 hours, put in perspective they do transplants in four.  And this pump that was older than me in initial design, pumped my blood when my heart was out and being reassembled.  along with being on life support, it seems that if I had been born a few years too early, my wife would be a widow and my kids orphans, but chalk one up for technology, which saved my life.  Technology imitating life, if only for a shot time, as Peter, my cardiologist told me, “we can keep you functioning, we cannot necessarily keep you alive.”  And yesterday after 5 1/2 years it struck me how sick I really was, and how far they went to save me, and how far I have come today.

God intervened in way that I would not have thought to pray, or even did.  Tough when you are in a coma.  So many times we expect a big mystical miracle, but forget God operates in a physical world, even though he is a spirit.  He uses all the tools in his tool box, not just our requests, and I am glad he does, as so often we tell God what to do, offer advice and expertise, or hand him a list to fill.  On the list that day, he handed mine back and added a box, the only one checked, “none of the above.”  He knew how he planned to rescue me, and who would be involved.  He also knew who would be praying, and the impact of his intervention would have on all those.  He knew way back in 1951 how the experiment would turn out, his technology is so far advanced we cannot even imagine it.  But God using physical things to heal offends some Christians, as they only expect a divine, mystical intervention, and void God’s plans.  I know a woman who for years could have taken a medicine that would have given her a better life, but refused it as God would heal her.  Only thinking of herself, she put her husband through decades of suffering along side her, needlessly.  When once I asked her about it, I was told I had no faith in miracles.  My reply was “if you have a headache, and never heard of aspirin, and given one your headache went away, isn’t that a miracle to the person?”  No reply, as she and her husband suffered on needlessly.  Her faith in disbelief was more than her faith in a healing God.

Read your Bible, Jesus healed in many ways.  Here’s mud in your eye once, another time a simple touch.  On time friends lowering a man through the roof, not recommended, while a simple touch of his robe healed another, as he felt his healing power going out from him.  Yet another man had so much confidence in Jesus, he told Jesus don’t even come to my house, such is the faith he had in him.  Each way Jesus healed was a miracle, he used all the tools at his disposal, for the world is his.  Leaving us with something to remember him by with the healing.  All the above, me included, were touched spiritually in our healing, but Jesus gave us evidence to prove it was him.  Today I am referred to as “Miracle Mike” by my doctors, all who will tell you that I should not be alive.  Even one doctor breaking into tears when she read my records.  My last visit to Peter before being discharged, he put his arm around me, and told me ”it was the hardest surgery he ever did.  And it was evident that God intervened.”  Even the medical staff and non-believers can see!  And I have the scar and the charts to prove it! I literally have been given a new heart by Jesus! 

So don’t limit God in your requests, or tell him how to do it.  When you trust, you obey.  As God put it to me one night, after leaving church and the scripture came to mind, “we walk by faith, not by sight.”  Him adding, “but you have seen me.”  I wrestled with that, until getting home and turning on the TV, where a commercial explained it all to me.  Not a spiritual one, but with spiritual applications.  A father was in the pool, telling his little girl to jump in.  She kept refusing, she didn’t want to.  She was scared and not trusting, being about three.  But when he raised his voice and said “JUMP!” she did so in obedience, not in trust.  Faith, obedience, then trust.  As we work out our salvation daily.....

Do we really trust God?  It wasn’t my faith or obedience or even trust, it was his grace. Through a skilled surgeon’s hands, using all the technology available to him.  Who am I to limit God, when today I can give him all the credit for being alive?  To encourage others in the same situation, to point to Jesus and show my scar.  Truly when Ecclesiastes says there is nothing new under the sun, the only new you will find is new life in the Son.  What is new to us is old to God, can I hear an amen?  Plastic aorta and all, I have truly given my heart to Jesus, and he made me a new creature in him.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

 

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