when did your past begin?

“In the beginning,” God says, “I created the heavens and the earth out of nothing.”  Which we believe by faith because none of us was there, but the Bible tells us so.  But soon he added the animals, and then created Adam.  Think of the stories and conversations between God and Adam, naming all the animals, the walks in the garden, watching the sun rise and then set again.  Being told all about the stars, and his creation.  Now we know how many years Adam lived, but we don’t know how old he was when God created him in his image.  Then God let Adam sleep and created Eve taking part of his side to create her, so that they would be the same  only different.  I can only imagine the conversations, did he ever tell her how it was when it was only God and him?  Seems his good old days were as different to her as God’s were to him.  They were all contemporaries, but each with a different date when their past began.  And then again how different their past would be when they had kids, and grand kids, and cousins and aunts and uncles.  Each with a new past, as God looked back and oversaw it all.  All having him in common, but each with a different view of the past.  The same only different.....

Just like the other day while visiting the local bike shop.  A group of us were talking about the fastest bike when we started riding.  For me it was the Mach III, for only $999 the quarter in 12 seconds!  But within months the 750 Honda changed all that, but for $500 more.  A lot of paper route and yard cutting money, to be robbed or properly reinvested from your college fund.  But only four years later it was the Z-1, 900cc, and the price and engine size had both doubled, but so had the thrills.  Then another guy who started riding in the eighties talked of the 900 Ninja, the GSXR 750, and all for under $4500!  Seems my older bikes were just old to him.  Two others joined in about the nineties when they started riding, making the Ninjas and first GXRS’s obsolete, but the new kid on the block at age 20, raved about the supercharged Ninja with over 200 hp we were standing in front of.  For only $17,000, none faster or more advanced.  All words and phrases we had used in bragging about our times.  Seems we all had motorcycles in common, and got the urge at the same age.  Just spread over four decades....with each one of our pasts starting at the same age, just different times.  I had much to look back on, and we all wondered what the next group in ten years would lust for.  So when did you get the urge, when did your past begin?

All of us who call Jesus Lord have come to  him in personal but different ways.  Mine was on the beach, some are in church, many in hospitals or in prison, some at a young age, some in their last dying breath that God kept them alive to mutter.  One God and one way, Jesus, but many roads to get there.  There is no standard way to come to Christ, yet religion today has caused rifts in our belief system.  Some are based on faith, some a procedure, some on saying a special prayer.  For some you must join their church, and in too many cases Jesus is not the focal point.  Jesus and do this, not Jesus is enough.  Yet each one of our pasts begin with him when we come to realize we are sinners and need a savior.  When religion and the world are not enough and our spirit calls out to the holy spirit “save me!”  With each one of our beginnings unique but sharing the same Jesus.  The same Jesus scripture tells us that is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  We change, he doesn’t.  We don’t have to worry what he will be like next week, we know from his past.  And we also know from our future.  To the thief on the cross it was being remembered in paradise.  For Stephen it was “not holding their sin against them.”  For the multitude on Pentecost it was sharing the gospel in their own native language so they could understand it personally.  The same Jesus who met Paul on the Damascus road is the same Jesus who greets us today and offers salvation.  No matter the language, it will always be all about Jesus.  Simple so we can get it and free so we can afford it.  Unlike the motorcycles we used to dream of....

So when did your past begin in Christ?  What do you have to look back on to share in your testimonies?  Is he as fresh today as he was the day you met him?  Has he changed you, or has religion changed him?  The same God who created us out of nothing, who when we were void like the earth was, has allowed the holy spirit to hover over us, at one time giving the earth shape, and now giving our lives shape.  Will today be the first day of your past with Jesus, or another day to look back on the time spent with him?  Wise men still seek him, this time he brings the gifts.  All you bring is you.  For over the 45 years I have been saved, Jesus has never left me or deserted me, although I wandered from him.  My past is intertwined with him, maybe today I can meet some other Christian men and we can talk like we did over motorcycles, how it was for us.  And how it is now.  Generations and decades apart, Jesus makes it all real.  When my past with Jesus began it pointed to a bright and heavenly future.  I still don’t know it all, still haven’t even heard all the questions, but I know Jesus, and that makes all the difference.  Add in heaven and my future is secured.  Now....

If only I can stay away from motorcycle shops, there is this Z900RS that looks like my old Z-1, and a new Tiger 900.....seems that most of us never grow up, but continue to grow in grace.  When your past begins with Jesus your future has a new future.  I don’t know what the future holds, I only know Jesus holds it.  Motorcycles and prices change, so does performance.  Ladies and gentlemen, the new new and old performance king, Jesus Christ.  And for those who doubt God created the earth, bring your own earth.  Courtesy of the one who created you and gives life.  Some dream, some ride.  I do both in Christ.  Do you?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

and then there was Fred

I knew Bruce who introduced me to Milt, who was responsible for all the rear bumpers on Datsun pickups in the seventies.  Milt sold for Fey Bumpers until they were bought out by Datsun.  And it was Milt who introduced me to Fred, who when they met was the Southern California parts and service rep for Datsun.  Fred was tough but fair, emphasis on tough, and was a legend among Datsun dealers.  When bad drive shafts caused vibration, the dealers were quick to jump on it, and many non-wobbling shafts were replaced under warranty, easy money for the dealer, but big claims for the factory.  But it was Fred who one afternoon at a dealer, after checking numerous parts and finding no problems, starting swinging them like a bat against a pole while yelling for all to hear, “now this one’s bent for sure.”  Warranty problem solved, and Fred a legend.  Tough but fair.

Now according to Milt, Fred had mellowed, as now he would tolerate Bruce, who had been a parts manager for Datsun and a chief culprit of the drive shafts.  And these were my riding buddies when I came to California.  Along with Theresa on the back, we rode all over So Cal every weekend, getting a history lesson from Fred of how things used to be in the fifties, he grew up in Orange County.  Currently he was the national service manager for Yugo, and claimed he had solved their service issues, but Yugo ran out of money, ie customers.  So he was closing down the brand and in his spare time building a Mazda rotary engined motorcycle.  His own design including the frame.  Which only left his old Gold Wing for riding, complete with the adhesive mounted coffee cup on the tank, the one Circle K had made famous on truck dashboards.  He could be seen coffee cup in on hand, weaving through traffic, steering with his left.  With one afternoon in Malibu memorable, when we all stopped and he didn’t, sliding sideways for 100 feet cup in hand, past the store with a crowd watching.  We chased him down, and he wondered what all the excitement was about.  Never spilling a drop.  He was also known for putting his hand on your shoulder as he rode next to you at 70 mph, but would also watch out for you, running shot gun and watching out for traffic while riding.  It was Fred who introduced us to Tabasco sauce on french fries, adding it one day without asking, “you’ll like this,” and I did.  The same Fred who when noticed my tail light was out, stayed on my tail so his tail light would be between me and traffic, of course after an hour at a rest stop taking the bike apart and finding only a bad bulb.  Whose hot tub was no suits allowed, and couldn’t understand why he had no women takers.  It’s been years since I’ve seen him, a part of my past and an intro to So Cal history by men who had made it.  And then there was Fred.......who Milt said had mellowed.

We all come to the Lord in different ways.  For me it was my friend John warning me about his room mate John who was a Christian, not knowing the holy spirit was at work already.  Over the years I have shared the gospel with many, wondering sometimes if it was even heard, then being reminded I was only a messenger, it was the holy spirit who saves.  And so it was when any of us are saved, only by the spirit pointing us to Jesus are we saved, something to remember.  Something no man can take credit for.  Yet sometimes we feel pressured to share, or worse, pressured not to share, fear of rejection, ridicule, or being belittled.  I am reminded of the night God had put Milt on my heart, who was a regular at our house.  Not a preacher, I share Jesus, as I don’t like being preached at, and he was leaving, in fact at the end of our driveway on his motorcycle, when I finally got the courage to share Jesus, and have him ask him into his life.  Seems I was normal that night, not wanting to lose a friend over the gospel, but God showed me to love him more than the relationship we had with Milt.  I wonder how many times we back off regarding our present relationship with a friend more highly than the one with  Jesus.  Does not God promise to pour out his blessings to us and our future generations?  What part of blessings don’t we get?  Are we walking in the valley of the shadow of death, but still with enough light to barely see?  Do we fear losing a friend more than seeing that same soul saved?  Guilty as charged.....

Sadly not all who I share with are saved.  Most of my riding buddies were not saved, only Milt.  Bruce was too theological, Fred a rebel.  But we loved them as they were, another characteristic missing from too many of us today.  Saved a friend, lost an enemy.  No wonder no one wants to go to church when invited.  I can get more love and respect on the street.  It is only when we succumb to the calling of the holy spirit we are saved.  Just love your neighbor, Jesus said, no matter what he rides.  I can only hope and pray that Bruce and Fred saw Jesus in us via our love and companionship.  Seeing the gospel in action, instead of ending up like the drive shafts Fred altered.  Don’t give up hope, even if it takes you to the end of your driveway to obey what the spirit is saying.

I learned a lesson from Fred, about forgiving.  The drive shafts had to be flawed to be warranteed, just like we are flawed and need Jesus.  He could change the physical characteristic of the shafts, it was only after a live demonstration he changed the hearts of the managers.  He was watching, and so is God.  He had an impact on them, it is only God who can open their hearts.  Many look in vain, but only Jesus is the key to unlocking his love and forgiveness.  We are all bent shafts, any doubt, I can call Fred.  Who at 70 can put fear into you with only a hand on your shoulder.  Better the hand of God.  Long before cupholders were of importance, Fred was onto them.  And long before we knew Jesus he is onto us, the spirit telling us we need Jesus.  Don’t wait for man to do what Jesus has already done, or delay in what the spirit guides us to do.  Datsun and Yugo are names that must be explained, don’t let Jesus name be neglected.  And then there is Jesus.....I knew John, John knew John, who knew Jesus.  And I knew Milt who now knows Jesus.  Don’t neglect the Freds in your life.....for all things work together to those who love the Lord and are called to him.  That hand on your shoulder just may be an all, after all.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

OXEN

Valentine’s Day is this Friday, a leisure activity of Hallmark, and for weeks the stores have been having sales for it.  From candy to beer to pajama grams and anything else to fatten their wallet and thin out yours, Valentine’s Day is big business.  With gifts I don’t get, figuratively and literally, like giving candy to girls who diet all the time and dead flowers.  Taking them out to an expensive meal you know they won’t eat.  Maybe a gift or two, and then it’s back to normal, whatever that may be.  From preschool kids to seniors, we will be sending cards and getting cards, and I have it twice as expensive, my anniversary is four days after.  Fortunately I am blessed by a wife of going on 42 years, candy is dandy, so we have it here all the time.  No dead flowers, and the Money Pit works just fine, with a stop for a Culver’s custard if by one, we tend to get away on our anniversary.  Our love is not based on Hallmark or a holiday, and if it is, we celebrate everyday.  With lots of hugs and kisses to show for it.

Back when BH and I started terrorizing the roads of New Jersey, I signed my year book kisses, so he signed his hugs, how original.  Hugs and kisses for two friends trying to be cute, at least the girls thought it was, and to this day I still sign many things kisses.  No OX for me, it’s like Xmas for Christmas, it don’t fly here.  But before my pal and fellow patriot, and all around good guy Father Al died, he explained a standing joke he has had since grade school.  Even in Catholic school the girls gave him Valentines signed OX and OX, and he wasn’t sure what an ox had to do with the fellow in the diapers shooting arrows.  After it was explained, he countered it by signing off OXEN.  “OXEN?” I asked.  “Yes, two oxes are referred to as oxen, so I abbreviated it.  And so it was and was until his passing, signing off OXEN, a way of saying he loved and respected you.  No candy or flowers, but there is this Mexican food restaurant by the Flight 93 Chapel we used to go to if you insist....

So with Valentines Day almost here, and coupled with President’s Day this weekend, the ads are alive, from furniture to cars, to waterbeds, to whatever they want to sell you you may not need, but think you do, even Hallmark has a card for it.  So we are taking the easy way out, and going away, long after your candy is gone, your flowers thrown away, and your VISA bill still collecting interest, we will be sharing memories of our anniversary and Valentine’s Day, things that last.  If I have to explain you probably won’t get it, except the bills for candy and flowers.  Just not at our house....but any chocolate donations are excepted, and accepted.

Reading a Harley ad this morning, it says “Rumble beats roses any time.”  I think they mean the sound of their exhaust.  And if you spend $150 you get a free tote bag, a $9.95 value, that cost them $3.00.  I guess with inflation the HD which used to stand for hundred dollars now is $150.  Everybody wants a piece of you and me.  And who we finally give ourselves over to will make an eternal difference.  The Bible tells of four kinds of love, love of man, of things, of a sinning type of love, and agape, the love God can only have for us.  The love of your spouse should be different than the love of your ride, and the love of God for us is never compromised.  So God made agape a unique gift of love, one that only he can give and that we can only receive.  Eros, the sin of love, is evident everywhere.  One night stands, pornography, affairs, and too many things on TV that are now accepted, but still sin.  Eros was the Greek god a son of Chaos, reflecting the emptiness of the universe.  He is better referred to as a one night stand to fulfill a sexual urge, and he is the one that is the angel with the bow and arrows, wanting to lead us into any immoral sex and draw us away from God’s love.  Seems those little cards with him are not so innocent.  And by being hit with one of is arrows, we fall prey to him and his desires, he now owns us.  Still think candy is dandy...

It is not how much but the fact we miss at all that means hell.  Not at all the kind of love God has for us or the plans he has for us.  For decades I have listened to not so bright theologians debate what is the will of God, when it is plain in the Bible.  He wants us saved and to seek Jesus and be forgiven.  No potions or gifts, no special day to do it on, today is fine, but he will is we are with him in heaven, our relationship with him restored.  Like the gospel, simple so we can get it, and free so we can afford it.  A true love that goes far beyond sudden impulses and emotions, the love Jesus has for us, that he gave his life so we can be saved.  Giving, and we get to receive.  Jesus offers agape, the world offers Valentines.  A day that is significant only if commercial and cultural, with none of God’s love, but plenty of man’s.  Where the words mean little, and only are spoken because such a day advertises it and encourages it.  Far from the encouragement the spirit offers...

Started to honor a pope, rather than God, and to gain favor with him, rather than with God.  Yet we all fall into the trap, if only we could focus on eternity.  Which will surpass all Valentine’s Days, and save us money on cards and candy.  Now I am not anti-Valentine’s Day, only what it has become.  So why not try this, love God everyday, thanking Jesus for the gift of life he gave us, and see how your attitude towards love changes.  All Jesus asks of us is to love him, and then our neighbors.  Not to represent him in any way but who he is.  And what he did.  If you need a holiday or Hallmark card to show love maybe something is missing, the agape God offers.  You see long before cards, he wrote his love on your heart, so you always have him and it with you.  It goes deeper than any candy or flowers, and is more alive today than before we accepted it.  So while cleverly worded cards are sent this week, remember the words of Jesus, who died for us and reunites us with God and his agape love.  “If you love me keep my commandments,”  the ones of love, of which there are no laws against.  So before you love your job, your Harley, and a quickie, try an eternal love above all else.  Until Jesus is the hallmark of your life, no Hallmark card will ever come close to the love he has for us.  Your choice, one night or every night.  So to BH, kisses, and the rest of you,

OXEN,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

Vinny's horses

 My friend Vinny could easily be described as not the brightest crayon in the box.  He might even have trouble finding his way out of the box, but he was a super nice guy, a greaser as we used to call them, the slicked back hair and pointed shoes, PFC’s “Puerto Rican Fence Climbers,” and Sha Na Na was their type of music.  Right out of the fifties....in 1972.  But you had to love the guy for who he was, super nice and would do anything for you.  Including letting you borrow his horse, all 290 of them in his 1969 Boss 302 Mustang.  The orange one with the black louvers, and black hood.  Still in high school, we had seen the ads and read about them in the car magazines, but Vinny had one, a real one.  Now my high school had a long parking lot almost 1/4 mile long, with a huge circle at the end,w here we all parked our sports cars or muscle machines.  And when Vinny came to visit, fit right in.  One of our guys who I never really knew his name, had a 1965 Mustang all jacked up, and always wanted to race for pinks, and when Vinny showed up, wanted to race the parking lot nationals.  Vinny was no match for him, so politely told him “we already have a bunch of old cars on the property, we don’t need another.”  Hoping he said it right, not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings, the showdown was over.  Vinny was so cool he didn’t even know it!  But the challenges were still out there....and no one would ever know Vinny was a lousy driver.  With a cool car.
He would let me drive his car often and when we went cruising, in our land of SS 396’s, Comet GT’s, Javelins, Trans Ams, and other big blocks, it seemed his car always gathered a crowd, and many challenges were made, but none ever accepted.  Vinny wasn’t a racer, his car was, and no one would ever know just how quick and fast it really was. He could rightfully claim he never lost a race, but never had one either.  The mystique of the Boss 302 was enough, even girls loved it, the ultimate chick magnet.  Vinny’s horse was a purebred, and highly collectible today, in fact I see more today at auctions than we ever saw on the streets 45 years ago.  Sadly when the gas crisis hit in 1973, it became too expensive to drive, and was sold someone who loved it and took care of it.  But every time I see an orange Boss 302, I think of Vinny and the parking lot challenge, and his reply, “we already have enough old cars on our property, we don’t need another.”  A victory before any race ever started.  He might not have been the brightest crayon in the box, but his car sure was....
In the Wild One, Johnny played by Marlon Brando was asked “what are you rebelling against?”  His classic answer “whatta ya got?”  tells more about the man and his lifestyle than any biography.  Maybe a question we need to ask ourselves is “what do we have?”  Do we have Jesus as our Lord and Savior, or is he a Sunday exercise, and a CEO church visit, Christmas and Easter only?  So many Americans claim to be Christians based on church attendance, family heritage, or tradition.  But ask yourself “what do you have in Jesus?”  A quick but revealing exercise may tell us more about ourselves than we care to admit.  In our relationship with Jesus, do we get excited when we hear good news?  When we see a prayer answered, a friend saved?  Or do we respond with criticism, as in “he’s faking it, God would never save him.”  How many people have said that about me.  Does your faith and response encourage others?  Next time you pray, listen to yourself.  Do you really thank Jesus, or is it just a rote prayer?  Do you recognize who he is and what he has done?  When you do, your prayer life changes.  I listen more than ask, but when I do ask I trust the spirit, the four toughest words you will ever pray, “thy will be done.”  Do you pray for your enemies also?  Not save him Lord then let him get hit by a bus, but a true prayer asking God to save him and make him family, and call him brother.  Most of us stop there, no words needed to explain.  Do we give him thanks even in our darkest moments, realizing in our adversity we see a side of Jesus we would otherwise miss?  Ever think of that?  Try it...let all trials be welcome in Jesus.
Do your actions back up your words?  Do you show love only in words or among other Christians, or do you truly love Jesus enough to love publicly, even at a risk?  It has been said our reactions are more important than our actions, who do give praise to, and do you curse the same one when things aren’t going your way?  Love one another so that the world may see that you belong to Jesus.  We are not in competition with the world, but a heavenly battle is going on right now, and Jesus has already won it.  Don’t you just love to be a winner?  Here’s a question, does God want you happy?  Blessings means happinesses, and God is abundant in them, he knows you and the passions you have, and supplies them.  But is your passion for him and his people?  Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering, but the presence of Christ in a life and situation.  Do you want to be holy as he is holy, whole in your relationship and in your walk?  Not holier than though, there again that love that only can come from Jesus and shines through you.  Do you feel clean and forgiven, do you live like we have been set free from sin and ungodliness?  Are we more concerned about others than us? He paid an enormous price for us, has he become part of our character?  It is easy to become a Christian, but living the life of one takes commitment, Jesus is committed, are we?
Vinny’s horse had a reputation even before any challenges.  When asked “whatta ya got?” he just answered a Mustang, not a Boss.  Do we have Jesus or just another religious person?  Are there plenty of old cars on your old property that need renewing or getting rid of?  Same with sin, the world will present many challenges, Jesus has risen above them all, and in him we can too.  I find I win more battles because I pick better ones.  I have nothing to prove to anyone except Jesus in my life, isn’t that enough?  Vinny’s horse got a lot of attention, and a lot of girls.  It got respect and as far as I know he never raced it.  He was above all the challenges, he knew what he had.  Do we really know who and what we have in Jesus?  If your life is like one of the old cars at Vinny’s estate, maybe you need a change, you need Jesus.  Maybe just a simple tune up to let out all of the horses, maybe a wash and wax job to be cleaned up.  Or maybe just a dose of humility, to remind us of who we are in Christ.  By the way, no one ever asked what other old junk cars were at Vinny’s house.  Too bad, since his dad owned a trucking company and had lots of cool cars, just sitting getting dirty that needed drivers.  To him the Boss was just another used car, but to us, much more.  Seems old cars and old lives can be taken for granted, don’t let Jesus be the same way.  Vinny’s horse was way cool....and made up for any lack of our coolness.  All those cool old cars on Vinny’s estate and no one ever asked “whatta ya got?”  I guess when you are the Boss, everything else is a step down....To Vinny old cars, to the world old useless people, to Jesus a treasure.  Cue to Sha Na Na...and Bowser, ”why do fools fall in love....”
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com