the loneliness of the long distance rider

We stopped at a rest stop north of Oceanside on our way home yesterday and a well worn Triumph Explorer parked next to me.  The rider was in full on riding suit for the 100 degree weather, I was hot in t shirt, I can only imagine his heat and pain.  While he was getting a drink, I walked around his bike to see where he was from, California plate, with personalized message, “RYDZFAR” and his plate frame stating he rode Iron Butts.  It was definitely set up for these hard core mile junkies, and when we talked his words emphasized it.  While he had bags, GPS, auxiliary lights, and a custom seat, I looked at the 1050 Tiger I was on, and reflected on our two different riding styles.  I have done 1000 miles days, coast to coast in under 70 hours and was set up like I was now for a long weekend.  With Theresa on the back.  And I wondered if anyone outside of the Iron Butt guys could appreciate his ride, and his riding.  Or if he even got it.  Was it fun riding against the clock like some interstate commuter?  His bike was filthy, needed some love, but he looked the same.  I wondered if the loneliness of riding long distances alone had done him in?  He seemed more interested in himself than me, I was at least hoping a fellow Triumph rider would talk about Triumphs.  But he was set on a destination, and this stop was probably preplanned as was the time allowed to stop.  Then off for more miles, all by the clock.  His ride had become an obsession, I hope I never ride that way.  I have come close, but I have nothing to prove to myself or anyone else any more.  I have done the fast, the quick, and the long.  Now I just want to ride, no set destinations or time limits, just time zones.  I want to enjoy the ride, but I can relate as at one time I had goals to reach, rides to prove myself, and friends to impress.  Now I just want to ride...

And when the ride is the thing, you enjoy it differently than if in some competition, even if it only with yourself.  Riding is very personal, different to everyone, some cruise, some tour, some are speed junkies, some carry plush animals, some ride alone.  Some need an American V-twin, some need an inline 4.  Some need all the accessories, some travel light.  And in myself I find a bit of each, personalized after many years of riding.   And still looking forward to the next ride, and enjoying the one I am on.  I was planning our next trip while lane splitting in LA yesterday, riding the hills above Sonora.  Farm roads, less travelled, curves, no traffic, and scraping pegs, with no schedule.  Stopping along the way when we see something, or grabbing a Tootsie Roll just to visit.  I have found a different freedom in riding than my “RYDZFAR” friend, memories of people, roads, meals, other bikes, and not based on a timeline, but on a life line.

But I can appreciate minutes with another biker when riding alone.  Making the conversation count, as I want get back in the saddle.  A destination awaits, and the moment is not it.  Until later I realized it was.  So I have changed my riding time tables to adjust.  300 mile days instead of 500 mile days, sleeping in, never riding in the dark, and seeing more along the way.  Watching sunsets instead of riding into them, but knowing if I had to I can still do 500-600 miles.  But now time doesn’t dictate the ride, I dictate it.  And at the San Luis Obispo old bike meet we attended, I see many who get it like I do.  An older crowd, mostly men, who rode before Jap bikes took over.  Who rode, wrenched, and spent extra time with their machines.  It was personal to them, not just a form of transportation.  Bikes that had been loved and maintained, and memories many don’t have any more.  MY “RYDZFAR” friend would never fit in, he spent too much time riding never knowing it was about the road and machine, not the clock and the road.  He missed out on bench racing while he was riding, his GPS his companion.  His bike showed little affection offered to it, and would be replaced when it prematurely wore out.  I saw in him the loneliness of the long distance rider, and how without a motorcyclist, they are just motorcycles.  It takes people and roads to build memories, he had the road, but not the people.  If his bike could talk, I wonder what it would have to say?  How many 15 minute bench racing sessions with other riders like himself?  How many nights of too little sleep, finding himself exhausted, but not tired, spurred on by the next days marathon.  Races to a destination, then start all over again.  Seeing America, but never seeing Americans.  I have been both types, and my rides reflect it.  But I will always be a motorcyclist, just waiting for the next road to ride.  No time, no distance requirements, isn’t that the oppression we seek to escape from when we ride?  Rules and regulations....forget about them and let’s ride.  Lunch one time zone, dinner another, but at our pace.  With no one to impress, only to please ourselves.  It’s time we lived that way off of our bikes too.

A friend of mine is busy raising his family, and very involved at church.  He attends Sunday, men’s fellowship Tuesday, one night out for a college Bible class, Wednesday night service, Saturday morning men’s breakfast, and little time with his family.  And he is getting burnt out, his family suffers, and yet he succumbs to the church’s demands on how to be a better Christian.  I have been there, and like riding each relationship with Jesus is personal.  As is each ride.  It is when the external pressures interfere with the ride we stop enjoying it.  Jesus never espoused such a life style, he gave us freedom in the spirit.  No rules but grace to live up to, or better yet in.  We all have hidden sins, and willful ones that we hide, but God sees them and has us deal with them.  Our decision once they are pointed out, and he does it confidentially so as not to hurt us, but to correct us and point us in the way we should go.  If your activities are more important than God, if your family suffers because of the draw of the church, be warned.  Many have succumbed to what is expected of them, only to miss out on God’s plan for them.  Seek him first as he desires us to do, then follow him and enjoy life.  Yet many suffer over the burden of requirements that are not God imposed.  That is religion, found anywhere two or more gather, even riders.  But Jesus tells us whenever two or three gather he is among them, and we can enjoy the freedom he has. 

He wants us to be confident in him, not ourselves. Or our church, motorcycle or checkbook.  Or line of credit.  Self confidence is presumption and based on us.  If we do not depend on God it is sin, and sin harms our faith.  Whatever is not of faith is sin.  So let us realize that without Christ we cannot do anything, and our life is just one long ride between appointments.  Burning miles, tanks of gas, and never having true fellowship with God.  So ask God to help you with your schedule, you priorities, your next ride, and with your family.  See them as he does, and watch as your life changes.  Your wife needs you, now not later.  You will find yourself under God’s influence rather than a church imposed schedule, and be a better church person.  Led by the spirit, not the invitations in the bulletin.  When Jesus is first, everything is second.  And you enjoy the relationship with him more, because he is the riding force behind it.  So what drives you?

If not Jesus, stop now and reconsider.  Write down all things important to you as they come to mind.  Then ask God to prioritize them for you.  Suddenly you have more time, more rides,and more Jesus.  All benefit from your choice to follow the spirit.  Just ask your wife and kids.  They probably already know...have you been listening?   Listen to the spirit, backed up by the word.  Live life in Christ, not by the accomplishments.  Let him expose the weaknesses and deal with them.  And start enjoying the ride of your life more.  Riding more and enjoying it less?  Jesus is the answer.  Tired of riding alone?  Take him along.  Too much schedule and not enough time?  Let him be your guide.  Miss your family, abide in the vine of Jesus Christ.  Where you find life, forgiveness, and love.  And time to share it with those you love.  It all starts with Jesus, just a lesson he reminded me of at a rest stop.  A rest stop!  I wonder, no couldn’t be a coincidence could it?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

that's where we used to play when growing up

A wise sage once wrote “you can never go back home,” but you can visit.  After living in 6 states, owning houses in three, and where I grew up on the other coast, I don’t want to go back home.  But I do like to visit, if only when passing through.  When Christopher comes back from Spain, even though gone for a few months, he notices differences in Escondido.  To us in our daily lives we don’t notice the changes, but when we are away and return our before and after pictures change.  When driving in the Easton area of Pennsylvania, I can remember Bethlehem Steel buildings from when I was young, today, or on my last visit three years ago they are old and abandoned, and have been for decades.  Yet somehow when I stop and listen, you can hear the past, and see life where there is now debris.  Across the old bridge Jimmy’s Hot Dog Stand used to sit in a round walk up, now he is in a strip mall in Easton across the river.  And a battle raged a few years ago when someone took over his old building, and renamed it, close but not Jimmy’s, and has misled a new generation.  One who doesn’t remember the past or truth, and is misled.  Has history been rewritten or just forgotten?

Going back to Scotch Plains I see the Sweet Shop now sells orthopedic equipment, but Tiffany Drugs is still next store, for 60 years now.  No more “don’t lean your bikes against the windows...”  as we often heard.  Crestwood Cupboard is gone, now a Russian owned gas station is there.  How often we walked over the bridge and counted the cars on the trains going there.  The Corner Store in Fanwood is gone, now sells realty.  Many years back it moved the middle of the block, and renamed “The Corner Store in the Middle of the Block,” but wasn’t the same.  Not without Dave standing behind the counter blowing smoke from his stogie, trying to catch kids lifting candy.  The Shell station once sold Sunoco, the Dean Oil station now sells BP, Pierkarski’s Texaco is now a Dunkin’ Donuts, and Korvette’s is no longer at the Blue Star Shopping Center.  An outdoor shopping center where your parents could drop you off all day and you could shop even if you had no money.  Korvettes had the world’s largest record department, a huge toy area, and SS Kresges, now K Mart was a few stores down.  We had older friends who worked at Thom McAn selling shoes in high school, Eddie Tucker’s mom worked at Larkey’s, a men’s store.  All gone now, as discount houses, 99 cent stores replaced them, and it is run down and old.  But not in my memory..

La Grande Park where we played ball all summer now has gates to keep kids out when closed.  No more Thursday night summer movies, or concerts.  The old clubhouse is now modern, I wonder if it still smells of burlap and baseball after a summer rain?  Going by I remember hitting my first home run over the fence, and many after.  But telling my sons when along they don’t see what I do or did.  “That’s where we used to play when growing up..” and I can relate to them too, as when driving in downtown Bangor, my Dad used to tell me the same thing.  Many visits to Bray’s News Stand that sold anything from papers to toys, Auntie Bray was like one of the family.  When movies were 50 cents, I remember the Bangor Movie House was still 35 cents.  And free movies in the summer at the park next to the cemetery.  Where I once spent the night in the mausoleum, now closed and locked.  Maybe the dead are finally resting. 

Driving up Algonquin Drive I can remember Nutty Kenny living next to Scotty, Big Kenny living next to the Farleys, and Ricky near us.  Where we used to walk in the woods at the end of the street is now paved and has lights.  How many imaginary monsters we used to look for when sleeping out have fled from there but still remain as they did 50 years ago to us?  Our old high school has gone through another facelift, and the hedges where we borrowed every other ones one night for Lenny’s new home are now gone, a parking lot.  Shackamaxon Elementary School went private for awhile, then became a rehab center.  No more school bells announcing the end of recess...no more running in the halls.  La Grande School is a care facility, still majestic on the hill, and Terrill Jr. High is now a Middle School. 

So I find when I go back, every few years more has changed than I remember.  And mostly I ride or walk the streets alone in my memories, as Theresa and the boys get bored of hearing my old stories.  But as much as the old places have changed, and are changing, so have I and so do I continue to change.  But my values are the same, and even more deeply in bedded  deep in my memory vault.  Lessons learned from teachers still haunt me today about running in the hall, washing your hands after using the bathroom, and waiting for the bell until you go to lunch.  Anxiously awaiting the first day the park opened, and choosing new teams for the summer.  Maybe one last trip to the Sweet Shop before candy went from 5 to 6 cents, causing an uproar in our 10 cent budget.  One more “$2 please” at the Sunoco, full service only in Jersey.  And as I met with Fu yesterday, explaining at my age I have more years to look back on than years to look ahead. 

We talked last night that if ever by Jimmy’s I would have a hot dog, breaking my post surgery diet.  And realized I would feel just as bad if I did as if I didn’t.  But one thing that hasn’t changed for me is Jesus Christ in my life.  I was blessed to have great teaching when first saved, and still read Ray Stedman today, and his teachings of 2 Corinthians.  Being told we were cracked pots, but that God’s light could be seen through the cracks, as we are his light.  That even though after a great day, you still may have a flat tire the next morning.  And that God didn’t abandon you, but allowed it so you would turn to him.  It seems that the more I change, that God stays the same.  Never changing, his love for me still more than I can even imagine, and how Jesus accepted me for who I was, seeing potential and saving me.  His love being best described as unqualified acceptance, which I need to work on, like the lady in the SUV on her cell her cuts me off.  People who don’t like motorcycles, family who rather have a root canal than see me, and in all situations be reminded how much Jesus gave to save me.  Can I at least be a little more considerate?  Good and kind? 

I find I give thanks to the Lord in words and even in deeds, but my thoughts and attitudes still need some work.  I am still competitive, and want to win, but now not at all costs.  Victory is sweeter in Jesus, and has a whole new meaning.  My parent’s generation is almost gone, and I don’t want to be known as some old fool.  Being a young fool should have been enough.  I desire to be known as a man of God, but to be in the world rather than separated from it.  I want to be where the action is, and not just spectate.  I want to apply God’s love to others, not just study about it.  I want to be a doer, not just a sayer.  My life reflecting what I learned in church, but practiced in the world.  I want to be the same, to have the same values in church as I do out.  How many dare pray that with any sincerity?  Remember that the next Sunday after church at the grocery store....

Jesus has given me many great memories, my mind filled with a vault of 35mm memories.  And with many of my friends retiring we look back at careers, but I look back at my life.  And for 40 years Christ has been my life.  And now with more time in retirement, I want to get out and share him even more.  I cannot go back, but I can look ahead, and heaven is one day closer than yesterday, to all of us.  I have come along way from $2 fill ups, my first Honda, and my paper route.  I haven’t been to the movies in 38 years, my kids still think I grew up in a back and white world.  I may have, but when Jesus entered it I saw colors I never knew existed, and life I didn’t know I didn’t have.  Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures for ever.  Jesus is that love, the person of love.  And I am his and he is mine. And I have an eternity of memories to look forward to.  So maybe you cannot go back home, but someday I will be home, where my eternal residence will be.  Walking the streets of gold, “that’s where David lives, John lives, Fu lives.”  My new neighbors for eternity.  And my wife and sons there too.  Who will be their neighbors?  Who will be yours?  His love endures forever....”hi neighbor!”

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com 

would Mr.Spock drive a Prius?

Leonard Nimoy the actor is no longer with us, but his defining character lives on in reruns, going where he has has gone many times before.  Mr. Spock will forever be the ultimate hybrid, half human and half Vulcan, who when he asked his father Sarek, a Vulcan why he married an Earth girl,  he replied “it seemed the logical thing to do at the time.”  That Earth girl just happened to be Jane Wyatt, who just happened to be Mrs. Jim Anderson on Father Knows Best.  Maybe Sarek did know something about Earth women after all.  If the mother of Bud, Princess, and Kitten could endure the fifties, surely she could raise Spock, is that his first or last name, in the 22nd century.  When we attended a Start Trek convention in 1976, it was billed as Gene Roddenberry speaks, he explained how he took contemporary problems of the 60’s, and brought them into the future.   Rather successfully and thanks to Me TV I can check in aboard the Enterprise every Saturday night.  But in other reruns on nostalgia channels, old Leonard, never Len, Nimoy appears.  On two different Highway Patrols he appears as a bad guy, and also a good guy.  He was on the Outer Limits before he went into space, and would eventually be on Mission Impossible.  But he will always be Mr. Spock, which is never a bad thing.  The most well known hybrid in the universe.  Indeed.

But today another hybrid, a golf cart disguised as a car, an ugly car, is becoming a popular well known hybrid.  They are everywhere, especially in the slow lane on the free way clogging traffic as they travel at 57 mph in their battery mode.  Imported to earth from Japan, they have become trendy, and other manufacturers are building hybrids now.  But what is it, car or golf cart?  But the question is, would Mr. Spock, the ultimate hybrid in the universe, drive one?  Could you see him on the 405 during rush hour in the commuter lane?  Going 55, when the line of traffic behind him grows?  How much of a match would the car’s on board computer be compared to him?  Would he argue with the GPS, or just go his own way?  Would he car pool in one?  Or would he just work from home like he did on Star Trek, the Enterprise being his home?  Maybe making him the first work at home first officer.  Now really, can you really see Mr. Spock driving a Prius?  Even the shuttle craft was an alternative, and a Prius is definitely an alternative mode of transportation? 

Or maybe an electric motorcycle like the Zero?  Close , but with a limited range, probably not.  I can see him riding, but with power.  Maybe a Hayabusa, with Star Fleet emblems.  Fast is no problem for him. Add a turbo charger like on Ray’s B King. And being a hybrid, he is used to being in a static world, so riding a single purpose propelled vehicle, our modern day transporter, would not amaze him.  I only hope Arai can custom build a helmet for him to fit his ears in.  If they choose to follow his instructions.  With all these decisions to make, suddenly space travel seems much easier.  But to answer the question, I can see Mr. Spock looking at a Prius, and finding it like I do, illogical.  And riding a fast motorcycle, which only seems like the logical thing to do.  Imagine the ads he could be in, “I’ll only quit riding when the can pry my hands from the handlebars using my Vulcan death grip.”  And to all you Prius owners, he would add “looks like there is no intelligent life down there.”  To which Bones would confirm in them, “they’re dead Jim.”  So maybe the future is brighter than it looks.  If only Prius owners had the common sense of Mr. Spock.

But like many in the world today, Mr. Spock is a double minded man.  He has to discipline himself to keep the human side from over coming the Vulcan half.  He tries to live his life not ruled by his emotions, like many do today.  In Psalm 73 we find Asaph, King David’s music leader having some doubts when the ungodly prosper and he is suffering.  But God reminds him in a loving way, to not be ruled by your emotions.  Not to look at the situation, but look to him.  To return to the sanctuary, where you find fellowship with him, and other believers.  In the spirit.  But even at warp speed those temples are few and far between, especially when you need one.  So God sent Jesus, and when we are saved, his spirit dwells within us.  Our body becomes the temple in which the holy spirit lives.  So faster than warp speed, we can have Jesus.  All we need, all we want, and when we want him.  He knows our coordinates.  And while transforming our heart, he also transforms our minds, so we find ourself thinking like him, and the mysteries of God are revealed.  We then can make decisions based on facts rather than emotions, because we are not governed by our moods.  And it is never a good idea to make any decision based on emotions.  Well beam me up Scotty, how do I get to this sanctuary?

By becoming born again, and when the spirit dwells in us, we can in various ways.  Reading the Bible brings us closer to God.  Praying is always available.  Fellowshipping with other Christians will also change our thinking from natural to spiritual.  When we see things through God’s eyes, the impossible is possible, the confusing is understandable, and you can rise above your emotions.  And make better decisions because God is with you.  And no matter how others succeed, or you struggle, you can be assured of heaven when you die.  But only when you enter into the sanctuary of the holy spirit.  God is not a hybrid, is not double minded, and never needs to be recharged.  His range knows no limits.

So read the Psalms today.  You may find that these songs of faith reflect our own experiences, they are an enactment of what we go through.  Spend some time in Psalm 73, and Psalm 1, blessed is the man who spends time with God.  And Jesus is the way....who by the way would never drive a double minded car, or motorcycle.  But he would love the sinner, but not their sin.  He would love the Prius owner, something I need to remember next time one cuts me off, or drives slow in the fast lane.  They need Jesus, and if double minded in cars, probably are in their life too.  Hybrids are a compromise, car that is, Mr. Spock was an original.  The ultimate hybrid.  It takes faith to trust God, don’t be double minded.  And don’t drive a Prius.  You need a God whose range exceeds yours, whose directions don’t require a GPS, and who can get you where you desire, heaven.  Jesus is the way, and was the way long before hybrids.  And long after the Enterprise.  It only seems the logical thing to do is to follow Jesus.  To make him the Captain Kirk of your Enterprise.  Only in Christ will you boldly go where no man has gone before.  Now I ask you, don’t you really feel foolish in a golf cart on the freeway?  Jesus Christ, the logical thing to do no matter what you drive.  Indeed.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

pay on Saturday, work on Monday

When my older son got his first paycheck, he was appalled they took out taxes.  “There must be a mistake,” he cried, but he learned an important lesson that day.  My first paycheck was over 45 years ago, making $64.00/week, a summer job working for the Union County Park Commission, if you don’t count my paper route or money from cutting yards or shoveling snow.  But my next paycheck came in the form of not a paycheck, but in cash, when I worked for Sears.  On Fridays, the line was long at the cashier, as all the employees were in line to get paid, in cash.  We were handed an envelope without name on it, and a slip inside telling our gross, the taxes taken out, and the net due.  It was neat to handle the $40 or so in cash, enough to spend a little bit of it and put the rest in the bank.  And I was surprised there was never a robbery as all this cash was sitting right there, under little or no security.  And I learned how each person handled his own cash.  Many of them went to lunch and had a few drinks, which was popular at the time.  Some spent too much, taking home very little for their families after lunch and a trip to the motorcycle store.  Or clothing department, or shoes, or whatever.  The first one they saw got their cash, and the rest went home for real expenses like food and rent.   I’m sure a big change in family finances took place when we got paychecks and had to go to the bank, no direct deposit existed yet.  And wives found out how much their husbands really made, and both bars and bike shops surely felt the effect.  And so it was with paychecks, usually distributed on Friday, with a whole weekend to recover from “I wonder where the money went.”

But an unusual side effect of Friday paydays was if you were scheduled to work Saturday, many called in sick or were hung over.  Saturday was always a day, or any day after payday, was always a big day of absenteeism.  With many businesses wondering how to combat the lack of workers the day after pay day.  When working for Motorsport in Albuquerque, they had a unique and successful answer.  They still paid by check, but did it on Saturday, at closing at 530 pm.  No ATM’s like now, and with no banks open, they kept enough cash handy to cash checks for those who wanted it.  For those who like in the days of cash in the envelope were subject to whoever got between them and home that night.  But with one benefit for Motorsport.  Being closed on Sunday, Monday absenteeism was almost non-existent, their employees having had a full day to do whatever and recover by Monday morning.  I always admired the thinking behind it, and was careful to  never cash my check there, as the temptations were strong.  So I always kept an extra $20 handy for the weekend, enough to fill my bike, eat, and go out Saturday night.  And then cash my check Monday.  I had a plan, and like their plan it worked for me.  Call it pay on Saturday, work on Monday, and it worked.  And the only place I ever heard of or saw that did that.  Much different from my direct deposit check of today....and when was the last time you actually went inside a bank to do business?  Let’s hope you never forget your PIN number, or that anyone else gets it.  So each business or generation has a plan, yet it is still up to the individual how he spends his money.  Or lack of it.

We work for money, not for goods or trade out.  I have in the past done some trade out, but find nothing else spends like cash.  And money is not necessarily a bad thing to have, but can become dangerous in the wrong hands.  We hear preached “money is the root of all evil,” and heads bob up and down in agreement.  Maybe the one thing they remember from church.  But they are spreading a lie, because the Bible never said that.  Whoa, wait a minute, I thought, and you thought wrong.  Or heard wrong, or were taught wrong.  Money is NOT the root of all evil, but the love of it is.  1 Timothy 6:10 tells us “for the love of money is the source of all kinds of evil.  Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”  When making money becomes your goal, to buy you things, you have entered into all kinds of evil.  I have seen and heard the excuses, “I need the money to give to missions.  To tithe with.”  And how much of your check goes there?  One time while unemployed years ago, I asked a group of men one question.  “Do you miss the job or the paycheck?”  Without fail, they all, we all missed the paycheck.  We may love our jobs, but would never do them without compensation.  Money.  A paycheck.  For the love of money.  Because we all have needs, but we all also have desires. 

I find it fascinating that in times of depression or recession, gambling increases.  As do lottery sales.  Many will pay for wants before they pay for their needs.  We may be out of food, but my BMW payments are up to date.   I still get my nails done, hair done, and need the new outfit.  But when the money is gone, the love of money to live the life chosen has brought ruin.  They have pierced themselves with many griefs, all of them all about me.  Some will even be heard complaining “I tithed, I gave to the church.  Why is God doing this to me?”  And in their selfishness never saw God, he knew why they gave, and never blessed their giving.

Jesus tells us it is more blessed to give than receive.  To give with a joyful heart, the Greek telling us to give hilariously.  “Take it all, enjoy it Lord,” being the attitude.  I have seen men who are very rich stand up and give a large sum anonymously.  Yeah, right.  I have seen churches give huge sums to a mission, while the people starve around them.  Proclaiming the amount and to whom they gave it.  Bringing them a shame they haven’t seen yet.  But Jesus is more impressed with why and when, rather than the amount.  Which is why we see the widow with two mites giving her all, and being blessed.  She saw in Jesus how he gave it all,  and being urged by the spirit gave all she had.  With only God noticing her sacrifice.  A form of worship, she gave all she had to a God who had given all he had to her.  Jesus gave us something we could never earn, forgiveness, and salvation.  No one or nothing else could buy our souls, although many have paid a price and received death.

God admonishes us to be givers.  Not only of our money, but of our time.  Our resources.  Of ourselves.  To minister as he did, meeting needs.  And to see how his grace is sufficient.  How he meets all our needs in his riches and glory.  His riches and glory are Jesus Christ, and in him the poor never go hungry, their children are never found begging.   I don’t question his ways, I am glad he is there for me. 

One time when down and out, without food, a church gave us $20.  We had donated an answering machine to them, it was for sale, but we did as God had shown us to do.  We filled the shopping cart with food, and still had money left over....only God can do that.  A lesson I never forgot.  You may draw a nice paycheck, but it is God who will always meet your needs.  You work, it is your paycheck, and also how you spend it is up to you.  But remember the love of money, and more importantly remember what it cannot pay for.  It will never bring you closer to God, but can get between you and him.  It may bring happiness, but few times bring joy.  Direct deposit may get money in your account, but only Jesus can directly deposit you in heaven at death.  And ask yourself, what do you profit if you gain the world and its riches, but lose your soul?  And remember, how much did Henry Ford leave when he died?  All.  The same amount the widow left, and that we will leave.  Invest in your eternity today, in Jesus.  Pay it ahead like he did.  And never have to worry about a payday again.  We all live paycheck to paycheck, it is our retirement in heaven that only Christ can guarantee.  The love of money or the love of Christ?  What’s in your wallet?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

riding into the sunset

Living back east, most of our rides were heading west.  Which in the afternoons meant riding into the sun.  It always seemed that at 4 pm we would hit the wall, that exhaustion after a long day and many miles would hit us, and we would stop.  Sometimes a Tootsie Roll and a soda would be enough, sometimes a rest stop and lying your head on the table.  It always seemed the seemed the last 200 miles, or 3 hours was the longest, yet we were traveling at the same speed we had all day.  But we would make it somehow, and after arriving at our motel, after a brief rest felt ready to go again.  But secretly were glad to be in for the night.  It seemed our riding into the sunset at first was tortuous, every bone in the body hurt, the eyes burned from the sun in them, but we kept riding into it.  We would ride into the sunset but never quite catch it over the horizon.  It was always just there in front of us, and we only crossed paths with it when the sun went down.  And the dusk with its limited light was harder to ride in than the darkness that covered it. And it always seemed the sun got bigger as it got lower, and close enough to touch, just unreachable.  All the excitement of the day’s ride in the last 200 miles.

But only if heading west.  From Cali we only seem to go east, or north, and going east can be brutal in the mornings.  You are fresh, but the brightness of the sun also is.  It can take the same 200 miles depending upon time of departure to get the sun from your eyes.  Maybe that explains why we ride for breakfast, maybe 100 miles, then stop and eat.  We have a good start behind us, and after eating, the sun is higher, we are refreshed, and the rest of the day looks bright-no pun intended.  Stephen Stills once sang “don’t look at my shadow it’s behind me...” and although we seem to be riding towards the sun, we never can reach it.  An outstretched arm seems to almost touch it, but yet it is elusive.  And so it is as it has for cowboys and their ladies everywhere, we all ride into the sunset, we just never reach it.  And we have the night to dream about tomorrow and the next day’s ride, another sunrise awaits and a new day calling.

Psalm 90 talks of God from everlasting to everlasting.  From vanishing point to vanishing point, from elusive sunset to sunset.  He goes back before the beginning and goes past of the future.  He is beyond time and space, before the sun coming up, and after it goes down.  While we were asleep last night, he was wide awake preparing the next day for us, planning our ride before we even hit the road.  He lives beyond the sunset, yet many try to catch him, only to find him elusive.  Yet it is not God who is avoiding us, it is us avoiding him.  We set our own ride, and look for him in it.  We sometimes give him a choice of rides to bless us, and sometimes he hands the trip planner back marked “none of the above.”  Road closed, danger ahead.  Yet we try to get him to go our way, when we need to go his way.  He is the great I am, and his beginning goes back farther than a vanishing point, and goes on farther than the horizon’s vanishing point.  Yet many claim it is God’s fault when they cannot find him, that all roads lead to him, just not the one they are on right now.  They ride endlessly into the sun, but never consider God’s son Jesus.  They don’t ask for direction, and grumble when they find they are lost.  They may pray “God where are you?” but never stop to consider where they are.  And what is the first thing you ask someone who needs directions?  Where are you?  For without knowing where you are, you cannot get the directions to go where you want.  And little or a lot, lost is lost.  We know we are heading east in the morning, the sun tells us so, and we know west is ahead as we head into the sunset.  But what if you are in between, or heading north or south, with no sun to guide you?  Can you follow your shadow sideways, looking for the light to guide you?  How many of us in our trip planning include God, and when we do, ask him rather than tell him? 

Anyone who rides looks at the skies before we start out.  We listen to the wind, and dress accordingly.  We trust the things we see, but not the one we don’t see.  We trust the creation, but not the creator.  We ride into the sun, but not with the son. We lean on our own understanding, not the one who was there at the day of creation.  And so many ride into the sunset, seeing his creation, but never seeing him.  No matter how fast, or how slow, we cannot touch the horizon, it somehow always seems just out of reach.  But you can touch the son, who is reaching out to you, who wants to save you, and have a relationship with you.  Who wants to be part of your ride, and take you into the sunset.  Who knows the way you need to go, and has gone ahead of you planning the ride.  But it is only when his spirit guides us do we know the way.  Many look for signs, only to find detours ahead.  Some plan on going it alone, yet it is only in Christ that we find fulfillment.  Only in him do we get to know the creator, and find him more attractive than the creation.  God is the God of creation, he formed the hills where we ride, the plains that seem endless, and the horizon we chase after.  And after the sun sets, he is still active.  He also created the night from the day, and it is only in Jesus will we be separated from the darkness.  To ride in the light.  So why ride in the dark when you can see life in Christ? 

He who created you can also create a way back to him, and he did in Jesus Christ.  For God does not want you to ride alone in darkness, but to see him in all the things he created for us.  He wants us to join him in everlasting, yet he gives us the choice.  Many only ride into the sunset, in Jesus we come out on the other side. 

So in the in between times remember that he loves you.  Wake up in a good morning Lord attitude, rather than a good Lord it’s morning.  In everyday past and those to come, the sun will set at sometime.  And when it does make sure you are resting in the arms who never sleep.  Who are just as alive in the bright sun, as he is in the night.  And when day breaks and there are clouds, remember he is just on the other side of them.  Protecting you, and giving you cover.  How special are the first rays of sun after a rain, we see the freshness that God has provided.  A special smell, a clean.  We ride assured that he is with us, and when 4 o’clock hits, and we rest, we find rest in him.  The sun may set, but God’s love for us never will.  From the rising of the sun, to its setting, he has given us his son to guide and protect.  And when we live by his spirit, when we see things through his eyes, we see all the in between colors of the rainbow, not just what man sees, but we see the everlasting God.  Infinitely large, and infinitely small, he is in all things.  And when he is in you, when you are in him, his spirit will reveal the beauty that others only dream of.  Some ride into the sunset, those of us who know Jesus ride with the son.  In the son.  And we anxiously await what is on the other side of the sunset.  The days may end, but God goes on.  A ride I decided to take years ago, and found a road that takes me farther than the horizon.  A road that leads to my home in heaven....where after the sun sets, the son sits.  The best way to end a ride, a good way to start one, and an even better place to spend one.  With Jesus.  Don’t wait until 4 pm to seek shelter...ride with him now.  So many roads, so little time.  Aren’t you glad an everlasting God is eternal?  Where are you riding tomorrow?  I’ll be riding beyond the sunset....

love with compassion,

Mike

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