gone but not forgotten

We see signs of life along the road as we travel, but it is the signs of death and struggling to just get by that are found off the highway exits.  Where life may have once begun, where it once thrived, and now sits, waiting to die, and in some cases, dead already, just too poor to know it.  How many old towns have we traveled through in the Midwest, where old buildings and houses are boarded up, and the lots in decay.  Once proud and full of life, they now sit as a testimony to neglect and empty wallets as they are too poor to live, but also too poor to die.  “Why doesn’t someone tear them down, or rebuild them?  They were cool old places years ago?”   But in some cases the cost to raze them isn’t there, if they had the money they wouldn’t be in the shape they are now.  Some cases, the old Packard plant in Detroit comes to mind, the back taxes are so high you can buy the places cheap, if you can afford the taxes.  And the clean up, which many times exceeds the value of the land.  Add to that if it is deemed a historical landmark, it must meet certain criteria....and the list goes on long after the money is gone.

Empty car dealerships dot many old towns, acres of asphalt where once shiny new cars sat waiting for new owners, now the dust and weeds occupy the lot.  Plywood has replaced the showroom windows which were broken out, and graffitti covers anything that can be covered with spray paint.  Artifacts found inside where when the owner finally closed the door, he just left behind.  Old memories of what once was, with only dreams and visions of what they had hoped to be.  Shopping centers, dealerships, businesses, and finally the people who supported them all moving first to the outskirts, then out of town for good.  To places that promise what their old town used to, a life and a future.  Hope and promise, and the old properties just sit, with each year less desirable as the time and weather take a beating on them.  With only our imaginations left to wonder how it once was...and that it will never happen to us.

My Grandma used to think Bangor, Pennsylvania was the best place on earth.  Once rich in slate and covered with mills making clothes, today it is like a town on life support.  Proud old buildings lay in decay, when they stopped using slate for blackboards and roofs, when the clothes were cheaper made overseas, the town lost its purpose and its people, who had to go elsewhere to find work.  Who even though the products made elsewhere were cheaper, couldn’t afford them.  A scene repeated over and over across America.  Towns and people who never started out to end up like this, but who did anyway.  All within eyesight of prosperity and new, but not welcome, for they cannot even afford the ticket price to enter.  A new and different poor that grips America, like scenes once seen of Europe after WWII, the Big One, we believe it can never happen to us.  NIMBY, Not In My Back Yard, we believe.....

But someday the places that are destitute will be bought and new buildings and towns created.  But what of the lives left behind?  What of the poor who cannot clip the coupons for the new market?  Who cannot get financed for the used car?  Who cannot find work in the new businesses, because they are too old, too poor, or too something that society has no use for.  And while they sit begging at the entrances, the fortunate go by and and curse them, “get a job...”  OK,  you hire them.  and drive off safe and secure it will never happen to them.  Roll up the window, turn up the sound and drive away.  Your town could never get like that, or your church.  Could they?  Yet Jesus tells us the poor will always be among us, and we don’t have far to look.  With over 5000 homeless kids on the streets of San Diego, you may pass them and not know it.  But they are not lost to God, only to his people.  To his church, who he condemns in Matthew 25.  While the church, us, is bragging on how many demons they cast out, or how rich they were, the trips to Israel, and the numbers they brag about, Jesus tells them “be gone I never knew you.”  He goes on to tell what true ministry is, giving water to the thirsty, food to the hungry, clothes to the naked, visiting those in jail or hospitals, and welcoming strangers, those not like us.  It means getting your hands dirty, maybe driving someone to  job interview.  Inviting them into your home for a shower.  Yet a church I know of brags of the thousand saved on Easter, yet when I asked them to name 10, 5, or even one, came up blank.  Forgetting it was the one lost sheep left behind that Jesus went back after.  They are rotting from the inside, and not knowing it, bragging on numbers and their back account.  More common than you would think.  Yet Jesus remembers every one of them, and asks us to also.

Did you ever wonder why Jesus threw up because the church was accused of being lukewarm?  It was because it made him sick.  Are we causing Jesus to get sick with our religion?  Have we become like an empty building that once was prosperous but lost its purpose?  God’s purpose for us is to know Jesus.  To become godly, to show his love in all situations.  To be imitators of God, godly, not for show, but from the heart.  He wants us to be godly, not a god, but to show the things of Jesus in our daily lives.  Both good and bad, as all things work together for those who love him, and are called to Christ, his purpose for us.  To be saved.  And when we are, we take on godly qualities, we are strong like him, there is no strength like his.  We get power, quiet and strong, for he is powerful.  We become mighty in him, and get wisdom that comes from above, not from a process, procedure, program, or meeting.  We get it because we have Jesus, and we get all of him, and his blessings.  Blessings that show up nowhere on any balance sheet, except in heaven.  And there we are reminded of Jesus’ “that whoever does these things listed above to the last of them, does them to me.”  That’s godly living...

You can only resurrect that that was once alive.  No matter your condition now, Jesus is with you.  He knows your future, and has plans for it.  To give you hope, to pass it on to others.  Look at your life, and see where it is going.  After looking behind.  Jesus promises these things shall follow them that believe.  Love, joy, peace, and patience.  Things that no money can buy.  While it is true some places are too broke to even be torn down, Jesus has the resources needed for you now.  It is called grace, not a church concept, but God in action.   Grace that gives us life, and teaches us how to live in a fallen world.  Grace is the gift a loving father gives to his children.  The same grace that Jesus says “I give to you.”  Available only from Jesus Christ.  Where life begins and continues long after the outer man and the buildings we live in have gone away.  A pretty face may conceal what is inside, but God knows our hearts.  And he never forgets.

Many buildings are falling apart, but not forgotten, just waiting to be resurrected.  Lives are the same way, why should you wait?  For God so loved the world, that never forgot the individual.  Have you?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com 

riding and life....let's get it right

Even though I was dealing with undeveloped film, I was one of the few who worked in the light.  The others, both day and second shift worked entirely in the dark.  Which during the ling winter months of New Jersey made it possible to wake up, go to work, work all day, go home, and go to bed....in the dark.  Without ever being exposed to the light. Making for some strange relationships, and also some unique observations.  The night shift may have an advantage, as they worked in the dark when it was night, but the day shift lived in a dark, sunless, non-lit world.  My occasional trips into the dark took me awhile to get used to it, while those in it moved around freely, I was the blind man, I was in the dark.  While those in the dark all day had to adjust to the light, even if it was dark out, headlights, street lights, neon lights now strained their retinas, while the rest of us just adjusted to the change.  No big deal to us, but it was to them.  Making the bright lights seem brighter, and welcoming the dark where they could see better again.  Blinded by the light, any light, it took some time to adjust for all, from dark to light, or light to dark.  Imagine living a life where there are no shadows, and suddenly being exposed to bright lights.  Where every car coming at you has his high beams pointed right at you. A much different take on “let there be light.”

When we come to the Lord, we come from darkness into the light.  We begin to see things much differently, and begin to grow in Christ.  We are expected to grow, and we each grow at a different pace.  Those who mature faster are known as superstars, while those that struggle and take longer may be looked at as spiritually weak.  But only in the eyes of man, not of God.  Growth is God’s method not ours, yet we are the yardstick by which it is measured.  Some are told that life will change instantly, you are a new creature in Christ.  True, but maturing takes a while, it is a slow process.  I have known men who gave up on the church because they didn’t grow as expected, still struggled with the old life, and soon gave up on themselves.  Bad doctrine mixed with bad teaching has done too much damage to the church.  The gospel is good news, it is the person of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, and saved.  Yet religion will claim that may not be enough, you need to do this or that to prove you are saved.  Aren’t you glad God made it easy in Jesus for us?  No man can ever live up totally to another person’s expectations. And might just die trying.

Something innate to man does not like change.  But without change there is no growth, and no growth without change.  We read our Bible, pray daily, go to church, doing all the things we are shown to do, but without the spirit, they are good things, but maybe not God inspired.  Some Christians whole Christian experience is just going to church, and it reflects in their lives.  Some get out and live what they are taught, and see the gospel in action, and a different side to Jesus.  Some bail on church, bail on the Bible, confident because they went forward at Billy Graham they are saved.  And that is all there is to it.  Each a different route, but yet some still in the dark, when exposed to the light they are blinded. But it is not God’s light that blinds them...

Some approach a Christian life like a correspondence course of how to ride a motorcycle.  They know all the parts, but if they never sit on one, they are just that, parts.  No interaction, no riding experience.  Do they really know how to ride just because they got their license?  Do we memorize scripture but miss out living it and finding its true meaning?  Very few of us started on 1000 cc super bikes, it was 50 cc Hondas, then 125 Yamahas, big 350 cc Hondas, then a 750, and finally 1000 ccs. With our relationship growing between throttle and brakes each time, each one of us growing at a different rate.  We tell others to ride their own ride, yet when it comes to Jesus, expect them all to be racers the first day.  No wonder some never ride again to church?  Labeled as immature, not as spiritual, maybe even having their salvation questioned.  All based on performance, based on their maturity.  Forgetting that nature teaches us it takes hundreds of years for the giant Sequoias to mature, while a cucumber may only take months.  Have we become a church of cucumbers?  Of possible pickle candidates?   God is not interested making Christian pickles!  He wants men and women to be strong in him, with deep roots.  That last for years.

So do not be discouraged if you do not grow or mature as quickly as others.  That you don’t meet up to a denomination’s demands.  Ride your own ride in Christ, knowing that he provides the growth, and that maturity is death, your arrival at the growth process is over.  As kids we wanted to grow up fast.  Ask any kid how old he is, he is never just 8 or 9, it is 8 and 3/4, or nine, going on 10.  They look forward to growing up and its benefits.  Do we let Christ guide our development in him?  Are we spirit led or religiously influenced?  Maybe the question best asked is are we going in the right direction? If not, God’s prescription is repentance, changing your course, and getting on with your life. 

So some work in the dark, some live in the dark, and some grow, still in the dark.  Seek the light of Jesus today, not the blinding light of religion, but the guiding light of the spirit.  Go where his light is directing you, and if you are passed, OK.  And if you pass others, that is OK too.  Just keep your high beams on low to approaching traffic.  Just as there is undeveloped film, there are undeveloped Christians.  Making film is a process.  Becoming a Christian is easy, living as one is harder.  Start the process today, listen to the spirit, let him guide you, and let there be light in your life.  God has called us out of darkness, don’t worry if you aren’t like Christ yet.  Just make sure you are going in the right direction.  Ride your own ride in Christ.  Knowing the parts of a bike and riding one are two different things.  So is knowing all about Jesus, and personally knowing him.  That’s maturity....and it just isn’t for teenagers any more.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

whatever gets you through the night...it's alright

 I choose to be a low tech man in a high tech society.  I don’t understand how radio waves travel. or what differentiates one station from another, so don’t try to explain.  You will only confuse me and frustrate yourself.  For me it is, and always will be a miracle that I turn a knob and sound comes out.  For many years it was falling asleep to Allison Steele, “the Nightbird” on WNEW-FM, being amazed at how she just knew what I needed to hear, and a relationship developed.  When living in Durango and working the late shift at a gas station, it was a local AM station, fading in and out as they powered down for the night, and signed off at midnight.  It was this radio station that many times was my only companion in between two dollar gas purchases, and someone stopping for a pack of cigarettes.  I got used to some of the crazy hosts, who believed in anything from UFO’s, to sightings of Elvis, to debates over which government official was really a foreign spy.  The kind of stuff that kept your eyes focused at the National Enquirer when checking out at the grocery store.  Here they talked, or they talked and we listened, and sometimes argued back, to deaf ears on a one way set.  But my favorite was Lux Radio Theatre, where old stories, mostly murder and suspense where told.  These shows that predated TV played on your imagination, and with the sound effects brought you into the room where the ax murderer lay waiting, or the gunshot just heard left a cold body for you to trip over.  It was these stories that kept me awake, in suspense, with only an occasional customer to interrupt.  Which they always seemed to do at the wrong time.  And in this pre-pre-recordable world, I was left hanging, hoping to put it all together later in the end.

These were things that got me through the night, and like John Lennon sang, “that’s all right.”  Many times while travelling in the west at night, between evangelists begging for your money or they would go off the air, to seeing lights in the sky and wondering, maybe there are UFO’s after all, these programs were a welcome relief.  Also a wake up call to your imagination, keeping the mind active as the miles went on and on.  If you ever travelled between major cities where few stations were picked up, you know what I mean.  And  you just couldn’t wait to find out who dunnit? and be surprised at the result, never guessing right, as they had clues you didn’t, or made you feel even more foolish when you didn’t see the ones they did reveal.  I miss those late night stories, maybe a part of Americana overlooked today on our preprogrammed prepaid satellite radio.  That without we never would hear more of Layla today than when it was first out, and be free of the commercials we used to sing to.  Like I said, low tech, and I plan to stay that way.  Whatever gets you through the night....

Long before wireless, or radio waves, or telegraph or telephone, Jesus gave us his spirit to communicate with him.  Stated simply, low tech again, so I can get it, scripture tells us “God is a spirit and must be worshipped as such.”  What part of as such don’t you get?  Unlike the radio signals sent out at night, his signals to us know no bounds, and unlike texting or a cell phone, his service is never interrupted.  And like the radio shows that are picked up from long away in the night, his are always broadcasting.  It is us, the receiver, that needs adjusting, that needs to tune into the spirit.  Sounds easy...

When we are saved, Jesus gives us his spirit upon salvation, part of the grace package of forgiveness, heaven, and his love.  We are automatically connected to him, and all the wisdom of heaven, directly.  No priest, minister, nor church needed to connect, you can initiate a conversation right now, or continue one also.  But consider your phone conversations for a moment, and compare to your prayer life.  Do you talk for a few minutes, then the other person on the line?  Taking turns.  No, so don’t talk to God the same way.  It is a dialogue also, not a monologue where only one talks, it takes two.  And you may find a great benefit in listening, for Jesus told us “he who has an ear let him hear,” not he who has a voice let him speak.  The best part of a conversation with him is knowing he listens, so you should also.

All without a subscription, texting, a cell phone, or computer.  And it is 100% free from hacking, no one but the saved have this direct connection with his spirit.  He hears us before we are saved, we only hear after.  But that still small voice, is calling no matter what, will you pick up and listen?  How many times when praying have you had your thoughts directed by him and not known it?  Jesus is the person of the whatever gets you through the night, or day.  While some consider theories or look to see if Elvis left the building, we know Jesus may have left Earth, but he was resurrected, and we will be also.  All in his spirit, which is calling to you today.  Maybe right now.  So let these words encourage you in Jesus, and begin a better walk with him today.  We sing “grant it Jesus if you please,” and he pleases.  He is in the pleasing business, we call them blessings.  And you have too many of them, right?

So keep your heart dialed to Jesus.  He has already revealed the end to us in Revelation, the beginning in Genesis, and the in between via his word.  Which the spirit will cause to come alive in your life.  No more how to books about being a better Christian, talk directly to the author, and the man character.  Remember, in the beginning, the earth was void, without form, and the spirit hovered over the water.  The spirit then gave it life....and shape and form, and a desire to fellowship with the creator.  Tune into the spirit today, no tape delays, no “to be replayed at another time,”  he is live 24/7.  The Doobies once sang “Jesus is just alright, oh yeah,”  only by his spirit will you know.  Whatever gets you through the night, if it’s Jesus, it’s alright.  And with no Yoko after effects.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com