looking for a great deal on a used Harley?

Cruising, I use the word in a different context than the way I ride, through the various motorcycle dealers in my travels, they all share one thing in common.  No matter what brand, what size or location, each one is complaining of lack of sales.  Which puzzles them, and me too, for right now has the potential to be a Golden Age of motorcycling.  Great models from 300cc to 2300 cc, performance like never before, reliability, and discount pricing, and no one can figure why they aren’t flying off the shelves.  It makes no sense, Suzuki is discounting a standard GSXS 1000 I see in stores for under $8000.  Last generation Bonnevilles if any left are $6999.  Yamaha selling a cool FZ-07 for under $7000.  Only BMW hasn’t discounted yet, but the financing deals are there to get you hooked.  If the price don’t get ya, maybe the warranties will.  From 12/12,000 miles to 36 months/unlimited miles on some bikes, add in the reliability and you can be riding farther, longer, and with more confidence.  Even some new 2015, 2016 models left over, and that is just new bikes, so why aren’t people buying?  

On a recent visit to a multi-brand dealer, with all the Japanese, plus Polaris and Victory, they have a used section that is larger than most of the stores of 40 years ago.  With one section devoted to used Harleys, and the days count was 30 recent model, less than three years old Harley Davidsons.  At lower prices than at your badge and shield outlet.  Just looking, black is the color preferred, the mileages were low, most below 10,000, and they were sitting too.  One with just 915 miles on a 2016.  Wasn’t it a short time ago when HD stores added $3000 to each bike, and you paid it or rode a different bike?  Remember how snobby they were?  Now with 0% financing, some leftover 2016’s, and discounting, who thought you would see a Harley discounted, business is still off.  But here is some advice from the seat of the pants, where I spend most of my time when riding, go to a Metric dealer and look for a used Harley.  They have them, they are priced well, they will finance you and instead of HD standing for $100, it can stand for “hot dog, look at the deal I got.”  And since they all look alike, who will know it isn’t new?  And you can join in the stylish crowd of lifestyle riders! 

Other great deals are used Triumphs.  They have lousy used value, I should know, but are reliable and even the 105,000 mile Tiger in my garage ran up over 110 mph yesterday.  The bargains are there, are we looking?  The dealers are dealing, money lenders want to lend, and you want to ride.  So what has happened?  I would like to think my downsizing from nine to three last year hasn’t saturated the market...the deals are out there, what are  you waiting for?

The ads say “stop dreaming and start riding.”  I agree.  But in other things, we do the same thing.  So many are looking for something, they are afraid, uncertain, and trust has been lost in many areas of society.  But one constant, Jesus Christ remains the same, yet people aren’t buying.  They delay, which is different than waiting, making excuses, and some do unto the point of never finding salvation.  Next week, next month, next year, if he hasn’t returned like he said he would, maybe he isn’t.  Add in the hoax of the 2012 charlatans, the Mayan calendar, and other doomsayers, and when it doesn’t happen, well maybe it ain’t gonna happen.  So they go on spreading their own gospel, and deny Jesus.  The psycho babble experts even have a name for it, normalcy bias, which essentially means “if I haven’t seen it, then it hasn’t happened, so it must not be true.”  It seems any excuse the devil can keep you from meeting Jesus he will use, and we fall into.  Salvation was, and is, and always will be the ultimate deal.  For the gospel is simple so all men can get it, and free so all can afford it.  No age limits, no special discounts.  FREE.  Like Jesus wants to make us when we are saved.  Free is a concept we can understand, so what are you waiting for?  Stop dreaming,and start living!

Today is the day of salvation, why not yours?  You’ve spent time reading the ads, maybe even picked up the Bible.  Prayed but forgot to listen.  Maybe even stepped foot inside a church and the walls didn’t fall down. You are seeking....the spirit is calling, so what are you waiting for?  Is the fear of dying without Jesus and facing hell so appealing you rather enter eternity without him?  Or is he just for women and children? The fact you are looking tells me that the spirit is already at work in you, for no one puts “seek God today” on their calendar.  Jesus is calling....

Yet so many lives are like the abundance of used Harleys.  They tried the ride, found the lifestyle wasn’t for them.  They actually had to ride the motorcycle to be a biker.  The real guys who rode saw right through them, so they went on to the next trend.  How stylish.  Religion has done that to people too.  Rules and regulations, demands on the person and their wallets.  Studying, tests, attendance, and where is the freedom?  My kids, my boss, my wife and my friends all tell me how to live, now you want to add religion to that also.  Sorry...All reasons you should seek Jesus.  The religious hated him, his gospel was a threat to their lifestyle.  The truth that could have set them free they rebelled against.  What is your problem with Jesus?  Have you already made a decision based on rumor and innuendo?

So here’s the deal.  Learned from a song in Sunday school.  Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.  Still looking for love in all the wrong places?  Jesus has come to you, for you just as you are.  No forms, no membership, no applications.  He will take you as you are in trade.  Try that at a dealer...

So if you are looking for a great deal on a used Harley, go to a Metric store.  But for the best deal on life and eternity, go with Jesus.  There are many V-twins out there, Harley is the original.  And when it comes to gods, there are many out there, but only one true God, Jesus Christ.  What part of being blessed don’t you get?

And you never will until you come home to Jesus...

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

 

Diavels, Diablos, and church folk

Because I get out and around a lot, I get to meet a lot of neat people, and also some not so neat.  Somehow I got hooked up with Cycle World and Ducati, and was invited to do a ride with them, on their new Diavel.  Not much for cruisers, I figured it would be fun, and it was.  Breaking up into groups, with Ducati rep and CW editor in each group, I hung towards the rear as I always do on group rides, so I can ride my pace and avoid those who think they can but cannot ride well.   The editor for this group was a guy named Cernicky, who hung back with me, and we enjoyed riding together.  It was a nicely laid out course, and most of the speeds were way above the legal limit.   Cernicky hung behind me riding sweep, until we hit one 90 degree curve marked 15 mph.  I went into it at 25, and to my right, he was blowing by me, all crossed up, flat track style.  When we stopped, I asked “bored?” and he just smiled.  I was too...

But when I got back, I talked further with another man from Cycle World named Andy.  He asked what I rode, and we talked about all size bikes.  When I commented about the new 250‘s and how cool they were, his interest picked up.  I told him I felt I was an ambassador for motorcycling, and encouraged new riders to take an MSF course, to buy used first, then new, and not everyone needs a Harley or a 150 hp sport bike.  He seemed impressed, then asked what I did.  I explained I was retired on a disability and in ministry, and his face changed.  But as I went on, and explained what I did, and how, he was interested. Seems most Christians only preach at him, invite him to church, or point out his faults.  I had encouraged him, and we shook hands, he gave me his card, and asked for mine.  Andy and I parted new friends.

When I got home, I looked him up.  His card said publisher of Bonnier Motorcycle Group that publishes Cycle World, Sport Bike, and Motorcyclist.  Seems he was a world class 250cc road racer, set the best lap time at Willow Springs, and  was an internationally known and respected racer.  He was a somebody.  But the email he sent me made me feel like a somebody too.  He told me it was great to talk with me, and thanked me for my efforts in promoting motorcycling.  He was impressed with my ministry and wished me well in it.  A note he didn’t have to send, but did.  He had made my day, after I made his.  Just by being myself and not pushing any agenda, he was able to see a Christian motorcyclist who loved riding and loved Jesus.  Without preaching, he got to hear my testimonies of Jesus Christ changing lives.  All because I had been invited to test ride a Ducati Diavel.  By the way, Diavel means devil.  For which later a church goer reminded me of, and how I am not to mix with the world.  When he saw the Pirelli Diablos on my bike, he seriously doubted my salvation.  And by his comments, I doubted his.  I wondered if he ever filled the tanks of his friends cars like we do for each other who ride?  Did he ever wonder who would fill his?

Jesus spent his time on the road talking with those who weren’t saved.  To hookers, homeless, junkies, bikers, and church folk who needed to hear the truth.  He never became like them, he drew them to himself, and saw their lives changed.  Yet a certain group feels that we need to be shuttered away from the world, and loses out.  We are in it, not of it, there is a difference.  What spiritual law was broken when someone shared with you?  Shouldn’t you pass it on?  Yet we see small minds with a small god living in them making comments like they did to me.  No wonder their witness and testimony has no impact, they are not of Christ, but have their own gospel, according to self.  They would never engage in dealing with the downtrodden, think anyone  in sin is demonic, and if it isn’t the way they believe, it is not scriptural.  But where did they learn this?  Someone exposed them to this, I don’t think it was the holy spirit?

Pride shows up in very subtle places, this is one.  When we are the barometer of Jesus, then it is called judging.  But when you compare the person or situation to Jesus, and really care and pray, and show it, then it is discernment, a gift from the spirit.  I had no idea who Andy was, nor did he of me, but we visited, and who I was came out in the conversation.  By my words and attitudes, I showed the gospel, and left him wanting more.  I was just a seed thrower that day, someone else will water, but it will be God that provides the growth.  By his spirit, we are changed.  Not by the name on a bike or its tires.  Lest you be led astray. Or lead someone astray.

New rider, take the MSF course.  New Christian, you need to be discipled.  To be encouraged in and by the spirit.  How many come to Christ only to find a new set of rules and thou shalt nots, after hearing of the freedom in Jesus Christ?  How many ride once or twice, because no one invites them along and shows them how to be a better rider?  I used to ride at the front, now I hang back and can see better, what is in front of me is where I am heading.  I can see how each one rides, and make adjustments.  Except for maybe Cernicky, who when I told Mick about him, immediately told me “don’t ever let him ride your bike.  Never.  He crashes a lot.”  Jesus reminds us we are in an endurance race to the end, and the prize is heaven.  There will be Andy’s, Cernicky’s and church folk commenting on how you live along the way.  Remember they chastised Jesus too for his peer group.  Pharisees and their type will do that.  Remember that next time you begin to comment...the next person you meet may be your next riding partner.  Or cellie.  Or spouse.  A pastor.  Or someone who is looking and doesn’t know it, but God does, and appointed you to be his representative that day.  Or of course you could always take the bus.....

By the way, bus riders need Jesus too.....

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

 

a life in the day-or the first time I heard Sgt. Pepper

My first boy/girl party, and we had waited and talked about it all week.  My friend Guy was having some of his classmates over on a Saturday night until 11 pm, a big deal in our town for an eighth grade boy.  Or girl for that matter.  I had been eying a girl, Chris, and she was eying me back, and we spent the whole night talking, while being chided by friends.  13 is still immature, and we all were.  But Guy was a bit more mature, he had an older sister who was very cool, and that night he invited us over for Sunday afternoon, to spend with him and his girlfriend.  I had gone from geeky kid to Mr. Sophisticated in less than 24 hours, and so we both got the OK from our parents, and Guy’s basement it was.  Curtains drawn, dark and almost scary, my first time alone with a girl, and he put on an album.  The Beatles, and instead of a 45 with just one song, it was an album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  And between my new found social status, a girl who would be my girlfriend, and Sgt. Pepper, I had a life in a day that afternoon.  One song after another while embracing, I was overwhelmed, where were all emotions coming from?  Was it her or the Beatles?  But song after song after song captivated me, I was of the 45 rpm generation, and had a good supply, but not an entire album, and the few I had were composed of one hit song with the rest fillers.  But this album, every song was great...and it flowed.  It created a mood, or enhanced it, or whatever, but Sgt. Pepper’s Band may be for the lonely hearts, mine was anything but.  When side one ended, Guy flipped it over, and it continued.  I was all hands and glands, combined with ears and fears, and when the end of A Day in the Life ended with the 28 second piano note, I was overwhelmed again.  No music had ever embraced me before like this, when I got my newspaper money from my route the next week, it was off to Korvette’s to buy it.  I sang the songs all week in my head, and as exciting as my first make out session was, I hardly remember the day ending and her mother picking her up.  But don’t tell her...

Everything I knew about music changed that afternoon.  Sgt. Pepper would go on to be one of the top 100 albums of all time, just voted the best album ever, but somehow the Beatles that year were outsold by the Monkees.  It was to be the Summer of Love that 1967 year, with so many songs to remember, but one album did it for me.  Which when waiting for Theresa the other day, it came on the radio, an Orange County station that plays albums, complete sides, and suddenly it was 1967 again, and the quality of the music took me back to that afternoon.  A relationship had been born that day, and 50 years later, yeah 50 years later, it sounded fresh as ever.  An intimacy that only music can provide, a tone and mood it can set, and whoever said that music is the language of love, play on.

Intimacy is a word we talk about but don’t understand.  It goes beyond a physical one to one, and transponds even sight and sound.  It is deeper than emotions, although it can be revealed or influence them.  We hear or may know of someone who has a big heart, who cares and shows compassion for others.  Who somehow gets involved in people’s lives, and does what is needed, despite the outcome.  They care and it shows, the concern is evident, and certain emotional risks go with it.  It involves making yourself vulnerable, a target to others, but the opposite is a cold heart, with no care or concern.  It is something we cannot do ourselves, although we try, it can only come from God.  A heart after him...

Jesus set the example of this boldness of love.  Rather than bask in the safety of a small heart, he gave of himself, unto death on a cross, so we might have heaven, and be reunited with our father in heaven.  He assumed all the risks we avoid, we tell others “if you want to avoid trouble, don’t care too much, don’t let yourself be vulnerable, keep it inside.”  Just the opposite of what scripture requires.  For when we truly give ourselves over, we are emptied of all pride and sin, leaving ourselves vulnerable.  You may be giving up a lot, but your shrinking cold  heart will suddenly become anew, a new spirit now lives within you, a holy one, providing care and wisdom, security and comfort, all based on the love of Jesus Christ.  You will find yourself becoming more like Jesus, opening yourself open to other’s concerns, and you will care more than you want.  The spirit is at work, but be warned, you will leave yourself open to sorrows, pain and suffering because of it.  A burden that only Jesus can carry.  Things that a hard heart have no insight to, you are becoming more like Jesus, taking on the man of sorrows part of him, opening the door to compassion.  Love and forgiveness.  Just like Sgt. Pepper changed my music that afternoon, you will never look at life the same, words become verses, verses become songs, and songs become albums.  Affecting the mood, setting it, and taking you places your heart didn’t know existed.  All in one afternoon...or...

You could live like dating Lovely Rita, had a date and tried to win her, sitting on the sofa with a sister or two, no intimacy in that.  Only Jesus makes it personal. 

To experience all Sgt. Pepper had to offer, you need to listen to the whole album.  The songs will stand by themselves, but will not be complete until you listen to the whole album.  And on June 1st, you can celebrate 50 years to the day it was released.  But today you can celebrate an intimacy with God promised in Jesus Christ.  Opening a door to a love you never knew existed, an intimacy that defies words, for infinity cannot be contained by finite words.  Sgt. Pepper opened the door to an orchestra playing in harmony, Jesus opens the door to an orchestra based in heaven, played only on a heavenly station.  When did you first hear Sgt. Pepper and how did it effect you?  Better yet, when did you first turn to Jesus and know life would never be the same?  The Beatles experimented with an album, are you still experimenting with life looking for that thing that is missing?  It is a someone, not a something, the someone of Jesus Christ.  If you were to have one song, one afternoon, one event define your life, would it be Jesus?  A day in the life that will last forever.  Can it really be 50 years ago, that would make it 70 years ago that Sgt. Pepper began to play!  Maybe all you truly need is love!

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

so you think you know what you are doing

Ed Hertfelder wrote long ago about having the shift linkage freeze up in his van.  Remember those old vans, we carried our dirt bikes, slept in them, dated in them if you could find a girl who could handle the smell of racing fuel, and most were basic, three on the tree tied to a six cylinder. Or as he described it, three on the tree and one in the grill.  Basic and cheap, they were ours.  But when the linkage would bind up, he had to climb out, reach into the grill, and shake it lose himself.  After numerous cuts from the sharp edges on the grill, he dropped it by a friend’s shop and told him the problem, showing him his cut arm.  Later when he got the call to pick it up, it was fixed, he drove away happily until the linkage bound up again.  Cussing his friend, he called him up, “I thought you had fixed it?”  To which came the reply, “I put duct tape over the sharp edge so you won’t cut you arm anymore.” 

I had a friend who could jury rig anything, or so he thought.  He complained of his trans not shifting right, and how the gear indicator didn’t match up with what gear he was in.  His solution was to put a piece of tape over the indicator, moving the numbers to match what gear he was in.  Which worked for awhile, until his car quit shifting altogether, and wouldn’t go into any gear.  When taken to someone who knew what to do, he found the shifter bushings worn, and so the indicator would not line up with, could not line up with what gear it was in.  A simple fix, he had tried to remedy a symptom, and had not fixed the problem.  And like Ed’s van, the symptom was not the solution. 

Jesus’ words from the cross can be applied here, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”  We so often refer to this as the one who sins is not aware of his problem, but it can also be applied as a warning to seeking help from those who know not what they do.  From time to time I am called after someone has gotten in over their head from taking advice that sounded good, but only made things worse.  Well meaning advice, maybe even tied into scripture in a perverse way, and the problem got worse, and sometimes the symptom went away.  Like I’m supposed to know what to do.  Like both the shifting problems above, what was not seen was the problem, it was an internal or unseen problem, yet both so called solutions dealt with the physical only.  What was seen and what was felt.  So many times our problems are spiritual in nature, but are revealed physically, so we only deal with what is seen.  And end up on the side of the road. 

Good advice, godly advice only works if applied.  To may of our problems, the answer is not simple or easy.  It takes a tough decision, then a tough fix to repair the damage, in today’s replaceable society we throw it out and replace it with another, new and improved.  The deeper the sin, the worse the problem, the more the cost to fix it.  Where Jesus again warns how the man who builds his house without concern for counting the costs ends up surprised and in trouble.  Yes, some solutions are simple, just say no, some require blood, sweat, and tears.  To Christians Jesus has already supplied the blood, the sweat, and the tears to overcome sin, we fail to see the price he paid.  So change is slow, and less meaningful.  “Jesus paid it all,” the song says, but we are the change back from what he has purchased.  We are the change the world is supposed to see when we are saved.  While some get hung up on John 3:16, John in 1 John 3:16 sneaks in another bit for us. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”  We need to go beyond the obvious and deal with the problem, not the symptom.  The simplicity of salvation and redemption is made difficult when it should be easy.  So when seeking advice, God has given us his spirit to guide, then his word to back up what he has told us.  Seek him first, then all things will be added.  How often do we apply a scripture to a problem, or reword it to excuse our sin?  With the problem getting worse.  And additional lessons learned about forgiveness.

When God sends the fix, it will always be the right one, even if it seems wrong, or difficult.  Beware of easy solutions that don’t seem right, they mask the real solution, which may not be God’s. Just because it sounds right doesn’t make it right.  It’s possible you didn’t know the real problem in the first place!  When giving godly advice, do you really know what you are doing?  Or just repeating something you heard somewhere? 

So much of life is we know not what we do.  Every time I learn something, I realize how much I don’t know.  And how much more I need the spirit to guide.  How much more do I know?  My aorta before it exploded was diagnosed as a pinched nerve in my back.  My family doctor went by what I told him, he didn’t get inside to where the real problem was that required surgery and a miracle from God.  Which is why doctor’s still practice, while Jesus gets it right.  From shifting gears to back pains to changing the symbols to meet the situation, we need Jesus.  More than ever.  When we finally come to the point of laying down our lives for another, then the gospel is alive in us and will bear fruit.  When Jesus is the answer, it doesn’t matter what the question is.  Jesus is the answer.  Or you can have someone supply the duct tape....

So you think you know what you are doing?  Be prepared for a test today to show you don’t. And if you come across someone who has all the answers, remember he probably hasn’t heard all the questions!  Some problems cannot be fixed with duct tape....

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com