some enchanted evening....you may meet a stranger....

It was at my nephew’s wedding that our eyes first met across a crowded room.  We had delayed leaving with the group on our first Torches ride and had 350 mile ride ahead of us to Kingman to catch up with them.  I was in my riding clothes with a collared shirt my concession to style, she was stylishly dressed as women tend to be at weddings, hoping someone would notice and tell her so.  But as she looked me over, her facial expression changed, and with her nose in the air turned away in disgust.  It was almost funny....and waiting for Theresa to change into her riding clothes, I sat with my nephew, another non-A lister.  Finally Theresa showed up to get me out of there, and said “I want you to meet an old friend of ours, she wants to meet you.”  And as we approached her old friend with her back to us, I recognized the dress.  As she turned around in shock, Theresa said “this is my husband Mike.”  I stuck out my hand, smiled while laughing inside at the irony, told her it was nice to meet her, while she looked for an exit.  Busted!  Some time later while shopping we would see her again looking harried and unkempt.  It was the same woman, who I wanted to go and say hi too, but Theresa and her good sense intervened.  I had had my moment of sweet revenge, she would never know I had seen her the way she really was.....or that I had both times. 

We were attending a large church in a rich area.  Celebrities, execs, and the richer folks in town attended.  One Wednesday night, the pastor asked us to turn around and pray with someone you don’t know.  The woman in front of us was over dressed, no off the rack outfit here, me in my long hair and beard and old racing leather jacket.  Her look of surprise as she turned was one of letting me know this wasn’t her idea, but she would permit me to pray with her and get it over with.  I definitely was not in her class...but after we prayed she took my hand, and told me “that was the most beautiful prayer I ever heard.  What a pleasant surprise.”  I guess she never thought a biker could have heart for Jesus, and I thought about the rich and how hard it was for them to enter heaven....

I had two friends who were girls in high school, pretty and funny girls who would giggle a lot.  Shy, hoping a boy would notice them, if one ever did, Linda’s mom would drive her by his house to see where he lived, hoping he was outside and she could see him.  The one time I rode along said guy was outside, Linda shrunk down in the seat hiding, and I called out the window to him, and he called back.  I was never invited to ride along on these dates, but it made a lasting impression on me to this day.  The day you may meet a stranger....

And want to meet him.  Something is different about him, and you want to get to know him.  You find his likes, his hobbies, and soon try to be like him.  You two become friends, develop a relationship, and grow close together, a common bond.  Lifelong friends, based on one chance encounter.  This is the way many of us build a relationship with Jesus.  We overhear, or someone talks to us about him, and a seed is planted.  We want to know more, so maybe pick up a Bible and read about him.  Maybe start going to church, not realizing it is the holy spirit drawing us to him.  Pretty soon we have to say yes when our spirit is touched and we want him to be our savior.  We have become born again, a one time event, but a relationship that will have its ups and downs while here on earth.  But Jesus will never abandon that relationship, and even across a crowded room will be happy to see us.  Us changing to be like him, wanting to please him without all the religious rules, becoming the one person it is hardest to be, ourselves.  Soon we have his characteristics, and someone may see us across a crowded room, and want to get to know us, because that thing they see in us is Jesus.  A lifelong, eternal relationship based on his love, he loved us first.  And being drawn by the holy spirit, for without the spirit’s urging, we would never had the desire.  If you have had that enchanted meeting, you know what I mean,if not, the spirit is calling to you.  A stranger wants to meet you, and to be your friend.  And as you change in Christ you are no longer strangers, but friends.  Not an acquaintance, but friends. 

With one last thought.  After Jesus was crucified, the guards bet on his clothes.  And I wonder why.  He was just an itinerant preacher to the world, and in this pre-ebay society, who would have cared.  But yet something made those clothes desirable.  They had come so close to the man, yet it was his clothes they argued over.  Don’t you make the same mistake.  This may have been the closest they would get to heaven, but somehow that robe meant something to them.  Some enchanted evening, you may meet a stranger, across a crowded room.  It just may be Theresa’s husband, or it just may be Jesus calling to you.  Maybe clothes make the man, but in one case, the man, Jesus, made the clothes. 

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

are Harleys really that expensive?

By now everyone knows HD stands for hundreds of dollars, and with prices over $20k and some over $30k, they seem outrageous, and they are.  But others are following, yet Harley takes the blame.  But what if motorcycles were sold by the pound like other things, would they be that expensive?  Let’s check it out, based on manufacturer’s own websites and see.  And find out if Harleys really are that expensive....

A Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Limited has an MSRP of $28,089.  And weighs in at 877 pounds, or $32.02 dollars per pound.  Hmmm.  Yet their sport bike, the XG750 that no one wants is only $7599, and weighs 492 or $15.44/pound.  Maybe the longer name adds value.  But what about a Sporty....the original 883 now costs $8999 and at 545 pounds is $16.51/pound.  Wow, a two wheel blender for only $16 bucks, such a deal.  But what about other makes....

BMW’s ultimate touring bike, the K1600 GT lists for $22,995 and 741 pounds, $31.03/pound, big bike, big bucks.  $15,995 for a race bike for the street that weighs only 459 pounds, or $34.84, more than a Harley and more bike too.  Where else can you get a race bike for that kind of money?  On to Honda, its new Gold Wing losing weight, $31,800 for the air bagged DCT, 787 pounds or $40.40/pound!  No bargain here, or the new reintroduced Monkey for $4199 with abs and only 236 pounds.  A whopping $17.79/pound.  For a 125!  Go MX racing on the CRF450 for only $9799, or $35.63 for each of its 275 pounds.  But wait, there’s more..

The replacement for my 2017 Bonneville T120 will set you back $12,350, or $25 per pound, not pound sterling.  But my new Street Triple R at $12,600 and 370 pounds should have cost me $34.05/pound.  I could have bought a Harley!  Go figure....and then there is Indian.  American pounds.  Even a new FTR1200 flat track replica which is cool.  Starting at only $15,499, plus more for the replica, the one we want, figure on $29.92/pound.  But the Chieftain Elite at 855 pounds will set you back only $26,749 or $31.28 for each of its 855 pounds.  Seems no matter the engine size, or brand, figure on around $30/pound to ride. Could it be that despite all the technology, or lack of it, they really are selling us a bike to ride by the pound?  Say it isn’t so....I’ll still keep my light weight high performance Street Triple, I mean a bike by the pound, that’s silly, or is it?

It ahs been said that the chemicals in our body total up to about $20.  On a per pound basis for me, you can get me for only $12/pound.  A much better deal than a Harley, higher miles, better performance, but little trade in value.  But God has put something in us that cannot be estimated, it is called life.  A soul, the part of us that is us, included in each person.  One that is fought for, fought over, and where our heart lives.  Being a triune person, body-physical, soul-emotional, and spirit-eternal, we spend so much time on the physical, which does wear out both visually and internally.  We all get old and die.   But it wasn’t always that way, as before the flood in Noah’s time men lived longer lives.  He was 600 when he was called to build the ark.  Today ask yourself do you want to live to 600 years?  Yet we spend so much time on today we neglect tomorrow, eternity.  600 years is nothing compared to eternity, so why worry about the small things and forget about the big thing?  Based on eternity, anything we get today is a bargain, but nothing compared to what God has planned for his children.

Jesus paid the price we often hear.  But the price of what?  Simply we were separated by God in the Garden when Adam sinned.  The whole relationship with God changed in one moment of time, and today we still pay the price, as all men are born into sin and fall short of the glory of God.  The only two not born, Adam and Eve, sinned but were not born into it.  So God sent Jesus, himself in the form of a man, to pay the price for our sin, as the ultimate-last sacrifice ever needed.  And when we confess him and our heart changes, we too are reunited with God.  A gift, without price, because no one else could pay the price but Jesus,  one died so all could live.  But he doesn’t force his salvation, his love on us, for true love, demands a choice.  As politicians try to legislate love and cause more division, God gives our hearts a choice, heaven or hell.  With Jesus or against him.  Yet all will worship him, for every knee will bow under the earth and above it.  A picture given to us in Luke as Lazarus is in paradise, the rich man in flames, only begging for a drop of water.  Begging to send him back to warn his family....he found out to late.  Don’t you.

Yet God gives us this priceless relationship for free.  Leave it to man to put a price on it via religion.  Ephesians 2 tells us it is a gift lest anyone boast.  You cannot pay, earn, or work your way into heaven.  Can you imagine some of the TV evangelists bragging to God all the great things they have done.  Can you imagine you pleading your case before him?  Yet Jesus will intervene on judgment day,and we will be found NOT GUILTY!  Price paid, enter into the kingdom....or deny him and enter into hell.  Knowing fully well why you are there.

So is the gospel really that expensive?  Free so we can afford it, no tithing required, God doesn’t need your money, but wants you to be a joyful giver like he is.  Yet churches are big business, and one friend of mine,when needing car repairs goes to his pastor and asks can he his miss tithe?  The pastor’s answer “you can make installments.”  That’s religion, that’s not Jesus.  Free to love, free to worship, and free to live a life in the spirit.  Religion binds, Jesus saves.  How much is your religion costing you?  How much is it keeping you from all the things of the spirit?  All of the things of God available at salvation?  Maybe there is a cost we don’t consider, that of religion.

So how much does a Harley really cost?  Based on your FICO score, based on added dealer profits, and based on trade in time, a lot.  But not more than any other ride.  When new.  Only the added price increase each year keeps the used value increasing.  We are all used in the eyes of the world, only Jesus sees value in us.  And when we recognize that value in him, we change.  We give, we love, we forgive.  And with no monthly payments, at least in some churches.  What price do you set on your soul?  What price your relationship with God?  When the hidden costs are figures in, there is still no other deal like salvation, free.  No hidden costs in Christ.  The same price in darkest China as in the sunny Dallas.  If you haven’t decided, maybe take a ride and consider Jesus.  New bike, figure $30+/pound.  Salvation, still free.  So are Harley’s rally that expensive?  Aren’t you glad salvation isn’t!

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

meanwhile in Detroit

Looking out of my office window this morning, I see only one American car, a Dodge, I mean Ram pickup.  Everything else is from Asia, including the Kia Soul Theresa just went to work in. The Mustang in the garage doesn’t count. I wonder, what does this tell us about America?  Growing up it was the Big Three, with AMC a distant fourth.  GM used to brag it was losing every other car sale as it had over 50% of the market, Chevy sold one out of very four!  You could tell a Ford from a Chevy from a Dodge from a Pontiac-remember them, at a glance, or even by the sound of their V8, now they all look the same to me.  And with Ford not selling cars anymore except for the Mustang, now all the trucks look the same.  By trucks we include SUV’s, minivans, and of course pickups, once a work truck, now basic transportation replacing the car.  We may buy a lot of trucks, but last year all the pickups combined would not have outsold Chevy in my growing up years.  America has changed its buying habits, as Toyota is the norm on my block, I can truly say they have never given me “oh what a feeling.”

Thirty some years ago we were invited to a focus group to critique new cars.  To see if the sponsoring manufacturer’s new vehicle would meet the approval of mediocrity.  It was unnamed, but definitely American, before Chrysler was stolen and raped, then bargained away to FIAT.  But with the nameplates all covered on the competition’s vehicles, you could not tell which brand they were-they all looked the same!  Even looking at stampings on parts, they all said Nippon-Denso, seems all Japanese makers at the time shopped at the same store.  With no way to tell which car was which, we soon lost interest in cars, for your information the new car being surveyed was the Dodge/Plymouth Neon, when is the last time you saw one, or even hear of one? 

At a recent car show, no foreign cars were there.  None.  It seems memories are not made in rental cars, no one ever cried over selling their Nissan, and even they used to be Datsun.  We bought American, drove American, and then traded American.  But in one generation it has all changed, with the Japanese taking a play from Joseph Stalin’s playbook, who drove a Russian version of a Packard, “give me your kids for a generation and I will rule the world.”  And the cars you drive on its roads....

Reading in Nehemiah about the building of the wall, we see many names unpronounceable to us listed as the builders.  Men who did the task set before them, telling of men who worked next to each other.  But it also lists the slackers, the ones who shirked their responsibility,who decided not to work as God asked.  Here he also lists the repairs done to their own homes, it seems the working class here was working in their own neighborhood, the place where God placed them.  Jesus told his disciples they were appointed, strategically placed by God, he had them where he wanted them to be.  And he still does today, no word of him changing or of the Bible being revised.  God has things under control, down to where you are, and as to what he wants you to do.  Finally it reveals that except for one group, the men stayed until their work was completed.  The completed the task before them as God ordained.  The church helped one another, what a message to the world around them.  But also called out the slackers, those who were of the community, but denied God’s calling.  If you were going to hire a man, who would you have hired?  By the car he drove, or the work he did?  Your answer may surprise you....

Jesus still doesn’t have a marketing plan.  No advertising budget, no book sales, and rebates or coupons for discounts.  When working with Coca Cola marketing, they had a simple premise for where their product would be displayed, “must pass, first see.”  You must go past the Coke display, and you must see it first.  Before the competition.  That’s marketing, and made them a world leader in it.  But it is not a new idea, as Jesus sent out his disciples, and sends us out too, where you cannot go a day without seeing his glory, or meeting his family.  From the sun coming up, to its setting, you first see Jesus revealed in his workmanship.  Jesus never changed or changes, but his church does.  Today having marketing teams, special events, some free, some you pay, with men getting the glory instead of God.  A far cry from what God ordained, but sadly what the world thinks is Jesus today.  The church is us, we are supposed to represent God, but do we represent a denomination, a pastor, or religious system so powerful God gets lost in the shuffle?  If your name was to be listed, would it be as a builder or a slacker?  As a church member, or a person of God?  God knows the difference, he is separating the sheep, true Christians from the goats, church only people.  Do you spend more time concerned over what you drive than about Jesus?  Who or what drives you?

Just a point in automotive history, no one wanted the junky Japanese cars until the gas crisis.  Then all the rules changed, mpg was in, power was out.  They gave us low quality fuel efficient cars, and today they own the auto world.  Even FIAT Chrysler advertises “imported from Detroit.”  With a specific list on each new car telling its origin of parts, designating its origin.  With almost all foreign cars manufacturers building cars in the states.  So when does a Toyota become American?  Never, its home is Japan.  So when does a man of the world become a Christian?  When his origin is Jesus, and his name written in the book of life.  If not there, it means hell.  Where is your name listed right now? Or are you a foreigner filling a church using the name of Jesus, thinking you are a Christian? 

Each new vehicle sold in the US of A comes with an MSO, manufacturers statement of origin.  How we are born we have no choice in, but how we leave we do.  Nehemiah took the time to list the workers and separate them from the slackers.  Their purpose and accomplishments listed, as per God.  Don’t be fooled by attending a church, reading the Bible and praying thinking you are saved.  Not bad things, but not salvation, which only comes through Jesus Christ.  Do not be deceived by false promises, nor of fake claims.  Jesus knows and you can too.  Chevy never saw the Japanese coming, do you see Jesus?  You are here and where you are because God wants you there.  Someday you will face the most critical inspector and it won’t be you, or the church.  Or the car you drive.

Meanwhile in Detroit...

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

the weight

It was the third day of our 2005 Torches Across America ride and like the song said, “I was feeling about half past dead.”  And just needed some place to rest my head.  We had ridden over 1200 miles in three days, with nights in Kingman, Gallup, and now Amarillo.  Staying at the Holiday Inn I had stayed in 30 years earlier when I moved west.  We had had a full day, escorted by the NM State Police, cool guys,a huge ceremony in Albuquerque, and then rain.  Hot and tired, we even passed on the trip the the Big Texan, where if you can eat and keep down a 72 oz. steak in an hour it is free.  We had lost two hours due to time zones, and at 930 pm local time, I was just getting into bed, boots off, when the phone rang.  We were late getting to a dinner celebration for us, and even though it was only a half mile away, the ride seemed like 100.  But after all the big time hoopla, tonight was going to be special, it just had to be.

Before entering Amarillo, a man was standing on an overpass waving a huge American flag, we were used to this, but this one seemed more special.  We were later to find out it was him and his group that was sponsoring the food, of which there was plenty, and being starved and exhausted, I dove in.  But there was something unique abut this group, definitely not the more sophisticated ones we had become used to, these guys were servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we watched the local Boozefighters attend to us, we met a couple whose son had died in Afghanistan, and had made the national news.  They driven hundreds of miles to be there, after George Bush 43 had made a surprise visit to them, to console them in their loss.  A much different side of the man than the media portrayed, and this 911 ride to honor those lost and first responders, became more personal.  Taking it from the headlines to the home.  No bitterness here, their son had died defending his country, doing his job as a soldier.  And knowing Jesus, they knew where he was that night and forever.  But it got better....

A group approached us wanting to show off its ministry to the homeless.  Flying under the radar and not getting attention, they had built an altar under a bridge for the homeless to worship.  They not only shared the gospel, they lived it with them.  No budget, just what God provided, and lives were being changed.  Salvations, healings, and lives changed by Jesus, and we got to see and hear about it first hand.  I was even more exhausted after going back to bed that night, but blessed beyond words.  Here in Amarillo, in a church, in a ghetto neighborhood, we saw the gospel come alive, where it had become personal, and where Jesus was honored.  Not by words so much as it was by their actions.....a lesson I will never forget.

So many times we run to the church, a ministry, or a rich person when we need help.  When Jesus and his disciples were faced with feeding 5000, and didn’t know what to do, they turned to Jesus and watched as he fed them all, two fish and five loaves for 5000.  He simply said “you give them something to eat,” a story repeated in all four gospels, they may have been perplexed, but knew where and who to turn to.  A lesson learned first hand in Amarillo, as bikers, Christians, grieving parents, and others came together.  We all have varying needs, and many times don’t know what they are.  That night I needed a touch from God, I was tired, he wasn’t.  In a situation where many hands made light work, we saw God honored, and him lifted up in a very humbling and loving way.  Like the disciples faced with feeding a multitude, God had it all worked out already.  A couple who had lost a son being consoled by a surprise visit from the President, yet not wanting to miss the night, a motorcycle club staying out late to serve us, and a ministry to the homeless, telling of the great things God was doing in changing lives.  None of us was prepared for that night, but it still sticks with me 15 years later.  When the abilities of others to meet our needs fail, a hug, kind words, a meal, and some fellowship brought us back to life.  Listening to a testimony, sharing food, and hugs and smiles sometimes are the miracle we need, but overlook.  In all things give it to Jesus and see what he can do.  When our needs are exceeded by those who need help, when we get up when tired and want to sleep, we can see a side of Jesus we otherwise would have missed.  And the blessings of others being blessed by serving us.  It may not be a 5000 meal dilemma, but a need is a need, and Jesus is adequate in all situations.

The weight that night was not one of a physical sleep, but of a spiritual sleep that needed to be awakened.  Jesus took the load off that night, and when we placed it all on him, he came through.  When we put it all on him, he comes through.  He knows our needs, and the next day we were thoroughly refreshed and blessed.  He sees us needing care and lets others be blessed by meeting that need.  His words to remember, “they need not go away.”  Don’t miss any chance to show God’s love, and why we pray before every meal.  Because we know from whom it came, and we are thankful. 

Cast your cares on him for he careth for you.  Andrew only had a meager means, but in the hands of a loving God, all left filled, with leftovers for tomorrow.  We will get  hungry tomorrow again, and God will provide, just a doggie bag to remind us, and to share with others.  God opened our eyes that night for what was to come, and our hearts.  A load that Jesus took for free...

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com