ignorance is correctable, stupidy is forever

 

Long ago as an a outside salesman, I was forced to do business on the customer’s turf.  With no store for them to come to, I had to go to them.  Instantly putting me and other salespersons at a disadvantage, you met on their terms, on their time, and if they wanted to.  You quickly learned about the person you were calling on by the pictures on their desk, calendar on the wall, or quotes on the desk.  Some were entertaining, in a bus barn the sign said “some people are only alive because it is against the law to kill them.” And how was your day?  In one office where my brother in law was an exec, it had scriptures quoted on the wall.  When I mentioned my BIL was a Christian, the receptionist was quick to reply, “well you would never know it.”  Oops.  Many patriotic themes, always my favorite, and one other laced with truth about family.  “The true measure of success is how your kids describe you to their friends.”  Let that one sink in for a minute.    But my all time favorite, some times making a call just to read it again, was in an old machine shop.  Written with magic marker on old poster board and stained with the oil that filled the air, it simply read, “IGNORANCE IS CORRECTABLE, STUDIPY IS FOREVER.”  Now read it again and see if you catch the meaning.  There is no word stupidy, I always wondered did they mean stupidity, or did it on purpose to catch the unsuspecting, or those with a public school education?  But the simple truth is ignorance is correctable, but stupidy, or stupididy is forever.  We all know of an example or are one.....

With over two dozen cross country motorcycle trips under my belt, and 13,000 miles and 31 states this year, I should know a little about traveling.  Yet two guys I know took off across country this year and never asked me for directions.  One guy, really stupidy, allowed his ride to take him on freeways across the US of A and missed America.  Doing everything wrong about packing, he still made it, proving stupidy may be forever, but not necessarily life threatening.  You just miss out on all the good stuff.  All the blessings.  Another guy short on cash and common sense goes south from San Diego to go to New York, even going to Niagara Falls, but missing the Cave of the Winds.  Taking 40 and 44 across and not knowing it was shadowing Route 66.  “I wondered what those signs meant.”  We each travel differently, but we don’t always travel smart.  I fall back on something an old friend once told me about a town on his Coca Cola route.  The town of Egnar, range spelled backwards, was his turn around point.  When he found out Egnar is range spelled backwards, he told me “I could tell those people were ignorant the first time I went there.”  But were they correctable.....

Agent Mulder will tell you “the truth is out there,” but only the Bible tells you Jesus is the truth.  With so many writing their own personal gospels, I wonder if ignorance is correctable, but fall back on a loving and forgiving God.  Who also believes the so-called brains of the theologians who twist his word and words and end up with denominations who denounce him and his deity.  We are told to be wise as serpents, but gentle as lambs, we are often as stinging as serpents and stupid as lambs.  Trusting all we hear quoted as scripture to be scripturally accurate, when it is not.  Much good advice or advice that sounds good is given, so we must be on guard.  I warn you here, check what I write for scriptural accuracy, and if it fails let me know.  Let God be truth and all other liars.  But the enemy is still fighting a good fight, Jesus goes him one better.

When Nehemiah was facing his enemies and those of God, when fearing for his life, he had a man who was questionable because of his background offer him advice.  He is told men are trying to kill him, sounds logical, but then is told to go into the temple and hide.  You will not be attacked there.  Sounds good, but Nehemiah resists, knowing only priests are allowed into the temple, something here is wrong, for he is only a layman and not permitted.  He realizes a true profit from God would not tell him to do something not scriptural, he can flee into the area outside but not in the temple itself.  Even so far as being told to lock himself inside for protection.  But the way Nehemiah questions the advice is good advice for us, “should a man like me run and hide and try to save himself by ungodly practices?”  Have you ever had to ask yourself that?  Would you?

When we come to Christ we are given his holy spirit, opening the door to instant and eternal access to God.  We have all the wisdom of the universe at our disposal, to guide, protect, enable, and empower us.  We have the truth, not opinions to fall back on.  As a child of God we have these things to fall back on, we operate on a different, a higher level, not to brag, but to live.  If you remember who you are in Christ, you will not go along when pressured into things you know are wrong.  You can live like an old Roger Corman film, “The Beast with a Thousand Eyes,” who sees life through everyone’s eyes, or you can see things through one set of eyes, God’s, and see everything.  You will be called narrow minded, but only by those who deny God.  Stupdiy defined.

So as Christians we need to follow the heartbeat of God.  We need to trust the truth of who Jesus is and be led by his spirit.  Or be known as ignorant, unwilling or undecided, not changing but making excuses.  Ignorance is correctable, we all fell short of God until he opened our eyes to the truth.  But sadly stupidy is forever, as many deny Jesus and go to hell.  Their choice, not God’s.  Scripture tells us the Jews still look for signs of their messiah returning.  Jesus has come and gone, and will return again, if you missed him the first time, you will really do not want to miss him the second.  Maybe the true definition of success is how your life and words reflect Jesus in them.  And why some are asleep, or should be put there.  Ignorance is correctable, proven by God’s love for us.  Only the stupidy deny him.  No matter how you spell it, it means hell.  And the truth will always set you free.  And those in Christ are free indeed!

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

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