As we rode down the road this weekend, people were passing and cutting traffic everywhere. I thought to myself, why are people in such a hurry? Sure, some of them might have been late for work, some of them might have been headed somewhere due to emergency, but I doubt all of them were. As we started out of Carnesville headed to Commerce, one vehicle pulled out in front of us and went less than a quarter of a mile to turn into another driveway..no lie. Like they were in such a hurry to get so far. I am pretty sure they could have walked faster and and positive they would have gotten there in no more time had they just waited on us to pass, but NO, they had to get to where they were going. Later, in the outskirts of Atlanta, a lady on a phone cut two lanes in front of us to make a left turn. She was so all-fired hurried that she couldn't do the safe or wise thing and fall in behind us to make her lane changes. She had to speed up and cut lanes? Really? I try to pay very careful attention to other drivers, but also attempt to make wise moves myself. This is true of when I am on a bike or in a car. Perfect, I am not. Want to be in an accident, I do not. I wonder where people are going and why they are in such a hurry that they are willing to put themselves and others in danger. Have you ever wondered that? I often wish I was a law officer and could stop people. However, I am sure my patience would wear incredibly thin with people and the excuses given. Guess that is why I am not a law officer. Also, I suppose it further makes sense that I am not God. Of course, I realize that He is and I am not, but often wonder if He thinks similar things. You know, like, "Why are people so busy and hurried, yet drag their feet when it comes to a relationship with Me (Him)." People are often busy and strive to be successful, yet they are often lax about seeking the Lord. However, no amount of lane cutting and pulling out in front of people will get you to heaven in the end. You might even make choices that bring you to the gates of Heaven more quickly, but no farther. One must know the Lord. Romans 10:9-10 state that we must believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, for with the heart one believes and with the mouth one makes that known. If this has not taken place in your life, you will only get to the gate. If it has, you will be allowed to enter in. It is my prayer that you believe in your heart and confess with you mouth. Otherwise, you may be in a hurry to get somewhere you really don't want to end up.
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Coming out of a weekend whose bookends were the 300+ mile motorcycle trip to our hometown and back, I find myself still exhausted. Yet, I got up and went to work today, then went to visit a friend's daughter in the hospital. We spent the weekend with a lot of the people we love. However, we also missed a lot of the people we love who were down in LA.
It seemed to be a never-ending line of questions back in Georgia about what we planned 'to do' now. Simple, we are going to keep on doing what we are doing. Every day of our lives is an opportunity for ministry. This is true for anyone and everyone. The opportunities are there, but will you take advantage of them? Some people have the misconception that to minister, one must be staff on the payroll of some church. This could not be farther from the truth. We are ALL called to go make disciples, to go into the highways and hedges to compel people to come. Every time we encounter someone, we have the opportunity to impact them positively or negatively. Do we have to 'take them down the Roman Road'? Of course not, but we do have the opportunity to allow them to see something in us that is different. Different in a way that makes them want to know what or WHO it is that makes a difference in our lives. I am a firm believer, and many have heard me say this for years, 'People don't want or need us to play Rambo the Prophet'. In essence, they don't need us to beat them over the head with a Bible or shove Jesus down their throats. What they need is to know we care and are real. In our daily lives, Chas and I attempt to be real in all that we say and do. We are ever-mindful of the opportunities we have. Do we succeed? Yes, often. Do we fail? Yes, often. Do we strive to be consistent? Yes, operative word there, is STRIVE. We live each day of opportunities and strive to make a positive impact on the lives of those we encounter. We are, however, only human and that very fact alone means we will not always succeed. We will keep on traveling down this road, taking each day we are given, attempting to make a positive impact on the lives of those whose paths we cross. My challenge to you is simply this: Live each day letting people know that you care and being real that you might make positive impacts on the lives of those you encounter. We are back in LA. Were on the road about eleven hours (stops included), so, will comment more on the trip tomorrow...very tired at the moment.
Today started with an incredibly huge amount of rain. We slept in, visited with my parents, and then mounted up to go to the reunion. We had a great time of reconnecting with several who braved the rainy weather to come out (I will post pics later). We then went back to the house to get in the car with the kids and to go to see Roy and my papa. My cousin, Heather, met us in Colbert and visited with us while we were at the nursing home. We then went to Royston to see Papa Riley. After that, we went back to Michael & Stacy's to visit with the family and eat dinner. It is currently midnight thirty and we have just finished going through old pics. I must wake Chas up and head to the house. We will be heading to LA. I will comment more about the trip when we get back to LA. Please pray for safe travels for us tomorrow....until we meet again...
The morning started out fairly according to plan...that is, until we got almost to Eufaula, AL. Just prior to getting to Eufaula, Chas pulled over to tell me that he had a road noise. We could see no major problems, but the sound/noise persisted. We then stopped in Eufaula to find that maybe the tread on the back tire of the Mistress looked a little odd. Odd in that the inside tread was protruding out and we felt it best to figure out what to do. So, with a couple of phone calls, we had a place to park the Mistress and we were headed to Bob & Angie's to pick up another bike. We had already planned to get the bike from Bob and Angie in a few weeks. However, according to Bob, the Lord desired to have us pick it up on this trip that he might not have to bring it down...Of course, we were so incredibly humbled to begin with with the whole idea of gaining this bike from Bob and Angie and at such a great deal....(believe me, we have been incredibly blessed and pray that the Lord blesses Bob and Angie in return). We visited with Bob & Angie just long enough for the kids to fall in love with one of their dogs, Grizzly. He stole Angela's heart and now he is her dog. The kids left out headed on to Carnesville because David wanted to surprise his grandparents, aunt, uncle & cousins because Angela had come up. We then left headed to Commerce to meet up with Herman and Susan. In Commerce, we ate dinner and then, in true HBW fashion, went to the Waffle House for further fellowship. We had a great time today visiting with and catching up with old friends/HBW Royalty. It is now near midnight back home and near one o'clock here. The kids have been up to Commerce to meet back up with us and are now headed to my grandmother's house, where we will be staying, and Chas and I have said our good-byes, gotten our hugs and watched our friends ride away. We now sit in Denny's (using the free wi-fi to post tonight's blog), and reflect on the day. We were blessed with safe travels thus far, and have had great fellowship with people we love very much. Now, we must pack up and travel about 20 or so miles tonight before we are able to call it a night. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow....hope to see you all back here tomorrow night. Until then........
We are up late tonight packing for the road trip this weekend. We worked a full day today and need to finish packing, so the post tonight will not be very long. We spent a little time this evening with a hurting friend and are now trying to finish the packing and make it light. We plan to leave in the morning around 7:30 or so, but you know, I will be late to my own funeral, so who knows exactly when we will leave. We are hoping to be able to leave relatively early and to be able to travel at our leisure. I also hope to be able to blog and post pictures while we are gone, that is, if time permits. We will miss our friends and family in LA, but are looking forward to the time we will be able to spend with friends and family in those hills from which we hail. We are also hopeful that we will have safe uneventful travels. Hopefully, you will hear from us sometime tomorrow evening....until then.......
Tonight was the first house church Bible study at the Bates' home. There was 14 of us in attendance and it was GREAT! I must say that I totally appreciate Darryl and his heart. We read and discussed Matthew 22:34-40. In the discussion, Darryl brought out that we should love the Lord our God, we should love others as we love ourselves and we must love ourselves, otherwise, we will not be able to love others the way the Lord wants us to. You know, I had never really thought about it, but it makes total sense, if you don't love yourself, how can you possibly love others effectively? Loving others as you love yourself if you don't love yourself is not much love and surely will make no positive difference in their lives for the kingdom.
Darryl went on to share how the 'church' in the Bible is a group of people, not a building....to which I totally concur. Other thoughts on the subject will be coming in future posts.... I would just like to close by praising the Lord for the awesome time we had tonight with everyone as we discussed the Word. We look forward to next week. We are also looking forward to the visit back in our hometown this weekend. We will be leaving on Friday morning to ride up. Chas and I will be riding the bikes and David & Angela will be riding the cage. On Friday, we are meeting with HBW Royalty. We will meet President and Queen Bob and Angie DeHoney and will then meet up with former President and Queen, Herman and Susan Willoughby, as well as Bob & Angie's daughter, Mandy & family. We are so excited to get to spend a little time with them! On Saturday, we will go to visit with Chas' dad. This will be difficult, as Chas feels like this will be his good-bye. Then, we will be going to Victoria Bryant State Park to attend a reunion of sorts of the first youth group Chas ever worked with (circa 1991-1993). Love those kids! Then, we will attend church with my parents on Sunday, visit with them, and head back to LA. Your prayers for safe travels and wonderful time in the Lord with those we love would be most appreciated. Tonight, I sit at the computer totally physically exhausted and in pain physically. This is common and shouldn't take me by surprise when I have days like this. However, I am excited that even though it has been a long day, coming off a busy weekend and looking to a busy weekend. I am excited that tomorrow evening after work, I will meet with friends at Darryl and Karyn's for Bible study. This is another of the steps we, along with the Bates are taking in the direction of walking away from Logan Road Baptist and all that we attempted to do, but were not afforded the opportunities to do. We are hopefully going to be able to reach out and make a difference in many more people's lives through simply being real and sharing the love of a real God. Now, don't get me wrong, we have been sharing Jesus and will continue to. The difference now is that we have no one to tell us we MUST do things a certain way at a certain time, etc. We are free to do everything we do with no time restraints or expectations, except that all that we do be uplifting and glorifying to our savior. We are hopeful that others we are in contact with will begin to experience the same love and liberty that we do in Christ. Today, I had a conversation with someone and in the conversation, we discussed the 'rules' of religion and the 'high, right, and holey' and how they think we MUST attend Sunday School and Discipleship Training because it is 'necessary'. It totally amazes me how some people can claim to know Jesus and yet feel the overwhelming need to attend services simply for the sake of doing so. It is like they think God is keeping a roll book and they lose points unless they miss for a 'good reason', which is alright for them and their families, but not so for anyone else in the church. The truth is simply this: God does not keep a roll book for church attendance. Further more, He does not care how 'faithful' you are to attendance if you are unfaithful to Him daily in your thoughts, actions, deeds, etc. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that we should have daily time with Him. Picking up the Bible on the way out the door to church is NOT the only time we should pick up His word. We should seek Him and to know Him daily. The only real way to do that MUST include being in His word more than the time you are at church. It is sad that some believe that their 'service', 'presence', or the fact that they 'have been there since...' is going to win them points with God. If our relationship with God depended upon some ritual or other thing that we did, that would mean that we could simply depend upon the Ten Commandments and Jesus would have died in vain. Well, I am here to tell you, Jesus DID NOT DIE IN VAIN! He came, He saw, He conquered death and hell and He did it in spite of anything we might do or have done, not because of anything that we have done to deserve it from Him. So, basically, regardless of how tired I am or how long the day seems, it is nowhere the day Jesus went through for me, or for you.
I read a couple of interesting quotes today that I would like to share with you tonight. The first: "Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it" ~ Robert Frost. Now, let's think about this for a moment. The first part of this quote is something all of us can relate to at different points in our lives. The second part, however, is something we are often guilty of. Yes, I said it. We are guilty of this. Now, for the second quote, while a bit lengthy and the point is the quote at the bottom of the story: In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high
esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?" "Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test." "Triple filter?" "That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?" "No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and." "All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?" "No, on the contrary..." "So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?" "No not really …” "Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?" Did you get that? I found this story very intriguing and quite applicable. My goal in sharing this is not necessarily that you will remember the whole story, but that maybe we all might remember and apply the final quote from Socrates. Sadly, too many people spend too much time remembering the things they are itching to pass along that they just heard, but they NEVER apply the triple filter to whatever it is. I am personally thankful that I have a few people in my life who either apply the triple filter or simply dispel whatever is being said with the truth. Remember,what we say should be to apply 1 Thessalonians 4:11, "... make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business..." This is basically a Biblical command to do exactly what Socrates told his 'friend'. May we all be busy about the Kingdom and our own business, and less busy about the tearing down of those around us.... While it may have been another soggy Sunday in LA, we were blessed beyond description. For various uncontrollable circumstances, everyone planning to meet up with us and ride to New Effort Church was unable to do so. However, there will be other times for other rides. So, Chas, Mike and I saddled up and headed South. We rode for about an hour, through a little rain, and arrived a little after eleven. The message was pertinent and refreshing. For a glimpse into the message, please visit Chas' blog for tonight. Oh, and while on the subject of his blog, I just want to say that I think that my guy is the talented, gifted one in this family. I simply use the blog as a way to share our story, but don't feel that my words convey very well. Chas, on the other hand, is gifted and has a way of being able to present a message clearly. So, if you haven't been reading his posts, please do so! Oh, yes, I was telling you guys about our visit to New Effort Church. After the service, we dismissed to the fellowship hall for a great meal. The people there were very warm and we look forward to our next visit with them. We followed the pastor's family (friends Brent & Deborah & kids) back to their house and spent the afternoon fellow-shipping with them and other friends from college, Craig & Cyndi Jacobs. It was truly a good day in the Lord. This evening, we met with friends for a drink...at Sonic. Later, Darryl joined us and the fellowship carried on. Basically, it was a great day, soggy, yet great, in LA. Today marks our second Sunday post-Logan Road and I can honestly say that we have been blessed and had so many opportunities that traditional stick-in-the-mud, legalistic, church attendance would never have afforded us. Having said that, let me conclude by saying that we are loving this great adventure and the Great and Mighty God we serve!
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AuthorMy name is Sonja. I am known as Road Rash, for obvious reasons. I have been a member of His Blood Warriors since 1996 I served as Secretary of LAHBW since the charter began in February 2002. In October, I became International Secretary and currently serve in that position. Archives
June 2012
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