Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you are enjoying something like a warm spring somewhere. We have had two beautiful days here. I’ve been keeping my feet wet with ministry (if the John the Baptist metaphor works for ya). I might be in a movie playing a father with some COD kids directing and producing. It is short, but hey some chances to bop around with the students. I joined a Christian Motor Cycle ministry and have become the teacher for now for their Bible Study with about 30 people coming Wednesday nights. A bit different than the college Bible study I teach. More difficult actually, but people dig it. The Club also does “Bike Blessings” going to an organized event at one of the local Harley dealers to offer a prayer over anyone who wants it. It is protection for their Bike and more accurately them on it. It was organized by “The Black Sheep” who are a national club and my club “Take Up Your Cross” also attended.

So I went to see what God would do and Shep prayed with me to receive Jesus. Also Dalius (his road name is Dallas. Everyone has one that your club gives you. Mine is “Ghost” because I am always talking about the power of the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life. The White hair probably contributed). Dalius is a Lithuanian “Christian” and was close to faith, understanding the Gospel really for the first time as far as I could tell. He had a short wavy mop of hair with some grey in it and a beard to match. Shep had a couple weeks growth of beard and wore jeans and a sweatshirt that had a couple bachelor stains on it. Otherwise looked like a typical guy. He wore a cap that said “Viet Nam Era” and had served as a Marine just after the war had ended. He was a little gruff and said he liked living alone. By the time I talked to him the crowd thinned out a lot. Some of my friends had gone and his Bike had been blessed, so I began to go through the Gospel with Shep. I asked him if he was walking down the road and got hit by a bus and was dead and stood before God, what he would say to get into Heaven? This was a question Dalius couldn’t answer but Shep popped off with, “I kept the Ten Commandments.” I asked if he had kept them perfectly and he admitted he probably hadn’t. I explained God was Just and needed a perfect payment for sin, in order to live inside him. Then he could be one with Who was Eternal and the Source of Life (thus having eternal life). I said, “Say you were stupid enough to loan your bike to someone and they fell and scratched the crap out of your pipes. So you took it to the dealer and have new pipes put on and your Bike is perfect again, guy pays you and you’re good. When you wreck someone’s stuff you owe them something perfect in return. Everything belongs to God so we owe Him something perfect when we wreck his stuff. But we are not perfect so we cannot pay God to be forgiven. So God becomes a man, Jesus, who lives a perfect life. Then His righteousness becomes our righteousness. He was stuck on the Ten Commandments still so I said, “Say the guy who scratches your pipes all up, instead of buying you new ones, wants to give you some old ones he has in his garage that are also all scratched up just not as badly as what he did to yours. He agreed there was no way he’d accept that. I said when you try to keep the Ten Commandments but do not do it perfectly, it is like you are trying to offer God some scratched up pipes. He saw the point then. I was going through Bibles verses with him all while through the booklet I carried. I said if he wanted to be forgiven, trusting in Jesus as the perfect payment for his sin, there was a prayer he could pray right now and be forgiven trusting in Jesus. I talked him through it and he prayed with me to receive Jesus. He seemed happy. His club was leaving so I gave him a copy of “Bible Promises for You.” He had a New Testament the Black Sheep gave anyone who wanted one. I put his name and “Forgiven” in the front. He took it happily and headed out.

Dalius had taken the same book after I had gone through the Gospel and written down Bible verses, giving him the booklet too. He had become disillusioned with the Lithuanian Orthodox Church he had been attending, saying a couple in our area had closed their doors. He felt like they were only after money. But I encouraged him and he confessed Christ as we left, not having been that clear on how his sins were taken away. He had asked about other religions, saying God was close to everyone. I explained the differences to him and he appreciated that, accepting my points. Good looking guy, biker jacket, was smoking as he rode out and gave him a nod. So I have been praying for them both.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism. We are still hopeful school will open in summer.

Love in Christ,
Bob

Ezekiel 1:21 Whenever those went, these went; and whenever those stood still, these stood still. And whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

Ezekiel 3:13 And I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another and the sound of the wheels beside them, even a great rumbling sound.