Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 10, Devotion

May 10, 2011

Devotion

Ephesians 5:25  “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church.  He gave up his life for her …”

When a man marries a woman, he really only has a small idea of what he is getting himself into.  I have been a pastor now for 27 years.  That means I have officiated at hundreds of marriage services and spent over a thousand hours in premarital counseling.  I have made a sincere effort to help couples who plan to marry to understand the great commitment that is required in order for a marriage to work for 50 years.  But they only half listen to me.  They think they are so in love they can withstand any challenges that will come along.  Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians really sets the bar of commitment very high with this one verse.  Today my commitment to my wife Martina was tested.  It was not a big deal, but then most of the challenges to a relationship usually aren’t really all that big.  We were getting to the end of our day of riding.  It had been our most challenging day because the hills were now mountains and the up hills were one to 12 mile stretches.  I was struggling on the up hills  to average a speed of 4-6 mph.  The distance to cover today was 78 miles.  Out of pure ego I wanted to make the entire ride.  Climb the mountains and ride the distance, just so that I  could say to myself, I did it!  As we were getting to the last 15 miles I had to start pushing myself real hard, but I was determined.  When there was just 5 miles left I realized, I had not heard from Martina on the walkie talkie in a long time.  So, much to my chagrin I stopped and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Now I was getting frustrated because I was running out of time, I would not be able to  complete the  ride, and I so wanted to.  But I couldn’t raise Martina on the walkie talkie or the cell phone.  Something had to be wrong.  Decision time.  Ride back to check on Martina or finish  the ride (yea me!) and hope she shows up eventually?  I rode back to check on Martina.  Yea God for using the big stick on my big ego.  It  turns out Martina had stopped and was looking for me.

Marriage is always about sacrificing for each other, it’s the  only way.  But when you do it, when it becomes the norm in your marriage, the payback over 50 years is worth it.

Prayer:  Father in heaven, thank you for loving me, by giving me a loving spouse.  Please  help me to honor my spouse as Christ did the church, by giving my life for to them.  Amen.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 10

May 10, 2011

Journal

Today I am so tired that I could fall asleep here at the keyboard.  It was our most challenging day of  riding.  We had been warned that it would be.  Today we met the mountains of Virginia.  They are  beautiful, but they are mean!  It’s not that they are real steep, they  just go on and on  and on.  The first mountain to climb was a 12 mile up hill with no break in between!  With every turn in the road I hoped that we had reached the top, no such luck.  So today, all 73 miles that I pedaled had lots of up hill climbs.  But I have to also  say, Virginia has beautiful countryside.  Large  farms, lots of horses and cows, and many Christmas tree farms.  When we arrived at  Wytheville we were greeted  by Pastor Steve Ridenhour of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.  The church is over 150 years old.  The congregation has  done a wonderful job of taking care of the facilities so they look very beautiful.  They even had four showers so that we could shower when we arrived.  Pastor Steve and members of the congregation prepared a wonderful dinner for us.  Afterwards we had our Village of Hope presentation.  This congregation has been long time supporters of the VOH.  They support  many children and Pastor Steve and one of his members visited the VOH about 15 years ago.  I am sure that this congregation will continue to be strong supporters  of the  VOH mission.

Tomorrow we head for Harrisonburg, VA located among the Shenandoah Mountains.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 9, Devotion

May 9, 2011

Devotion

Matthew 28:5-6  “Then the angel  spoke to the women.  Don’t be afraid!  He said.  I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.  He isn’t here!  He  is risen from the dead,  just as he said would happen.”

Sometimes you have to go through a rough patch before you get to experience the joy.  Today I had two experiences that left an impression on me.  The first is I was riding down hill at a fairly fast speed when suddenly the pavement ended and I found myself in grass and gravel.  I had to make a split second  decision, do I turn the handlebars quickly to the right and try to get back on the smooth road surface or do I ride through this rough patch.  I decided to go through the rough gravel and grass because to have  tried, at this speed, to force my wheel  out of the gravel and  onto the road could have  ended with a wipeout onto the road or gravel.  Better to just patiently ride  through the rough stuff until it ends and then get back onto the road.  The second experience I had today was when I was riding through this long uphill stretch.  It kept going, I  had to gear down to the lowest gears, my legs were getting tired.  It was rough.  Finally, I got to the top and what I saw was this huge several acres meadow of  beautiful brilliant yellow and blue  flowers.  It was breath taking....the little I still had left.  The beauty at the  top made the  rough  stretch worth it.

I return to  the text I opened with which is one of the familiar Easter gospel texts.  The women and disciples who followed Jesus went through a very difficult stretch for  three years as they followed Jesus.  The worst were those  last very confusing days when all their hopes and dreams were  dashed with Jesus’ death on the cross.  But then came the resurrection.  A miracle.  A new reality.  Jesus was  offering them more  than they ever imagined.  Going through the rough patch was worth it beyond any measure.

In our life of faith and  obedience there will be many rough stretches.  We  will experience them in school and work, in all our relationships with spouses, children, parents, friends and coworkers.  We will experience  difficult times in our finances, in our health and in our careers.  Rough patches are a part of life.  And sometimes they are even rougher because we are trying to remain faithful to our Lord Jesus.  My friends, after every Good  Friday there is an Easter for those who believe and trust in Jesus.  And believe me, it’s worth it to remain faithful.

Prayer:  Gracious Father, I pray for your courage and strength to get through the rough patches in life trusting that you will be there with me through it all and there will be grace on the other side.  Amen.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 9

May  9, 2011

Journal

Today the hills became longer and steeper, a foretaste of the feast too come, I fear!!!  Since it was only 44 miles we arrived in Wilkesboro early enough  that we could have lunch at a nearby lake.  We then came to the church, Atonement Lutheran and met Pastor John Frasier and his wife Cara who have been the  pastor family here for  the past 20 months.  They both met when  they were  school teachers.  Pastor John is a second career Pastor.  Pastor John and his wife Cara allowed us to shower in their home, which is a lot nicer than the little hand held shower  I have outside our camper.  We then went  out for dinner together and enjoyed  east Carolina barbcue which you barbcue connoisseurs know has a vinegar taste to it.  I have to say I like my son-in-law’s barbcue better.  I missed my bottle of BullsEye barbcue sauce.  After dinner  we met  with some of the members of Atonement Lutheran  Church for our Village of Hope presentation.  It was very exciting to see their faces light up with the idea that they could possibly come  over to Haiti and visit the mission.  Pastor John has a heart for  teaching the Bible and he would love to see if there is a possibility of teaching/conversing with Haitian young adults or pastors for a few weeks.  Pastor John also sees a connection for how  a mission trip to Haiti could fit well into the discipleship program he is wanting to offer here at Atonement.  I love to see how  God works.  Martina and I are the messengers that plant a seed here at Atonement.  God does all the growing.

Its time to go to bed now.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a  day full of steep climbs to Wytheville, VA.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 8, Devotion

Ride For Haiti, part 2

Day  8

May 8, 2011

Devotion

John 15:14-17  “You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves.  Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.  You didn’t choose me.  I chose you.  I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that  the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.  This is my commandment:  Love each other.”

These are the words  of Jesus to His disciples before He left them to return to His Father in heaven.  What I understand Jesus to be  saying is that the relationship we  share with Him is one of deep and abiding friendship.  And, what Jesus wants us His disciples to share  with each other is deep abiding friendship where love is shared.   Jesus knows that there are great challenges before His disciples.  What will sustain them, empower  them and make them successful is the relationship of friendship that they share with Him and each other.  Lose the friendship with Jesus and each other and all else will be lost.  That is serious.  As I am on this  bike  ride away from church and family there are all kinds of important issues swirling around  at home and at the church.  Normally I  would be engaged personally with most of them.  But  now I am away.  The peace and hope  that I cling to is the friendship I have with Jesus Christ, the  friendship I share with each of my family members and our church leaders, and the  friendship I know  exists between my family members and between church leaders.  With these friendships in place Christ  can  work  in and among us and bring about His  goodness.

Prayer:  Thank you Jesus that you call me friend.  Please help me to be a Christ filled friend to my family, friends and church community.  Amen.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 8

May 8, 2011

Journal

Today was a wonderful day of activities, but only  32 miles of  bike riding.  We had a wonderful evening of dinner and conversation with Pastors Jack and Linda McHenry.  In the morning we woke up, had a casual calm breakfast together and then we went to church by 9 AM.  Wow, is that different than my life on Sunday mornings at HSLC.  I found out that I had been saying the name wrong for the church.  It is not Christ Lutheran Church, rather Christ’s Lutheran Church.  Very cool!  They prepared a wonderful spread of breakfast snacks;  feed them and they will come.  And come they did.  We had about  25 people attend our presentation at the  adult Sunday School class.  After the class Martina and I went to worship and we were allowed to give a temple talk prior to worship starting.  The people of Christ’s Lutheran Church were very appreciative of what we are doing for the  Village of Hope.  VOH has a special place in their heart  because their pastor, after retiring, became the director  at the  Village of Hope for four years.  The  people of Christ’s Lutheran Church support many of the  VOH children and have visited on a mission trip.  Something that really impressed me that they do at CLC is the pastors memorize the Gospel reading for that Sunday and present it without any notes.  Very effective and meaningful.

After worship ended Martina and I greeted people from the congregation and then we went back to the McHenry  home to change and start riding again.  I only had time to ride for three  hours today, riding in the direction of Wilkesboro, NC where we will be tomorrow evening.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 6, Devotion

May 6, 2011

Psalm 71:1,5  “In you O Lord, I put my trust.  For you are my hope, O Lord God;  you are my trust from my youth.”

This morning shortly after Martina and I got started with our ride, something that can quickly become very troubling happened, I lost Martina.  Martina is the navigator.  She has the GPS, the computer and the maps.  Only she knows the route and I just follow where she tells me by walkie talkie to go.  As long as I stay focused on her and listen carefully, we stay together and we arrive on time to our destination.  How did I “lose” Martina?  I took my eyes off of her.  I passed by a 16 screen movie theater and was reading all the different movies that were playing by the time I looked back down the street Martina was gone!  Which means, I’m lost, or  about  to be lost.  It means she turned somewhere and I didn’t pay attention.  She expected that I was paying attention and that I was behind her.  Now we had to take the time to call each other so that I could find  out where she was and rejoin her.

This happens to Christ followers all the time.  This happens to pastors, church leaders, husbands and wives, parents and children, business owners, CEO’s, teachers, coaches, etc.  We are all guilty of taking our eyes off of Jesus and looking elsewhere.  If left unchecked we stopping trusting Jesus and we begin to trust in ourselves, our awesome abilities, training and experiences.  We stop looking at Jesus because we know best.  We stop looking at Jesus and we become impatient, we become domineering and intimidating.  We stop looking at Jesus and we are less forgiving and understanding.  We stop looking at Jesus and we cheat on our spouses and families.  We stop looking at Jesus and we are dishonest and our hearts are hard toward the needs of others.  We stop looking at Jesus and we think it is all about me and it’s not.  WE’RE LOST!  Good  News, glorious news!  There is hope.  Christ died, Christ rose again and in Him we are forgiven and have new life.  So just STOP!  And call out, and find out where God is and join Him there.  He is never  far away!

Prayer:  Father God, I am so sorry that I regularly take my eyes  off of Jesus.  Thank you for your grace.  Help me to get back on the right path and back to you.  Amen.