Riding Home: 2012

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Dance with Me

For Ellie Morlang-

'Dance with me, I want to be your partner.
Can't you see the music is just starting?
Night is falling, and I am calling.
Dance with me.'

(Dance With Me’ from the 1975 album ‘Waking and Dreaming’ by Orleans)

Rolling the Electra Glide out of the garage,

My passenger nervously smiled, and tightened her grip on my waist.

‘Just around the block, then back home ok?’ she says

‘Ok.’ I answered ‘But if you change your mind, just let me know, and we’ll go around a bigger block.’

‘No’ she says,’just around the neighborhood , then home’

-- As she attempted to ‘steer me’ through the first turn,

Turning my waist like a steering wheel..

I was glad she weighed half of nothing,

Though she did have quite a grip for 75.

On the straight that followed, I talked gently to her, encouraging her to ‘trust me’, and just ‘enjoy the ride’.

To just accept my invitation…

and Go with it.

She relaxed.

I sugguested she would enjoy the padded leather backrests..

and to try out those armrests.

Rest.

By the time we had completed our neighborhood ‘lap’..

Where the left turn would take her home..

She wanted to turn right…

taking us into the country…

for the bigger block.

She forgot about ‘driving’..

to discover ‘riding’…

and that changed ‘everything’.

‘This is wonderful!’

she said looking all around..checking out the scenary.

‘Next time’.. I told her.. ‘the henna tatoos are on me!’

When you head out on the road ‘two up’..

it all works together for a wonderful experience

when there is One driver..and one rider.

And two of you ..move as one.

Just like learning to dance with another..

the ‘tango’

Only exists with ‘lead’ and ‘follow’…’follow and lead’

One is not above the other…

^{John 15}

¹⁵I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

and learning to ‘lead’

^{Matthew 28}

¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

is only complete with knowing the joy of following.

^{Luke 14}

³³In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

and only Together..

they become One.

‘It’

is not something ‘to do’..

‘It’

is something ‘to allow.’

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

If this is it..

‘Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late.’
(A Day in the Life by The Beatles from the 1967 album 'Sgt.Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band)

Well..

If this is it.

My last..…’Today’

I want to leave my wife with fresh oil in her ride

so I dropped her car off at McCarthy Service before they opened,

and signed their ‘release’ form

for the last time…

and dropped the keys in the envelope, and put it in the overnight box.

-Gone-

As I looked out at route 7, cool air against my skin..

shorts and ‘sneaks’ on...

I’ll have this one more run home...

in this misty morning.

Stretching out a little before I head out

I see a couple of gals from a local church are walking…talking..

And heading back into the fog.

as I approach the road.

the air smells great.

breaking into a run,

I feel ‘in Creation’

And in a few more miles I’ll be

home.

to walk Tootsie one more time..

give Rosemary one more kiss....

²⁴ Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

It is a day like no other.

¹³"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Yes..and maybe Lord..

I'm finally 'getting it'.

³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'^[f] ³¹The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'^[g]There is no commandment greater than these."

showered...

clean underwear...

shaved....teeth brushed..

hmmm...

lets see now....the wardrobe..

which black Harley shirt to wear?

Everything outside seems to have more color today, as I roll the electra glide out of the garage.

'the money'..

'the board meeting'..

'the job'..

'the house'.. 'gigs'...

'chores'... all have fallen to the ground

like leaves for someone else to rake up.

for this

is my last Today.

Pressing ‘start’

The 103 comes to life..and waits for me.

‘ So Lord...

how about we Go for 'just one more'...

Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

for You to share 'the good news' with,

before I come Home Today?

Luke 16

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
²²“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
²⁵“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
²⁷“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
²⁹“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
³⁰“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
³¹“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

don't wait another minute...

if this is it... Today

My Old School

Show biz kids making movies
Of themselves you know they
Don't give a f*?# about anybody else….

(‘Show Biz Kds’ from the 1973 Steely Dan album ‘Countdown to Ecstacy’)

Steely Dan (Donald Fagan and Jeff Baxter) shaped a good portion of my listening and playing

time as a musician.

I met Donald backstage in Saratoga. It was very cool.

The song lyrics reflect a truth that Donald Fagan witnessed …

and was compelled to write about in song.

This one is one of my favorites…

And..

Yes, and that is the ‘F’ bomb.

softened up...with the symbols.

He wouldn’t want you to miss the passion..

as he looked out upon the poverty in our culture.

You may find some ‘Show Biz Kid’ in you.

I know I find it in me.

Softened with symbols

A Passionate Man..saw the poverty in a culture 2000 years ago..

I will omit the symbols this time…as I am here to talk to you

of the Paramount manifestation in flesh..

we can sacrificially offer each other..and God.

This, is about Marriage.

Marriage Is Sacred and Binding

³¹ “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³² But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality^[e] causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

Ok…

Adultery.

Adultery in the Heart

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said to those of old,^[c] ‘You shall not commit adultery.’^[d] ²⁸ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Wow Man…that is a little harsh

Don’t you think?

And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made^[a]them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’^[b] ⁵ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?^[c] ⁶ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” ⁷ They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” ⁸ He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ⁹ And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality,^[d] and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” ¹⁰ His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

That I look at marriage of man and woman (yes male and female) as the manifestation of Gods Church (as opposed to ‘our’ church)..

Isn’t just ‘my’ idea.

Of course..if you don’t know Christ as Lord…

Well….

Look for your ‘loophole’ in scripture to get a divorce

To get married to your farm animal!

Class dismissed.

It is easy to get distracted by those that profess to know Christ..

That have ‘changed partners’ 1, 2, 3 or more times..

And are raising their hands in praise every Sunday.

Is it a mockery?

Is it ignorance…

Of Who they are raising their hands to.

(‘…making movies of themselves, you know they don’t give…’)

Just who is to blame?

In the name of numbers..

How superficial has ‘the News’ of The Son of God become?

Maybe if ‘we’ make it easy..

And use some ‘tools’

Hey man, be careful.

If…

Marriage is His Church.

What is Its Foundation?

What have you and I adapted into our lives…

to be a little more acceptable..

While fostering ignorance in the wake.

So..

does quoting the ‘Judge’ make me ‘judgmental’?

I’ll share my

My fear…

My conviction..

Is that I wake up one day..

standing before a beaten Man…

holding the bloodied ‘tool’ that was used to inflict the freshest wound..

And Him looking up at me

And then higher

saying..

Forgive him…

he just didn’t know… Me.

As I kick around ‘town’..

And our Lord engages me where I am at…

He lets me understand the importance of me..

-me Choosing-

You know..

I like the new bike…

But…I gratefully park it…

In front of ‘the old school’.

( a little heavy…take your time)

Thus when our Lord further saith, unless a Man forsake all that he hath, he cannot be my Disciple; the Reason is plain, and the Necessity absolute. It is because all that the natural Man hath, is in the Possession of Self-love, and therefore this Possession is to be absolutely forsaken, and parted with. All that he hath, is to be put into other Hands, to be given to Divine Love, or this natural Man cannot be changed into a Disciple of Christ. For Self-love in all that it hath, is earthly, sensual, and devilish, and therefore must have all taken away from it; and then to the natural Man all is lost, he hath nothing left, all is laid down at the Feet of Jesus. And then all Things are common, as soon as Self-love has lost the Possession of them. And then the Disciple of Christ, though having nothing, yet possesseth all Things, all that the natural Man has forsaken, is restored to the Disciple of Christ an hundred-fold. For Self-love, the greatest of all Thieves, being now cast out, and all that he had stolen and hidden thus taken from him, and put into the Hands of Divine Love, every Mite becomes a large Treasure, and Mammon opens the Door into everlasting Habitations. This was the Spirit of the first Draught of a Christian Church at Jerusalem, a Church made truly after the Pattern of Heaven, where the Love that reigns in Heaven reigned in it, where Divine Love broke down all the selfish Fences, the Locks and Bolts of me, mine, my own, &c., and laid all Things common to the Members of this new Kingdom of God on Earth.

William Law in the year 1749

How long have you been settling for good…

While the Best laid it all out for you…

Again and again

So many years ago.

You’ll pay more attention to what He says…

When you Believe.. He and God are One in the same.