the bus stop

Bus stop, wet day, she's there I say

Please share my umbrella

Bus stop, bus go, she stays love grows

Under my umbrella

All that summer we enjoyed it

Wind and rain and shine

That umbrella we employed it

By August she was mine

                                     (‘Bus Stop’ - The Hollies -1966)

                          

  The ‘airwaves’ Today are just jammed with ‘the problem’..

                         And more than once I have been approached by friends that are sick of hearing about

                                                           ‘the problem’ 

                        ‘they’ want to know

                                                   What Is ‘The Solution’?!?!

The Bible is just jammed with many ways to say ‘it’…

                   but  IT

                    ‘comes down’ (selah)

                                                to only one thing.

                                                         ‘You’.

                       Nobody else…but you.                 

Faithfully Delivering the Message with your life..

                           While faithfully remaining ‘the messenger’.    

                                            

You know..as we congregate like children before the first day of school..

                   At the various bus stops…‘ pick up’ points around Gods Creation..

 ‘Andre has a red flag, Chiang Ching's is blue
They all have hills to fly them on except for Lin Tai Yu
Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games…

(‘Games Without Frontiers’ from the 1980 album ‘Peter Gabriel’)

                             Saying  this or that…

                                              What I believe…

      what you believe…

                                    talking of the different things we did on our summer vacation..

I have heard so many songs
Listened to a thousand tongues
But there is one
That sounds above them all

(Matt Redman- The Fathers Song)                                       

One thing is for certain…

 

The Parable of the Talents

    ¹⁴ “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents^[a] of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶ The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. ¹⁷ So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. ¹⁸ But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money”                                                       

                                    The Bus..is just beyond the corner…

                                                             Maybe just over the hill..

                                                          And it will arrive..

                                                                                            at the stop where you stand ..

                                          to pick you up..

                                                       for your first day of School.

                   

So…

         where am I led to go…where should I ride?

                          Where Jesus can be seen.

                                              Not where my idea of what I should do to be seen,

                                                                                                            as Jesus.

a thoughtful Reality

It is true,

  In the 168 hour week..

          Which many measure their lives with…

Our thoughts can become our ‘reality’..

                                         and our Reality

 can become just a passing thought.

                   On that …

                  

                             I’ve been thinking.

                    What is important…

                                      To me…

                                                and you…

                                                          Today?

Luke 12 vs 34                                          

                                    ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Playing Cards

He said, "Son, I've made a life
Out of readin' people's faces
Knowin' what the cards were
By the way they held their eyes

(‘The Gambler’ from the 1978 album ‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rodgers)

____

        40 degrees…

                         ‘Remember…don’t go above 3000 rpm’

                these new pipes sound nice..deeper

                                    ‘until you come in for the 1000 mile service’

                The dealership technicians voice is losing my attention,

                                                    to my thoughts..

                                -I just want to get on this thing and get the accident behind me.!-

Well, three grand is about 85 mph on this 103 cube six speed.

               

       the temperature is dropping near freezing

                                 as I am freed on interstate 88.

Heading home on the new ride..

      to a 50^th birthday party for a good friend.. Who stood over me at the scene of the fateful ride on my ‘05

                     Making sure I was ok…

                                   saying ‘don’t you ever $%#@!@scare me like this again!’

                                     Now thats love!

                                                                Terry is the real ‘deal’.

He has ‘cards’ in his hand, and he doesn’t care who sees them.

                   People like him have heard plenty of ‘christianese’…

                                                                

                                                   You know, the’ cheesy way’ ( often confused with ‘The Way’)

        And watched it play out,

                              as cards held that never really existed…in other peoples lives.

   

        like some masquerading chump, that doesn’t have the King in his hand,

                                             but just looking for ‘some pieces of silver’ for himself.

Yet many of us,

       

                continue to think we have something….rather than that something has us,

        keeping our cards down,

                                                our poker face on

                                                                        so no one can see that we’re bluffing.

Jesus called us on it…

       

                        And He will, (oh yeah, He can)

                                                                call them on it through you.

    “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

                             Woe to you teachers...

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.

                                        Woe to you teachers…

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.

In a culture where every one is 19, and built like a brick house, on the magazine end caps of your local market..

      Where it is a free-for-all in media wars…

                                  Bunch of hide and seek…

                                                        an age of entitlement and greed..

                               __  Teachers!

                  

                                       ‘Know when to fold ‘em’! __

                       

                People are seeing poker faced bluffers everywhere they turn,

                                       

Jesus wants to play the ‘hand’ you were dealt… to reveal these cards to those you are with…

        not for ‘you’ to keep these cards hidden, making pretend you got something you don’t.

        You…are each a very important part…as who You are.

        So lay the cards your were dealt…face up…

                Let Jesus reveal in your hand,

                                                what the one you are with

                                                                        really needs to see.

 

 Unity and Diversity in the Body

 ¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

Collateral Damage

The fateful crash of the '05-11/12/10

All the leaves are brown..and the sky is grey…

(‘California Dreamin’ from the 1965 album ‘If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears’ by the Mamas and Papas)

As the end of the riding season in upstate New York

Becomes more apparent..

                   Snow remains against the hillsides..

                                         The sun no longer rising high enough to touch it.

I am reminded again… of the fateful ride on the ‘05…a year ago this Friday.

 How Today.. 5100 miles later..on another ride..

            I understand the importance of that corner..in more ways than that day.

About Grace.

How some times people run us into ‘the ditch’..

                                           and don’t stop.

And even though we forgive them in deed..

       often the need is still within us to have closure… 

                                        as the victim of  ‘The hit and run”.

              This happens in so many different ways…variations

          of ‘Life”..in this time, in our Spirit container.

We are ‘A Soul with a Body’..C.S.Lewis

How ..there is still a hearts desire..that those who, possibly without knowledge..

                                               did ‘you’ harm..

    that they would be awakened…

            by the many evidences in their wake that you or I can see

                                      but..

 do they really know?

Do they know…they hurt you?

That they trashed out your ride, and left you broken on the side of the road?

                   How it would mean so much to you.. that victim,

 if the reckless driver would just convey something as simple as..

                                                                 ‘I didn’t see you…I am so sorry”.

Grace…is upon me this day…one year later.

This email I typed in 2010, five days after the accident..about those 3 seconds on Friday…Nov. 12 at 4:05 pm

_________

I don't have digital…

1.) The Mercedes Benz had already lost control..

       coming wide.. going off the road onto the shoulder… in my lane.

 as it entered the corner..too fast

 I moved further to the outside..unable to lean into the corner..

          Because I would be leaning into the car..if it tried to get back to its’ own lane..

I’ don't have diddly squat…

2.) In the middle of the corner…its’ back on the road…completely in my lane..

                   I’m dead. I ride the white shoulder line..still can’t lean..I’m dead.

‘It's not having what you want…
3.) The Mercedes lurches back toward its own lane..I am amazed..

                            

                                               I am also out of highway…and here comes the culvert.

               

Then.. everything picked up speed…

It's wanting what you've got.
(‘Soak up the Sun’ from the 2002 album by Sheryl Crow-‘C’mon, C’mon’)

__________________

I viewed approximately 3 seconds of Life…in three distinct frames.

       

                Then I was over the handlebars and on my back…

And people began to appear……

²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
 ³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.

       

The Mercedes is gone….and after I inventory my body parts…

                                  I asked a young man to please shut off the ignition switch…as I looked between my feet..

                                                             No longer concerned about that ‘first scratch’ after 6 years.

A brief prayer of thanks…I know I am ok..

        And in the middle of His Grace on my life…

                              I left for very ‘P.Od.’ land….for a brief stay.

ugh..

alright..now I see..

Emergency people and vehicles….nice people..

                        Nobody…from where I used to go to ‘church’…

But ….people.

        People saying…’Paul are you alright’..’Paul here’s a pillow’..’Paul I’ll take care of the bike..’’

                        ‘Paul Lay DOWN!!!’

People from the community where I live.

                                                        They knew me outside of any ‘church’ building.

                Loving me… Helping me..

As I lay there realizing what Jesus had said

                                                       about ‘His temple’..

I was suddenly overcome..

                either delirious or

was having a revelation.

I see it now..

                 As they approach… they reach…I see..

                        ‘The Church’

                                             Oh my goodness…

____________________________________

I hope this leads us all to stop running around every Sunday…

             like for the last 2000 years …

                                                                 basically saying-

                “This is the answer!!!..

      “That is the answer!!!”

                                        “There is the answer!!!”

                                                        waving it like it is some kind of flag..

                                                                           Changing the color of it every week.

                                               As we sit hiding in ‘church’…in Grace

Hey man, ‘you’ and I..

          are ‘the answer’.

                            We are His Church…united on the corner of disaster.

                Once we realize Grace..

                                Once we accept Jesus the Christ as the Way..The Truth…and The Life.

                       

and for me...some 5100 miles later..

                  how little I know about Love.

                                        ‘Growing pains’…I hope you get them.

                                                   ²⁰ “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
 ²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said………….

       Peace.

Keep me in mind, as I set out on the Electra Glide this coming Friday..

to complete that journey that was..delayed, to top of my tank for the season.

                I know more than yesterday, that we all have a fateful corner in this life to round..successfully.

we can round it together.. in Him