People, I know I mentioned that I wouldn't be talking about the biker stuff much anymore(or did I say, "At All Until Next Season?") I know I said something but I can't remember what. That happens when you get up there in years and try to keep track of 9(or is it 10)granchildren's names. The prompting of the spirit has brought about tasks the past 24 hours that I would never have dreamed of on Wednesday. That's another story for another time and place. The pics of the rallys this year are still coming in, and some of them are very similar to ones I took. The poster at the bottom, though, says it all. Labels of many kinds are placed on people, but the hardest ones to escape are the ones that we put on ourselves. I know it is much easier to say, "yeah, I'm a ________(you fill in the blank), but I just can't help it or change it; I'm happy this way; maybe this is how God planned for me to be; it doesn't make any difference; The justifications are endless and the answers are few. When we look at ourselves in the mirror and what we see is not pleasing there is a lot we can do about it. We can be 100% "honest" with ourselves and admit what the problems are and begin the process of seeking an answer that is different from the one we've been living. People don't change people, God changes people! We can help along the way, sort of like the folks that do the type of outreach at rallys that you see pictured. We can point to some of the positive decisions we've made in our own lives, and we can point the way to the one who can provide the total forgiveness for which we are so desperately in need. If there is ever going to be true change in our existence it is up to us to make it. These days(maybe it's been that way always, but I didn't live always)there are as many folks sitting in church on Sunday on their way to a "not so pleasant end" as there are truly seeking heaven's gates. Some of the places we go you can find as many people saved in back alleys as you can in the pews, the big difference is that they are out there trying to help others to find that "better" way of living. The media is focused on the upcoming big blow along the coast. People are evacuating and getting away from the danger. My most fervent prayer would be for people to run as fast away from the dark places in their lives that prevent them from walking in the light of Christ as they do from the weather. Depending on how we live, it may be far more important to focus on where we are escaping to than what we are running from. In Christ's Love, Preacher.
