Note: This is a “Chaplain’s Message” presented at the most recent UCOA meeting.

Who do you rely on? Yourself, your family, your club? We all need to have people we can rely on in difficult situations. If you don’t have anyone you can rely on, except yourself, then life can be very difficult. For example, it is very valuable to have a brother that will come to your aid if your bike breaks down, out in the middle of nowhere, or, if you get sick, and can’t work, it is great to have brothers and sisters that will put together an event to help raise money for your financial needs.

Friends are very valuable indeed, but even brotherhood has it’s limits. You don’t ask your brothers to do things that will harm them, and you don’t expect a brother to do something that you can do for yourself. Brotherhood implies a certain level of individual responsibility. I consider all of you friends and brothers and sisters, some of you are close, and some are not as close.

Those of us here that are Christians also have another brother. That would be Jesus Christ. Jesus is like the prefect brother. He cares for me, and he is always there when I encounter one of those difficult situations, and He always does what is best for me. He doesn’t always do what I want, because even I don’t always know what is best for me, but He does know, and he makes it happen. He does this by using people like me, and each of you to accomplish what is best, and sometimes we don’t even know he is doing it.

Sometimes it is handy to have another brother.

As part of the process of making a Father’s Day present for Chip, Shawna wanted to make some hand prints of Ezra (2 weeks old), I took this video of the process.

Click on the title above to see the video.

Well the ROT Biker Rally in Austin Texas is over! About 200 of my fellow CMA members worked Registration for the rally. I also worked registration, but mostly worked our centrally located hospitality tent. We served up many thousands of cups of ice water, lemonade and coffee during the four days of the rally. Everyone was very appreciative, and we enjoyed providing a place where everyone could stop, refresh, sit, talk and rest out of the sun.

UPDATE: I don’t want to forget to extend a BIG thank you to all of you that helped work the tent, making coffee, lemonade and ice water, and a special thank you to Art and Linda Blaise and Charles and Brenda Clawson who not only camped at the hospitality tent site, but also provided the early morning and late evening coverage.

Click on the title above to see the video slideshow of the pictures I took at the ROT Rally in Austin Texas.

Do you ever feel like things just don’t work the way they should? I’m talking about people, relationships, organizations and the like. Have you ever feel like life ought to be easier than it is. I know I have. People never seem to be as committed as they should be, they don’t always do the right thing, at the fight time, in the right place, or for the right reason. I know, because I am one of those people, and so are you. You see, the problem is we are broken. The Bible tells us that we are created with a built in desire to know God, and to have a relationship with Him. He built us that way, but He doesn’t want a bunch of robots, so he gave us a choice. We can choose to put God where he belongs, in our hearts, or we can choose to put ourselves there instead. We don’t fit the throne of our hearts very well, but it kind of sort of works. Anyway, back to broken. When we are born, we don’t know God, so we go merrily along being king of our own lives, learning all these bad habits about what belongs to me, what is mine and what I want. Our parents try to teach us, as best they can, to share our toys and be nice to others, but since I’m the king, I don’t always listen. I am broken. Fortunately, God has provided a plan to repair what is broken. He sent Jesus to teach us how life is supposed to work. Jesus was a great teacher. But in fact, Jesus is much more than just a great teacher. Jesus is like the expert motorcycle mechanic, He looks at the problem, knows what is causing it, and fixes it in short order. When we put Jesus on the throne of our lives, he fixes us, and he does it completely. There is however, one little tiny little problem that causes the motorcycle mechanic analogy to break down. When you repair a bike, it is repaired, and it just works. But when Jesus repairs us, he still leaves us with the ability to make choices, and we have been well trained to make decisions the way “I” want. Fortunately, God has a lot of patience, and he keeps working with us as we learn that our own decisions are not as good as His. It takes time, lots of time. Sometimes I wish God would just take away my choices and just do things His way, but then He doesn’t want a bunch of robots, He wants us to understand that His way is the best way, and when I choose His way, I get to see that the results are much better than when I choose my way. It takes time, lots of time.

Tom Zimmer