Now that I have retired from my role as Chaplain of UCOA, everyone is asking me how my retirement is going. Truth be told, it hasn’t really started yet, since we now need to focus on getting our Wells Branch home ready to sell, which has only barely begun. That turns out to be a benefit though in this circumstance, because I had free time to go to the UCOA meeting today down at Willies Joint, and since I’m not on the board any longer, I decided to bring the “big” camera and take some up close and personal photos of my friends. Now I have to mention that these are all unposed, so some of the facial expressions might be less than ideal, but I think they are pretty good, so I hope you enjoy them. Oh, and special apologies to Sintax, he shows up in most of them 🙂

By now, most of you will have heard that I am retiring from my role as Chaplain of UCOA. I was asked to be Chaplain by the chairman Casey Bolt in June 2006, nearly 14 years ago. During that time I have seen God do an amazing work in our community. It’s been an huge blessing to me, and it makes me sad that it is coming to an end. But as I transition toward retiring from my “other role” (the one that pays the bills), I need to step back so that I can complete some of the tasks on my multi-year retirement to-do list. This means I won’t be able to serve the community for a while, and that wouldn’t be right. The Board has accepted the responsibility for selecting a new Chaplain, and I am available to them if they need me.

I want you all to know that I love you. I know we biker don’t always say that much, but there is a precedent for it in the Bible (you knew there would be);

1 John 4:11”Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

I know that some of you don’t believe in God, but please hear me when I say that God believes in you. And not only does He believe in you, but he Loves you and He wants to have a real, personal and living relationship with you. He won’t force you, but if you give Him a chance, He will show you how real He is. 

The time is now. He is waiting even at this moment to embrace you and give you abundant, eternal life. This is the prayer that saved me, about 40 years ago; “Lord, I want to believe you are real, if you are, I want you to come into my life”. The time is now.

You know, the really cool part about allowing God to come into our lives is that   He gives a new heart and new mindset.  We see Him working in the world around us. He opens our mind so that we can participate in the work He is doing and we get to enjoy the experience. 

(Now, this is where all of you Christians need to listen up)

Abide in Christ and see how He will work in you and through you. I DID NOT SAY go out and do a bunch of work FOR Christ. Working for God is pointless and it just leads to burn out. 

Here is a couple of verses that make my point;

John 15:4,5 “4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he is the one that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

It must be important, because He repeated it. Think of an apple tree. The branches bear the fruit. If you cut off a branch that has buds on it, will the buds mature into full flavorful apples? No they won’t. That is because the branch doesn’t grow the fruit, it only allows the life of the tree to flow through it to the apples as they grow.

So, if you are super busy doing all kinds of stuff for God, and you even go so far as to invite God to come along while you work, is God going to bless your work for Him?

The simple and truthful answer is that, unless He is speaking directly to you leading you to do His will, then no He won’t bless that work. It is only of spiritual value if God is the one doing the work. You and I are only the hands, and feet and voice that God uses. Let God do the work He desire in you and through you. Abide in Christ, and He will abide in you.

My final words for you are these; 

If you don’t have a real, personal, and living relationship with Jesus, give Him a chance and see what He can do.

And, if you do know Jesus as your Savior, but you have been trying to lead Him around with you, get out of the way and see that He will do so much more than you can even imagine.

We went to the Bandidos MC 50th Anniversary party in Granger at the Cotton Country Club Saturday, But before that we had to stop at a couple of other events in our new home town of Bartlett, so we arrived a bit late, around 3pm. By that time, as you can see from the photos, the whole area was packed with motorcycles, including clubs from out of the area, and even one club from California that was visiting to show their respect. As you probably know, we are working to get all motorcycle clubs to work together to protect our rights as Americans and citizens of this wonderful country. We slowly worked out way inside, and the venue was definitely at capacity, and probably then some, if you consider all those still outside. If you can imagine 500 plus bikers having a party, you will have part of the picture. I didn’t see anyone drunk, but there was sure a lot of hugging going on. As we and others moved through the crowd, there was a lot of bumping, but no problems. Everyone was being very respectful. Eventually it came time to raffle off the motorcycle, and when the winning ticket was drawn, I believe the winner was even an independent rider, one of several independents present in the sea of club members. Overall, I think everyone had a great time.

We had out first UCOA meeting of 2020 at the Roadhouse in Round Rock. It was well attended. We started with a quarterly Presidents meeting, and finished off with the 2020 Secretaries Planning Meeting. Got to see lots of friends I have been missing since Thanksgiving. All this and some wonderful Texas clear weather.

Today MiRaza had their first anniversary party down at Back 9 Bar in Bastrop. I’m batching it, since Debbie is out in California helping her mother, so I drove down after a leisurely morning in Bartlett. I arrived just as things were getting started, but several clubs soon arrived though, despite the cool morning air. The music started to warm things up a bit and the afternoon sun felt really good. I hadn’t brought a jacket, and earlier someone asked me if I was cold. I guess I hadn’t realized I was cold until they mentioned it LOL  Mi Raza were serving pork taco plates with fixins, which I and everyone enjoyed. After a few minutes, I noticed Pastor Frank, President of Honor Bound, and we got to spend a while talking and getting caught up with each others busy lives. Another nice day without the normal baking Texas heat. Enjoy it while it lasts.