Friday, July 02, 2004
VPs Verisimilitudes, Yes I Think So
We just got back from the Austin Roller fund raiser in Liberty Hill, held at Mike's Barnyard BBQ on 29. It was a small event, including a ride through the Hill Country, an auction and live music. Overall, pretty well organized, and it raised about $3000 for the Roller family to help with expenses. We were asked to have a Bike Blessing at the end, and we had a dozen or so bikes and riders stick around through the 95 degree temperatures to get their bikes blessed. All in all, a good time had by everyone. Oh, yes, and the food was good to. Debbie and I spend most of the day at the first poker run stop, Hill Country Hawg, talking to riders as they came through, and handing out bottles of cold water, compliments of the shop. Whenever I participate in a Bike Blessing, I always ask the rider if they have accepted Jesus as their saviour. I find it interesting that as often as not, the response is "yes, I think so". That seems good on the surface, but it tells me that they aren't sure. I usually ask more questions, to find out if they have actually asked Jesus to come into their lives, and usually they have. The thing is, I always wonder why people seem unsure. It appears that many people believe that if we wander away from Christ, he will somehow change his mind about saving us. That is NOT true. Jesus won't change His mind. He promised us that if we ask for forgiveness, He will be faithful to forgive our sins. Now many people believe that if they were to somehow die, before asking for forgiveness for their last sins, that they would be excluded from heaven, but we need to remember that Jesus died only once, 2000 years ago, and then He was resurrected once, never to die again. When Christ died, he died for ALL my (and your) sins, past, present, and future. Once we have accepted him as saviour, we have accepted his forgiveness for all our sins, not just the ones we specifically asked for forgiveness for. Now does that mean we don't need to ask for forgiveness anymore? Well, when I ask for forgiveness for my sins, I am agreeing with God that I wandered away from Him, and tried to handle things on my own. When I do that, I think it is useful in my training (God's training of me) to acknowledge that I did a foolish thing, and I should have let Him handle my life. When we wander away from God, he waits patiently for us to realize we are doing something silly, and then accepts us back into His arms the moment we realize we made a mistake. Let us agree right now, that when we wander away, and come to realize we made a mistake, we will not delay acknowledging our mistake to God and just accept his loving arms waiting for us, even at this moment. ¶ 9:54 AM
We just got back from the Austin Roller fund raiser in Liberty Hill, held at Mike's Barnyard BBQ on 29. It was a small event, including a ride through the Hill Country, an auction and live music. Overall, pretty well organized, and it raised about $3000 for the Roller family to help with expenses. We were asked to have a Bike Blessing at the end, and we had a dozen or so bikes and riders stick around through the 95 degree temperatures to get their bikes blessed. All in all, a good time had by everyone. Oh, yes, and the food was good to. Debbie and I spend most of the day at the first poker run stop, Hill Country Hawg, talking to riders as they came through, and handing out bottles of cold water, compliments of the shop. Whenever I participate in a Bike Blessing, I always ask the rider if they have accepted Jesus as their saviour. I find it interesting that as often as not, the response is "yes, I think so". That seems good on the surface, but it tells me that they aren't sure. I usually ask more questions, to find out if they have actually asked Jesus to come into their lives, and usually they have. The thing is, I always wonder why people seem unsure. It appears that many people believe that if we wander away from Christ, he will somehow change his mind about saving us. That is NOT true. Jesus won't change His mind. He promised us that if we ask for forgiveness, He will be faithful to forgive our sins. Now many people believe that if they were to somehow die, before asking for forgiveness for their last sins, that they would be excluded from heaven, but we need to remember that Jesus died only once, 2000 years ago, and then He was resurrected once, never to die again. When Christ died, he died for ALL my (and your) sins, past, present, and future. Once we have accepted him as saviour, we have accepted his forgiveness for all our sins, not just the ones we specifically asked for forgiveness for. Now does that mean we don't need to ask for forgiveness anymore? Well, when I ask for forgiveness for my sins, I am agreeing with God that I wandered away from Him, and tried to handle things on my own. When I do that, I think it is useful in my training (God's training of me) to acknowledge that I did a foolish thing, and I should have let Him handle my life. When we wander away from God, he waits patiently for us to realize we are doing something silly, and then accepts us back into His arms the moment we realize we made a mistake. Let us agree right now, that when we wander away, and come to realize we made a mistake, we will not delay acknowledging our mistake to God and just accept his loving arms waiting for us, even at this moment. ¶ 9:54 AM
