“I bet one of the Christian riding clubs will be having an Easter sunrise service, let’s attend”, I remarked as Tish and I entered the clubhouse gate early March 2000. She looked at me with skepticism still not knowing what to think about my newly resurrected faith. Seemed like that faith had died so long ago. I had put her through so many phases and changes. What was I up to now?”

Big John was sunning himself by the front door as we walked up. “Hey Chaplain, Connie and I have been wondering, could you do an Easter thing here this year”? “You mean like an Easter egg hunt for the kids”, I replied. “No like a Christian service with music and a message”

.

I was shocked! Probably had not been a religious service in a Boozefighter clubhouse since the 1946 beginning. Also, I had not preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ in more than eighteen years. My life as a preacher and pastor was like a past life that I had blown and crucified. I guess I had forgotten that Easter is the symbol of new beginnings and personal resurrection. Anyway, I had been made Chaplain of chapter #69 by default. Originally I had not joined the Boozefighters to be a Christian, preacher nor Chaplain. Someone found out that I was ordained and the club needed “our own guy to hitch them and plant them”. That’s the way it was explained to me at the surprise appointment ceremony in December 1998.

Easter morning 2000 arrived. Big John, Underdog, and I rode together from Burleson. It was an hour before daybreak. After a fitful night I was full of doubt and questions. Would any Bikers really get out of bed and show up this early? I probably wouldn’t a year earlier. Was the Lord really going to give me another opportunity to minister after treating His grace and gift so shamefully? I couldn’t see why He should. Would the Boozefighters put me out of the club if I preached the truth straight up? Wouldn’t blame them if they did. Run-a-way and unfaithful prophets have a long history of being thrown overboard, i.e. Jonah.

As we rounded the corner, looking through the fence I saw an amazing site; a parking lot filled with bikes. There were 110 people there that first BFMC Easter Sonrise. The Lord did let me preach His cross, resurrection and grace. They didn’t even put me out. There was a special meeting the following week called by those who feared I intended to turn the clubhouse into a church. They went easier on me than I probably would have on them if the role reversed a year prior.

Seven years, fifteen funerals, thirty-nine wedding, a couple hundred messages, and a few baptisms later I’m still amazed daily at the grace of God to the chief of sinners. Like Jeremiah I said I was finished. But that same power that raised Jesus from the dead burns on. Once caught no escape. This Easter will be the seventh anniversary of my resurrection to ministry. There will be one more resurrection for me. You see when Jesus, my Savior and Lord, rose from that grave and ascended into heaven He left the door open.

Lord thank You for the chance to begin again. J.Q. my friend, thank you for exposing this washed up run-a-way preacher. That led to the Chaplain appointment. You have always backed me. I am grateful. Also thanks to Big John, Harpoon and others for the appointment that I neither wanted nor deserved. It had been quite a ride.

In many ways my experience is not unique. Some who are reading this has run out of room and places. Sometimes there is the faint glimmer of hope that you could return to a living relationship with the risen Christ. But it was so long ago. Maybe too long ago?

Keep It Real

Pastor Irish Ed

In The Wind Ministries