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IRISH ED MAHAN HAS BEEN OUR NATIONAL CHAPLAIN SINCE 1999. HE'S BEEN HITCH'N AND PLANT'N FOR OUR CLUB EVERY SINCE. HE'S OUR BIKER BROTHER AND DON'T CONDEMN ANYONE FOR THEIR WILD HAIR'D WAYS. BUT HE DOES HAVE A LOT OF GOOD PEARLS OF SPIRITUAL WISDOM TO SHARE FOR OUR CONSIDERATION. WE HAVE ASKED HIM TO LAY A FEW OF THEM ON US EACH MONTH IN THE "CHAPLAIN'S CORNER." PLEASE GIVE IT A READ AND SOME THOUGHT. DECEMBER |
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One Solitary Life Most of my ministry assignments have been the unordinary places where you find the unforgettable characters. I don’t remember how this invitation came thirty years ago, but it was very close to Christmas. I was asked to present a Christmas message at an Auto Drag Strip in East Texas. There was a flat bed trailer, amplification equipment and a good number of well-oiled fans and drivers waiting. With visions of Billy Graham in my head, and the desire to see them all converted burning in my heart, I began reading at Matthew 1:18. All seemed well until verse 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted, is God with us”. A loud disturbance broke out about the third row. This guy shouted, “Hold up preacher, stop right there! You trying to tell me a virgin got pregnant. I’m not listening to any more of this BS”. The shoving started and the guy was hustled off somewhere. I don’t remember any more of that service. I never became Billy Graham, but I hope that guy wised up before meeting the one he insulted that day. Tonight, on reflection it occurs to me that the preaching of Jesus should cause more disturbances today. Everywhere Jesus, the apostles, and Paul went trouble broke out. As Paul and Silas approached one city, the people said, “Those who are turning the world upside down are now coming here”. There is no disturbance because we Christians have chosen the silence of political correctness. Combating the message of Christ by disrupting services and jailing preachers only spread the Gospel. There is a much more effective strategy at work now. Some fools reason, just take Christ’s name out of Christmas and all that we do, perhaps we’ll just forget him . The elementary school that my granddaughter attends announced “the winter break”, and their “Winter Holiday Party”. Alarmed by the disappearance of Christmas at school I searched for it in television and magazine advertisements. I found “Holiday sales” are in Christmas is out! They want to keep the holiday just get rid of the reason for the season. News flash! He is not going away. He is coming back. He will not be a baby in a manger or a humble suffering servant this time. That first appearance was for sinners who needed to become his children. His next appearance will be for the children who were sinners. The best gift any of us could receive this Christmas is the gift of new and eternal life.
"He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village and worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty. Then for just three years he was an itinerant preacher. "He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did any of the things that we normally associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself. "While he was still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves and his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth, and that was his coat. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. "Two thousand years have come and gone and today he is the central figure of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. "All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as has that one solitary life." -- Author unknown HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS I welcome your response. Contact me at # 817-295-1696 or Bikechaplain@hotmail.comKeep It Real Pastor Irish Ed In The Wind Ministries National Chaplain BoozeFighters M/C
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