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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. JULY |
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LET FREEDOM RING This is the month that we Americans celebrate freedom with holiday, fireworks, parades, speeches, prayers, flag-waving and hundreds of other expressions. Our Independence Day is similar to celebrations by other cultures and nations around the world . The Mexican commemoration of Cinco de Mayo and the Jewish commemoration of Passover are only two examples of the many other similar celebrations. Each celebrates an event or victory that brought an end to tyranny and provided freedom.The struggle to become and remain free has cost more lives, hardship and short-term misery than any slavery. Why do we do it? What drives us to decide “I’ll die on my feet rather than live on my knees”? Isn’t the survival instinct one of the strongest and most natural that we possess? I think the source of the driving force for freedom is found in Genesis 2:7 “ And the LORD GOD formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” From the moment that God blew His Spirit into us we would never be a satisfied slave. That “breath” gave the ability and over-whelming desire to choose freedom. The founding fathers recognized this saying “all men--- are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.” As Nikolai Berdyaev wrote “God has laid upon man the duty of being free, of safeguarding freedom of spirit, no matter how difficult that may be or how much sacrifice and suffering it may require.” That “breath” put more into us than just an overwhelming desire for natural or national liberation; it also placed a strong desire for spiritual liberation. Bob Dylan spoke truth when he wrote “everybody gotta serve somebody be it the devil or the Lord.” For many years I though loving and serving God restricted my freedom. Thought I couldn’t be me if I went that way. That is one of the little lies that the big lie uses to keeps us down and bound. There came a day when I realized I was serving the “lie “and the “Truth” wanted to set me free. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If the Son therefore, shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”- Jesus ChristFreedom always exacts a heavy price paid at places of battle; Bunker Hill, Verdun, Normandy, Shiloh and Calvary. Yes Calvary, the city dump, is where the God that loves you paid you off the slave block. Blood was spilled, freedom was purchased! That emptiness, that unidentified persistent longing, that “is this all there is feeling”. Yes you know the one that comes late on the way home or while trying to sleep. It’s that place within, that God created for Himself with His own “breath”, that’s calling. We can never be a satisfied slave to the “lie” after getting a taste of God’s love, forgiveness and freedom. “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did nor receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God---. (John1:10-12) Am I missing something or is this the description of the complete and free person we were meant to be from creation? SOUNDS LIKE GOOD NEWS TO ME. IT MUST BE THE GOSPEL!
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