The Hoka Hey Challenge

(or my report from “Wild Hogs on Steroids”)

This summer I participated in a crazy motorcycle challenge. Many of my friends found out about this on Facebook. I promised that I would write a summary of the ride and make it available. Since this Daily Devotions blog is still active, I decided this would be an OK place to post my report. I know the report is long…but it was a long ride J If you receive this as a subscriber to the Daily Devotions, don’t feel the need to read it. Enjoy hitting “Delete” guilt-free.

The Challenge

My buddy Mark and I were thinking about where we planned on riding this summer. We basically agreed to ride to the Grand Canyon but then Mark discovered this ride called the Hoka Hey Challenge (www.hokaheychallenge.com). It was initially billed on the website as a 7000+ mile race from Key West, FL, to Homer, AK, that would challenge the skills and determination of the riders. There were a bunch of rules – you had to ride a V-twin, air-cooled Harley Davidson, you couldn’t carry extra fuel, couldn’t use a GPS devise, couldn’t stay in hotels along the way, couldn’t have a support crew following you and you would be monitored along the way by having a GPS tracking device on your bike. The first rider to follow all the rules and arrive in Homer would win $500,000.

We were also told that the riders would need to apply for consideration to participate and be accepted to the ride. The challenge would be limited to 1000 riders and the entrance fee a steep $1000. Only serious riders would apply.

Personally, from the second I heard about this Challenge, I simply had to make the ride. There are many reasons for that, I’ll write about those some other time.

There was a lot involved in getting ready for the ride – for me and for every other rider. We all did many of the same things. Kelley and I spent lots of lots of money getting ready. I traded in my 2005 Roadglide for an Ultra Classic Limited. I bought a tent and a bunch of other stuff I needed or at least wanted. We even bought a trailer to bring the bike to Key West (which we ultimately didn’t use.)

The week before we planned on leaving for Key West, Kelley’s job responsibilities made it impossible for her to go. So, instead of having a nice drive together to Florida and a couple of days before the race in a nice hotel, I ended up having to ride there alone.

I left on Tuesday morning and enjoyed the ride to Florida. I spent the first night at Peace Lutheran Church in Slidell, LA. I planned on using my tent to test things out…but it looked like rain and Peace had a nice camper trailer available with air conditioning. The next night I planned on camping near the Harley dealership in Daytona Beach, FL. The closest campground charged $39 a night, the Super 8 just down the road, $49. The Super 8 it was. (I didn’t realize at that point that “finding a campground” would not apply to the reality of the Challenge where we basically just hit the ground where the police would leave us alone and fell asleep immediately.)

I wasn’t expecting the interstate through Miami to just suddenly END on the city street that eventually became the highway to Key West. Nor did I realize that Key West was 150 miles away from Miami. OR that the speed limit would be 45 mph. But, through a few different rain showers, I got to the Beachside Marriot on Thursday afternoon and waited for the weekend.

Reality hit the night before the ride during the rider orientation. We quickly learned that the rules had changed. A few motorcycles would be allowed other than Harleys. (Meaning I should have ridden my perfectly good Victory instead of going into debt for the remainder of Western civilization buying a new Harley). They would not be putting any kind of GPS tracking devices on our bikes. Those with GPS systems on their bikes would be allowed to leave them and use them. (Instantly making me regret leaving mine at home…it would have come in handy.) We would be starting in a mass scramble rather than being lined up according to our entry number. No one would be monitoring the behavior of support teams. It was all pretty disorganized and chaotic. But the pool was nice, the weather stayed dry and it is always a good time to hang out with other people who love motorcycles. Other surprises were just around the corner.

On Sunday morning at 6:30 am, 680 motorcycles (as I was later told by organizer Beth – it was probably more like 450) hit the highway out of Key West.

The Route

A major part of the challenge, the whole way but especially through the first five states, was navigation. The “map” we were given on Sunday morning was a list of turns (without distances between them) that ran a few pages long. We could see on the map that the first checkpoint would be in Daytona, FL, but we only learned by following the turns that we would spend all of our time on two lane county roads with 45 mph speed limits. We received a new map at each checkpoint.

It wasn’t at all easy to follow these “turn by turn” instructions, eg. “Turn RIGHT on CR 185/Jack Black Rd.” As we discovered, not all the roads actually had numbers or names, not all the roads had signs, and we had no idea how many miles we would have to ride on a certain road before the next turn. These varied by an immediate turn to riding hundreds of miles on the same road. It was very difficult to navigate the route!

Until we got to Canada there were very few straight lines in the route. We did several loops through the states, especially in the first three days. Many people quit after spending days riding in circles around Florida, Georgia and Alabama, looking for roads without names or numbers, often in the rain. Most of the riders said they did more u-turns in three days than in the previous 30 years of riding.

When we got out west the loops got longer. For example, we got to a checkpoint in Rock Springs, WY and then had to ride back east to Pine Ridge, South Dakota before heading back west across Montana to the next checkpoint in Missoula. Then we discovered we would have to ride to Fairbanks before going down to Homer.

We had checkpoints in Daytona Beach, FL; Southaven, MS; Rock Springs, WY; Pine Ridge, SD; Missoula, MT; and Fairbanks, AK.

We road through Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, touched Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, British Columbia, Alberta, the Yukon Territories and Alaska. My trip home added Colorado and Texas.

We rode through over 30 Indian reservations (part of the point of the ride) which often meant poor roads but incredible views. We rode almost entirely on secondary roads, many with 45 mph speed limits in the first few states. The entire route had less than 100 miles on interstate highways in the lower 48. We saw things from glaciers in Alaska to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Gator Alley and the Everglades in Florida to Mount Judah in Arkansas and Monument Valley in Utah.

The ride rules said we could not sleep indoors. I pitched my tent (in the following order):

o in the yard of a Baptist church in Georgia

o a Jehovah’s Witness parking lot in Arkansas

o a truck stop in Tonkawa, Oklahoma

o the parking lot of a Harley dealer in Farmington, New Mexico

o the parking lot of a Shell gas station just north of Globe, Arizona

o the parking lot of the Harley dealer in Rock Springs, Wyoming

o a truck stop in Belle Fouche, South Dakota, where, for $5, I took the only shower I had in the 12 days of the Challenge

o a rest area just north of the Canadian border

o the parking lot of a gas station at Pink Mountain, 143 miles into the Alaska Highway

o the next night it was raining so I slept sitting on my bike on the side of the road

o the parking lot of the Harley dealer in Fairbanks

o after I got to Homer, I turned around and headed back to Anchorage. I slept that night in a rest area before finishing the ride back to Anchorage.

Through the 12 days of the race, I only ate four meals in cafes (breakfasts in Rock Spring, Canada and Alaska. And Taco Bell in Fairbanks.) I never drank a single Diet Coke (and haven’t since the race ended.) I drank water and coffee all day and chocolate milk for breakfast. I ate apples, bananas, Powerbars and breakfast bars, all while riding on the bike or in the parking lots of gas stations. From the time the race started I didn’t drink a beer until enjoying a steak dinner in Butte, MT, on the way home.

And yes, I stayed in motels on the way home.

I saw lots of great countryside. And I learned, in my opinion, all things considered (the quality of roads, the scenery, the hills/curves fun factors, the weather) the single greatest place to ride a motorcycle in North America, hands down, without a doubt, is Montana. The road from Butte to Missoula to Flathead Lake to Kalispell to the Canadian border (which was part of the ride) and then the road from the border down through Shelby, Great Falls, Helena and Butte is beyond breathtakingly beautiful. And we didn’t even see Glacier National Park. The place has made it to my MUST list for future vacations.

Interesting Discoveries

The only road to Key West starts in Miami. It is largely a 45 mph road that stretches for 150 miles. The only road to Homer starts in Anchorage. Also largely a 45 mph road, it takes 211 miles to get to Homer.

The Alaska Highway is 1365 miles long, from Dawson Creek, BC to Delta Junction, Alaska (it was 1461 miles to Fairbanks, about the same distance as from Houston to San Diego). On the way home, it was about 1600 miles from Anchorage to Dawson Creek. I find those distances absolutely mind-boggling.

The Alaska Highway was initially built in 1942 in only 9 months by 30,000 soldiers and civilians. It has been much improved since then but still travels through absolute wilderness and, in places, really stinks.

I saw moose and bear every day I was in Canada, both coming and going. Also buffalo, elk, caribou, deer and wolves. I missed being hit by a moose by only a couple of feet on my return trip. On the way there, I pulled my bear spray out when I was unclear about the intentions of a large buffalo blocking the road. I stopped my bike. He took a few steps toward me and stopped. When his herd had moved enough to please him, he left the road and I darted past.

I hit one pothole in the Alaska Highway so hard that it literally knocked the helmet off my head! But the Harley stayed in one piece so it was all good. The helmet? Not so good.

The Yukon Territories (186,272 square miles) has a population of about 31,000 people of whom 24,000 people live in the capital, Whitehorse. (Compare that to Texas which covers 268,601 square miles with a population of 24,800,000…and still feels largely empty in many places.) Alaska is 2 ½ times the size of Texas.

Alaska has only one road you can drive to enter the state, the Alaska Highway. Past that, it has only 3 roads in its interstate system – the Alaska Highway passes Tok and continues through Delta Junction to Fairbanks. Another road to the west links Fairbanks to Anchorage. The third road goes from Anchorage to Tok. An “interstate” in Alaska is a paved two lane road with sections of gravel. Road repair is constant.

On the first leg of my way home, I rode 714 miles to get from Anchorage to Whitehorse. At that point I saw a chart in a gas station that said I was still 924 miles from Dawson’s Creek. I couldn’t believe it! I HAD to get to Dawson’s Creek because that is only where any other road could be found. Driving from Anchorage to Dawson’s Creek is like driving from Houston to San Francisco. The scale of the size of those places amazes me.

The last leg of my trip home – I left Cheyenne, WY, at 9:30 am central time. I rode 1111.5 miles in 19 hours, arriving in Houston at 4:30 am.

Trip Stats

24 days away (but not all vacation days because of weekends and July 4^th)

1689 miles to Key West (3 days, 563 miles/day)

2 rest days in Key West before the race

9223 miles to Homer in 12 days (769 miles/day)

4797 miles to home in 7 days (685 miles/day)

Total trip: 15709 miles (around the world is 24,900 miles)

I was arrived in Homer on Thursday, July 1^st, about 4:30 pm. I finished 58th – although, unlike many of the 57 riders who got there before me, I rode the whole route. We’ll probably never know the real finish positions among those who rode the whole ride.  Two of the first three finishers were disqualified for skipping checkpoints or taking shortcuts.  The first two who got there only rode 8400 miles - it seems more likely that those did the whole route rode 8900-9000+ miles.

Other Thoughts

I entered this Challenge because I felt compelled to. It would be a vision quest for me. A time to learn new things, a spiritual journey. For me, that part was a complete success. I look forward to writing more about the lessons I learned on the Hoka Hey.

We will never know the whole story of this Challenge. We will never know how many bikers crashed – at least 16 but that cannot possibly be all of them. We won’t know for sure even how many died – the latest is two confirmed deaths.

But at the end of the day, it was a heckuva ride, the road trip to end all road trips, and if another ride like this is scheduled again, I’ll be the first to sign up.

The moment I finished was pretty cool.  Because of the intensity of the trip, and often because of lack of cell phone coverage, I had been calling Kelley about once a day to update her.  Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to answer, she only called me one time.  As soon as I crossed the finish line on the Homer Spit and pulled my bike to a stop, I realized my phone was ringing.  It was Kelley, wondering how close I was to the finish line.  Amazing.

Thank you to my beautiful and understanding wife, who made it possible for me to do this ride and who supported me throughout. Her insistence that I bring “Wet One’s” was more important than you could ever know.

Friday, May 28th Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”

“What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

I woke up early on Monday, April 19^th, to get ready for the long drive from New Orleans back to Houston and I realized that I didn’t have anything to say for the day’s devotions. By and large, with a few breaks along the way, I had been beginning my mornings at the computer to write a devotion for the day since October of 1997. It has been a long time. I decided to take a week off from writing.

The next week began well before dawn on Monday morning as I hurried to the airport to catch a plane to Chicago for four days of meetings with the other folks of the Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission unit of the ELCA. I didn’t write that week either. But every morning I thought about it.

Right now it feels to me like maybe a season in my life is coming to an end and another season is opening up. This is, according to the wisdom of Ecclesiastes, how life ebbs and flows. He also tells us that it is good that we find joy in the daily “toil” of our lives, that we take time to rest, and that, along the way, we continually seek to discern what God is up to as God shapes our lives.

What I only realized this morning is that April 19^th also marked a year since I said goodbye to the wonderful people of God at Covenant Lutheran Church and began this new position in the synod office. That congregation was such a gift in my life, a vision of how the church can be and a loving reminder of the struggle it is to get there. My grief at letting go has lasted a long long time. Which is how it is when you love somebody, especially hundreds of somebodies who are all precious children of God.

I began writing daily devotions “on the other side” of a traumatic time in my life. I had come out of a turbulent time of healing and growth – which, like much true healing, feels worse at times than the pain that got you there – and I wanted to make sure that I had spiritual integrity in my life. Sharing my devotional thinking with others was a way to stay accountable to myself.

I also wanted to give my people some tools to help them share the faith with others. Maybe it was tough for them to talk about the faith with a friend or co-worker, but surely forwarding an email wouldn’t be too difficult. As it turned out, that kind of thing began quietly happening all over the world.

But now it feels to me like I’m entering a new season in my life. I’m going to finally listen to the voices of so many readers along the way (and the voice of my wife) and see what I can do to get a collection of these devotions published and available. I don’t know if that is possible but I’m going to try.

And now I serve a different congregation – a “congregation” of the 124 congregations of the Texas/Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The rhythms of this new job are different than life in the parish. I spend my time now working with a wonderful synod staff, the pastors and leaders of congregations, all trying to find new ways to tell the old old story that leads to contagious living and generous giving. We have been given a treasure in the church and now we need to work together to turn around two decades of decline.

If you are interested in evangelism and stewardship, feel free to subscribe to the “other blog in my life”, the Mission Possible Network in our synod – http://txlamission.wordpress.com

I’m going to take some more time away from writing devotions every day. I plan to leave this blog alone for awhile…but at some point I imagine that I’ll be coming back.

Later this month I’m going to be spending my summer vacation on the adventure of a lifetime – http://www.hokaheychallenge.com – thanks to the support of my beautiful wife, Kelley, and her understanding of just how much I love to spend hours in the saddle of a motorcycle.

Thank you again for all of the support that you have given me through the years that you let me help you wake up, greeted you at your desk at work, or made it possible for you to share the faith with others by passing on something that connected. Along with Ecclesiastes, I pray that we all remember, “I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him.”

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Friday, April 16th John 21:1-8

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. John 21:1-8

The disciples went fishing after Easter. Of course they did. What else could they do? They were fisherman. They went back to what they knew.

How often have we done the same? How often have we failed to process grief in our lives, falling instead back into the mind numbing safety of our daily routines? How many lessons have we failed to learn because we were too quick to leave the uncomfortable times and places of our lives?

They went fishing but they soon discovered that their old lives weren’t going to work anymore. They didn’t catch a thing. They got skunked all night.

The next morning they saw Jesus standing on the shore.

There are three lessons I take from this passage into our time after Easter.

First, while the disciples discovered that they couldn’t go back again to their old lives, Jesus helped them to see why they wouldn’t want to! Jesus taught them how to fish on the other side of the boat – he had opened their eyes to eternal life and wouldn’t let them go.

Second, Simon Peter discovered forgiveness. He jumped in the water and swam to shore because he had experienced forgiveness from Jesus for his betrayal. He needed that love in his life, couldn’t get enough of it.

And third, as we go fishing (that is, as we live the lives that God has given us) we are blessed to know that Jesus has welcomed us into his boat.

Our task together is to take our fishing orders from him. He tells us to love one another, to make new disciples, to share bread and wine, to pray often, to trust him alone, to stay awake in the face of temptation and to cast our nets on the side of the boat that we least expect.

It worked for them. Why should it not work for us?

Let us pray: Guide us, our Savior and Redeemer, that we might do what you would have us, go where you would lead us, serve as you have served us and love as you have filled us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thursday, April 14th John 20:19-23

“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” John 20:19-23

How do we tell the story of Easter?

Sunday morning might seem a long way away as we come closer now to the ending of another week buts it is still only a couple of days away. I don’t know what this next Sunday holds in my life or yours, but I do know there are some things that I can count on.

Christians will gather in worship. Their very gathering is a living witness to the story of Easter. Coming together in the morning to remember and celebrate the living Christ is, in and of itself, a means of telling the story.

Once Christians have gathered, they will share words. Words spoken and sung which communicate forgiveness. Actions shared which communicate the accepting, welcoming nature of God’s love for all people. In this re-telling and re-membering of his body, the Easter story continues to be told.

Jesus came into the room of a fearful group of disciples and by his very presence he brought healing and peace into their lives. Just as his death swallows up death, so his presence swallowed up their fear and replaced it with rejoicing.

Then Jesus commissioned them to a very specific task. Breathing his Spirit into them, he invited them to speak from that Spirit the words which would bring his death and resurrection to bear in the lives of others. They were commissioned to speak with God’s voice. They were commissioned to speak forgiveness and cautioned that if they did not speak such words, in a very real way then people would not know that forgiveness.

If they – the disciples, then and now – hold back on speaking Easter words, then Easter words will not be spoken.

It really is amazing to think that Jesus would give his mission away to this same group of fearful friends who only so recently had wilted under pressure. I know we hear that all the time yet it only occasionally sinks in. God uses fearful disciples. God uses a broken church. God’s mission is accomplished by clay vessels.

This church, this people of God, is most like God when it is speaking words of forgiveness, thereby bringing peace into brokenness.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, we recognize this morning that we are your contingency plan. You truly do touch the world through fearful disciples. Heighten our sense of the majesty of the simple expressions of love which will be spoken and shared in worship this weekend. Use us in our gathering to be vessels of your forgiving love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Wednesday, April 14th John 9:1-11

“As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”

He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” John 9:1-11

What does it mean for us to tell the story of Easter? First we have to understand that there are two kinds of Easter stories. The first Easter story is the one given to the earliest, and all the subsequent, disciples of Jesus. It is the story of Jesus rising from the dead. A story of resurrection, new life, brand new beginnings.

But then there are the other Easter stories of our lives. The stories when we have experienced the transforming power of the risen Christ in real time, in real ways, that changed us for the better.

We – salt of the earth and city on the hill that we are – are called to tell both stories.

The blind man from John 9 experienced a power greater than himself doing for him what he clearly could not have done on his own. His story was his own. His healing was his own. Yet, in the telling of his story, he pointed beyond himself to the God who was truly the source of his healing. That is an important distinction.

Often we despair that we don’t have the same kind of dramatic, life altering events in our lives of which we hear others speak. It’s important to know that others might have their stories but only we have ours. While we can hitch a ride on others, our own personal experiences are as invaluable as we are. In the telling of our own stories, we point beyond ourselves to the one who has given us life.

The blind man didn’t explain how it happened; he merely bore witness to WHAT happened. In the face of disbelief and hostility, he stood his ground because he stood on the rock solid ground of his conviction that he had been touched.

The children’s song, “This Little Light of Mine”, captures the essence of Christian story telling. We who have followed Jesus to Galilee, seeking to represent him in the worlds in which we live, each have our own little light. Easter happens as those little lights shine.

Let us pray: Dear Jesus, we marvel at the stories of lives that were touched in your earthly ministry. We also worry sometimes, wondering why we don’t see more of that in our own lives. Heal us of our spiritual blindness that we can recognize the clear signs of your Kingdom which surround us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Tuesday, April 13th Philippians 1:27-28

“Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God’s doing.” Philippians 1:27-28

Why are we afraid to tell the story?

There was certainly a time when it was dangerous to be a Christian. Perhaps immediately after the crucifixion there were good reasons for the disciples to hide behind locked doors. They could very well have been next.

And there would come a day, after the destruction of Jerusalem in 67-70 AD, when the Christians bore the brunt of the blame. Ousted from synagogues and families, the scapegoats of the calamities wrought by Rome…there were good reasons to be afraid.

Throughout history there have been times of discrimination and hardship for those who bear the name of Christ in the world. Those days haven’t gone away. There are places in the world today, particularly places in Africa, were full-scale slaughter of Christians because they are Christians has been the order of the day.

The odd thing is…even in such places Christians tend to stand forth with boldness rather than cowering with fear, hiding behind locked lips.

We have no such fears. So why are we afraid to tell the story?

Paul encourages the Philippians to “live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” That’s nothing new. But it could very well be what brings us fear. Deep down inside we know that if we’re going to talk the talk we had better also walk the walk. Maybe the walk is as scary as the talk.

Christianity today is largely a voluntary affair. We don’t get many points out there in the land of malls and skyscrapers because we believe that Jesus has risen from the dead. There are times in fact when it is downright humiliating to be pegged as a Christian – especially one who is vocal about their faith!

It’s far easier to be quiet. To not rock the boat. To stand quietly, idly by…fearful that we might be confronted by a slave girl or two who might recognize us as followers of Christ.

So we compromise…ourselves…our faith…our Lord.

And then we wonder where the fire of the Spirit is in our lives!

A therapist friend of mine once told me about a friend of his who had come to a place in his life where he decided that “he wasn’t going to intimidated by anyone who wasn’t holding a knife or a gun.” I found that image tremendously encouraging – as far as it went.

For me, it is far easier to not be intimidated if I am not alone. Paul speaks to the Philippians as a community – not merely as individuals. Living their life by the Gospel is a community affair. It’s about people living their life together, encouraging and standing with one another. Christianity is a team sport.

That is just what we need to hear on this side of the cross. We, who hug the trunk in terror, fearful of venturing out on the limb where the fruit of our faith is to be found. The time has come to come together in renouncing the fears which keep us quiet!

Our boldness is evidence of God working the gifts of salvation within us. And when we finally open our mouths, we could very well discover that such boldness has the power to open people’s hearts.

Let us pray: Open our lips, O Lord, that we might proclaim the greatness of your mighty acts in the simple stories of our lives. Help us talk the talk. Encourage us in our striving to walk the walk. Keep us faithful in the Galilee’s where we live. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Monday, April 12th Mark 16:5-8

“As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Mark 16:5-8

And so ends the Gospel of Mark. “They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

I wonder how long that fear lasted?

Eventually they must have told. Because someone wrote their story down. Because we know their story today. You can’t keep a secret forever – certainly not one that big! But, for a time, they were too afraid to say anything to anyone.

I wonder how those women felt the next day. Is that when they broke their silence? Is that when they told the other disciples to high-tail it to Galilee and meet Jesus there? Did they keep silent overnight…or did it take longer?

We’re living now in the Easter season. What are we going to do with the glorious news of Easter today?

Are we going to forget it, stuff it away behind the tight lips of our fear? Or will we carry it into our lives in a way that we have never done before? What’s it going to be?

Once, after preaching my heart out on the Sunday after Easter, my son leaned over with a big smile and whispered to me, “You really got into that one, Dad.” (I had been a little on the exuberant side…) I asked him what he thought about that. “I thought it was funny!” he said behind his toothy grin.

My son found it funny that the story of these three silent women got me all excited. I wonder what that says…

So, today is new day and I still have Easter and these three women on my mind. And I’m wondering, in my life and yours, what are we going to do with this story as we head back to the regular lives we’ve been living in Galilee?

Let us pray: The hymns still dance in our memories. It was a glorious day. We pray that you were pleased with our sacrifices of praise and celebration as we remembered your resurrection. Now we are the ones who have been to the empty tomb. Now we are living in the Easter season. Lord, what would you have us do with your story? In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Friday, April 9th John 8:31-33

“Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” John 8:31-33

When you fully engage in the disciplines of Lent – or when Lenten disciplines become integrated into our living spirituality – again and again we will find ourselves struck by the depth and power of confession.

Confession is simply getting honest. With yourself. With God. With others.

Radical honesty is a hallmark of Lent. Lent is not a time for pretending, posturing or spin control. Lent is a time for honest reflection, repentance and rebirth. Incorporating this aspect of Lent into our daily lives means making a radical commitment to honesty.

Jesus tells those listening to him in the 8th chapter of John that if they continue to ground themselves in the word – that is, the truth of the scriptures revealed in the teaching of Jesus – they would know the truth and the truth would set them free.

Jesus is speaking here to people who already believed in him. He is talking to folks who claim to be on his side. But watch their reaction!

They immediately get defensive: “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”

Sometimes we mindlessly get defensive at the slightest suggestion we have done something wrong. Harboring an inner suspicion of our own lack of value or worth, we bristle when anyone points out a real or perceived error on our part. Sometimes we get defensive because we feel the need to defend ourselves from attack. And sometimes we get defensive because we have something to hide. Which is it here?

Clearly they are being dishonest with themselves. They claim they are already free. What could possibly be further from the truth? Politically, they are vassals of an occupying Roman army. Socially, they are subject to the intense rules and regulations about dietary customs and social interactions of the Mosaic law. Their religious devotion binds them, it doesn’t free them.

If you skip ahead to verse 59 you will see their ultimate reaction to having heard Jesus expose the truth about their lives – they pick up stones to throw at him but he escapes and leaves the temple!

There’s an old line – “The truth will make you free but first it will make you miserable.”

How true it is! Yet if we try to escape the hard work of radical truthfulness, we miss the joy of real freedom.

Dishonesty takes many forms. Little white lies… spinning the truth around a little… shading what we say to protect ourselves, to make ourselves look better, to hide parts of our being or behaviors… stealing… ignoring that which our heart tells us is true – all of these are aspects of dishonesty. It is insidious. It sucks the integrity from our lives. It hollows out our souls.

When we realize the hole that dishonesty has dug in our lives we might need help to get honest again. We could very well need a circle of people who hold us accountable for truth seeking and truth speaking. Those people might be those closest to us. They certainly need to be people we trust.

Together with those we trust and our own radical commitment to be completely, ruthlessly and utterly honest, we can move into a new way of being.

We CAN know the truth and that truth CAN set us free.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, throughout this week we’ve been talking about ways that the spiritual disciplines of Lent can become a part of our daily lives – and each part has been about what makes our relationship with you work and grow. Listening to you in prayer and scripture reading, modeling ourselves after you in self giving actions, and seeking to be honest with you and in all areas of our lives….we can see how all of these hold the promise of a greater intimacy with you. And we can see how hard they are for us to do. So we ask for your help to encourage us on the way. Don’t let us settle for anything less than all that which you would have us know as your children. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thursday, April 8th Acts 2:42-47

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” Acts 2:42-47

We’re talking this week about ways that we can incorporate the disciplines of Lent into our daily lives throughout the year. So far we have talked about the disciplines of prayer and listening to God through the Bible. Today the focus is on giving ourselves away.

Selfishness is a natural by-product of being human. We all have a primal urge to survive. When we feel ourselves threatened – emotionally as well as physically – our knee-jerk reaction is to take care of ourselves, to fight back, to run away. This tendency toward self-care, if not softened by compassion and trust, turns into selfishness.

Jesus recognized our need for self care and honored it. The center of his ethics of love includes self-care as he calls us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The way that Jesus combats selfishness is that he couples our need for self-care to expressing love by giving ourselves away.

The idyllic picture of the earliest Christian church portrayed in the second chapter of Acts is one marked by self giving. The mark of their fellowship was not only in what they received but also in what they gave. They shared their possessions. They gave their time in gathering for public worship in the temple and private worship in their homes.

You can see how their lives were infused with an attitude of gratitude. Their giving was a freely chosen response to God’s love.

The fast paced consumer mentality of our age tells us we want what we want when we want it. When that selfish stance toward life comes into our spirituality, we end up focusing only on what we are receiving with hardly a thought to what we are giving. Such a stance is childish and immature.

Christianity is a team sport. It is a communal faith. It is not only about a personal relationship with God but also about a network of personal relationships with other Christians. We express our common faith through giving ourselves to one another – sharing our possessions, giving of our financial resources, giving of our time, showing up for worship, supporting and encouraging one another through the difficulties of life.

During Lent, many people practice various forms of self-denial. One reason for that discipline is what it teaches us about our radical dependence on God. Another reason is what it teaches us about the power of letting go and giving away. This attitude of giving can become more than a Lenten discipline.

Where is the focus of your faith? When it comes to your participation in a local congregation and the practice of your faith on a daily basis – are you a person concerned mainly with getting your own needs met, with what is in it for you? Or do you focus yourself on what you can give to others out of your own abilities and resources?

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, there is a fine line between taking care of ourselves in a healthy way and mere selfishness. During the season of Lent, our focus on discipleship teaches us about the self giving nature of your love. We know that such self giving is a mark of a healthy, mature, faith…keep us walking on that path toward maturity. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Wednesday, April 7th 2 Timothy 3:14-17

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:14-17

Some things (like going to the bathroom) are best done when we feel like doing them. Other things (like saving money) are best done over time in a methodical, disciplined manner whether or not we might feel like it. Listening to God speak to us through the Bible is like saving money. It is best done over time in a methodical, disciplined manner.

The Bible is God’s gift to us. Certainly God can speak to us through music, through many types of literature. There is no end to the ways that the Spirit can tweak us with signs of God’s presence and loving power. But there’s nothing that speaks with the authenticity, or the authority, of the Bible.

Together with prayer, listening on a daily basis to “the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ” is a crucial discipline for spiritual growth.

So how do you do it?

After a few years of personal experience and working with others in growing their understanding and appreciation of the Bible, I have come to understand that the biggest hindrance is the idea that we have to “understand” all that we read in the Bible. People begin to read in a burst of spiritual enthusiasm and good intentions…and then quit because they “just don’t get it.”

But that really isn’t the reason why they quit.

The real reason isn’t that they didn’t “get it”, it’s that they didn’t “do it”! Their plan was faulty. They thought that reading the Bible was something they would do as long as their enthusiasm lasted. When they came to a day where they no longer felt like reading the Bible, they quit.

I’ve come to believe that the real key to using the Bible is just that – using the Bible. Nothing beats actually spending time reading (or listening if you get a Bible on tape for your car) to the Bible.

First, you begin with a goal, a specific, measurable, attainable goal. “I will read the entire Bible this year.” “I will read the New Testament from Matthew through Revelation three times in six months.”

Second, you create a means of marking your progress. You draw a chart that you fill in, a calendar that you mark off, or some other means of keeping track. For a few years, I used the “Daily Walk” Bible which is divided into daily readings that took me through the Bible in a year. Whatever works for you, the point is that you mark your progress toward a goal.

Third, you do it. You don’t worry about not understanding, you just concentrate on filling in your chart, doing your daily reading. You might also have opportunity for more disciplined Bible study if you are in a Sunday School class, a small group Bible study or, after you’ve been at it for a few years, you might be doing more intentional study on your own. But it’s best to begin at the very beginning – putting in the time, doing the work, to develop a sense of familiarity with the scope and sweep of the Bible’s stories.

I remember one day when I was driving down the road on the way to visit someone in the hospital. As I wondered what was going on with me and in me as I was preparing for my visit, a Bible story from John 9 popped into my head. It asked the question I was asking. Jesus spoke words which encouraged me. Had I not made the investment of growing in my use of the Bible, I wouldn’t have had that story in my “spiritual bank”, available to me when I needed it.

Just do it.

Let us pray: Your Word can be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. It can also be a complete mystery leaving us feeling inadequate and uninformed. Certainly there are Christians who live an entire lifetime and never develop much familiarity, appreciation or understanding of the Bible. But their spiritual lives are impoverished and they are missing out on one of the means of knowing you better. Create a fire in us to listen to you through the words of scripture in a daily, disciplined way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.