What CMA Means to me.

What CMA Means To Me.October 2002 You asked us to tell you what CMA means to us. I am going to give it a shot. Riding, friends, ministry, hope, passion… all of those things and more… .. 

Riding I started riding when I was about 15. Dad and Mom said that I could not ride so that made it even more fun. My best friend had a Honda 100. He didn’t have a Dad but he had a bike. His Mom didn’t seem to mind that he had the bike and we rode it together. I learned to ride on that bike. In fact, I broke my arm on that bike. I didn’t own my own bike until I got a CB350 when I was about 23. I rode that bike to St. Louis from Indianapolis one night and I was hooked on long distance rides. I traded that in for a CB750F Supersport and rode it until 1984. I had to sell the bike to get a car in 1984 and was off of bikes until 1995. I had moved to Georgia and found a CB900C that I bought for $1200 on Christmas Eve and rode until I wore it out. God put me on the CB1000C that I am riding today and that seems to me it is just the beginning. Riding is a passion. I love to get on the bike and ride a long way. 200 miles is just a good start. I don’t get to the point of talking to God really well until I have at least 100 miles under my feet. I love the feel of the throttle in my hand and the sound of the bike in my ears (even if it is a Honda). Riding is what I was hoping to do when I sought out CMA. I get to do a lot of that but I quickly found that riding is NOT what CMA is about.  

Friends. I have made some new ones in CMA. People who accept me for what and who I am. I don’t fit into a mold very well. I like being a bit different and that puts people off sometimes. I don’t let that bother me though. I figure if you don’t like my attitude, you can stop talking to me <grin>. I have also found a ‘small group’ that I need in my life to help keep me focused. Jesus gave us the best example of a small group. He had 12 men who he poured his life into. Out of the 12 he had 3 who were closer and from that 3, there was 1 that was his closest friend on earth. 12 – 3 – 1. That is a formula for success in relationships. I have some of the same relationships in church too but right now Crossties is my support group and prayer partners. I love you guys!! 

Ministry  I have had a major change in my way of looking at people. I have had a lot of training in evangelism and missions over the years but not had what I thought was an opportunity to use the new found knowledge that I had gained. We did ‘cold calls’ by going into apartment complexes and just knocking on doors, street evangelism, church visitation, etc. but it never clicked. I did not enjoy doing it. CMA gave me a new oldness and a focus that was not judgmental for reaching out to sinners. ‘Don’t let the sinners sin get in the way of saving the sinner’. That was a line from one of the training tapes I listened to when I was studying to get my patch. I love the way Jesus did it. He hated religion and sin but not the sinner. He loved them. As I reflect on what God has done in me, I see a new desire to tell everyone I meet about Jesus and what he is doing in my life. I have seen a Jewish man accept Christ on a flight to Newark, NJ. I have heard testimony about God’s grace and miracles in the lives of my friends and I look forward to what God is doing. I believe that we are supposed to find out where God is working and then go there and do whatever He gives us to do.  Hope. I have been reflecting on Cherokee all week. I went to the main street near the rally and just spent time observing. I saw such darkness that it seemed almost overwhelming. We were with several CMAer’s but I kept getting the ‘feeling’ that I should split off and walk amongst the crowd. I didn’t but now I wish I had. I know that we need to be aware of danger and I did have a small problem with a big drunk later on but I still believe that God is calling me to somehow reach out to those that were there and don’t know him. I know that God will protect me and I am willing to go the next time. To just walk and pray for those I see. To talk to those He puts in my path. To love them enough to reach out to them so that they can have the same hope I have in Christ. Passion At my church today we are starting a new series about Untamed Faith. There is a bike theme to the service and scenes of Easy Rider on the big screen. Pictures of bikers that make me want to cry. The idea was to show something untamed.Wild somehow and it does that but I also see bikers that need Christ and don’t have Him. A passion to reach out to them and the tools to do it come from my involvement with CMA. I have a passion for the NamKnights. For bikers that I meet on the road. For Goldwing riders that go to restaurants to eat on Wednesday night. The bike is a tool. A connection with others that don’t know Him. I called Burt today to invite him to the service. I wanted to invite all the NamKnights yesterday but we got rained out. I was trying to explain all of this to one of my buddies in the choir and had a hard time getting it all out without choking up. The thought of spending time with the Knights or some vets at the Wall is what really gets ‘my motor running’. CMA helps me do all of that.The biggest thing that I want to say about CMA is that we have to guard ourselves from the work of Satan. I feel that he is trying to split us up right now and divide us because he knows that we are starting to be effective as a chapter. You asked what CMA means to me and I have tried to hit the high spots but I know that most of all it is brothers and sisters that have a common passion to reach bikers. We have to stay focused on that and on Christ or we have lost the battle for the souls and minds of those we have influence over. We are to be witnesses. Not judges. Not lawyers. We must not try to argue someone into heaven. We are just to tell about what we see, hear and experience for ourselves in our lives with Christ. To be attractive to others who do not have Christ. We will not be attractive if we are hurt or resentful or if we lose our passion for bikers. I know that not everyone who finds CMA is going to have the same passion. Some are just looking for a group to ride with. We are not that. We do ride together and sometimes that is just what we need but we have to realize that we are about reaching a group who is just as much in need as any other group in another country. The biker culture is as foreign to middle class America as an African village is. You asked me last week if I was willing to serve as an officer in the chapter. I am. I don’t care what I do as long as I can help keep this group together and headed in the same direction. I think that you have been doing a good job at that along with all of the others that are serving right now. Tell me where I can serve and I’ll do it. Now I am going to leave you with a thought that has been rattling around my head for a week. I just looked it up and have clipped in below: