Here's the ride report. We started out with a good breakfast with a lot of folk coming from all over to eat and ride with us. We broke into two groups after the rider's meeting, a lead and a chase group. Although just as I was going to tell folk to gear up, I hear a voice say, "Where should I go?" I look around and here is a stocky guy about 5'5" with a big cup of soda in t-shirt, sneakers, and short. I'm thinking, "dude didn't read the rules of the ride, 'cause he ain't in gear". So I ask him, "what are you riding?" He point to a tractor trailer and tell us it can do 125, he can keep up! Here's where we all lost it! All I could say was, "ya can't make this stuff up!" The truck driver wished us a safe ride and went on his way. We then left on our way after a prayer for safety and the chase group missed the first two turns. I realized that we needed to keep closer, so I didn't leave with the lead group until I saw Pohlcat show up with the chase group. It made the ride take a bit longer, but we didn't lose any more time with missed turns. Thanks to Pohlcat for leading the chase group!!! We had to wait on folk who needed to get fuel in the parking lot of a furniture store and the owner came out yelling at us to get lost, he had a business to run. Not cool at all. So, we went down the street and waited on the shoulder for the three riders to return. Twenty miles later we had our first fuel stop. After that we hit some roads with gravel, and had to take two detours. One was for a road that was recently tarred and chipped, stinkin' Penn Dot! The next was to get around a tractor parade, yep a parade of tractors! Like I said before, ya can't make this stuff up! We rode under some CH-47 helicopters, rode by a power plant, and a whole host of bicycles who were very upset with us for some reason. All the same, we all made it safe to ANLR21's place and met his beautiful family. We had an awesome lunch, read the Word, the rode up to the ice cream stop. On the way to the ice cream stop, the two groups took two different routes but met up near Valley Forge Park. On our way down the on ramp to 422 a whole car full of young ladies were yelling, waving, snapping pictures, giving us the thumbs up. I guess we looked cool. Ice cream was awesome as usual, and half of the group left for home. The rest of us went the rest of the ride up to Quakertown. There 5 of us went to my place for supper but got diverted by an accident. We hung out at my place, ate supper, and went down to Bike Night. There were loads of people and bikes there. Except for waiting 10 minutes for glass of lemonade, the event was pretty cool. We all parted ways and went home. Thanks all for coming! Thanks to pohlcat, kpilot, R/T, ANLR21, jlasure, and Cabanboy for helping. The Word is below:
Scripture Readings for September 2010
The Parable of the Lost Sheep1Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him.
2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
3Then Jesus told them this parable:
4"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
5And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'
7I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. The Parable of the Lost Coin
8"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
9And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.'
10In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
The key to this passage it that not only does God want relationship with us, but all of Heaven rejoices when it occurs. God seeks us, as a shepherd would a lost sheep or a person who lost silver coin. The silver coin in question (a drachma) would be equal to a day's wages, about $200 in today's wages. Both of the items, the coin and the sheep were very valuable in that day; however God leaves 99 sheep behind and 9 coins on the table to seek out the lost ones. Does it mean that God neglects those He loves? Nope, but it does show how important those who are lost are to Him. I'll talk to you all later.
