The day dawned bright and clear, but a bit on the chilly side. It was in the forties when I rode up to the Starlite diner. When I was almost there I realized I left my house too early, as in a hour too early. Oh well. I got gas and hung out with a guy riding with us for the first time on an older BMW. Within 45 minutes we were joined by kirchsnr's and cabanaboy's loud v-twins, followed by R/T with his boxer twin. One or two more folk showed up and we went inside to eat. The food was good and the company was better. Sterling came even though he was bike-less (thumbs up) and Hector showed up (dude where you been?!). Wildwillie and Nick showed up with a new rider on a cool Aprillia, and Daryl appeared like a ghost from the past on a Moto Guzzi.

24 bikes came today and I even had 5 people say they were coming and didn't come. After the riders meeting I split up riders into groups according to their abilities and pace. Ron W. led the lead group and I followed with jlasure, rktec, and andyr leading groups after us. Typical group size was 4-6 bikes. Well, I didn't do that great with my assigning. At the second turn one person from the lead group dropped back to my group, and one person from my group moved up to the lead group.

After we crossed over the Blue Mountain, things got challenging. I reconned part of this ride two weeks ago and part last week. In that time, PennDot tarred and chipped two of the roads we went on. Why oh why do they perpetuate a practice that their taxpayers abhor, especially on roads that didn't need it? Grrr! After that Rktec's two other riders in his group left, another group had a malfunctioning GPS and a third group which avoided the tar and chips (scenic route!) brought the lost group to lunch 45 minutes after the other two groups.

Lunch was at the Roadhouse, we all had a good time with laughing and joking at our adventures thus far in the ride. (Did I really have a lawnmower pull out in front of me?!) The food was delicious and the service was friendly. After lunch I shared the Word and a few riders had to leave for home. After that we split into two groups of 6-7 each and finished the ride. They were great roads with no tar and chips. We arrived at our final gas stop, said our good-byes with most of us following Ron W. taking the scenic route home. Also we had one more person join myself and johnric42 in the silver stripe club, showing the steel belts cause he rode his tires down. Welcome sir. Next month we ride the Pocono Screamer, we hope you can join us.

Scripture Readings for May 2013

We'll start with John 16:24 which says: "24 You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy. So we see to have answers to our prayers we must first ask in Jesus name, receive it, and the joy that comes with it. It can't be that easy! What's next? Matthew 7:7-11 states: 7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. Once again we see that we have ask, put forth an effort (knock) where appropriate and seek the answer. I don't know about you but sometimes I ask but don't take time to seek from God or my situation an answer that God is providing. Also we see that God wants to give us good gifts to us, just as we give good things to our children. Our next Scripture points to another key thing required to answered prayer John 15:7, us being in Christ, having a relationship with Him and absorbing His words into our hearts, minds, and spirits: 7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! We next discover that our requests must be in line with what God's will is in our lives, I John 5:14-15 addresses that: 14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. It's so cool that God hears our prayers, what is even more awesome is that God has stuff to tell us too, Jeremiah 33:3 addresses that: 3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Ephesians 3:20-21 also tells us that God wishes to work through us to do great things as well: 20 Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. So what hinders answers to our prayers? James 4:1-4 says: What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. 4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. So our wrong motives and being a friend with the world and it's ways plus not asking God for it are all bad news. The other thing that hinders our prayers, sin. Psalm 66:18-19 states: 18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,the Lord would not have listened;19 but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. My friends let us confront, confess, and repent of the sin in our hearts so the Lord will listen. May God add to the reading of the Word and bless you all. I'll see you next month.