This weekend the crew (Russ, Richard, Kaine, Barbara, Bart, Tim, Jimmy & Yours Truly) was ministering at the Maggie Valley bike rally. What a great time! I believe this was the largest Maggie rally I’ve been to yet! Lots of bikers from all over were here to enjoy some biker fun in one of God’s greatest creations, THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS! WOO-HA!

This year was especially great for Kaine because he just finished up his bobber project the night before the rally and he got to bring it along to show off. Let me give just a bit of history with the bobber so you know where I’m coming from.

I bought a little Honda Shadow about 2 years ago with the intent of chopping it up and making a bobber. I looked all over and finally found a very nice, extremely low miles bike in Louisville, Kentucky. I bought the bike in the winter so you know how my time is in the winter being a stove & fireplace man. I just never got time to fool with it. When spring rolled around, Kaine started to tinker with it. He would check with me about what was ok to do and would do what I said was ok.

It wasn’t too long before the bike became Kaine’s project bike and his project evolved into a labor of love. He tried many things and worked the bike into something very cool. He has sweated, bled, and been burned to transofrm the machine from what was common into something unique. I, as well as many friends have been very impressed with what he has done over the past 18 months or so.

This weekend, the fruits of a labor of love showed big time. OK, I have a very nice bike. But, I bought it that way. Someone else put the love into it and I just bought it. That is ok, I like my bike and really enjoy it when I can. Now that Kaine is riding, I enjoy it a lot more.

What happened this weekend? HA! Kaine pulled his bobber up about 6 or 8 feet beside my bike and as people walked by, I was quite humbled. My bike might as well have had a tarp over it. people would steady walk by and stop. Then there would be a whole crowd around kaine’s bobber taking pictures and asking what it was. When Kaine or his buddy would cruise it around the rally grounds, they would constantly be stopped by people wanting to look at it and ask questions.

I was soooooo proud of my boy this weekend and the more I watched and thought, the more proud I was of him and his accomplishment. Kaine has put in so many hours of hard work to bring the bike to completion. I’ve worked with him some here and there with design but I had not broken a sweat until this week as we painted and assembled it. For the most part, it was all Kaine. Kaine did not do all that work to have people come up and make a fuss over the bike. He did it because he loved doing it and wanted to make the bike something better than it was in the beginning. His love and hard work caused the fruits of the labor to be instantly recognizable – it stood out and showed among the others. It wasn’t the flair and chrome, it was that his bike was different!

As I thought about all that I just said, I thought too about our labors because of our love of Jesus.

There are some that do with the attitude of adding chrome or loud pipes – stuff that gets attention and looks pretty. “Get yourself a haircut. Put on these clothes. Stop doing this. Start doing that. Act this way. Walk like this.” You know what I mean.

There are some that labor strictly out of love. They love Jesus and want to be his hands and feet while they’re here on Earth. They want to share his love with others who need to know. Not so they can be shiny but so they can be better than they were before. When we invest a labor of love into a fellow human being, no matter how fat, skinny, dirty, smelly, or whatever, our love will show in them because they will be so much better than what they were.

As we invest in people, we have to remember why we do what we do. It is becuase Jesus loves that person with a love that we can’t comprehend. We have to love them too and if we truly love them and sew our love into their life, they too will be set apart from the everyday crowd. They will shine not with a thin shiny coat of chrome, but with a radiant glow of uniqueness that attracts people to them to see what is different about them.

When those that have been truly transformed stand beside those with only superficial changes to the surface, like my bike, you may as well throw a tarp over the latter because the one who is truly changed into a new creature is the one that will stand out in the crow. They will be the one that gathers the crowd overwhelmed with a desire to hear about who they are in contrast to who they used to be.

Be Blessed,

John

Posted under FROM THE HEART, WASSSUP!