Bard Letsinger

Don't Let Your Battery Run Down

The other day I took a morning ride and met a friend at Starbucks to discuss him leading worship at Renegade. It was good to find out we have the same vision of how worship should be. Pretty stoked about our conversation. He was going to pray about it and get back to me. After the meeting I headed back to the house. When I ride the Harley I focus on riding. Thinking about anything else can quickly put you in traction, or a coffin…neither is a pleasant thought. However, with so much going on as soon as I pulled into the garage my mind immediately shifted to all the things on my to do list.

A few hours later I went back out to grab something from the saddlebag bag and the lights on my bike were on. CRAP!!! When I pulled in I cut the engine but obviously I did not turn the bike off. I tried to start her up but she did not even come close to turning over. My bike is a 2006 and still equipped with the original factory battery. I should be putting the charger on the battery on a regular basis, but I get so busy that I forget, I don’t have time, there are other more pressing matters, and the excuses go on and on. By putting it off however I pushed it way past its limit and now it’s almost dead.

Lately I have noticed that I have done the same thing to myself. I have not been able to focus. I feel tired and when I try to concentrate it’s like my brain is in a fog. Because of it I keep doing goofy things, like forgetting to cut the power on my bike. The problem is obvious. I have been running all summer without a break. Since January we have been working to launch Renegade Church. May I went to Peru on a mission trip and came back just in time to start a gig as the between innings MC for the Generals. Then in July my wife and kids were sick then entire month. I was so busy I even missed the last two rides with my motorcycle group. The entire summer has been go-go-go.  I have not taken any time off to recharge my own internal battery. 

Don’t let yourself get run down. Take an afternoon off, go fishing, take a ride, plan a vacation with the family where you can just sit and relax. We all need to take time off to recoup and recharge our personal batteries. It took almost 48 hours for the little yellow light on the battery booster to turn green the battery to fully recharge. If it did not take the charge I would have had to go buy a new battery. But if you let yourself rundown you can’t just go out and buy a new you.

Texas Pride Barbeque Lunch Run

I am sunburned, wind burned, my tail-bone hurts and I think I upped my cholesterol by 100 points but I had a great day. This week my friend Ricky invited me to join him and a few of his fellow firemen on a 200 mile round trip lunch ride to Texas Pride Barbeque just outside of San Antonio. Motorcycles, food and fellowship, three of my favorite things. Ricky did not have to ask me twice.

We left Victoria Fire Station #5 around 10AM taking Hwy 87 up through Cuero and La Vernia. This is a great little highway ride. Some hills, a few lazy curves and some beautiful country.  I love riding over the old 1930’s era steal girder bridge over the San Antonio River outside of Cuero. On a bike you can feel the change in temperature as you pass over the river. The day was hot but you stay fairly cool flying 70mph down the highway. The ride was for the most part uneventful, however, outside of Nixon, TX we did have a “Wild Hogs” type moment as we got stuck behind an 18-whealer hauling chickens. Not sure which was worse, the smell or the feathers hitting us in the face. 

Noon and 95 miles later we reached our lunch destination,

Texas Pride Barbeque,located at 2980 East Loop 1604 in Adkins, Texas. Food Network’s Guy Fieri featured Texas Pride on his shows Dinners, Drive-Ins and Dives(for those non Food Network junkies you know Guy from the from his TGIFriday’s commercials). When you first enter the restaraunt you stand in line to get to the meat cutter who slices your order by weight, serves it to you Texas Style on butcher paper, and gets you your sides. The meat cutter was a character and the rest of the staff was wonderful. While the BBQ was great it was the Pecan Cobbler, or as the meat cutter called it “the hart attack in a cup”, that was off the hook.

We ate outside under a covered area with picnic tables and cool “junk” all around talking about the food and of course about motorcycles, bike equipment and places to ride. Even thought I only knew one of the guys, and am not a member of the VFD, you would never have known it. One of the things I love most about riding motorcycles, and one thing I think the church can learn from motorcycle riders, is acceptance. Even in church I still see clicks and holy huddles. If you don’t look right, dress right, are not a member of the right profession, or one of right families of the church, etc., you can come but you won’t ever really be accepted… and that’s NOT right. With bikers what matters is that you ride a bike. Doctors and ditch diggers, ranchers and artist, white collar and blue collar workers, people who would not normally hang outtogether or run in the same circles, will come together for a ride and sit at the same table for dinner talking bikes, family and life without any thought of their social status.

I see a lunch or dinner road trip with the family or another couple in the near future. This time we will drop the top on the convertible and go. Can not fit the whole family on the bike.

The Killing of a Town, Helena TX.

One of the great things about riding a motorcycle is…riding the motorcycle!!!  Sometimes it is not enough just to go for a ride so I have started putting together “devo rides” where at one point we stop and do a short devotion that is tied into our ride destination.

Earlier this month my ride group rode to the to the Texas ghost town of Helena, about 70 miles south of San Antonio. Over 120 years ago at Helena’s prim the city had a courthouse, a jail, a church building that housed three different congregations, a Masonic Lodge, drugstore, blacksmith shop, two hotels, a general store, up to 13 saloons, a school (the Helena Academy), a coeducational college and two newspapers. The town had a population of about 300 and was on a major trade route from the coast to San Antonio. Helena's future looked bright.

But Helena was also a lawless western town right out of a Hollywood movie script. How rough was it? Many people just referred to it by the first syllable of its name…”Hell”. It was the birthplace of the “Helena Duel" in which the left hands of two opponents were tied together and each fighter was given a knife with a three-inch blade. After the combatants were spun around a few times, they slashed away at each other until one bled to death from the accumulation of cuts and stabs. Robberies and shootings were common. 

Something had to give, and the beginning of the end for this once a thriving boom town  came the day after Christmas 1884 when Emmett Butler, the son of prominent rancher and Civil War Veteran  Colonel William G. Butler, was shot and killed.

There are many versions of what happened to Emmett that evening in Helena. They range from kissing the wrong girl (ah-la Kevin Cosner in Silverado) to shooting the sheriff. One version was even portrayed on the popular TV show Death Valley Days. All versions of the story end the same. Emmett is shot and killed while fleeing town, then the next day his father, Colonel Butler, rides into town with his brothers and cowhands demanding to know who killed his son. When no one would, or could tell him he supposedly shouted the famous phrase “This town killed my son, now I’m going to kill this town”.  What there is no doubt about is that soon after the killing of his son, Colonel Butler gave the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway free right-of-way through the family ranch to by-pass Helena, and in the late 1800’s being bypassed by the rail road was the kiss of death for a town. Within ten years of Emmitt’s death the county seat and most businesses had left Helena and moved to towns on the new rail line.

Our ride took us to the Helena town site that today consist of the old court house and post office, now museums, and several historical markers. I did a short devotional on generational sin, focusing not only that which led to the death of Helena, but also the generational sin of the Butler family and some of its history which I know well. Colonel Butler’s father was my great, great, great grandfather. My great, great grandfather was Pleasant Burnel Butler who was Colonel William Butler’s younger brother and one of the men who road into Helena to find out who killed Emmitt. Today we still have a tract of land on our ranch that is still owned by the rail road where the orgional line came through.

While we are influenced by our family and it’s history we are not bound by it. Ezekiel 18:30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct," declares the Lord GOD. “Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you.” (NAS)

We have the power, through Christ, to break the generational curse; we do not have to repeat the sins of our family. So what generational sins do you need to overcome, and what sin do you need to take to the Cross and ask for forgiveness so that it does not become a stumbling block for your family. Maybe you have grown kids, what have you passed on to them that you need to go to them and ask forgiveness to help them not pass it on to the 3rd and 4th generation.

It was a great ride, with some great guys and I am looking forward to the next one. 

Whitewalls for Valentine’s Day

The back tire on my bike was starting to wear a little thin, and tires on a motorcycle are a pretty important. You only have two on the ground and if one blows out, or looses traction, it is pretty much over. I had budgeted new tires for the bike this year and have been wanting to put on some whitewalls. Before the spring riding season begins was as good a time as any (however in Texas there is not a down time for bikes, we ride year round). I went down to the dealership and the ordered a set of tires. And that is where the fun begins.

For the next three weeks I kept checking to see if my tires came in. Since I had time on my hands I would just swing by the dealership instead of calling. After making phone calls and spending time on computer all morning going up to the bike shop was an excuse to get out of the house. The front tire came in quick but the back tire was on the dreaded “backorder”. Every week they gave me a date it would be in, and each time on that date it still had not arrived. The manufacture kept pushing the ship date back another week until finally on Friday the 13th the manufacture sent an e-mail saying that they had discontinued that particular tire and they were out of stock. Nothing to do but order a different tire which they expected to receive in three to five working days.

I left the dealership and had not driven but a few blocks when my phone rang. Apparently Friday the 13th was my lucky day. It turned out that they actually had my tires in stock . WOW!!! So we scheduled for me to bring the bike in at 2:30 PM on  Saturday, February 14th, Valentine’s Day

Of course changing the tires did not go as planned. Normally it takes about an hour and a half to change out a set of tires. However, first they had problems getting the protective blue coating off the whitewalls, then they had to swap out the brake pads, so I sat there chatting with the guys at the counter and playing on my iPhone while I waited. As we came to the shops 5:00 PM closing my bike still was not ready. One of the mechanics came out to inform me that they were having a heck of time getting the back tire to properly fit on the rim and it would about another hour to hour and a half before they were done. The shop was going to be closed on Monday so they were willing to stay and complete the job if I wanted them to and was willing to wait.

Here is where I could have gone off. Waiting three weeks for tires when they had what I needed in stock. Waiting for hours for my bike to be ready, and now they tell me I would have to wait another hour or even another three days to get my bike back. Chuck Swindoll has a great quote, “Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.” Our attitudes can make a bad situation good , or make it worse. The choice is ours. Instead of getting angry or frustrated my though was “These things happen.” I ask the guys left at the shop “Y’all married…girl friends?”

“Yes” was the response.
“Y’all have plans for tonight?” I ask. Being Valentine’s Day I already knew the answer. One was going to a dance, other two had dinner plans, all around six or 6:30. “Well gentleman, I am not going to get you trouble, go enjoy your evening.”
“Are you sure? We will jump on it first thing Tuesday.”
“Not a problem. I have waited three weeks, what is a few more days. I will call my wife to come get me.”

While I was waiting for Mollie to come pick me up one the guys at the shop ask me “So, you’re a pastor at Parkway?” Oh my gosh, I had no idea that they knew who I was or what I did. Just goes to show you never know who knows who you are. What kind of testimony would I have been if I had blown up on him over the situation with my bike.

On Tuesday I got my bike back and it looks great. The whitewalls give it that classic 50’s look that I love.  But more important than the tires on my bike is that I did not give someone another reason to stay out of church or to dislike Christians. Following Christ is not just something you do, being a Christian has to be who you are.  You don’t just turn it on Sunday morning and then turn it off the rest of the week, because if you do you may not be the only person you are turning off to Christ.

Think I will go for a ride. The tires need a little more breaking in .

Doing My Part to Protect the General Public

This week I did my part to protect the general public by taking down one of the most dangerous animal on the North American continent. On average over 100 people a year are killed and 10, 000 injured by this creature and when I saw this one I did not hesitate to pull the trigger. What animal am I talking about? A bear? Bears only kill on average 5-10 people per year in North America. Sharks? Only about 50 attacks a year worldwide. Dogs? 33 fatal attacks on people in 2007. Here is a picture of me and one of me and my brother with this beast.
 
I know what you are thinking…sweet, cute Bambi a killer?!? It is the truth. More people are killed or injured per year in traffic accidents with White Tail Deer than are killed in attacks by all other animals in North America combined. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates there are approximately 1.5 million auto-deer collisions per year, resulting in damage and losses of around $1.5 billion a year, which works out to an average cost of $1,000 per accident. State Farm Insurance Agency also supports these statistics, and goes on to report that, in the year 2004, there were 150 human deaths in the United States directly linked to car-deer accidents.

I have experienced this first hand. I love to take my motorcycle when I go to our ranch. It is a 120 mile round trip with several nice routs to take with some nice curves that are fun to ride. However I don’t ride at dusk or at night, it is way too dangerous. There are deer all over the side of the road at night, especially on back country roads in rural Texas.

The fact is that there are more deer in North America today than when the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth in 1620, and hunting is an important way to keep their numbers in check. Not to mention there is nothing tastier than Fried Venison Backstrap. My goal is to just keep you safe as you travel through the back roads of Texas; it is just the right thing to do and a tasty way to do it.

Rules for the Road, Rules for My Marriage

I have been off the bike for about two weeks now and I am going a little stir crazy. I spent a week installing a set of passing lamps and had to find a new turn signal on eBay (you can find almost anything on eBay) which cost me a week of riding. I finally got it put back together and was all ready to ride when I got sick.

Yes, I know riding a motorcycle can be dangerous, (most of you will not stop telling me that) but so is life, and my research shows that death was a side effect of living for 99.999% of those who participated (two were just removed, one came back and all the rest are pretty much pushing up daisies). But I have rules for riding when it comes to the motorcycle and by following them I cut my chances of being in an accident by 98%. Hey, crossing the street is a risk, the key is minimizing the risk as much as possible. Here are my rules.

1. I don’t drink and ride (70% of all fatal motorcycle accidents involve a rider with BAC of .08 or higher).

2. I don’t ride if I don’t feel good. Last week I had a head cold and took some Sudafed. Dizzy and drowsy are not a good combination in a car, much less on a motorcycle.

3. I don’t ride in bad weather. A foggy morning, drizzle, ice, etc.

4. I don’t ride when I am mad or distracted. If I have a lot on my mind I don’t get on the bike. There are no rides to clear my head. Lack of focus leads to becoming a hood ornament.

5. I don’t ride country roads at night. I have no problem taking out a deer or a hog at the ranch, but not at 60 mph on my bike.

These are not just "guidelines"; they are rules that I put in place to minimize the risk and ride safe. I don’t violate them because when I do bad things have the potential of happening.

When it comes to my marriage I also have some rules to keep it safe.

1. I don’t ride in a car alone with another woman that I am not related to.

2. I don’t go out to eat alone with another woman who I am not related to.

3. I don’t schedule counseling appointments after office hours with a woman unless a secretary or other staff member is going to be around.

4. I will not go into a neighbor’s house if the husband is not home or have a female neighbor or friend in our house if Mollie is not home.

Why do I do this? Simple. Just like no one ever gets up in the morning and says, "I think I will go out and have a wreck on my motorcycle today" no one ever says "Today I think I will start down a road that will wreck my marriage and devastate my family." Seriously, no one has ever come into my office and said they just woke up one morning and thought "today is the day I am going to have an affair." Over and over again I hear people say "it just happened" and they do not know how they got there.

So what are you doing to stay off the road to wrecking your relationships? If the answer is "nothing" you may already be on that road, or putting your spouse on that road, and not even know it. Most riders that I know who have been in motorcycle wrecks say they never saw it coming, so do most of the people who I counsel who have had affairs, or spouces who have had afairs. There are a lot of great resources out there for couples. I recommend is "His Needs, Her Needs" and a new book called "The Love Dare".  Don’t get blindsided. Minimize your risk.

Bravo Bravo's

Any day you can go for a ride is a great day. After church the Parkway Riders, the Motorcycle Ministry at Parkway Church, took it’s semi by-monthly Sunday lunch ride. This time we took a short trip up Hwy 87 to Don Bravo’s in Cuero, Texas. Nothing like Bikes and greasy Tex-Mex. Don Bravo’s is on Hwy 183 in Cuero on the right as you head out of Cuero toward Austin.

Don Bravo's is your typical “Hole in the Wall” restaurant. Most of the parking lot is gravel and grass in the back, paint on the building is fading, not sure if the neon sign works, seating is tight, you can feel the heat from the kitchen when you walk in the door and you pay at the counter when you leave. Don Bravo’s is the place that travelers passing through town blow right by and where all the locals eat. Great food with big glasses of tea make it the perfect destination for a quick ride for lunch after church.

Good weather, good food, good company and conversation. Did not have to wait for a table. Can't ask much more for a ride (well maybe for the temp to be about 10 degrees cooler).

Our next ride will be sometime in September. Anyone who rides is welcome. I am working on incorporating a study into our next ride and making it a Saturday road trip. Don’t know if I will have time to finish writing the study by September. If I do not we will make another after to church lunch run. Any excuse to get togather for a ride.

How Aware are you?

What’s going on around you? Do you have a clue? In your job, you family, your life. How aware are you. Watch this short video and see if you can count how many times the team in white passes the ball.

The point is that we only see what we are looking for. As a motorcyclist I appreciate this PSA. Most people when they drive are not looking for bikers. So when you drive please look out for that guy (or gal) on a motorcycle, the life you save may be mine.

This applies not only to driving, but to life as well. What is going on in the lives of the people around you, your spouse, your kids. Don’t get so caught up in your own world that you miss something important happening right in front of you. We can not see what is going on in our loved ones lives if we do not spend time with them, and don’t give me any lip about quality over quantity when spending time with your spouse and family. The fact is quantity is quality when it comes to spending time with your family. Don't let the moonwalking bear sneak up on you.

We Don't Do Fear

I am getting tired of hearing the talking heads drone on and on about how bad things are, especially the economy. By economic definition we are not in a recession, which is a period of two quarters of negative growth in the Gross Domestic Product. (Last quarter the GDP actually grew, it was less than 1% but it still grew) Yes we are facing high oil and gas prices that are forcing food prices up. And the daily records in the price of oil are driven by speculators who think the prices will keep going up, so they bid it up feeding off public fears. The Rasmussen Report gives a lot of figures base on poling that in essence say that 73% of you think the economy is getting worse. Of course you do. A month ago I was channel surfing and in just 20 minutes heard six stories on how bad the economy is. Well, if someone was just bombarded with six doom and gloom stories in 20 minutes and then someone calls doing a survey asking “Do you think the U.S. economy is getting better or worse?“ What do you think the average person is going to say. Fear is driving the economy, or should I say slowing it down. And let me just say “Fear Sucks”.

Personally I like Harley-Davidsons attitude (and attitude is one reason I am a biker). Recently their company and their stock has been slammed by one negative story after another. Fear in the economy has caused the sale of their high end motorcycles to drop. Lets face it, a Harley is a luxury item. So, does Harley wallow in the negative news, do they sit in a board room and fret and wine about it. NO!!! They do what they always do, they look at history, at this country, at the spirit that made Harley Davidson who and what it is, and then they say “Screw it, lets ride!“ Seriously. That is exactly how they sum it up in their new advertising campaign. The last line in their new spots says it all. Just watch this and tell me if you don’t agree that if the entire country would just adopt this biker attitude our nation would be in much better shape.

If you don’t like the biker way of saying it here is a scripture passage for you. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15.

Hit by the Love Bug

Spring, that time of year when something is in the air. You are riding along, minding your own business, just enjoying the beautiful day when…. WHAM…it hits you…The Love Bug. Then Splat it hits you again.... another one. Then SPLAT, WHAP, WHAM, SPLUCH, a whole bunch hit you at once, No, I am not talking about "in spring a young man’s fancy" figurative love bug, I am talking about thousands of actual Love Bugs smashing into you at 70 mph. Well in reality they just float there and you go smashing into them.

Late spring along the Gulf Coast and these things are out by the millions, hovering around roads. Sometimes they are called Honeymoon Bugs (appropriate), Kissybugs (obvious) or Telephone Bugs (this one I don’t get) but car wash owners call them “The Money Makers”. I saw one semi that was completely covered in them. It turns out their bodies are acidic and since birds will not eat them it seems their only enemies are speeding automobiles. And because their bodies are acidic they can ruin your cars paint if left on too long.

My son Braiden was four when we moved back to Texas and he saw his first Love Bugs attached to each other. His first question, “What are those bugs doing?”

“Well son, they are, um, they are, just giving each other a hug. Yeah, that’s it, just giving each other a hug.” I was not about to go into a "the bird’s and the love bugs" talk with my four year old, mainly because he was/is too stinking smart and it I knew it would lead to more questions. A few days later we were out side when Love Bug by itself landed on Braiden. He looked at the thing and in what can only be described as a four year old channeling Isaac Hayes said “That poor Love Bug ain't get-in no love.” I about died laughing.

Now, you think they are bad in your car, try encountering a swarm of them on a motorcycle. I did on my ride this week and it was not fun. The worst is one that flew into my helmet into my ear. Now the thing was still alive and crawling around tickling my ear. Drove me crazy and there was nothing I could do.

As I was riding it occurred to me that Love Bugs are a lot like sin. When riding, or even in a car, we will swerve to avoid big things like buzzards because hitting one of those things can do some damage. But Love Bugs, we just ignore them and keep on driving. Love Bugs are little things, no big deal, just a speck on the windshield. Life is the same way, we usually swerve to avoid the “big sins”, things like murder, robbing a bank, affairs, things we know can wreck out lives quick. But little things like gossip, lust, envy, bad attitudes, greed, can seem like no big deal. While one love bug on the windshield is not big deal, a bunch of them can make it impossible to see clearly. In the same way one little sin might not seem like a big deal, however they build up and blind you over time. And, just like the acidic bodies of the smashed love bugs will corrode your paint unless it is washed off; uncleansed sin can over time eat away at you.

After my ride on Monday where I put off all the things I needed to be doing (see my April 29, 2008 post) I had to add one more thing to my “To Do” list on Tuesday. I had to wash my bike. After that I had to wash me… then I took a shower and crossed a few more things off my “To Do” list.