-
Hey Bob, why Gideon
[FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]My [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]wife, Kathy, and I ride a 2003 Valkyrie. It’s a bare-bones ride with lots of [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]power and we loved it as two wheels. It always reminds us of the bikes we had [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]in our younger days. In August of 2006, because I was having difficulty with my [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]legs, Kathy selected a California Side Car Trike Kit and Art Bensheimer of [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]Bikes-N-Trikes, converted it for us. Art has done hundreds of conversions; this [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]was his first Valkyrie/California Side Car conversion. He did a fabulous job [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]and we are grateful.
[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]We [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]are often asked why we named our Valkyrie, Gideon 2. It dates back to our first [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]Gideon, a Suzuki Cavalcade, which we purchased in 1986. We prayed for a God-honoring [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]name for it that would prompt questions about the Lord. As we were riding to [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]the dealer to take delivery of the bike, we each indicated we had a name in [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]mind. It was one of those, “Honey, you go first.” “No, you go first, things.” [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]We simultaneously said, “Gideon”.
[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]Over [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]the years people have asked us about that name. At a recent bike show, a friend [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]called over to me, “Hey Bob, why Gideon?” I explained that it gives Kathy and [/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Times New Roman]me the opportunity to relate the story of Gideon found in the Bible in the 6[SUP]th [/SUP][/FONT][/COLOR][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]Chapter of Judges. Israel had been under [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]virtual siege by the Midianites for several weary years. Gideon was threshing [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]wheat, crouching down in a winepress to avoid detection by the enemy when the[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]Lord Himself appeared with a message. “The Lord is with you, mighty [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]warrior.” Gideon’s reply was probably [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]something like this, “Er, excuse me, were you talking to me?” Then the Lord turned to Gideon and said, “Go [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]in the strength you have and save Israel. [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]I am the One who is sending you.”
[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]Gideon [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]apparently wasn’t aware of any strength. [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]He sputtered and stuttered and reminded the Stranger that he was the [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]weakest member of the weakest clan of the weakest tribe of the weak nation of [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]Israel. In the Living Bible paraphrase, Gideon says, “I am the least thought of [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]in my entire family.”
[/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Times New Roman]We bikers are not always held in high esteem [/FONT][/COLOR][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]either. We are often stereotyped. I think in recent years here in the Midwest [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]the public is becoming increasingly aware of the good that bikers do through [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]our work in civic and charity causes. However, at times we still get those of [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]looks of disdain and we can certainly feel like the “Least thought of” just as [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]Gideon did.
[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]God [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]loved Gideon and He loves you, too. You can have a relationship with Him [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]through Jesus Christ. If you have not invited Him into your heart and life, I [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]would urge you to do so.
[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]God [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]definitely called Gideon and He promised to be with Him. The scriptures record the inadequacy and [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]misgivings voiced by those who were called by God. Jeremiah said, “I cannot [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]speak, for I am a child.” Isaiah said, [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]“I am a man of unclean lips and dwell among a people of unclean lips”. Ananias [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]essentially told the Lord what He was asking was ludicrous. “You want me to do what? You are asking me go [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]down to Straight Street to help this fellow Saul who has been persecuting the [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]Christians?”
[/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Times New Roman]There is a statement that is often overused, [/FONT][/COLOR][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]but true nevertheless. “God does not [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” The Lord promised to be with each [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]of His servants in Bible times and He promises to be with each one of us. Just [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]as he told Joshua, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; be [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]not afraid, neither be thou dismayed for the Lord they God is with thee [/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Times New Roman]whithersoever thou goest.” ( Joshua 1:9 )
[/FONT][/COLOR][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]Gideon, [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]the Cavalcade, was converted in the spring of 2001. Dan Earle from JD’s did the conversion. He [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]was a bit apprehensive because he had never converted a Suzuki Cavalcade. Dan had done many Honda Gold Wings but this [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]was something different. Then he received a call from Larry and Katie McGuire [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]in Florida, the couple who had designed the kit he was going to use. They were traveling to Indiana for a rally [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]and asked if they could stay with him. [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]So the designer actually worked with Dan on Gideon’s conversion. Even more exciting and beautiful it is when [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]the “Master Designer” changes a life![/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Times New Roman]
Mountainman, the artist from West Virginia, [/FONT][/COLOR][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]came north for the rally and also spent a week at JD’s. He painted a beautiful eagle with the [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]scripture reference Isaiah 40:31 on Gideon’s gas tank. We asked him to paint [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]“Motorcycle and Riders have been converted” on the trunk lid. That expression also appears on Gideon 2, [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]pinstriped by Sue (Chipper) Purpura of Martinsville and prompts some [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]interesting discussions, too!
[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]Remember, [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]when God calls you to work on all those great causes that bikers support, what [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]qualifies you is your love for the people, not your brilliance, not your[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]eloquence, but your willingness to love the people. My friends, heed His call[/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Times New Roman]and ride for Him with love!
[/FONT][/COLOR][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]As [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]always, I look forward to seeing you down the road.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]God bless,[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000000]Bob [/COLOR][/FONT]
[U][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=#000025]ww[URL="http://www.newliferiders.com/"]w.newliferiders.com[/URL][/COLOR][/FONT][/U]
[SIZE=3]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]
[/SIZE]
