Saying Goodbye

Well, I said goodbye to a friend this weekend. Anyone who knows me knows I love to ride my motorcycle. The problem was that I just wasn't getting enough time to ride. In the last 18 months I had only put about 2,500 miles on my bike. So starting about a month ago, I started listing the bike on several forums, websites, etc. in order to try and get it sold. I finally found a buyer and loaded it into the trailer for delivery, along with all the various assorted goodies one accumulates with a motorcycle. A swap of a title for cash, a couple signatures, and a handshake and the bike is gone from me forever.

So what's this doing in an India mission blog? Well, truth be told, my decision to sell wasn't solely about me not getting time to ride. It had more to do with priorities.

Here it is, a former friend of mine that gave
me a lot of smiles over the last 4 years.

About three months ago I was approached by my church board and asked to find a project in India that our church could give financial support to. It was then that Charles Gulla, e3's partner in India, contacted me about the training and equipping program I outlined in a previous post. Part of that program was the support of a native pastor for a year. The total cost of that support was put at $1,200.00.

That's right. $1,200.00 would cover his food, lodging, living expenses, traveling expenses, and ministry. As I walked around with that knowledge in my head, it became very difficult to walk by this blue and silver machine that I had really only used about 20 days over the last year. It gnawed on me. With the knowledge that an Indian pastor and his family can live off $1,200.00 for a whole year, could I really justify having something worth around $3,000.00 sitting around doing nothing for more than 90% of my time? I just couldn't. And so I put it and some of it's associated goodies on the market. The largest part of the proceeds from the sale will go to my mission trip, some will go to support other Indian missions, and some will take care of other expenses I have so that I can free up a little cash flow in preperation for the trip.

I did keep this little guy. He's been with me on one
motorcycle or another for about 20,000 miles.

Now lets get a couple of things straight here:

• This doesn't in any way mean that I'm a more spiritual person than anyone else. Let's face it: if I was only using it a very little bit of the time, I obviously won't miss it much. Remember the story of the widow's mite. Her offering, as small as it was, was considered more worthy by Christ because for her, it was sacrificial. Given it's lack of use, my motorcycle is obviously not the equivelant of the widow's mite. I'll miss the bike being there when I want to take a spin, but it isn't going to be any sacrifice for me to be without it. All it really means is that I got a piece of knowledge (what an Indian pastor can survive on) and God used that knowlege to put a conviction in my heart.
• I'm not telling you this in order to brag about what a great guy I am for giving something up. Read the above point. I'm also not trying to put a guilt trip on anyone about their own toys. I've still got lots of toys. I'm still very prone to the great ailment of the west, consumerism. (He says as he types on an iPad.) But I do wish that all of us, including myself, would think about our priorities more. If you're reading this it is most likely that you're an American. Even with the downturn in the economy, we're still the most blessed nation on earth. Even our poor have things like cel phones, cable television, computers, and running vehicles. Most of us are blessed enough to have all that plus much more. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But I know that in my own case I often put my desire for these things above my support for ministry and God's work. It's something I struggle with daily.

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