Normally, if you are third then you have someone in front of you to pull if the leader needs a break and then you can decide whether or not to say there and take a turn or move back further down the line. But, both people in front of her moved out at the same time and the job of pulling was thrust upon here whether she wanted it or not. And by her reaction, she didn’t.

I know the lady who said this and she is a pretty strong rider; so it wasn’t the physical part of pulling that she hated it was the mental, or intangible, part. You see, if a rider is riding behind someone –or a lot of someones—all they have to do is ride and keep from hitting the wheel in front of them. But, when you are leading your responsibilities go up. You now are responsible for making sure everyone is going the right way and for the speed (you don’t want to slow the group down –too much at least). It can be a little daunting, for someone who isn’t used to it, when you look back and there are 50+ people right on your wheel following you.

Alright, now picture this: You are in a small group setting with 10-15 friends from church and everyone is talking and discussing the book that the group is reading and the leader looks at you and says, “Hey, can you lead us in prayer?” OH CRAP!

Or how about this one: Your Sunday School teacher finishes up with the class for the day and then says to the group that she’ll be out for a couple weeks. She then looks at you and says, “Hey, can you lead this group while I’m gone?” OH CRAP!

More than likely it isn’t the Bible knowledge that scares you. It isn’t having to study and prepare that scares you. It is probably the fact that you feel like you’ll have 4 or 5 or 20 people looking at you assuming you have all the answers and that you are there to lead them on this fantastic voyage of perfect and exact knowledge. But the problem is you aren’t perfect and you may even stutter or forget what you are saying or you may say something stupid or wrong. Join the club.

We all know who Moses is right? The always-eloquent, all-knowing, never-doubting, wonderful leader who lead the Israelites into the Promise Land. Read Exodus Chapter 3 and 4 when you get a chance and you’ll find a man just like the rest of us.

Let me set this up for you: Moses is busy tending the sheep when God says to him, “…I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt…” (Exodus 3:1-10) So, we have Moses who, like the cyclist, is just cruising along and all of a sudden BOOM a leadership position is thrust upon him and a decision has to be made. Does he say yes or no? Here is his answer:

1 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me… (Exodus 4:1)

¹⁰ Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Exodus 4:10)

When asked to lead, Moses said he couldn’t because he didn’t feel like the Egyptians would believe him and that he wasn’t confident in his ability to communicate effectively. Isn’t that what scares us when we are asked to step out in a spiritual application –whether it be praying or leading a Bible Study. “What if they don’t believe me?” What if I sound like an idiot and no one understands what I’m saying?” What did God say to Moses after Moses responded that he didn’t feel like he was the right communicator for the job?

“…What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. ¹⁵ You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. (Exodus 4:14-15)

My favorite line is, “He (his brother Aaron) is already on his way to meet you…” How awesome is that. God knew what Moses’ objection was going to be and he had the remedy already in place. Moses was the right man for the job the whole time and God knew what he would need in order to get it done. God never asked Moses to do something he couldn’t handle. WE will never be asked to do something we can’t handle –with God’s help and provision. However, we may not see all of the answers at once. Moses didn’t know his brother was on the way when God asked him to lead the people.

Whatever it is that God is asking you to do, remember he won’t ask you to do it alone. He will always provide the tools you need to get the job done and done right. But, you may have to wait for your “brother” to arrive sometimes. Be patient and trusting of an almighty God.

royb

^{Galatians 5:1-6}

¹It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. ²Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. ³Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. ⁴You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. ⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Unless I’m missing something, the two verses following Galatians 5:4 actually give the answer to the question of how we get anything at all…….FAITH.

And to further make the point, Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9,

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.

Abraham was credited righteousness even though there wasn’t even a law to follow yet. How? Faith. Read Hebrews or Genesis, it’s all there.

For some reason this has really bothered me. I saw the sign about 4 1/2 hours ago and I can’t get it out of my head. I think the reason is because of what that first verse up there says (Galatians 5:1). “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free…” He did not set us free to go back into a different kind of slavery. We are not to trade one type for another, which is what some churches try to do to people. Read the second half of verse 1, “…and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Paul was writing this letter to the believers in Galatia because “Christian” leaders were trying to attach all kinds of rules and regulations to the people’s salvation: Faith + ______.

Paul wrote Galatians to put the kibosh on this teaching. That is deceitful and manipulative teaching, and churches have been using that tactic for thousands of years. I pray that we as believers can truly live in freedom. God did not just save us from something bad. He saved us to something better. God did not just deliver the Israelites and leave them in the desert to rot. He delivered them from slavery to the promise land. Please don’t let anyone put a yoke of slavery back on you. Or, like Paul fears in Galatians 4:11, someone wasted time in preaching salvation to you to begin with.

Back to the church sign. Maybe the church sign was simply a conversation starter: put there to get the drivers-by to ask questions. Somehow I doubt it. I pray that it will change here soon back to something less controversial…..to me at least.

Please comment on what you’ve read here. If you agree or disagree, let me know why. I’d love the feedback.

royb

Ringostar123

A $50 Lesson

I recently asked my friends’ little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, ‘If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?’

She replied, ‘I’d give food and houses to all the homeless people.’
Her parents beamed with pride.

‘Wow…what a worthy goal.’ I told her, ‘But you don’t have to wait until you’re President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I’ll pay you $50. Then I’ll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.’

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, ‘Why doesn’t the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?’

I said, ‘Welcome to the Republican Party.’

Her parents still aren’t speaking to me.

That is the difference.

Well, it appears that they –global warming scientists and liberals– are starting to be exposed for what they really are: money-hungry narcissists. This whole Global Warming ruse is nothing but a ploy to force taxes and carbon-emission credits (Cap-and-Trade) on the world, forcing them to fork out trillions of dollars to line the pockets of these scum scam-artists.

The sad part? The mainstream media (MSM) has yet to catch on and MSNBC just, as of the last couple days, started reporting on this falacy. CNN has yet to catch on and it seems they will fight to the bitter end to support the liberals and their lackeys.

Read for yourself. I’ve listed a few of the Climategate articles. There are none from CNN, ABC, CBS, or MSNBC, not because I didn’t look, but because there weren’t any.

Copenhagen will fail – and quite right too

UN panel promises to investigate leaked ‘climategate’ e-mails (This one cracks me up. You have a corrupt Entity investigating it’s own cash-cow. Yeah, that’s going to end up with something useful. But hey, at least they used the word ‘Climategate’ –giving it validity.)

Climategate: the final nail in the coffin of ‘Anthropogenic Global Warming’? (I had to look up the word Anthropogenic too.)

Why You Should Be Hot and Bothered About ‘Climate-gate’

Americans Skeptical of Science Behind Global Warming

After reading all of the above, take a look at Al Gore’s website. It will make you want to laugh, at the audacity, and puke at the same time.

AlGore.com

royb

1. A collusion between the overweening state and certain favored monopolistic concerns, whereby the profits can be privatized and the debts socialized.
2. Devalued paper currency in the international community.
3. Kleptocracy– those in positions of influence use their time in office to maximize their own gains, always ensuring that any shortfall is made up by those unfortunates whose daily life involves earning money rather than making it.
4. There must be no principle of accountability within the government so that the political corruption by which the Banana Republic operates is left unchecked. The members of the national legislature will be (a) largely for sale and (b) consulted only for ceremonial and rubber-stamp purposes some time after all the truly important decisions have already been made elsewhere.
5. “a money class fleeces the banking system while the very trunk of the national tree is permitted to rot and crash”

This was taken from Wikipedia. You can find it by clicking here.

^royb

They would have done it already if it weren’t for that freakin Constitution thing getting in the way. You know, 1st Amendment rights and all. However, Constitution or not, they will try to shut down the opposition any way possible.

And I contend, that if they force the Conservative Voices underground, the movement will explode –exponentially. Americans will not be forced to shut-up.

Obama, here is a clue: If you want to end the millions of angry voices, start doing what’s best for America, not the unions and not your power-hungry, liberal idealogs.

royb

The whole gist of the book is why women, who couldn’t resist sex before they were married, now that they have tied the knot, don’t want to anymore. It talks about why that happens and what to do about it. The thing that struck me the most is the fact that there is an actual reason for it. It is something that is fixable, women don’t have to live that way.

She uses actual real-life examples. Kiss Me Again addresses different problems or obstacles that women face in their sexual relationship with their husbands and gives steps for women to follow in order to allow God to begin the healing process.

It talks about the bonds that occur when two people have sex and how it affects the marriage later on. It isn’t just an emotional bond, it is a chemical bond that can bring serious, unneeded, baggage into a marriage.

No matter what is in your sexual past, God can heal your wounds and restore you marriage. God can heal the sexual issues you are struggling with in marriage. He can reignite your desire and deepen your emotional bond with your husband. (Barbara Wilson)

I recommend this book for anyone who has the desire for a deeper “physical and emotional closeness with their mates.”

In Kiss Me Again, Wilson:

·         Shares her own story of healing and renewed desire

·         Helps women forgive themselves and their husbands for past choices

·         Shows readers how to break free from “invisible bonds”

·         Explains God’s plan for helping a husband and wife to re-bond

·         Includes conversation helps for both wives and their husbands

·         Helps couples reignite the passion that they thought was lost

Barbara Wilson is the author of The Invisible Bond and former director of sexual health education for the Alternatives Pregnancy Resource Center in Sacramento. She speaks nationwide to youth and adults with her message of sexual healing, and she teaches frequently in the women’s ministry at the multi-campus Bayside Church in Northern California. Barbara and her husband, Eric, have been married for twenty-eight years.

Me: Dude, check this out. I’ve been riding this bike for a couple of years now but haven’t really lost any weight and I’m the same size as before.

Dude: Yeah, me too. I’ve got the same gut I’ve always had.

Me: It doesn’t make sense, but I think it’s because every time I ride, I eat like a horse afterwards. The more I exercise, the more I eat.

Dude: Makes sense to me. After we get done, you want Zesto’s fried chicken or Mexican?

Me: Probably both.

And now that I think about it, I actually did end up at a Mexican restaurant that night eating more food than any one person should be able to hold. And while I’m being honest here, I went to Sandy’s and got ice cream too –but just a little. I felt horrible after eating so much food, but I didn’t have any regrets because of the amount of exercise I just did.

Exercise

On average, from all the information I’ve read and been told, I will burn roughly 600-800 calories and hour by cycling. And that number goes up when it is hot outside, because your body has to work extra hard regulating your body heat. So, Saturday I rode for roughly 3 1/2 hours in 90 degree heat. If I do the math, I burnt roughly 2000-2800 calories, not taking into account the humidity and heat.

Eating

Saturday night, I went to Jalisco Mexican Restaurante. And, for the record, it was excelente. But, again, from what I’ve read and been told, the meal I inhaled had roughly 2000 calories in it.

Mexican Meal that contains Fajitas (1000 calories), Rice (200 calories), Beans & Cheese (250 calories) , Basket of Warm Tortilla Chips (450 calories) = 2000 calories total

My Findings

As you can see, from a nutritional, weight loss perspective, the day was a wash. I basically rode a bike just long enough to burnt off the meal I ate that night. This doesn’t take into account breakfast and lunch. My overall calorie intake was much higher than what I burnt off. Also, the next day I was still hungry. And if I ride a bike for 5 hours or more, I’ll be hungry for even longer.

It is simple, and I was right, the more I exercise the more I eat. The reason I haven’t been losing all that much weight –I have lost some— is because I’ve used my exercising as an excuse to indulge my appetite. I am getting healthier, from the standpoint of endurance and aerobic ability, but my waist size body mass hasn’t gone down much at all.

Now, again, this is my unscientific research that I’ve thrown together, but today I read an article that, unfortunately, backed up my unscientific research.

Read the article here.

Conclusion

I have to stop eating everything I find after I finish exercising. Also, when I do eat, it has to be something other than a 2000+ calorie Mexican meal. If you know my wife, as she is reading this, she is screaming at the top of her lungs, “THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN TELLING YOU FOR YEARS!”

But I know I’m not alone. I have friends and/or family members who will eat doughnuts after they finish running or walking on the track. It’s like a reward they give themselves for exercising. But of course, then they wonder why the weight isn’t just falling off.

I was under the impression that if you want to lose weight, or get healthy, just exercise. That was the magic. Unfortunately, for me at least, it isn’t. I have to learn to go against everything my body is telling me and not engorge myself on anything with sugar and transfats in it.

P.S.

While exercising, especially for anything lasting longer than an hour, you and I must make sure we are taking in carbs as we go. The body uses carbs to fuel itself as it goes. Whether you are eating gels or whatever, just be sure that you are refueling as you go or you will get sick and your body will shut down, because it is out of gas.

My rule of thumb when riding (A friend of mine, a bike shop owner and avid cyclist, taught me this) is to drink a bottle of water every hour and eat two-three gels an hour when the temperature is normal. When it is unbearably hot I’ll drink a bottle every 45 minutes and at least 3 gels an hour.

royb

royb

How Much is Enough?

The American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, only a little while.

The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life.”

The American scoffed, “ I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then?”

The American laughed and said the best part. “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions?” asked the fisherman, “Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evening, sip wine and play guitar with your amigos!”

Author Unknown

The gist of the article was this: Ahmadinejad, who is an ultra-conservative, religious, right-winger, will lose the election because the people of Iran now have the guts to throw him out of office. Why do they now have this so-called power? Because they saw America throw out their ultra-conservative, religious, right-wing dictator, Bush.

I read this article with fascination. This writer –and I sure wish I could recall who it was– was convinced that America had emboldened the people of the world to oust all conservative leaders. Because, obviously, Bush was a horrible leader who was keeping the poor people of America in slavery, and now that he was out, similar leaders would be brought to “justice”. This writer was comparing President Bush and his policies with President Ahmadinejad and his anti-Semitic self.

I could not help but read this article in disbelief. I was amazed that this popular news agency would let such obvious socialist drivel on their website, much less, publish it as an article.

So my question now is this: Since Ahmadinejad won the election by a good margin, even after people said it was rigged, what does that say about the people of Iran? And more importantly, what does that say about the people of America?

And now, what does the writer of this article do as an encore? Since his stance is obvious and his opinions are clearly misguided, he will most likely always have a job at either one of these news agencies because, like him, their stance is obvious and their opinions are clearly misguided.

Now, you may ask why I read these three websites every week if I don’t put any stock in their opinions? Zig Ziglar once said that he reads the Bible and the newspaper every day, so he can see what both sides are doing. I read MSNBC, ABCNews, CNN and FoxNews every week for the same reason. I want to see what the idiots are up to and how they are spinning the world we live in.

royb