November
2008 Newsletter
What can I do or say to
get you to read this month’s newsletter? This is a question I had to
ask myself when I sat down to kind of “wrap up” what has been going on in
the CSBA over the past few months, and also, what is planned for the next
few months to come? If you skip everything I have to say, please read
further down and read what Joe and Art have written. These are the real
life testimonies of their walk in faith! It is the how, it is the why of
what brings us together in the CSBA, it is the reason we are men and women
of faith and not just people who ride sport bikes.
Upcoming CSBA events
Leadership:
We are
going to hold another winter meeting and leadership conference in 2009.
The purpose will be for fellowship and an opportunity for those who are
interested, to become more effect leaders in the CSBA. It will be a basic
leadership course, open to all CSBA members who have a desire to take on a
more active role as a Christian leader. We will be going over the
dynamics that will help you share your enthusiasm for riding and your
faith in Christ. If you are looking for the tools to build your
confidence in become more effective leading as a faithful servant in His
Word, this is a weekend you should not miss! Dates and location will be
announced soon.
Spring Rally:
After
some discussion at the fall rally, with some of the members and further
discussions with Scott, we decided to change the format of the spring
rally a little bit. This should help us have a better national rally.
Here are
just some of the points we discussed. Remembering, nothing is carved in
stone; your input is encouraged and welcome. Some further national rally
details will also be worked out during the winter rally.
·
Shortening the rally from a week to 4 days, Thursday through Sunday
morning.
·
We will
be having the Rally in WV again, but this time we are going to be all
staying in one place.
·
We will
have our all day rides as we always have, but in the evening we will all
gather for a meal together. We have had enough people step forward who
are willing to cook so we can have a “back yard” type of gathering each
evening. And, the meals are at no cost!
We are
hoping what we can put together is a cheap four day gathering, that will
let us spend time together enjoying each other’s fellowship as well as
find ourselves in a place to hear some great speakers. We would like the
format to be comfortable enough to invite the general motorcycle public to
join us for four great days sharing in great roads and fellowship,
alongside men and women of faith.
From the Chaplain
There is
no trophy or plaque for a track day, but in the race to share the hope of
Christ with mankind, this past weekend at Jennings was a podium finish!
The past 8 months have been a season of labors for a group of men, most of
which I have never met, until now. Much prayer, connecting on forums, and
ultimately joining them on the street, built relationships that culminated
in 30 local riders coming to chapel service at Jennings Speedway in
Florida.
With
most of the riders being exposed to the track for the first time, you can
imagine what it was like. The nervous laughs, lots of taped headlights,
rented leathers sagging, lots of questions, but there was something else
as well that this collection of blue collar moto-gp wannabees had in
common, courage. Courage to deliberately expose themselves and their
property to danger and risk, in an endeavor that would only yield personal
satisfaction and a few pats on the back at best, broken bones, destroyed
bikes, even death, at worst. But yet they rolled onto pit-out.
It was
this courage that inspired me to suck it in, and lift up the name of our
Savior, when I was not planning on doing a chapel service, justifying it
in my mind that, "it's my first time meeting a lot of these bros, they'll
think I'm weird, what if they get offended?"
Crazy
how we can have such boldness to brake late and dive into a double-apex,
reducing radius turn with two bikes on our tail, but when it comes to
sharing the hope of God with the bros we have been called to serve at the
track…we can be so weak! They come with all the same struggles that we
have had to go through, and the same challenges and sins that were
breaking us apart, are breaking them as well. Yet we are afraid to speak
truth to them, truth about Jesus the Christ, by which they can be
wonderfully transformed into the men, warriors and leaders God intended
them to be, instead of just walking a mediocre line of parties and
paychecks until the grave closes in.
Yeah,
they have been grilled by the media to talk smack and serve the flesh.
Yeah, they have had to be tough to survive in a broken home with no
example of a father, Yeah, they can say hurtful things and make us feel
pretty bad at times, as they unleash the attitude from the pain and fraud
they have experienced. But do we stay silent?
It was
another faithful bro at the track who looked at me like I was smokin
crack, when I asked him if I should try a chapel service. "Heck Yeah,
you're here aren't ya?!" was his response. Many of the guys came up
afterwards and shared privately how much those ten minutes of hope,
that most heard for the first time, meant to them.
I look
forward to catching up with everyone at the spring rally, till then, I
hope this lesson from a backmarker, brings the bros you are interacting
with, closer to the eternal prize of Christ.
Art
Lohman,
CSBA
Chaplain
By Joe
Cotterino "Cowboy 6"
Wow! What an end to the
season. The Lord really put the screws to me and my pride this weekend. He
also allowed me to send a message to all in attendance about perseverance.
In James 1:2-4 it is written:
" Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come
your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that
when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let
it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect
and complete, needing nothing."
Too many are eager to give up when things get tough. I speak not only of
racing or work but in relationships. We tend to give up on each other all
too quickly when we reach an impasse or conflict that can't be resolved
easily. Unfortunately, many follow the same path with God. If things don't
go our way or a prayer isn't answered the way we want it, we give up on
God, some to the point of walking away from their faith.
Many years ago before I had a real relationship with the Lord, I held my
little girl, Antonia (Toni) Noelle, lifeless in my arms. She had died in
my wife's womb but was delivered normally. As my wife and I held her for 3
hours after her birth, I could not help but think of how perfect she was.
Everything on her was perfectly formed, fully developed, and only a few
weeks short of her due date. She was beautiful. There was no reason for
her to be there, in my arms, not breathing, and lifeless. While I raged
inside and cried outside, I walked away…
I felt that there could not be a God who would allow this dear little
creature to die never having had the chance to live. I thought the
atheists were right, there was no God. I gave up.
My wife went the other way. Within two years of Toni's death, my wife
accepted Jesus as her savior and secured her place with our Father for
eternity. I on the other hand did not. But the Lord had other plans. He
used my wife to reach me. It was very hard on her. It took nine years!
But, unlike me, she never gave up. She had faith and prayed constantly
that I would hear God's Word. Her perseverance was incredible.
Now, whenever I am tempted to give up, I think of my wife and rejoice that
she never gave up on me. I am a different person now. With Jesus Christ in
my heart and running my life, God has opened so many doors and my life is
rich and full. I now know that I can do nothing without Him and that I can
do anything with Him. And, most importantly, I NEVER give up!
This weekend my daughter Cecilia who crews our bikes, showed patience and
commitment with me as well. I am sure glad she pays attention to Mom!
This race weekend was all about James 1. Practice on Friday was abysmal.
There were so many bikes on the track it was nuts. A good many of them
were incredibly slow which made it somewhat dangerous. In fact, our
Brother John Dodson fell victim in T3 and broke his right collar bone in
the resulting crash. He is doing well but had to head home Saturday
morning.
These slowmen also resulted in not really being able to learn the track as
you rarely entered a turn at a realistic speed to judge braking points and
turn-in. But, in spite of this, I kept going. When, with two practice
sessions left, my supersport bike had engine failure, I hopped on the
other bike and kept going…
I had planned on splitting the test day between the two bikes to save on
tire wear. But, since we could not find a way to attach a steering damper
to the "B" bike, I had to run all day on the "A" bike. The tires were
toast. With no money for a new set, I prayed to God for guidance and help.
I made a phone call. I had asked God for rain. Now, I had to have faith
and prepare for it. We proceeded to start the engine change.
That night, with help from Cecilia, friends and a few strangers, we
dropped the engines from both bikes and at midnight, the "A" bike had the
superbike engine installed. The "B" bike looked like we left it in South
Philadelphia over night. There was nothing left but a frame and front end!
Saturday morning, when practice started, so did my bike, and I kept going.
Saturday brought a phone call in response to the one I made Friday night.
A generous friend gave me his credit card information and the Pirelli guy
took it in exchange for a brand new set of slicks. God's answer to my
prayers was loud and clear. Race 1 resulted in a 5th out of 23 in F40 but
that is a middle and heavyweight class with 600 and 750 inline fours as
well as 1000cc+ twins such as the 999, 1098, RC51 etc. So, 5th is
outstanding for my little SV. Because I no longer had a SS legal engine in
the bike, I had to drop LWSS and last-minute enter GTL. We managed 2nd out
of 20 in that race after starting from dead last (due to the late entry)
twice due to a red flag. It was starting to rain.
Sunday, in the heat of race 1, LW40, I crashed in turn one at the start of
the second-to-last lap. It was a 60-70 mph low-side that left me flipping
head over heels as said feet dug into the dirt at the edge of the asphalt.
Once I stopped my attempt at a gold medal for the floor exercise, I jumped
up and ran to the bike. After picking it up, I cranked on it until it
finally fired off, found first gear and took off. Upon entry into the next
corner, I found that not only was my right clip-on spun fwd into an
awkward position but my brake lever was bent upward. Ah, Brembo folding
lever here, so I just pushed it back down and applied the brakes.
Everything was working! Time to CHARGE! Just after crossing the
start/finish and taking the white flag, I passed two bikes under braking
into T1. After passing one more that last lap, I took the checkered. The
results showed…..P1 !! I had won after all! For such a sunny day, God's
rain was sure pouring down. After some frantic repairs in the pits, and
testing Cecilia's patience with my being in a rush, I went back out for my
second and last race for the day.
The last race was the LW Superbike event. After Cecilia sent me out of the
pit, I lined up with two very fast Buell 1200's and a herd of others. The
green flag dropped and off we went. With two laps to go, I made a mistake
trying to get around a slowman and catch the two Buells that were now in
the lead. This mistake caused me to go off the track and try some
agricultural maneuvers. Upon re-entry, the rear of the bike kicked up just
as I dropped back to the seat with the throttle pinned. Unknown to me at
the immediate time, this combination had snapped two of the 1" square
tubes of my sub-frame clean in half! I immediately caught up to the guy I
was trying to pass under braking at the next turn so I was happy to have
not lost any position from the mistake. After hanging off through this
(T7) turn, I pushed back in the seat under acceleration. The seat dropped
under me and freaked me out! As I scooted up on the seat again it moved
back up a bit. This repeated several times so I decided that I would just
"cool it" and ride this out to take my third. I was afraid that I would be
"meatballed" by the corner workers if something started falling off or
rubbing a tire. Besides, my brakes were going away and stopping was
becoming increasingly difficult. As it turned out, while "cooling it" I
ended up turning the fastest lap of our race on the last lap with a broken
sub-frame! In the end I was awarded 2nd out of 29 because one of the Buell
riders had gridded incorrectly and was penalized a lap.
In the midst of such adversity, our team pulled out a win and two second
place podiums!
"…Everything is possible for
him who believes." — Mark
9:23 (NIV)
Never give up. The Lord can't make things happen for you if you don't
participate in life. Things will not always work out like this race
weekend did. That is OK too. The Lord has a plan. He knows what it is, we
do not. Accepting what He gives us is the key. It is hard not to be
disappointed sometimes when things go wrong according to us. But we need
to remember that we are to live according to Him!
Now, we (Cecilia and I) can really dig into some outreach using these
shiny machines to get people's attention and using our experiences at the
track as relative examples all to share the Word.
If there is anything you would like posted in the
newsletter, please feel free to send it in! If the CSBA can be of any
service to you or your family, we will be more than happy to try and
accommodate.
Bob Brown
CSBA President
To Encourage and
Facilitate
HOME |
