April
2006 CSBA Newsletter
From the Servant’s Desk
No
man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other;
or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon. Matthew 6:24
Did you ever wonder what “mammon” means? I understand the concept of serving God, but
who or what is mammon?
From the Dictionnaire Infernal - Collin de Plancy
(1863) (paraphrased)
“Mammon
was the demon of avarice.
No matter how many Google hits I find, this verse from Matthew
continues to lie heavily on my heart.
As Christians, we have to deal with money issues every day; bills need
to be paid, the car has to be fixed, and the kids need braces!
The list of issues demanding our money never seems to end. Even when we attend Sunday services, the
building committee is talking about pledges needed to build a new addition on
the church.
I wish I had some sage advice to pass along on this subject…I
don’t. I do have experiences with these
issues both before and after I was saved.
In my “BC” days, money issues would drive me nuts. Even as a new Christian, I still worried
about finances. It was like that part of
my life wasn’t with me the night I got saved.
Maybe the financial part of my brain was somewhere else the night Jesus
Christ gave me peace and serenity.
As I stumbled along the path trying to follow Christ, I learned
numerous times that He’s in control, and that the more I worried about the
things of this world, the more messed up things
became. Learning to “trust in The Lord”
isn’t the easiest way of life to pick up quickly. With me, I had to go against my gut feelings
and follow the urgings of He that I serve.
After a number of situations involving money that seemingly worked themselves
out without any specific expertise on my part, I began lean on The Lord when He
wanted me to do His bidding, and avoid getting my head all tied up in knots
trying to figure out how I was going to accomplish the task.
In a similar vein, I receive emails from members concerned that they
can’t afford their annual dues payment.
I think I’m more uncomfortable reading that kind of email than the
person having to sit in front of a computer screen typing it. I’ve written on
this subject in the past, but maybe I need to have it posted on the opening
page of the CSBA website: AS
A CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, WE’RE NOT CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR ABILITY TO PAY ANNUAL
DUES. PLEASE DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE
MONEY!!
What we are concerned about as a Christian organization is your walk
with The Lord. We endeavor to establish
groups of believers across this country that will fellowship together and lift
each other up as we make our way through this oft times troubling world. I don’t remember reading anything in the Bible
about Jesus turning someone away because of money. A few potential followers had some issues
with too much money, but the CSBA has not had to grapple with that thorny
issue.
Not worrying about the money should become second nature in your
walk. If presented with paying household
bills or buying a custom exhaust system for your bike, the “no brainer” light should go off in your head; you pay the
household bills.
Where the decision-making gets dicey is when you have to decide on a new
exhaust system VERSUS sending the money to a mission outreach, church building
fund or contributing to a local evangelistic endeavor. When you find yourself in this type of
situation, go to prayer. If the answer
doesn’t come the first day, pray some more.
God answers prayer. He’ll let you
know what to do with that excess income that He blessed you
with. Too many of us think we earned
that money through OUR skills and efforts.
In reality, it was God that provided the right thing to say that secured
that big sale, or gave us that inspirational idea to paint the widgets
turquoise, thus sparking a whole new marketing trend. God is behind everything we receive. Let’s remember Him the next time we’re
involved in one of those money quandaries.
Don’t let money get in the way of what God put us here to do. We’re working to get through this world, and
spend eternity with Him. But we’re also
supposed to be spreading the Good News of His Son and our Savior Jesus
Christ. Let’s get those bikes on the
road, and wait for God to put those witness opportunities in front of us. Worrying about money will take your mind off
the mission.
God bless.
Brian Phillips
CSBA Servant
brianp@christiansportbike.com
CSBA
News
NEED A CSBA STICKER?
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We finally have new stickers in stock! Current color choices are white and blue (transparent background). I’m ordering additional stickers in red and in black also with the transparent background.
And the cost? If you feel moved, you can make a donation to
the Bible Fund or Wim’s kids at BreakThrough Ministry
(http://www.christiansportbike.com/donate.cgi).
I’d like the stickers to be a gesture of thanks to the membership for helping
to make the CSBA a Christian association that makes difference for Jesus
Christ, both here and around the world.
Email your name, address, member number and sticker color (white – blue – black – red) to brianp@christiansportbike.com. If you’re interested in red or black stickers, allow a few weeks until they’re available.
T-SHIRT BLOWOUT CONTINUES!
That’s right, faithful members, you’ve held off buying a CSBA T-shirt waiting for that elusive sale. You rode around all last summer in that cheesy tank top with the mustard and ketchup stains on the front. Why? Because you’re not paying full price for anything!
Our shirts are no longer $18.00 or $20.00….We’re pushing them out the door at $15.00 for one, $25.00 for two and $35.00 for three CSBA shirts. Check out the styles at: http://www.christiansportbike.com/former/t-shirts.htm
One thing has changed since last month’s announcement. Since I’m not the best detail guy in the
world, I neglected to check to see if the PayPal
boxes were adjusted to the correct amounts.
They weren’t and this site is actually published in
- Check that the shirts you want are in stock (jcmathis@insight.rr.com)
- Email me with name, address and shirt information (brianp@christiansportbike.com)
- Mail a check for “The Christian Sport Bike Assoc” to:
- Marvin
Gurganus,
A few disclaimers:
- Multiple shirt orders must go to the same mailing address.
- When the current stock is gone, that’s it. There’ll be no more. No back orders.
Check the available inventory listed below as of
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All profits from the proceeds will go to the CSBA Free Bible Fund, to
continue our efforts to put
Bibles into the hands of believers around the world.
2006 CSBA Rallies
There will be rallies this
riding season; it’s just a matter of getting the details together. Here are some “for sure” events:
- Deal’s Gap –
From Beth
Matthews: Rosi Crawford has been
diligently putting together the agenda for the rally. I e-mailed her this
morning about you wanting to have a meeting of board members and chapter
leaders, and that you want to share your
Rosi has done a great job with the agenda. Thanks Rosi!!!
Beth Matthews
Servant’s Note: I’ll be heading down to the Gap on Sunday May
14, 2006. I’d like to have the annual
CSBA board of directors meeting Wednesday night (
- The Longest Day Rally –
- CSBA Run for The Word –
- CSBA “Day at the Races” –
- Southern Virginia Rally –
- CSBA Fall Rally –
- CSBA
And from Joe Cotterino CSBA
”I have hatched a plan during the winter solitude. I would like to bounce
this off you and see what you think.
The events of
that day but there have been well over 2100
In honor of the aforementioned sacrifice, my thought is to plan and
execute a "Memorial Ride" to
There are obviously more details that need going
over, but this is the basic concept of the operation. We have plenty of
time to coordinate, but I figured some details could take some doing, so I want
to start everything early.
So, what do you think?
I talked to Rev. Mascherino for a long time last night. He seemed very happy with the plan. I discussed things such as arrival time, parking, and the PA Gov Rendell's schedule. I have nailed down with him that our arrival, (I gave him a more reasonable estimate of 10-100 bikes), is welcome, and will not be an inconvenience. There are, however, scheduling issues to deal with due to dignitaries, and certain areas being closed during certain times, etc. The main thing is, we can indeed, do this. In fact, if we nail down a fairly accurate ETA, he will add us to the itinerary. If we have a pastor with us, and would like to do a service, that is good too. He will have the tentative plan up on the net in a few days. He seemed very agreeable and willing to work with us.”
http://www.flt93memorialchapel.org/
(The main page)
http://www.flt93memorialchapel.org/Current%20Events.htm
The agenda from 10-11SEP2005)
If you’re interested in participating in this year’s memorial service at Shanksville, get hold of Joe at:
Cowboy-6@ChristianSporbike.com
Be sure to check the CSBA
“Events” page regularly for information updates http://www.christiansportbike.com/events.cgi
*** NEWSFLASH ***
Editor’s
Note:
I haven’t received my monthly E-News from Wim van Rensburg, but I did receive some great photos!
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The roof is finally
COMPLETE!! Thanks for your prayers and
donations. Special thanks to the
Roberson family for their kind assistance in completing this phase of
construction in memory of their daughter. |
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The
2006 CSBA Frozen Chosen contest winner is Budd 
Roberta