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Blue Knights Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club; PA Chapter VII, Pittsburgh

Apr/2024 - Chaplain's Message:

Greetings and Salutations Tri-State Blue Knights,

It looks like the Groundhog actually got it right this year. Spring has arrived early and there are bikes everywhere! Nothing I know clears the winter cobwebs out better than a good bike ride and some ice cream to top it off. Normally around this time of the liturgical year I am writing about the resurrection , the victory of the cross over death, or the ascending of Christ into Heaven, all appropriate Easter topics to be sure, but this year I would like to go back to the crucifixion and focus on a theme that is central to the very essence of Christianity, forgiveness. Forgiveness is sometimes a very hard concept for us to embrace. Forgiveness means we have to let go of our grudges against those whom we perceive have wronged us. You have to agree, we all carry grudges. When those grudges get too heavy to bear we don't let them go, we put them in a little red wagon with wheels on it and pull them around. Some of us have little red wagons overflowing with grudges we have spent a lifetime collecting. As hard as it is for the average person to learn to forgive, it is especially difficult for those of us in the Law Enforcement profession to understand and embrace this practice. We are not in the forgiving business, we are in the enforcing business. Too often, the two don't meet in our line of work. When that perfect storm of negative qualities come together if we lack the ability to empathize and forgive we can create a real miserable person. We can become someone who isn't a nice person, a person people don't want to be around, a person who tears down those around them instead of one who builds them up. This not only becomes who we are on the job, but who we are at home. We settle for far less than who we could be and who we should be. We become flawed people and worse, broken Christians.

The scriptures mention many examples of Jesus praying, in the desert, the garden of Gethsemane, and most famously, The Lord's prayer, but the most important prayer Jesus ever made was made on the cross. Jesus' words "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" are found in Luke 23:34. Jesus looked down from the cross upon a scene that must have been very distressing for Him. The Roman soldiers were gambling for His clothes (John 19:23-24), the two criminals on either side of Him were reviling Him (Matthew 27:24), the religious leaders were mocking Him (Matthew 27:41-43), and the crowd was blaspheming Him (Matthew 27:31). In the midst of His physical agony and profound spiritual depression Jesus didn't curse at them or ask His Father for retribution. The heavens didn't open up and lightning bolts didn't reign down on the crowd. Instead, He prayed for them. "Father forgive them" is a prayer unmatched in mercy and love.

Even in His agony Jesus' concern was for the forgiveness of those who counted themselves among His enemies. He asked His Father to forgive the two criminals who jeered Him. He asked His Father to forgive the Roman soldiers who mocked Him, spit on Him, beat and whipped Him, and placed a crown of thorns upon His head as they nailed Him to the cross. Jesus asked forgiveness for the angry mob that mocked Him and called for His crucifixion (Mark 15:29-30).

It is important to note that Jesus' prayer "Father forgive them" does not mean that everyone was forgiven, unilaterally, without repentance and faith. It does mean that Jesus was willing to forgive them,forgiveness was, in fact, the reason Jesus was on the cross. The words "Father forgive them" show the merciful heart of God.

Jesus prayed "Father forgive them" because He was fulfilling an Old Testament prophecy: "He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:12). From the cross Jesus interceded for sinners. Today, risen and glorified, Jesus remains the one and only mediator between God and mankind, (I Timothy 2:5). Jesus prayed "Father forgive them" because He was putting into practice the principle He taught in the Sermon on the Mount; "You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:43-44). Jesus the persecuted prayed for His persecutors.

Coupled with the willingness of Jesus to forgive His tormentors is the fact that they did not know what they were doing (Luke 23:24). The sinners who put Jesus on the cross were ignorant of the true importance of their actions. The soldiers personally held no ill will towards Jesus. They were simply following orders. This was how they normally condemned men, and they believed He truly deserved it. They didn't know they were killing the Son of God (I Corinthians 2:8). The mob also didn't understand who they were trying to destroy. The Jewish leaders had deceived them into believing that Jesus was a fake and a trouble maker (Acts 3:17). In praying "Father forgive them", Jesus revealed His infinite mercy; He still loved them, and would forgive them only if they would humble themselves and repent (Matthew 18:14 & Peter 3-9).

Jesus'; prayer "Father forgive them" was answered in the lives of many people. The Roman centurion at the foot of the cross (John Wayne in The Greatest Story Ever Told) upon seeing how Jesus died exclaimed, "Surely this man was the Son of God" (Mark 15:39). One of the two criminals crucified with Jesus exercised faith in Christ who in turn promised him paradise (Luke 23:39-40). A member of the Sanhedrin publically aligned himself with Jesus (John 19:39) And, a little over a month later three thousand people in Jerusalem were saved in one day as the church began (Acts 2:41).

On the cross Jesus provided forgiveness for all who believe in Him (Matthew 20:28). Jesus paid the penalty for the sins we commit in our ignorance, and even the ones we've committed deliberately. When we are born again, we too, become the answer to Jesus' prayer "Father forgive them". Forgiving someone doesn't mean you love them, or even like them. It does mean you understand them, and believe in the teachings of Jesus. Forgiveness is the first step in the road to healing. With Jesus walking with us the journey isn't so long.

Many of us go through life not talking to family or friends, then one day that all changes. The day of the funeral. It's never too late to start over, forgiveness is the first step. Grudges drag a person down, and at the end of your time, downward is not a direction you want to be headed in!

I'll only beat this dead horse once: Now that it is riding season, There is only one thing I hate more than performing a biker's funeral and that is visiting a biker or passenger in the ICU of a trauma center because they experienced a traumatic brain injury following a crash while riding without a helmet. Your life may not end, but it likely will change forever, and not in a positive way. Put a lid on it! My wife constantly reminds me God didn't give me a lot of brains so I need to protect the few I do have.
Faithfully yours in Christ,

Chaplain Odie

Mar/2024 - Chaplain's Message:

Greetings and Salutations Tri-State Blue Knights,

Normally this time of the liturgical year my message centers on the many aspects of the season we have come to love and hate known as Lent. The many different approaches to Lent are often most confusing. Depending on our religious upbringing some of us are struggling as to what luxury item we want to give up for the season. Some of us wonder why we have to give up anything in the first place. We all wonder what the purpose of Lent is. One thing we all have in common regardless of our church roots is that as human beings, we will overthink most issues and more often than not miss God's message and arrive at the wrong conclusion if we make any decision at all. While I was in the wondering mode I came across a simple but to the point story that reduced any confusion I had to a simple truth. Read this and I hope you will come to the same conclusion I did. My scriptures for this message are:

Proverbs 19:21-"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Isaiah 55: 8-9-"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Romans 11:33-34 "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgements, and His paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been His counselor?"

A pastor asked an older farmer, dressed in bib overalls to say grace for the morning fellowship breakfast "Lord I hate buttermilk", the old farmer began. The pastor opened one eye to glance at the farmer and wondered where this was going. Then the farmer loudly proclaimed, "And Lord, you know I hate lard" Now the pastor was growing a little concerned. Without missing a beat, the farmer continued, "And Lord, you know I don't care much for raw white flour" The pastor once again opened an eye and glanced around the room and saw he wasn't the only one feeling uncomfortable. Then the farmer added, "But Lord, when you mix them all together and bake them, I do love warm fresh biscuits. So Lord, when things come up that we don't like, when life gets hard, when we don't understand what You are saying to us, help us just to relax and wait until you are done mixing. It will probably be even better than warm fresh biscuits". Amen!

Within that short prayer there is great wisdom for us all when it comes to the complicated situations like we are experiencing in the world today. Stay strong my friends, because our Lord is mixing several things that we might not care for or understand, but something even better is going to come to us when He is done with it.

It has been said, Man plans, God laughs. Put your trust in our Lord and have faith. Warm fresh biscuits are on the way! A pessimist sees a dark hole in the mountain side. An optimist sees a light at the end of the tunnel. A realist sees a freight train. The engineer sees three idiots standing on the train tracks. Be the optimist!
Faithfully yours in Christ,

Chaplain Odie

Jan/2024 - Chaplain's Message:

Greetings and Salutations Tri-State Blue Knights,

As the Holiday season comes to an end I hope each of you have been filled to overflowing with the Joy that comes with the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and are renewed in your commitment of spreading His gospel of salvation through truth. First, there are two important questions I must ask you. First, how many of you are still writing 2023 on your checks?, and secondly, do any of you still have any resolutions that remain unbroken? All kidding aside, if you recall a few months ago I gave you some homework. That was to read the book of Ephesians in preparation for my next month's message. Well that expected message took a back seat to a re-direction by The Holy Spirit. It's now the right time for that message.

The book of Ephesians was written by St. Paul to the church at Ephesus. Back in the early days of Christianity Paul was God's emissary to the fledgling church. He was God's "fixer". Whenever and wherever there was a problem, God sent Paul to that location to give His young church both support and direction. Paul paid a heavy price for his unwavering devotion to his mission. Often he was persecuted and often imprisoned for his efforts. It would have been so easy for Paul to just throw in the towel and give up but as a famous movie quote once said, "he was on a mission from God". (Jake & Elwood, 1980). Just put yourself in Paul's place. Things must have been pretty bad in Ephesus for him to make a personal journey there. It probably took quite a while for news of a problem to reach Paul. News traveled only as fast as a person could. Under normal circumstances Paul would have just sent an epistle to the church but in this case Paul felt the magnitude of the problem required his direct personal intervention. Again, in those days a journey of that distance probably took several months at the best, and quite possibly up to a year, so Paul knew this was a crisis of major proportions. He could not let the church be destroyed by the secular world it was created to save. ,

In most books of The New Testament usually there are a number of chapters. In the book of Ephesians there are only 6. The fact that there are only 6 chapters does not lessen the importance of Paul's words. It was Paul's sole goal to reconcile the people of Ephesus with God. They had made the common error of letting the world and society direct their behavior. Ephesians 2:1-4 "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, and the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature, and its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by Grace you have been saved". Paul then gave the Ephisians and us the solution to our self serving road to destruction. In verses 8-10 he tells us ":for it is by Grace you have been saved, through faith-and this, not from yourselves, it is the gift from God-not by works, so that no one can boast . For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do".

The rest of the Chapters give specific instructions of how to go about being the "Light of Christ". What to do, what not to do, what to say, what not to say ect. ect. I don't need to list them here because you all read them recently didn't you? If by chance not, then take a few minutes to do so. They are basically just a list of common sense actions that will have a profound effect on your future travel plans. Paul wasn't just encouraging the Ephesians, he is directing this epistle to you and I right now. The truth of Christ and the brightness of His light has never been extinguished. Dimmed a little maybe, but still burning brightly, and more so with a little help from each of us.

I don't walk with God, I can't keep up with Him. He walks with me, and He waits for me every time I fall behind.
Faithfully yours in Christ,

Chaplain Odie

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