CARL
My name is Carl and I’m a Christian Biker!
As with a few of the stories in our Club, I too was born into a Christian family. Going to church on Sundays was normal and I grew up believing in God and what he did for me by sending his son, Jesus to die on a cross. I think my love of motorcycles was instilled in me at a young age as well. Dad had an old Honda CD125 and would sit me on the tank between his arms and we’d ride up and down the footpath of our street. As I got older, I’d sit pillion and my sister would sit on the tank and we’d ride three up.
At about the age of seven, I made a commitment to follow Jesus but was still a bit young to fully understand what that meant. I was still a kid doing kid things. I committed my life to God again at sixteen. I attended the Youth Group at my church and my life for the next few years was typical for a Christian teenager. A few girlfriends, finishing school, the first job of many, learning to drive and still going to church every Sunday. I did get my bike learners as well but I had no one who would teach me to ride. Dad refused till I was older so I had to let it expire. Which is just as well as the accidents I had in a car over the next few years would have killed me on a bike.
At the age of twenty I met a girl and slowly but surely things changed. We ended up moving in together and eventually, I stopped going to church. I never stopped believing in God but I started to live a life that wasn’t very helpful to me, or others around me. It was basically, “Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll”. I was filling my life with material things to fill a hole.
Then, one Easter, I decided to go to church. It was a local one where no one knew me and it was there, I realised that I needed God in my life again. I started attending the church regularly and the love of God shown through people there gave me the support needed when nearly six months later my relationship ended.
A week later, I made a trip out to a local Christian Campsite to visit a friend from church and while I was there I attended a bible study on a couple of verses in Proverbs. It basically said “Trust in God and not in your own knowledge, in everything you do look to him and he will make your way straight”. I’d heard these verses before but for the first time I understood what they meant.
As I was about to leave I realised that I’d lost the key to the Club Lock in my car. Thankfully I’d never locked it so I could get home. As I woke the next morning I had this annoying feeling to go back to the Camp and look for the key. Now, my thoughts were that this was stupid, that I didn’t need it as I had a spare but the feeling just wouldn’t go away. So, thinking about the verse I’d heard the night before, back I went. I started looking everywhere, asking people if they had seen it. Most thought I was crazy but I kept on looking anyway. To cut this story short I had the key returned to me. This proved to me that even in the silly little things God still had control no matter what I thought, and if you trust in God you can’t go wrong. Six months later I was now working at the Camp and through a long chain of events eventually found my current church and consequently my beautiful wife.
Being a Christian doesn’t mean life is easy and being a Christian Biker is often quite hard but trusting in God means I will always be where he wants me to be.
I eventually got my bike licence twelve years after my first learners permit and have been a full member of Ambassadors CMC since 2008.
As I type this I have been in hospital for three months with about another month to go due to a motorcycle accident in which I broke my right ankle and dislocated and tore all the ligaments and tendons in my left knee. It has been a real struggle with some good days and bad days and I still have a long way to go to walk again.
There is a bible verse that I would like to share.”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
I trust God that there is a reason for this to have happened to me and though I may never know what it is, I know that God is with me and “I can do all things through him who gives me strength”. (Philippians 4:13)
Thank you for reading my story. carl@ambassadors.org.au
Posted August 2010
JOHN
I was born into a Christian family & went to church, Sunday school from the time I was born. I became a Christian at the age of 9, a young age but I Just knew God was real, had no doubts & wanted to get to know him.
My life had been pretty easy & carefree, then at the age of 10 it got better, I realized one day that I had a bit of x-ray vision like superman. When covering my eyes with a pillow I could see through it & see things on the other side although very blurry. This was great till I realized I only had my right eye covered with the pillow & that what I thought was x-ray vision was actually the sight in my left eye. Then I got worried, because that really blurry sight was all I could see out of my left eye.
After seeing several Dr’s & specialists a CAT scan revealed I had a Malignant tumour (or Cancerous Growth) the size of a mandarin or orange behind my left eye. This had crushed the optic nerve that sends messages from the eye to the brain & back & was the reason my left eye was almost blind. I was in hospital 3 days later for an operation that lasted over 8 hours, They cut out as much of the tumour as they could & I had a course of Radio therapy to kill the rest.
Although I didn’t realize that this should have killed me or what cancer was, I was never afraid during this time. I knew that God was looking after me I knew the surgeon was a Christian & that I had people praying for me all over Australia & the world. I knew God was in control. The radio therapy killed the rest of the tumour & the cancer was gone from my body.
Life went back to normal for a while till I was sexually abused by a neighbour one day. That really scared me. I was afraid to leave the house alone & being almost anywhere public where there was not a big crowd, or some adults I knew with me, I didn’t want to be there.
Both of these events were pretty big in my childhood & I will never forget them, but neither one ever stopped me from going to church or separated me from God’s love.
As I grew older I had a couple more scary experiences, at 17 I wrote off my mother’s car & came away with just a bump in the side of the head, since having a motorcycle I have been cleaned up by cars twice as well as several other accidents in both cars & on bikes. All of these I walked away from with very minor injuries, God always looked after me.
Although I never understood why these things happened to me I always knew that God was with me. Later when I was a bit older I realized that God knows what is best & even though we may not be able to see why he does things, they are for a reason. Over time I have come to see some of these reasons.
From the operation when I was 10 years old I have a pretty good Scar that gets lots of questions & conversations, these give me a chance to explain that God cured me with a little bit of medical help. Being sexually abused when I was younger has helped me talk to others who have had similar experiences, through my church, at work & often with younger people.
Car & Bike Accidents I have had are again used in conversations where I can tell others that, God had it under control, and always had me covered.
I see now, although we don’t understand at the time, he has bigger plans for our futures, or may have been protecting us from something else worse at the time.
So this is where God has put me, he’s brought me through these things to serve him. Granted he made me pretty rough but some people are more comfortable with someone like that.
I KNOW that God is only a prayer away, no matter where you are or what the problem is or what the time is. God is in control & looking out for us.
Well that’s the quick summary of my life so far & more importantly what God has done in it.
Thanks for reading my story. john@ambassadors.org.au