Well, it was another full day of riding, braking, swerving, turning and tight radius slow U turns on the range again. We started on the range riding at 8AM and practiced all of what I just said until about 3:30. Then we took the riding test. It started off with the figure 8 in the narrow box that I talked about. The one rule on the test was if you fell on the bike you were through, out, done. Everything else was a matter of doing the technique properly. Points would be deducted for going outside the area. Well, I had done much better practicing in the box during the day, but it was still my hardest maneuver to master. So I decided just to do the technique right and try to stay in the box, but above all be safe and not fall. So I went out of the box some and I knew points would be deducted. But I also knew that I could do everything else very well. So after the riding test was over I did very well and was really happy to have it over. Fortunately all nine of us passed. Sam, our instructor said that we were an above average class.
Then we came in and finished some review of the written test. There were 50 questions and we had to make an 80. Most of the questions I knew the answer to immediately. I think there were three where I gave an educated guess. I guessed right and made 100. So all in all it was a very satisfying day. This course was definitely very through and a lot of work. But it was a lot of fun, just like Sam said it would be.
So here is my dilemma. I have a great foundation on which to build on. This course taught me so much about riding and safety. I never knew that riding could be so involved. But in order to build on this foundation, I need to start riding. The longer I wait, the rustier I become. My next ride will be on the streets, not in the safety of the course. That was emphasized to us over and ever again this weekend. I guess that I will start looking for a used bike to start riding on. Of course I would love a Harley Davidson, but it all depends on what price I can find one for. So I guess I will call some of my friends and have them start looking for me and just see what comes up.
I missed church today and I really regret missing. I was thinking while I was going to school about the process of learning. I instruct pilots on the 737. We take new pilots and train them how to fly. We do it in a very similar way to the way they ran this school this weekend. First we start off with the basics, like how to start the engines, what system works when. How do you taxi and then take off? We teach them all that and then build on it with all the emergency procedures and abnormal flying. So we start with basic building blocks and then build on those until we can do very advanced maneuvers. That is exactly what we did this weekend on the motorcycle course. This is the way most operational training courses are run. We didn’t spend all weekend learning about a motorcycle fuel pump. We don’t care as long as it runs.
So why do most churches and seminaries or bible colleges spend so much time in the theoretical. There is very little hands on training. Most of the training is about understanding how the scriptures were written, who wrote them and why. Most bible studies spend a lot of time talking, but very little time actually doing. There are no basic building blocks to learn how to bring the Kingdom of God down to the earth. They never get to any of the advanced “maneuvers” like healing, deliverance or prophecy. Our small group is about to begin a study on the book of Acts. There is a lot of nice information in the material, but if we don’t get the basics and them begin to add to them until we are doing the stuff, we will have failed. This study is not to increase knowledge. Sure we can always learn, but knowledge is not the key. No the key is to experience God in such a way that you are forever changed and then you go out and change your part of the world. That is our goal this year.
Think about the church in the New Testament. Paul would go to a city and begin to bring people to Jesus through the Gospel of the Kingdom. Then he would stay and teach for a few months. After that he would pick a couple of men to be elders in the community and to lead the church in the city. Did these men know the scriptures back and forth? I doubt it because most of them were gentiles. There was no New Testament and the Old Testament was in the synagogue. So all these men had was the Holy Spirit to guide and teach them. I’m all for Bible reading, but if we think that Bible Studies will keep us on track, I am afraid that we might be off track a little. The key element that we should be working with, and that we are working with is hearing and obeying Holy Spirit.
I guess that is what I so liked about first yeat at BSSM and I know that second year will be more of the same. They teach using the building block method. Iti is more of an operational approach than a theroritical approach. Maybe that’s why I’m there, to help activate new Kingdom seekers. Afterall Jesus did say to “seek first the Kingdom of God….” That is what the school is all about. I’m really looking forward to it. Maybe I can ride my bike down there in good weather some. Now to begin the bike search.
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