Teutul’s Part 2

I am getting really tired of all the mud slinging on the latest incarnation of the American Chopper show.

As it stands now, the lawsuit is done; Senior and Junior came to an agreement which included Jr. getting his web bike back. There was even a moment of uneasy friendliness between the two as Junior went to his old digs and picked up the web bike.

Now, all the Teutul kids are still keeping Sr. at arms length claiming it is best to keep some distance. Jr. wonders if his father is going to make an attempt to be friendly, Sr. is blaming Jr. because Mikey won’t talk to him. Mikey says he will talk to Sr.with a therapist. Sr. said he would go fishing with any of the kids of his and just forget the past.

This is all like a motorcycleversion of All My Children.

THE FALLING APART OF THE TEUTULS WAS, IN SOME ASPECTS, A BLESSING IN DISGUISE.

Mikey is sober now and has his own business. Where would he be right now if the falling apart had not occurred? Passed out on his dad’s couch again? He certainly would not be a business owner with some direction in his life.

Jr. has his own business, he has a simply drop dead gorgeous wife and he has a home that looks just fantastic. Jr. mended fences with Vinnie, and the two are working together and are successful.

Jr. got to prove he could do it on his own. The consulting thing was not HIS thing. Maybe the struggling he goes through to keep his business solvent reminds him of the struggles Sr. had to go through to keep multiple businesses going.

Vinnie left because of the chaos but he has his own business, he works with Jr. again, is in the limelight again (for better or for worse) and all of them got to tell their side of the story on television.

I don’t get Vinnie’s attitude toward Senior. Vinnie got to travel the world on Sr.’s dime. Had thousands of dollars of worth of free tools given to him, and even got to build his own bike at cost. The Teutul’s even shingled his house for him. There seemed to be type of family dynamic at times, a good friendship between all of them.

I understand not wanting to work in a war zone, but now Vinnie works with Junior and they have to talk about senior and the problems week after week. THAT would suck, coming to work day after day to face a build, deadlines, and know that the same old crap is going to get rehashed again, and again, and again, and with camera’s in his face as well.

Truth be known, the show that helps pay the bills, and gives both shops all the publicity, is also keeping the feud going by keeping the stress going.

If I could offer one piece ofadvice to all the Teutul’s that they would all hear, it would be this: “mend fences before someone dies.”

Okay that sounds weird, I know that, but anyone of us could go at anytime and if one of the main characters of the Teutul drama would end up being laid to rest, then all the recriminations would be present in the news.

Imagine Jr, or Mikey tellingDiscovery that they regret not having made amends when they could have. Or Senior regretting not talking to Jr. when he could have.

For my point of view, it seems that Senior is making a pretty fair attempt to let it all go. I can understand also, that Mikey is defending his brother and may be wondering how building bridges with senior would affect things with junior. It’s time to let it all go.

I can understand how Paulie visiting his father would be difficult at first. Jr designed the logo that is prevalent on everything Sr has. That logo is on everything associated with Orange County Choppers and is recognized the world over and because of getting fired, and all the legal action, Jr has no legal association with his logo.

I can also understand that Paulie may still be smarting from the years of aggravation and the multiple lawsuits. But now that it is all over, forget about it. All these grown men are acting like stubborn five year olds.

For the average viewer such as me, I am tired of the drama. I love the skill of the two teams. I love seeing a new bike week after week, but I hate how the format of the show has changed from bike building at first, to celebrity bike builder status, to family drama with a few bikes thrown in for good measure.

I started watching all those years ago, because I wanted to see how a motorcycle was built. Then we were introduced to Nub and his genius with paint. Mikey then came in, and we were introduced to Rick, and Cody, and Vinnie. And we saw bikes being built.

I was also watching shows like American Hot Rod, Monster Garage, Biker Build off and All the Jesse James specials that highlighted his building skills, and they boy is skilled, quite different, but skilled nonetheless.

I also watch shows like Son’s of Guns, and American Guns. These shows are also a Discovery channel reality series, like American Choppers. But these shows are focused on building guns.

All these shows had certain themes in common but I want to see the BUILD, not the family drama. Senior criticizing a build is part of what a boss does. But the family drama and the crying was not what I tuned in to see.

The builders were hired to build. I enjoyed watching Orange County Choppers move from small shop to a bigger shop and eventually on to the world headquarters. But in watching week to week and enjoying the building and painting skills, I also had to endure the drama. The throwing of tools, the stomping off and leaving team members short handed on a time strapped build, was wrong.

There were times when I wanted to write in and ask the producers to get both the Teutul’s a set of boxing gloves and watch Senior destroy Junior then tell him to “get back to work.”

My kids used to watch the show with me, and were shocked by all the bleeping that had to be done in some episodes. They understood those bleeps were “bad words” but they were surprised at how many per show.

All in all though, I have enjoyed the show. I have watched many fine bikes being built and roll out of O.C.C. and I can see some more mighty fine bikes spring from P.J.D. I have watched the show from episode one and I guess like a soap opera addict, I will keep tuning in.

I want to now see not only what the bike is that is being built, but I want to see Rick visit P.J.D. I also want to see how the family drama eventually works out. I also want to see Paul Jr. be successful. I want to see how Mikey’s business does, and will Sr. ever get a painting?

I also want to see Vinnie take charge on a project and work it from conception, to unveil. I am more than sure he has learned quite a bit about designing since the Mikey & Vinnie bike.

With lawsuits from Cody, and Justin Barnes, plus the default on his building payments, just how much longer will O.C.C be in business?

Well……until Wednesday for the next installment, later.

Should We Or Shouldn’t We?

I have recently gotten back into church. I had not been present for a couple years. I had some issues I was not facing, I had a weird work schedule at times, and there were times when I was just plain lazy and did not want to go.

The Lord has been working with me in quite a few areas of my life over the past year and I decided it was time to follow scripture and return.

Now that I am praying regularly again and making much more of an attempt to follow scripture and let God guide my feet, I see changes in my life I need to pray about, and one of them is witnessing.

Witnessing is simply testifying of the change Christ has brought about in your life, telling people about how God loves them and wants them to come to Him as well.

This can be done in a number of ways, conversation at work, a person’s actions, or through a church event such as a door to door ministry. And the door to door ministry is the main focus of this article.

There are churches who believe in going door to door and inviting people to attend their church. Everyone is familiar with Jehovah’s Witnesses, they are big on trying to get in your home and try to show you their way of doing things.

A church I used to belong to in Salina used to simply make up flyers about the church, our services, our values, and such and volunteers from the church would simply go door to door and give a flyer to any who would accept one and invite them to attend. It was that simple.

We did not stand at the door and condemn. We never tried to enter unless bade to do so. We never tried to tell people that their way of doing things was wrong. We never tried to insinuate, cajole, or coerce, we simply invited. And trusted the Lord to do the rest. But, we did make the effort.

I am a big fan of doing this. I believe it goes along with the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20. Believers are to “Go ye therefore…….” go is a verb, it shows movement. When we knock on a door and invite people to church, Christ is also knocking, seeking entrance from the lost. He has to be invited in.

According to the notes in my study Bible: “The triumphant, living Lord sends forth His ambassadors to proclaim His gospel throughout all the world. The Great Commission is not just an order, but a pronouncement of victory by the risen Savior to His disciples.

Fulfilling the Great Commission shows faith and obedience. I know churches that do not go out. I have heard it said that we need to trust in the Lord to bring people in. True, but, we also need to be about or Saviors work as Christ did His Fathers work.

Now, I know there are many ways to get the word out. There are churches with Facebook pages. And there are blog sites to go to, and there is always witnessing to those we work with. It is right to go to the elderly, and to those in jail. All those can be effective,
and should be utilized.

But I also firmly believe that the Lord wanted us to personally go and knock on doors and let those people who we do not work with, or have not seen in jail, or who are not in a nursing home, know about us. How are people going to find our website or blog if we are not putting out the word that we have those things?

Doesn’t it make sense to hand out a flyer and have the church’s physical address, as well as our internet testimony links on there as well? People need not even leave the home, just get online and check us out or read the flyer that we hand to them. And if they have no internet, then the flyer says it all.

Going to door is not easy, and I have been yelled at and I have had doors literally slammed in my face. My former Pastor would say that all the effort and expense is worth it if one person comes to know Christ as Savior.

Knocking on doors makes us vulnerable, it is a leap of faith every time your fist raps the door because you could get griped out, or get a door slammed in you face, or a person may accept it with a smile and say thank you, or you get turned away because people are already satisfied with the church they have.

I associate a door to door ministry with James 2:20 as well as Revelation 3:20 In this day and age where people do not really talk about God like they used to, I believe it is more important then ever before for a church to demonstrate it’s dedication to God by having some kind of door to door ministry.

A church can’t be ashamed or embarrassed or too timid to go out boldly and spread the word that Christ died for those whom He loved, and it is for you….and you….and you….that God the Father gave His Son to literally be a sacrifice for the sins of the entire population for all times. We can not save ourselves by any means, and we needed Jesus to die for us.

In the book of Revelation, the church at Ephesus is warned that they have fallen away from their first love, which would be their devotion to Christ. The Bible is not allegorical. The things written in those sacred pages are true and are here for us to learn from and apply to our lives. And Christians are told to go into the world and witness of the saving grace of God.

Churches can send missionaries to China, but hesitate to take volunteers to go canvass a few neighborhoods? Is that really practicing what we preach?

Christians have lost ground by not fighting as we should for our rights in Congress, it would be a crying shame to ignore our obligations to Christ by letting this part of our commission fall by the wayside. I firmly believe that it will soon be illegal for those who do practice the door to door form of testimony. So we better get to it while we can.

There are “other” churches out there who do not hesitate to go and testify about their faith and their beliefs, and the longer we wait to suck it up, the more ground we lose.

Paul was sent to be a missionary to God. He made four great missionary journeys and travelled thousands of miles to testify. Paul did not have it easy by any means.

“²³Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

²⁴Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

²⁵Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

²⁶In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

²⁷In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

²⁸Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?

³⁰If I must needs glory; I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

³¹The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

³²In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:

³³And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.” 2^nd Corinthians 11:23-33

Paul went through all that to preach the good news of Christ, yet some who claim Christ as Savior are uncomfortable walking around a residential neighborhood handing out flyers inviting people to attend service?

Earlier in my article I mentioned the book of Revelation and the church at Ephesus. When the Lord said “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee…….” He is pointing out their mistakes and giving them a chance to repent and set things right.

We as, Christians need to reignite the fire, the passion for going about the Lord’s work. We can not do what is comfortable to us and ignore the rest. We will be judged on our works and rewarded accordingly.

And while we are sitting at home feeling good about going to church and praying, the lost are out there and they are perishing in their sins daily. How can we feel good about church if we have no testimony, if we are not actively going about God’s business?

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faithwithout works is dead? James 2:20

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1