Divine Dirt Bikes
This Week's Theme: On God's Mission
Joel Swanson
Monday, October 23, 2000
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verses: Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58b).
Bonus Reading:Philippians 2:4, 19-22
A former Iowa farm boy with a knack for mechanical things, Dick Varberg trained church planters for 39 years in the Philippines. He bought his first fixer uppera Vespa scooterin 1959 for his own ministry. "You need transportation to plant churches, and public transportation is very poor," he says.
Varberg's attempts to get bikes to pastors were mostly stymied by local corruption and bureaucratic restrictions on motorcyclesuntil a Christian customs worker explained a loophole. Varberg imported ten inexpensive, 90-175cc Japanese dirt bikesideal because they require less gas and maintenance.
After retiring, Varberg's passion for providing motorcycles led him to a liquidation center in Minnesota. The owners agreed to donate 60 bikesa container-full.
He spent a month pulling and preparing 60 bikes, extra parts and 20 additional engines from the warehouses of cannibalized motorcycles. After they were shipped, Varberg flew to the Philippines to tend them through customs. There they were provided to pastors at less than half the street price.
Joel Swanson in The Standard Respond:
What do you love to do? How can it be used for God?
Thought to Apply:
In 1944 the Lord called me from aviation to Himself, and now He has sent me back to aviation for Himself.
Nate Saint (martyred Ecuador missionary pilot)
Adapted from The Standard (4/99). 1 of 1
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Jesus, show me how to be a witness to your Son—wherever I am.
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