NSW Clubs United

As Australia's New South Wales motorcycle clubs unite to fight new legislation, (which John our International President has refered to in previous posts), news media was granted access to a clubhouse gathering to hear statements brought on their behalf. Much of the following media coverage not only gives some insight into the clubs but also some of God's Squad's role among them as 'Fish' spoke on behalf of the combined meeting. As a rule you will not generally see images of other clubs displayed on any of our sites, but because of the context of this situation, on this occasion we are happy to provide the following links.

Below is a link to an external news site carrying a video news story

VIDEO LINK

And this link to a written news feature

Daily Telegraph News Item

European Union

Euro Run 2007, Wales, UK.

Some Members, Prospects, Associates and Supporters from UK, Finland, Germany, Netherlands and Australia.

Evo in Shovel

Renea has spent months building up a new bike - and squeezing a Evo motor in a shovel frame. In his words ... 'the seat post and front down tubes have both been raised 30mm. Front down tubes are now 6mm thick so I could carv enough out to clear front rocker box as well.This means longer forks to get same ground clearance. motor is tight but I should be able to get top end off in the frame still.'

Magazine Clippings

God's Squad lads from Brisbane and Sydney as featured in the current Oz issues of Live to Ride and Ozbike.

Nothing like a winter swim in Finland

Anzac Day

Magoo


Marsh

At 5am Saturday morning we rode off on the traditional run to the Anzac Day service at the shrine of Remembrance. Down under it is a national moment of reflection and respect. (and as part of this traditional we always roll down to the Fitz cafe for breakfast afterwards and celebrate Marshalls birthday - Happy Birthday Marsh!!).

Power and Poverty

In the bible there are more than 300 verses regarding the poor and though i am not a fan of taking verses without chapters, without books and without context for the sake of this exercise (and so I don’t need to type out the whole bible right here, right now) i will jump on one of these verses...

In the Old Testament - Jer. 22:3 - it says ‘Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place’...

Now we were talking the other morning about powerlessness in the context of Squad. And we were suggesting that our call to fight for justice, to stand with those in pain and to show love is wider than just to the patch members of the scene... there are nameless and faceless people who are at the edges of every club we walk into. The guys that are not cool enough, don’t look quite right, are difficult - or strange. and these guys aren't just hanging around club houses - they are also in our midst.

Over the past week in Australia we have seen the boat of a group of Asylum seekers explode in flames with people dead, drowned and burnt. We have seen the worst of humanity in people smugglers making money and an opportunistic opposition party trying to score political points at the expense of desperate people... and in the medicos and others - some of the best as they go about healing people because they are people.

Politics aside,we are also seeing humanity at its most naked as we observe our brothers and sisters from another shore cry out to be seen and accepted.

Having the smallest glimpse of what it must be like to be truly powerless - and listening to God’s words about our response to the poor has challenged me again about how to respond to those who are powerless. I am again challenged on how my position of privilege can be used for justice and peace. In the case of those fleeing to our borders. I am commanded to listen to the asylum seeker - to ask questions - to understand why, that for most asylum seekers, even being in detention is better than where they have fled from... And personally i do believe that ultimately to say yes to safe harbour, is Gods call to us.

.My wife tells a story. In africa you greet one another with the words. Sawo bono. ‘I see you’ and the response means ‘i have been seen’.

Back to squad... for most blokes seeking acceptance, being associated with a club will always be infinitely better than where they have come from even if they are never accepted fully and get their colours.. What we wear on our backs is incredibly powerful and marks us as men of privilege.

We belong. we have been seen and we have been accepted.

So ... as we look around us, who are the ones amongst us who are seeking refuge? What does it mean for us as individuals and as a system to ‘Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor’.

Cheers
Micro - GSCMC - Melbourne

GunBus 410 Cubic Inch V-Twin Motorcyle

The Fuel Injected  45 degree 6728 cc / 410 cubic inch V-Twin runs through a 3 speed transmission with reverse and actually looks pretty good in its finished state. It puts out 523 foot pounds of torque. Seat height is 31.5 inches and overall length is 136 inches. It is a little heavy at 1433 pounds so high speed corner carving might be an issue and there aren't any photos of the big bike on the road so I guess we'll have to wait for the road test, that is if someone can actually road test this monster. 

Clean Softail Going Cheap

In the Shed

Wes 1995

Brouss - bringer of the Good News

(With very stylish well groomed hair) - love it!

Dutch Lads

Last Saturday night - Melbourne

Steve


Glen's Cadillac outside Harley city. (Harley city has blues music pumping onto the street 24/7. Bloody annoying if you are not into the blues! - a bit of Bristol Dub Step please)



Michael's truck. - Ported, stacked, lowered, raked, routed and fast.



A couple of us went for a quick Sat night scoot. The guys we were going to see never showed, so we rolled (rather quickly) down to Highway 31 for a beer and a chat with the owner Michael.

UPDATED 'ON THE SIDE OF THE ANGELS' UK AND EURO COPIES

Much of God's Squad's early history was featured in John Smith's first book, his autobiography, 'On The Side Of The Angels' first published in the mid 80's. In more recent times however, it has been republished and updated, with an additional chapter covering the subsequent twenty years adding to the already existing challenging story and message. Although available in Australia it has not been easily available in the UK and Europe . . until now that is.

See the right hand side of this page for buyings options. Any profits from these specific sales go directly back into associated ministry efforts.

We hope also to be able to provide online purchase options for Australia and also for John's recently UNOH published book 'Sharpening The Cutting Edge'

"John Smith's message is for people who want to do more than just listen" Bono, U2

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Sydney Guys

Further to last weeks post ... putting faces to names - Here are pics of the newly patched and tagged lads Bill and James from Sydney.