Page 10 - Sanger Herald 3-21-19 E-edition

Lifestyles
SANGER HERALD • 2B • THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019
Matthew Spray remembered by his Demons
Sanger
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Matthew Spray would spend hours with a pencil, drawing whatever was on his mind, often a stylized skull with flames erupting where hair would have been.
Miko, a friend and compatriot, said they created art together, sharing tales or saying nothing at all. He recounted the memory Feb. 16 as others likely did the same at the Screamin Demons’ clubhouse on Academy Avenue just before 250 to 300 somber folks headed out on big burly bikes on a ride to memorialize Spray.
“He was a very caring person,” Miko said. “He had the biggest heart in the world.”
The Demons postponed their Blessing the Bikes annual event to honor Spray, one of their own who died Feb. 2 due to health complications. Spray, 40, was the club’s vice president and was described as a character, larger than life, with a wicked sense of humor and a magnetic personality that attracted many into his social orbit.
Thomas Qualls, Demons president, said Spray was the kind of guy “who knew everyone. He was pretty talented, knew something about everything.”
Frank Ramos, the Demons’ sergeant at arms, said, “This is pretty much all his friends here. Everybody who loved him.”
Qualls said Spray grew up in Reedley and had been a member of the club since 2012. He said that’s why the group was headed to Reedley and the Kings River with a stop at the Wakehouse.
“We grew up at Kelly’s Beach,” said Jason Spray, Matthew’s older brother. “He loved it, loved the river.”
Jason said his “baby” brother’s health began t o d e t e r i o r a t e a f t e r he contracted double pneumonia some years ago, likely from riding his Harley in bad weather and not taking good care of himself. The pneumonia returned, bringing with it complications which ultimately affected Matthew’s heart, he said.
Multiple hospital stays, cropping up perhaps every six months, followed until
Grace and Truth
Here are two elements that God designed for a relationship. It’s a balance of grace and truth.
The first element is truth. For me, that’s my favorite word in the Bible. I need a lot of it, and we need a lot of it. 1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
What is grace? Grace is basically the reality that God is for you. He’s on your side. He’s on your team no matter what you do. Grace means that there is nothing I can do to make God happy so he’ll love me more. He
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Friends of Matthew Spray gather last month outside the Screamin Demons clubhouse for a ride in his honor. Spray is on the left in a Facebook photo. His brother Jason rides Matthew's bike in the somber event.
whole thing his mom wrote,” Holden said. “I’ve got a story or two. I’ll read passages (of Scripture). Then I’ll open it up.”
Holden, or maybe it was Qualls or one of the others in the office, told this story of Matthew Spray. He was given money by the “brothers” at the club to go buy groceries for some function or another. However, Matthew ran into a woman down on her luck, who couldn’t muster up the cash to feed her family. “So he bought her groceries,” he said. “Then he dashed back and asked for more cash.
“He gave 100 percent to everybody, 100 percent of the time.”
Tackett said, “He took the club very seriously.”
Qualls said, “He was a ladies man, always cutting up. He was always the life of the party.”
Kenny Peterson added, “And he was always running out of gas.”
Matthew rode a 1988 Harley soft tail “Thomas Qualls custom” motorcycle. His brother Jason rode the bike in his brother’s absence that day. “I painted it,” he said.
“He was a people person,” Jason said. “My brother got around. He touched many, and he was loved by many."
Chrystal Pate said Matthew’s last few months were a struggle. But likely that’s not what she’ll remember. She said those times when he headed straight from work to spend time with her working out of town on weekends. “Always helping a damsel in distress,” she said.
The rain began to fall as the bikers headed out. Matthew was on their minds. One of the last to leave was Jason who said, “Rain? You know what my bother’s comment would be? ‘Free bike wash.’”
And he roared down the road.
Many wore specially made black T-shirts that day commemorating Matthew. Atop a Ghost Rider caricature in red were letters in white cursive: “Heaven Gained A Demon.”
The reporter can be contacted by email at nemethfeatures@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
look at it is grace says to you, I’m for you no matter what. And truth says, I need to give you some feedback so you don’t ruin yourself.
We need the balance of grace, and we need the truth.
Pastor Sam Estes is city advance director and facilitates the Sanger Community Task Force, which meets the firs and third Tuesday of every month at various locations throughout Sanger. He can be reached at pastorsam@ communitiesinc.org.
his body just gave out. Miko told another story about Matthew, using it to illustrate what kind of guy he was for those who didn’t know him. He said
twice, he said, ‘Let’s go.’ We both jumped on our bikes.”
They located the friend and brought him home. Miko didn’t explain details.
“He touched many, and he was loved by many.”
— Jason Spray
there was a reason all these people came from all over to honor his friend. Miko said a buddy of theirs had gone missing, as long as a couple weeks, and his mother asked that Matthew try to find him.
Matthew put the word out. “It was about 6 a.m.,” Miko said when they heard something. They didn’t know the circumstances. A friend was in trouble. “Without even thinking
won’t love me any more if I perform well and on the other hand, grace means there’s no way I can screw up and he’ll love me less.
I need to know that. And you need to know that. That’s the nature of grace. Grace comes in two forms. First it comes in the vertical. The vertical is when it comes straight from God. It comes from his word, the Bible. It comes from his Holy Spirit, the indwelling presence of himself.
But there’s another part of grace. The horizontal part. The horizontal is where we take grace in from each other and give grace to each other. That’s what this passage
The situation didn’t sound good. “He was always about his people,” Miko said.
Ray Tackett, with the UnderLords of Fresno, said Matthew knew his time was limited. “It didn’t stop him,” he said.
Matthew Spray also participated in fundraisers for Valley Children’s Hospital, raising with his club, the UnderLords and others upwards of $25,000 over the years for its
Craycroft Cancer Center. Qualls explained that Matthew was a big part of the End of Summer Super Bash Biker Rodeo, which has been held at Lindy’s Landing in Reedley and is the chief means of raising money for the charity.
“Each year, it keeps getting bigger,” Qualls said.
Qualls talked about
Matthew in his office. Tackett and Miko were there, too, each sharing a chuckle or getting instantly somber as they recalled something of their friend.
“He was real easy to get along with,” Qualls said. “But he was at times cantankerous.”
Randy “Gadget” Holden planned to give the eulogy that day. “I’ve got this
and the truth of gravity. There’s the truth you find in the Bible. There’s the truth that a wise person tells us something we don’t know. There’s the feedback we give each other as friends and people in business and people we’re in love with and people we’re married to.
Here’s the way I like to look at it. Grace provides the safety we need. You’ve got to have safety. Truth provides the structure that we need so you don’t screw your life up and run off in a ditch. It provides the structure. Grace provides the safety.
In a beautiful way God integrates both of those together. The way I like to
PASTOR’S CORNER
Peter is talking about. That we’re supposed to be stewards, actually the delivery system, of the very grace of God.
When you let somebody listen
to you and you tell them your story and they are for you and they don’t condemn or judge you, you’re experiencing grace. It’s the fuel of life. Relationships that have great grace have great relationships.
You know why? Because you’re safe. Think about that. You’re in a safe relationship. There’s no condemnation. There’s no judgment. You’ll never
be condemned or judged in a safe relationship.
When we’re in judgment, we shut down. We pull away. We play the game. But when you’re safe, you open up. That’s what grace
is about. You can open up because no one will ever condemn you.
The second element is, simply, truth. Ephesians 4:15 says, “Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ.”
What’s truth? Truth is what is. Truth is what’s real. There’s the truth of physics
Pastor Sam Estes