The ride started at 7:30 a.m. with temperatures hovering around thirty-six degrees. I rode alone with the exception of car following me to protect me from traffic and carry fluids and food. In the initial hours my hands began to tingle from the cold temperatures. The first leg of the ride was forty-two miles from Seminole to Lamesa. I had hoped to ride faster but cross winds slowed me a ten mile per hour pace.
I ate a sandwich and a banana while downing some gatorade once arriving in Lamesa. Then it was off the small community of Welch. I pedaled thinking of all the people praying for me. I pedaled thinking of the doctors in Honduras and their need to remove the $35,000 debt. I pedaled thinking about my boys and wanting to set an example of being a finisher and not a quitter for them.
My back ached, my bottom ached, my legs began to tighten but with God's help I kept pedaling. At times it did not appear I was making much progress especially after reaching Welch and turning west to head for Loop and Seagraves. At this turn I began riding into a stiff headwind. The winds picked up after about twenty miles to twenty-five miles per hour. When I arrived in Loop for a scheduled rest I began calculating how slow I was riding. I knew I would not finish before the sun went down if I kept riding into the wind. At this point I began to lose heart. I had been about eighty miles and the thought of fighting that wind another twenty miles seemed unbearable.
It was suggested I ride the last twenty miles with the wind at my back. It had not been at my back the whole day. I agreed and turned around. For most of the day I had ridden at a ten mile per hour pace. When I rode the last twenty miles I averaged about eighteen miles per hour. I reached mile one hundred somewhere between Welch and O'Donnell. There were no cheering crowds. It was just the Lord, me, and the two people following me in the truck. That was fitting. I never rode for the applause of people. I rode for the hope we could see the financial mountain of debt left on the hospital removed. I rode for the glory of God. He finished in me!
The whole ride took me nine and a half hours. My back felt every bit of it. Not long after getting off the bike my legs began to tighten and to cramp. I am thankful for great advice I received before hand on how to handle this. I am thankful for nutritional advice received for how to prepare pre ride, during the ride, and post ride. I rode two days ago and thank the Lord I have felt very little pain or soreness even today.
That ride proved to be so much more than a ride. It proved to be an analogy for my life and ministry starting Faith Community Church. God used that ride to refocus me on the task at hand. There were a couple of times I felt tempted to quit the ride especially when facing the adversity of the wind. There have been numerous times when I have contemplated quitting this church but God is calling me to finish.
I got through every mile by praying and continuously pedaling. I just keep turning those pedals over and over mile after mile. I seldom felt winded but my lower back ached. My legs got tired and tightened. My bottom ached being much larger than the small bicycle seat. No matter how I shifted I could not get relief the final sixty miles. It just hurt but plodding ahead and leaning on God for strength we made it.
In the same way I have to keep plodding ahead in planting this church. We have many challenges not the least being lack of finances to keep advancing. Yet, daily God provides for this church and for my family. Monday after Monday, week after week, Sunday after Sunday we press on. We continue to labor. God continues to save the lost especially among students. God continues to draw new people. I continue to pray, study, preach, teach, and lead trusting God for breakthrough. I continue to serve these people and this community one day at a time. I keep seeking God for changes in our housing situation one day at a time. I am determined to see this change.
In the pictures when I finished the ride I found it interesting that in one picture where I have my hands raised there is a yield sign behind me. I do not feel that was coincidence. I feel that was God speaking to me and reminding me to yield to Him. I have to stay the course here for now.
So I got my mind right on the drive back home the next day. I resolved to continue my labor here regardless of financial compensation. Despite the challenges I keep pedaling ahead at Faith Community with prayer, labor, and preaching. Failure is not an option.
To all of you who prayed for me during the ride I thank you. To my two angels who followed me the majority of the ride thank you for your love, words of encouragements and help in keeping me hydrated and nourished. For my hosts for the weekend thank you for your love, service in planning the ride and hospitality but most of all for telling me to ride with the wind to finish. To all who have stood with us prayerfully and financially in the work of starting Faith Community Church I thank you. Please do not cease praying with us now.
It was amazing how the smoothly the last twenty miles of that ride went when I rode with the wind and not against it. That is the primary lesson I am taking from that ride for my life and ministry here. I want to raise the sails of this church and my life and catch the wind of God at my back to ride with Him and not against Him.
For too long I have fought God on remaining here. I don't know how long God will have me here but for this time this is where I am and where I am to remain faithful. I am to labor here to keep pedaling forward in faith. The rest is up to God.
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