"The bicycle is the noblest invention of mankind"

May the Fourth be with you...

On May 4th, 2013 (one year ago today) I purchased my Fuji Touring Bicycle from a bicycle shop in Sherwood. Since then I have clocked over 3,000 miles (as of a few days ago) which includes commuting to work, church and all over town, bike events and training days. This is small compared to what I hope to accomplish in the coming months. From June 15th to August 30th I hope to ride another 3500 miles, more than I have ridden in the last 12 months. Can I do it? Will I do it? Six weeks to go...only time will tell. This trip will arrive whether I am ready or not. Whether I am ready or not really doesn't matter at this point. What does matter is that adventure lies down the road and within the equation of adventure is misery and heartache. But around the bend, over the hill, atop the summit, down the road lies a sunset, a sandwich, a beautiful sight, a cold glass of water, an amazing picture of Creation...

I pray for this future; I pray for my survival. I pray for my growth and my sanity. I pray for my mind and my will. I do not view this as a chessboard. So I must prove it and get out of here alive. There are some sketchy patches of road and I must overcome and get through to the other side.

Thoughts keep flowing from me and anxiety seems to dominate my thoughts at times. But for what? “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" Hmm...and that is an encouraging thought.

As Gandalf said in The Fellowship of the Ring: "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought."

So I was meant to follow this path. I cannot accomplish such a task, embark on such an adventure without the support of my friends and family. So please, if nothing else, lend me your prayers. Alas, lend God your prayers on my behalf.

Pray for my health (no dizziness and headaches) and strength.
Pray for my safety.
Pray for my sanity.
Pray for my mind and mental strength.
Pray for my Spiritual walk that I may not stray on such a journey far from home.
Pray also for my support wagon and our companionship.
Pray that God will be at the helm of my bicycle the whole way and pray that He will bring what He will from this trip and if it be His will to bring anything of this trip in the form of fundraising/awareness of a Christian camp.
Pray that I will forget my troubles and have fun!
Pray for my bicycle...

After all...

"The bicycle is the noblest invention of mankind." - William Saroyan

May the Fourth be with you all...