Mosaic of Life

Today may have been the most challenging ride of the entire journey. It started off very well, retracing my route through the quiet residential streets of Santa Monica that had brought me to the hotel. The first thing I noticed was this house. I couldnt help but stop and take a picture. The entire house was covered with mosaics. Not just one side, but every side. Here's the front of the house.


What I didn't realize then, was that this would become a symbol of my ride today through the streets of LA. I saw everything imagineable. After making my way back to the coast I started out on the LA beach bike path. Then I got back into city traffic as I made my way to the NE around Marina Del Rey. Those streets took me to another bike path that completed the horseshoe around the Marina (several miles). After that I got back on the beach bike path. This was great riding because it is open only to bikes. There are no stoplights or intersections so it's almost like a freeway for bikes.

For the first time I saw a "beach sweeper." It was a large tractor pulling a device with long teeth that dug down into the sand. The sand came up into the machine and all the trash, watches, rings, wallets, sandals, etc are sifted out. Then the clean sand is deposited back on the beach in a nice smooth path. It was pretty slick.

Next came Venice Beach. If you're into people watching, this is the place the do it. On Venice beach you could see any imagineable example of humanity. It would be like going to the aquarium to see every possible variety of fish. It was sometimes hard not to stare.

After Venice beach I got back on the bike path and rode to "The Strand" where the wealthy shop and gather. It was dripping with money. Even the sidewalk glittered (on purpose I'm sure).

After that the riding got more difficult. I wound up in heavy traffic on busy streets in LA. I rode through commercial districts, industrial parks, past refineries and the huge port of Anaheim. Then, to avoid some impossible traffic, I got back into a residential area where I was quite isolated, ethnically speaking. As I rode along I noticed a black car with two men following closely behind me. This continued for several blocks, whether I rode faster or slower. I was truly thankful that Tom was just a few blocks ahead of me and noticed them also. He stopped and I got off the street onto the sidewalk. He rolled down the window and I was ready to jump in the car and carry the bike outside until we could get to safety. However, when they saw that I wasn't alone they quickly turned off onto another street and took off. I am convinced they were intent on grabbing my bike and anything else they could get off me. But Tom and I were both diligently praying, and the power of Christ and His light is greater than any force of darkness.

As I rode on, the barrios turned into commercial districts, then suburban streets, shopping malls, marinas with restaurants and tourist traps, then again into suburban neighorhoods and shops. During the course of the day, I truly saw it all. It was like one giant mosaic of life. Everything imagineable.

There is a church in LA that has called itself Mosaic. They intentionally try to reach all kinds of people for Christ. It's a great name of an LA congregation. It's got to be one of the biggest human mosaics on earth.

One of the reasons today's ride was so exhausting was because of the constant stop and go. Red lights. Stop signs. Pedestrians. You name it, there are constant reasons to have to stop. And everytime you have to stop you lose all your momentum. You have to start again from zero. And it's even worse when you don't remember or have time to downshift before you stop. Then you have to stand up and push hard to try and get going again against a big gear. All of this left me exhuasted and hungry. So after a shower, Tom and I went to the Lazy Dog Cafe for a great supper. Here's a shot of us enjoying our well earned reward.


Tomorrow's ride is 57 miles to Oceanside. It will be 90 percent along the coast and and yet still mostly urban riding. Please continue to uphold me in prayer. After all of today's stop and go, my right knee is quite sore. I need a good night's rest and strength for tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Rebekah! Can't wait to get home and celebrate together. Love you, Diana. Hope you and Janet are having fun. God bless all of you dear ones at OSLC. I'm praying God's protection for you and your leaders as well. God's peace be with you all!