A New Adventure Every Day

The wonderful thing about riding your bike to new places is that you never know what's coming next. At one point today I started climbing and with each turn of the road I expected to see the summit of the hill. Instead with each turn I kept seeing more and more climbing (over 760 feet of climbing on that one hill alone.) At another point I was riding through a town and was greeted by this friendly fellow.
Of course, there's always unexpected danger as well. I was riding in traffic in a town when suddenly I hit a hole in the road that I couldn't see because of the car in front of me until it was too late. I almost went down. My water bottles flew out of their cages and onto the ground. I had to get out of traffic and stop quickly to retrieve them. It was kind of scary, like the time a gust of wind caught me from the side on a 43 mph descent and almost blew me off my bike. I don't think I could undertake an adventure like this if I didn't have faith.

In many ways, an adventure like this is exactly what life is like. We get up every morning having no idea what the day holds or whether it will be filled with triumph and blessing or tragedy and sorrow. I don't know how people who don't have faith in our faithful God can live each day. I can not only live, but even add adventure to my life because I know that my God created the heavens and the earth. He created time itself, and so I don't have to worry about the future because God is already there. Someone has said, "I don't know what the future holds, but I know Him who holds the future." That's enough for me.

At one point in my ride today, I stopped to ask a man to take a picture of me. He asked where I was going and when I told him "Mexico" he said, "You're kidding! Where are your clothes?" He had noticed that I wasn't carrying any gear on my bike. I told him that my wife and I were on the perfect trip together. "I love to ride my bike and she loves antique shops. It's a great arrangement! She doesn't have to pedal the bike and I don't have to look at the antiques." Here's a picture of Diana practicing her other favorite activity on this trip -- taking pictures! Right then she was taking a picture of Agate Beach on the Pacific Ocean from our hotel room. Right now I'm watching the sunset. The hotel room is angled perfectly to see it. What a blessing, Lord!
I rode 72 miles today with 3766 feet vertical gain, and a 15 mile per hour average speed. Tomorrow is almost the identical mileage, from Newport to Reedsport, OR. Please continue to keep us both in your prayers. You might want to look at Elijah's comment on the night before last's blog. It's cute. I would also ask you to pray for MaryBeth, our "mommy to be." She is in Chicago to serve as bridesmaid at a friend's wedding. She is expecting our second grandson, Seth Allen in late October, early November. God bless you all.