Wednesday, May 27, 2009

"Was it a Good Ride?"


Like everyone in the group, I'm asked constantly if it was a "good ride," and I find that I'm not sure what they mean by the question. I thought it would be a good idea to wait and think and meditate on the matter before I made a post. My hope is that distance will bring perspective.


My initial response is that it was a very good ride. It was a very good ride for the reasons Ben and Dan have already mentioned in their recent posts. It was a challenging ride in great scenery. It was a chance to learn to ride efficiently with a great group of cyclists. It was a chance to challenge ourselves and thus learn about ourselves and each other. That's the physical aspect of the ride. It was good.


It was a good ride from a relational standpoint. I didn't know most of the guys before we began, and now view them as some of my fondest friends. We were all in the same foxhole, and that tends to create significant bonds. We teased and encouraged each other, and helped and served each other, and listened to each other's stories. We heard each other share with the people we met our own passion for Bible translation. That listening usually resulted in having your personal passion reinforced.


It was a good ride from the standpoint of raising awareness of Bible translation. Jamie Farr at Orlando said he thought we did more to raise awareness in six days than had been accomplished in two years due to the unusual nature of the delivery of our message (on bikes) and the idea of hanging musset bags on church doors along the route. Kudos to Beth Mersefelder for that stroke of genius!


Whether it was a good ride regarding our fundraising goal I don't know (yet), but that matter is ultimately in the hands of the One who kept us through thick and thin on the ride. No worries there!


It was a difficult ride with regard to Jon's injury and the troubles with the SAG van. We did our best planning, and occasionally had to engage in a "calf-scramble" when things surprised us. We'll learn from that, and do a better job next time, so even with the problems it was a good ride. ("No experiment is ever a total failure; it can always be used as a bad example" is a proverb from my chemistry-teacher days that comes to mind here :-))


Will I do it again? You bet! Will I do things differently? You bet! Will I get saddle-sores again after 400 miles? I hope not!!

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