Let me tell you about the training rides I’ve done in the
last few days.
Saturday. After
checking the hourly forecast, we determined that late afternoon would be the
optimum time for biking. We trudged
along against the wind, finding it hard to determine if we were truly riding
against the wind or if it was more of a side wind. The partly cloudy skies turned fully cloudy
and by the time we turned around, our suspicions were actualized and we road against the wind on the way back as well.
By the time we finished the ride, it was 38 degrees. Brrrrrr.
Monday. It was
cold with 25 mph winds; so I did what any Iowa girl would do. I figured out how to set up my bike on our newly
acquired, used trainer, and I road in the garage for 45 minutes.
Tuesday. 4:15 p.m. Mostly sunny.
48 degrees. Not bad. I set out only to realize a mile down
the road that I forgot my water bottle.
After retracing my route, I finally found my cadence as
I left town 15 minutes later. And what a
comfortable cadence it was with the wind! Of course that means I was against the wind on my return trip. I fought to maintain 6 mph
on the steeper hills. Had I gone much
slower I might have tipped!
Partway up the second hill I noticed my mind kicking into an
I-can-do-this-how-am-I-going-to-do-this mode.
I mentally counted how many hills there were yet to climb. (I’m going to need that strategy this
summer. People have been posting
comments—a.k.a. warnings—about some of the climbs on our route through Arizona
and Colorado.) I found myself thinking about
the people for whom we are riding, fellow human beings living every day in
poverty. My hills became metaphors for their
days. And my days.
Each hill, a day.
Uphill, against the wind.
The down-hills, maybe a short reprieve.
On days like today, even the down-hills take work.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Kingdom of God
lately. Yesterday I told my Biblical
Foundations class that Jesus’s life gives us a picture of what his Kingdom
looks like—coming on earth as it is in heaven.
Sure, He prayed the prayer; but He didn’t
just pray. He also did the work of
healing and restoration. That's what the Kingdom looks like--acts of healing and restoration. That's what we are a part. We are to be about the business of demonstrating the Kingdom of God here on earth as it is in
heaven. That's why we're riding Sea to Sea this summer.
It strikes me as I ride uphill, against the wind today, that
we’re not just riding to fight the cycle of poverty. We’re riding to embody the prayer, “Your
Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Each day.
Another hill. Same
prayer. Your Kingdom come.
It feels good to be on the bike again. I feel my muscles strengthening, my endurance
lengthening, and my eyes being opened each day. Thanks for joining me.
