The Easy Way

Dear friends who came and visited me in Texas asked me last night, “What’s the thing you are most surprised about on the tour?”  My answer was it’s harder than I thought it would be.  Oh I knew it would be hard.  I’ve never spent 12 hours a day on a bike before.  I’ve never ridden my bike through temperatures topping 117 degrees.  I’ve never faced the brutal, hot headwinds of Texas before.  I’ve never climbed up mountains one pedal stroke at a time.  I knew that would be hard.

 

I didn’t count on the daily routine of moving 15 people and everything they have with them from place to place.  I didn’t think about 15 people getting ready to leave at the same time with only two bathrooms.  I didn’t think that we have to transport everything we need, including food and water, with us everywhere we go and in and out of the van each day.  I didn’t think about the many aches and pains this causes the human body.  It’s hard. 

 

Then I think about the people of Marsabit, Kenya.  The people we are riding our bikes and raising money for.  For them the struggle to find clean, fresh water is a daily job.  Women and girls walk miles each day to collect water for their families.  Water they use to drink, cook with, clean with and bathe with.  They will continue their work long after we have finished our cross country tour.  That’s hard. 

 

Compared to our brothers and sisters in Marsabit, what we are doing here on the Ride:Well Southern tour is easy.  It’s temporary.  God is daily revitalizing us, rejuvenating us and pouring out His love and guidance on us.  He has taken a group of 15 total strangers and in the course of a few weeks has turned us into a crazy family.  We have the privilege of serving Him in this very tangible and visible way.  When you think about it, that’s really pretty easy.