For some reason, the start of week #4 of the Florida tour has me thinking about my best friend Wayne.
Wayne was the first person I told about the dream of a cross-country ride. He always encouraged me to go for it. I’m sorry he didn’t live to see it happen—it would have brought him a lot of joy, and he would’ve been a big part of it. Actually, he IS a big part of it.
I remember asking Wayne once how you would train for something like this since it’s not like a one-time event where you’re trying to peak at a certain point. In his typically wise, considered manner he replied, “I think you just train for the first week. Week #1 is your training for week #2…and so on.”
That’s turned out to be incredibly accurate advice, and it’s another way cycle touring is like life. You’re never prepared for the whole thing. You just move forward and trust that each season gets you ready for the next.
Someone once told me high school should prepare a student for life. I laughed. At best, an eighteen-year-old graduate is prepared for nineteen. In life, as in cycle touring, you train and learn as you go.
If you wait to begin until you’re ready for the whole journey, you’ll likely never begin. At some point you have to take the step you know how to take. Often, it’s only then that God shows you step #2. That’s what trust looks like.
Week #4 starts today. We trust that week #3 prepared us for this part of the journey.
No evidence, but God doesn’t need evidence. In fact, God invites us to step forward in hope, despite the evidence—and then watch the evidence change.
# # #
Monday morning we begin week #4 at Ridge Area Arc in Avon Park. Then we’ll be on the road toward Lakeland. Saturday’s rainout left us about 12 miles behind schedule, 588 miles into the journey.
The rest of the week is completely up in the air. I’ll be as surprised as anyone to see where the pieces land.
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