On the initial FREEDOM TOUR in 2013, I created every route. I obsessed over each detail, scoured Google for guidance, and was absolutely certain I had each turn of the entire week perfectly mapped out. I printed copies of my master plans, handed them out, and waited for the perfect results of my hard work. I got […]
Continue readingAuthor: Rich
Going Fast To Slow Down
I like cycling…a lot. I suppose that’s pretty evident to anyone who’s been around here a while. I like the challenge, the freedom, the exercise, the sense of accomplishment. I like the community and the solitude. But I think what I like most of all is that cycling forces me to unplug and slow down. […]
Continue readingTwo Roads Diverged?
Should we focus on teaching scripture or on outreach and social justice? Yes! Scripture-or-social-justice is a false choice created by people who are afraid. They want to build thick, fortified walls, fill the moat with monsters, and pull up the drawbridge so the big, bad, scary world can’t get in. Trouble is, Jesus said we’re […]
Continue readingDo You Want To Be Great?
From Tim Suttle’s book titled Shrink: Great is not necessarily good. The enduring power of greatness is its ability to entice human beings to trade the good for the great. Your conscience for a fortune. Your honesty for a kingdom. Your friendship for a championship. Your integrity for a big church. Your soul for a chance […]
Continue readingLooking For Easy
My first handcycle ride happened sixteen years ago this month. It wasn’t the smashing success I imagined. If you’re interested you can catch the story of Exordio Somnii and The First Ride from previous posts. My first bike looks incredibly primitive by today’s standards. I purchased it from Jody, a paraplegic with an incredible attitude. One […]
Continue readingHow To Leave Space For God
When everything’s busy, how do we leave room for divine appointments? On a bike tour there are about a million small details to think about. You can easily get to the end of each day, and the entire week, and not really remember much of substance about what happened. We talk a lot about being aware of divine […]
Continue readingDisillusioned
Happy Monday! An odd word prompts today’s word-of-the-week… DISILLUSIONED Do you think it’s a bad thing to be “disillusioned”? I’ve always thought the word had a negative connotation, sort of like disappointment, but I actually think Jesus came to disillusion us. Dis-illusion: to remove illusions…that’s what Jesus was all about. He came to reveal the truth. […]
Continue readingCan You See The Big Picture?
“I’m climbing this hill for someone else.” I’ve been on a few team bike tours. Inevitably there’s that point in the middle of a tough hill on a hot day when somebody’s tempted to stop. They’re struggling, and just when you think they’ll pull over and give up they grab a drink or an energy bar and […]
Continue readingWho Are You?
What do you do? How often do you ask those sorts of questions? It’s just harmless small talk, right? I’ve spent some time recently with a guy who’s paralyzed by his fear of that question. Details don’t matter, I’m just struck by his sense of how much we identify people with what they do. Or worse, what they’ve […]
Continue readingAre You Efficient?
Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity. Henry Van Dyke Have you ever considered the limited time Jesus had on Earth? The central figure in all of history […]
Continue readingGet In The Way
U.S. Congressman John Lewis was beaten nearly to death by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., on March 9, 1965. Last weekend he returned to that bridge to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.” Lewis has said that his parents told him as a young child in the segregated South his parents told him not […]
Continue readingIt’s A Guy Thing
Sex trafficking isn’t a “women’s issue.” Maybe that sounds silly, but I’m always struck by the fact that women seem to dominate the voices speaking out about these horrible crimes. While the majority of the victims of sexual slavery are women, the perpetrators are overwhelmingly male. Unless we’re going to blame the victims, it’s time to […]
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