Author: Rich

If you can accomplish your vision by yourself, your vision is too small. ~ T. D. Jakes At Global Leadership Summit (GLS) I heard some themes woven into many of the messages. Last time I said Keeping stuff safe isn’t God’s plan.  The second theme dovetails with the first. Enlarge Your Vision Over and over, in different […]

Keeping stuff safe isn’t God’s plan. I attended the Global Leadership Summit (GLS) last week, an amazing opportunity to learn about leadership from a few influential leaders. Two days, far two much information to absorb, there’s only one way to avoid feeling overwhelmed. In such circumstances, I look for patterns. If you believe God’s involved […]

Service, if it’s truly service, must involve humility. Do you agree? The problem is, like most folks I struggle with humility. I’m not sure I understand it, or know when I have it. And just when I think I might be getting close, I start feeling good about being humble and that’s pride and I […]

How does an idea grow? We’re in reflection mode at the FREEDOM TOUR, wrapping up 2016 but already looking at 2017 and beyond. As I wonder where we’re we’re going, I find it helpful to look at where we’ve been. God seems to mostly operate long-term and big-picture. Events that appear senseless and disconnected in the […]

Are you excited about watching the Olympics? For two weeks we get to watch men and women follow their dreams. We’ll see incredible performances made to appear routine, and we’ll hear stories of people who overcame insurmountable obstacles just to be there. The Olympics are almost more about perseverance and mental toughness than about higher, faster, […]

Once in a while I write something that raises interesting questions. A couple of times recently I’ve said something like this: Our $100,000 dream goal matters because the funds matter to the kids at the HOME OF HOPE. But reaching it or not doesn’t define the success of the FREEDOM TOUR because our DNA is […]

On our Mississippi River trip I encountered a unique bike trail design. The trail was constructed on top of the levees. Great idea, huh? Nice and level, no traffic, you could just cycle along and gaze at the river, the boats. It was great, except every couple of miles there was a break in the […]

Becky and I attended a memorial service last week. I didn’t know the man well. The service touched me more deeply than I expected. I left with two lasting impressions. I felt like I knew him better. His friends and family shared memories in an incredibly personal, vulnerable, and yet perfectly authentic and appropriate manner. Tears […]

The essential element of the FREEDOM TOUR is community. Of course we raise funds and awareness for the kids at the HOME OF HOPE. And we enjoy riding bikes. Cycling, fund raising,and fighting human trafficking comprise the face of the tour, but its DNA is community. In what might be a classic understatement, our friend […]

This video comes from one of our team traditions. As we prepared to climb Raton Pass on the first Freedom Tour in 2013 our friend Kristen pulled out her phone. “You guys have to listen to this song.” So we crowded around and listened as she played SNOWIN ON RATON by Townes van Zandt. We’ve repeated this […]

If you hang around cyclists you’ll notice their shoes make click-clack sounds when they walk. Cycling shoes have special cleats molded into the soles. The cleats attach to a particular pedal, so the rider can both pull and push on the pedals. You “clip in” by pressing your heel straight down and “clip out” by twisting your […]