I snapped this photo on a beautiful stretch of road between La Crosse and Prairie du Chien. I intended to show you the wonderful view over the front wheel of my hand cycle. It was an amazing day on an amazing journey. When I looked at the photo, I noticed the tiny mirror—I circled it […]
Continue readingChristmas Lights
A common question whenever I talk about my injury involves my attitude toward Christmas decorations. It’s already come up a few times along the ride, including our visit to Elk River, Mn. “Do you still like Christmas lights? Do they make you sad? Do you put decorations up at Christmas?” The questions come from kids […]
Continue readingSpontaneous generosity…
… always surprises me. Yesterday we stopped at the original movie location for the movie Field Of Dreams. It’s just as cool—and just as silly—as it appears in the movie. There’s a calming element to a pristine baseball diamond dropped in the middle of a corn field. It was easy to imagine shadows of old-time […]
Continue readingPersevere
Happy Monday! We’re beginning week #3 of Rich’s Ride. Becky and I need to work on today’s word-of-the-week… PERSEVERE Many aspects of this project are tougher than we imagined. Hotels, being away from home, so many moving parts that demolish any sort of predictability. At times like this, we must persevere. I think we’re learning […]
Continue readingWhich Dream?
We crossed the Mississippi three times during the first day. I recall thinking that it was a bit disappointing. Even thirty miles from its source, the great river offers little clue of its eventual magnitude. It’s nothing more than a stream. We passed a lot of small streams in northern Minnesota. There was no way […]
Continue readingWay To Go!
Have you seen the movie FORREST GUMP? At one point, Forrest starts running. He just runs, and doesn’t stop. Eventually people join him and cheer him on. The rally cry becomes, “Run, Forrest, run!” Today felt a bit like that. We had a nice article in the La Crosse Tribune Thursday morning. Thursday evening we […]
Continue readingIs It Supposed To Be This Hard?
This ride we’re doing has me wondering: what if it’s not as complicated as we make it? What if God doesn’t mean for life to be all about frustration and fear? What if He wants calm and peace? We’re trying to get down the road and talk to folks about hope. And everything we’re focused […]
Continue readingAn Unexpected Trail
One of the big lessons we’re learning on this ride is that apparent adversity often leads to unexpected joy. That happened today between Winona and La Crosse. If you can’t see the video, click here. Please leave a comment here. Where’s Rich? Today This Week Want to get involved with Rich’s Ride? Check here for […]
Continue readingA New Thing
It feels like God’s speaking to me on this trip. I’ve seen some stuff in familiar scriptures that eluded me before. Today I spoke to some kids about this passage: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive […]
Continue readingTrust Makes Life Easier
It’s Monte checking in again. We’re doing something called a “trip.” I don’t really know what that means, but I have noticed that lots of things are different. I don’t have my nice cushy bed to sleep in. Don’t tell Becky, but that’s really not a big deal to me. But I am all about […]
Continue readingSay Hello To The Hills
Today we met the hills. It began innocently enough. We set off on our carefully planned route and re-encountered our acquaintance with flexibility. Road construction and a washed-out bridge didn’t just divert us onto unanticipated roads—we found ourselves in an entirely unexpected STATE. The back roads of eastern Wisconsin afforded striking beauty, but their designers didn’t […]
Continue readingTogether On This Journey
Yesterday I was privileged to speak to about 800 students at North Central University in Minneapolis. It was an awesome experience with a wonderful group of young people. As I prepared for my talk I got a new perspective on a familiar Scripture story. You can read the entire passage (The Sheep And The Goats), […]
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