Category: Freedom Tour

Their mothers are slaves, forced into prostitution in horrific, degrading conditions. They were born in a brothel, destined to life as sexual slaves on G.B. Road, literally one of the darkest, saddest, most hopeless places on Earth. No notion of education. Or play. Nothing we associate with a “normal” childhood. They’re not even really part […]

I’m not a fan of bureaucracy. During my teaching career I consistently chafed against rules designed (I thought) mostly to sustain the organization. It all begins with good intentions and before you know what happened you’ve got committees, meetings, org charts, and lists of rules. And when you ask “Why?” they say something about consistency, […]

A few folks from our team sported the new jerseys at last weekend’s ELEPHANT ROCK CYCLING FESTIVAL. So begins FREEDOM TOUR 2018. For the next few weeks our house becomes a staging area for jerseys, food, coolers, bikes, flyers, posters, trailers, and all sorts of miscellaneous stuff. We’ll scramble to get everything ready, and I’m […]

I tend to decide whether something’s worthwhile based on short-term results. No matter how much I resist, my inner critic looks at how many dollars, how many riders, how fast, how far – and makes snap judgments about success or failure. Everyone’s smiling? All good. Someone’s unhappy? We failed. Jesus didn’t tell many manufacturing/building stories […]

Saw a wonderful movie last week. Godspeed:The Race Across America follows Jerry Schemmel and Brad Cooper on a remarkable 7-day, 3000-mile cycling journey. In a Q&A afterward, Schemmel reflected on Now, what? What do you do once you’ve completed such an epic adventure? “I want to use this project to give God the glory.” Nothing about Look at […]

We’ve had our share of route misadventures. If you’ve been here a while you know about our trek through an open field, the encounter with a fence, and a portage around a flood. When you follow a God-sized dream, stuff happens that makes for great memories and around-the-campfire stories. Since Phil joined our circle, we […]

Every dream starts as a fairy tale. That’s how you imagine it, beautiful blue skies and smiles, nobody sweats, pictures turn out perfect. Then the people show up. Aunt Clara still hasn’t forgiven Uncle Charlie for that thing (whatever it was) way back when. One little boy gets muddy, another has his finger stuck up […]

“More people equals more success…right?” Andy said that, tongue firmly planted in cheek, in the quiet beauty that is Breckenridge, Colorado. As we waited for folks to arrive at Breckenridge Christian Ministries, he described BCM’s unique structure. Andy’s sort-of a leader. I say that because BCM operates with no paid staff. No pastor, no youth […]

Five years ago Becky and I toured the perimeter of Florida. When I tell the story, someone always asks, “Weren’t you scared?” Intense traffic. Rude, inconsiderate drivers. Few (and narrow) bike lanes. Lots of old people. It’s true, Florida’s generally not all that bike-friendly. But scared? Seriously? Cycling. Coast of Florida. February. I was having […]