Category: Reflections

Why do we have Thanksgiving? In reality, it’s a secular holiday, an excuse to travel, visit family, and enjoy a great feast. To be brutally honest, Thanksgiving is mostly about food, shopping, and football. There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of that, but I wonder what happens to the “thanks” part of Thanksgiving. I came […]

I appreciate all the nice things people say when we complete a RICH’S RIDE tour. We receive many kind notes. People stop us at church to tell us how much they appreciate what we do. We hear from folks all over the country who are inspired and encouraged by the rides and the blogs. It’s […]

I love the freedom of cycling. I’m not sure everyone understands what I mean when I say that. Some reading I’ve been doing reminded me of the apparent paradox of freedom as a follower of Jesus. In some ways it’s like cycling. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, […]

At RICH’S RIDE we talk a lot about climbing hills. Maybe that’s because most anyone, with minimal training and effort, can bike on flat, smooth terrain. The hills and mountains are the interesting, challenging, and sometimes frightening parts of the ride. People face many different kinds of hills; the ones we ascend on bikes may […]

As we pulled out of Fort Collins on our very first ride, Pastor Mark Orphan imparted one final bit of wisdom: Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken. I don’t think he was quoting the Beatitudes, but we’re discovering it’s great advice for operating on the road. We had a great first […]

Today I’d like to share a gift I made for some folks toward the end of the TAOS to TUCSON tour. Several of our speaking events included worship. I wanted to contribute somehow. I thought about offering to sing, but I didn’t want to inflict that kind of pain. So I made this video, which tells the […]

Every tour seems to leave a few lasting impressions. I’ll remember TAOS to TUCSON for an improved approach to cycling up hills. I haven’t gotten much better—physically—at climbing. I’m still terribly slow. I need to change my workouts over the winter and see if improved training can overcome advancing age and yield faster results. What […]

When you help someone climb a hill, you end up at the top. On our recent trip I talked a lot about the word ENCOURAGE, which I define as “giving courage to someone else.” I used this photo of a hill to illustrate a challenge, and asked listeners to think of someone they knew who […]

“Why am I so afraid of everything?” She’s a college junior, perhaps 21 or 22 years old. From my perspective, it was a great question. “What are you afraid of?” She blurted out a list, a litany of seemingly everything that could possibly go wrong in this young woman’s life. “Whoa,” I chuckled, “you really […]

It’s not about me. How often do we  say it? Today I want to tell you about someone who lives it–an authentic, invisible servant. We had a minor mishap this week, a few inches of water in our basement that made a general mess of things. Got the cleanup done, now we”re dealing with mold […]

I’m glad it’s The Book of Acts and not The Book of Opinions. Another bit of wisdom from Bob Goff, which I guess makes sense from a guy who titled his book Love Does. Ever notice that the disciples didn’t get missionary training or a theology degree before they took off to make disciples? Now that I think […]

Two good friends reminded me of an important truth this weekend. Everyone needs hope, and a lot of people don’t know where to find it. Since we began the journey of RICH’S RIDE I’ve talked to social workers, therapists, doctors, pastors, prison workers, pastors, mental health professionals, and addiction specialists. These folks work with people […]