Preparation, anticipation and now reality is setting in

After three months of devoting every spare hour to training it is time to start the ride. I hope that the 1,200 miles of training will carry me forward. The past week has been hectic with preparations and packing. No time to really stop and ponder the purpose for this ride: to create increased awareness of the poverty and injustice in our world and to do something about it by raising funds that are channelled to existing programs that help people.

Yesterday we watched the riders who started in Seattle and Denver as they arrived at the Calvin College campus. Then it was a 4 hour training course in safe bicycling and today was a very moving celebration service at the stadium where the Grand Rapids Whitecaps play their games. Many people came, some from long distances. Shane Claiborne, author and activist from Philadelphia gave a moving message on "Revolutionary Gentleness." As I listened to his challenge and we began to sing: God, Great God / How Great is Our God / How Great Thou Art, tears came to my eyes. After the service the family sitting behind Ruth and I said they would be praying for us this week. They drove up from Kalamazoo, MI to celebrate the ride and support a father and son, from their church, who were biking together.

Now it is time to focus on the challenges of eating and drinking enough to prevent dehydration. It is also time to relax and have fun as we ride and share our experiences along the way. It sounds like the weather will be warm with increasing humidity.

It is also time meet over two hundred new people which includes the riders and the support staff. There are 60 new riders starting tomorrow and most of us have some jitters. Tonight we sang "Happy Birthday" to the oldest rider who turned 81 today.

I am humbled as I think about what God can do through the courage and endurance of a couple hundred riders and the thousands of people who are praying for them and giving to facilitate this ride. As the cyclists encounter people along the way and tell the purpose of this ride individuals have been moved to start handing them cash and over $2,000 has been received from total strangers.