Another bicycle ride

It has been unseasonably warm here in West Michigan, and it has been fun to see everyone out and about enjoying SPRING!!! Of course, we knew it was too good to last, and so now we are shivering with anticipation at a forecast for next week that shows highs in the 40's. Uggh....

That is then, however, and this is now, and so now, while it is nice, we must do things! This calls for another bicycle ride. The Musketawa Trail crosses my road about a mile from where I live. This is a "rails to trails" initiative that produced a trail 24 miles long, beginning here in Muskegon and ending in Marne. I have only ridden the length of the trail one time, last summer, right before Aaron headed off to boot camp, and I decided that yesterday, since it was my day off, this would be a good day to go.

I was especially excited about the 10-15 mph winds that had been blowing from the west all week, since I was heading east. Imagine my disappointment yesterday morning to get on my bike and find that they had shifted and were now blowing at 15-20 mph from the EAST!!!! It was slow going, to say the least, and I did not make it to Marne. I rode as far as Ravenna, the halfway point, and then turned around to head for home.

The ride to Ravenna was ROUGH. The ride back was a BLAST!

Now I know I've already written about bicycle rides and winds and the Holy Spirit and all that stuff, but as I was riding yesterday I couldn't help think about things like perseverance, stubbornness, persistence, tenacity, etc. As my right knee was screaming in pain as I pushed against the wind I found myself speculating about the difference between stubbornness that produces growth and stubbornness that produces harm. There is a discipline that helps strengthen us to battle against obstacles, but then there are obstacles that are put before us to keep us from harming ourselves.

I'm not sure that, spiritually, I am always able to tell the difference, between the obstacles I'm supposed to overcome and the obstacles I'm supposed to avoid.

Another Bike Ride

I have now officially ridden TWO DAYS IN A ROW!!!! That's a big deal for a big white guy like me! Yesterday afternoon my good friend Philip called to say, "It's a nice day outside...." I knew immediately what he meant, and so we made arrangements to ride the beautiful lakeshore trail, winding around Muskegon Lake.

To just clear the air on one thing--yes, it was windy....

I first started riding a year ago. It was my wife's fault--she determined that we buy bicycles for my birthday. It was really a brilliant idea, and I've been hooked ever since. Philip rode with me one time and he was also hooked, and he and I have enjoyed riding together, although I must confess that he rides a LOT more than I do.

Philip is 20 years younger than I am, and so any time we ride together it is with a great deal of trepidation. What if I can't keep up? What if his young legs will go farther than me? He also weighs a lot less than I do, which means less resistance, if you know what I mean.

As we were riding yesterday, I finally mustered the nerve to tell him this. His response was delightful: "Well, since this is the awkward part of the date, let me tell you that I was a bit nervous about keeping up with you, too." As it turns out, the pace we were riding seemed to be nearly perfect for both of us. We were able to ride and enjoy one another's company, challenging one another to do just a little bit better.

And becuase of this, I'm a bit stronger today than I was yesterday.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

I Smell Spring!

Living in Michigan, I have come to appreciate the significance of this annual event we call, "SPRING." The change in the smell of the air, the warming of the temperatures, the greening of the grass, and even the watering that comes to my eyes because of allergies all serve notice that things have changed. Winter is gone. Spring has come.

I suppose it's natural to think about things like new birth and hopefulness and all that stuff that sounds nice and fluffy for Christ-followers, but this spring has brought about a new ritual. Last year my wife, Becky, and I purchased bicycles. Neither of us are terribly athletic, and so this seemed like a nice opportunity for us to have something physical to do that would get us outside. And so we rode quite a bit last year until the seasons changed and we were forced to put the bikes aside for the snow and cold of winter.

Today I took my first real bicycle ride of the season. I suppose that common sense would dictate warming up at the beginning of the season by taking several short rides, but in my town spring calls us to the beach and shoreline of Lake Michigan. Anxious to see water I took off for the fourteen mile ride to the beach. The wind was not terribly strong but was awfully consistent and, naturally, blowing from all directions simultaneously, and I fought it during the entire 2 1/2 hour ride. Well, okay, maybe not for the entire ride.

There was one section of the ride where I realized that the wind was perfectly square to my back. The noise of the wind stopped, and I was able to pedal easily. There was no traffic on the road at that particular time and I made great time until I had to turn around and head face on directly back into the wind again.

I feel like I should make an observation about the Holy Spirit here, but the observation would be trite and inconsistent with my own life experience. I want the Holy Spirit to always be blowing easily at my back, propelling me forward in my journey, but I realize that often times the Holy Spirit blows against me, and not always because I'm heading the wrong direction. Sometimes it's just really hard to, well, live, and it can feel like the Spirit is slowing us down. What I have come to realize, though, is that my legs get a LOT stronger from riding into the wind then they do when the wind is at my back.

Now excuse me while I go put some Ben-Gay all over my body.