Inspiration for My Adventure

My inspiration for this bike trip has been over ten years in the making. 

My first “bike trip” was with my friend Nat in Portland, OR.  We packed up the bikes for a weekend trip.  I didn’t last long as I didn’t properly fuel my body and ended up bonking after a couple of hours.  We hitchhiked back to Portland.   Another long distance trip that was not thought out was a ride up to Mt. Hood.  I didn’t carry anything but some snacks and a can of tuna.  When I had exhausted myself, I went to finish off the snacks; I realized that I didn’t have a can opener.  I had to ride back.  I don’t remember the much after the trip. 

Fast forward – 2009: I am under a very large debt made by bad decisions and investments. I moved to Louisville, KY to get a higher paying job and live cheaply.   After two years of working, I’m frustrated with my job and the work I am doing. 

I finally find a church that teaches the bible and I start attending regularly, Kenwood Heights Christian Church in Louisville, KY.  There, after being invited in and invited to a class, I join in the study of the book by Francis Chan “Crazy Love”.  So many things resonate with me.  Then Pastor Randy Beard mentioned reading a book “Radical” by David Platt, so I read it.  Then more things started connecting with me.  My dissatisfaction increased with more than the work I was doing.  Now I was dissatisfied with my thoughts, habits, and going with the world’s flow. 

In May 2011, I finished paying of the large debt.  It is time to think about the future.  I relaxed my spending habits with no goal and was able to really think about what I wanted to do next.  The thoughts about taking a one year bike trip around the perimeter of the US surfaced.  It has been on my list of life goals for some time, but the inevitable no money, no time, no something always popped up.  Now I seriously reviewed the bike trip.  Could I do it?  Would I have enough money?  How much money would I actually need?? 

I sat down to calculate the feasibility of this trip.  I put together a rough budget of potential costs, food and shelter, hotel rooms, monthly bills, equipment needs, additional electronic wants, and re-entry funds.  I calculated out my first pass at a budget and I realized that this trip could possibly be done, but in a six month time frame.  I start evaluating all my monthly budget items to see if I could do something different.  After a couple of months, I was getting the sense additional adjustments in my lifestyle and end points could be made to reduce bills. 

I started saving money and reading the above mentioned books.  Goals for this bike trip started to reveal themselves.  The main goal was to learn to love God more.  This eventually morphed into “to depend on God more than I have ever done”.  I wanted to be changed from the inside out.  I wanted more of God and less of me.  Thoughts of letting go of many of my current belongings started to inspire me. 

In February/March, I picked up the movie “The Way” by Emilio Estevez, a wonderful and inspiring movie.  Finding and watching this movie was purely a God-thing.  Now, I had a new goal.  I was going to walk The Way of St. James in Spain.  I don’t know how or when this will be completed, but I know it will happen.  Watching the movie several times (ok, a lot), I was struck with the thought of being a pilgrim.  We are after all aliens and strangers in this world.  My bike trip started taking on new meaning.  This will now be a type of monastic trip; a trip to depend on God and to change me into a new person.  This change would be of my current habits, values, thoughts, ideas, and ideals that clash or compete with God. 

This will be a trip for a total transformation.  It will not be an easy trip physically or mentally/spiritual.  The physical will ease after a month or two (not counting mountains or nasty headwinds) as my body is transformed.  The mental/spiritual will be harder.   I am voluntarily allowing God to transform me.  I will be asking God to bring up all that needs to be evaluated.  I will need God’s eyes to see what He wants changed and to confess, heal, let go, or forgive as necessary.  Imagine that God has six months to totally transform you.  I don’t think this will be easy or really all that fun.  But the end product – wow, what a change that will be. 

This blog and everyone reading it will be my accountability partner in the change.  Who hasn’t said they would change but didn’t, especially if they didn’t tell anyone?  Me.

So I will need prayers for desire to change and to allow God to do His work.  He after all is the best craftsman.  I will need patience, courage, strength, and endurance.   I know I will need more, but God hasn’t said anything else … yet. 

So off to work and packing I go.  My dad will be visiting tonight.  He is bringing his car and trailer for me and I will send him off with my car.  This will make our lives less stressful after the family vacation in Hawaii starting Monday, April 2^nd.  YEAH!