Days 18 and 19: Flagler Beach to Melbourne to West Palm Beach, FL -- Keeping Our Eyes on the Beach

It is hard to believe that we will ride to Miami, Florida tomorrow bright and early. We're excited to see our friends in Miami who are involved in planting a new church there, to kickoff the 2nd Annual, Best-Ever Walk/Bikeathon via webcast, to relax a bit at the beach and to see our families and friends in Indianapolis. We've experienced tremendous scenary the last two days as we've continued to ride close to the Florida coast. The skies have been blue, we've seen the ocean and various intercoastal waterways along the way (as highway A1A has wound its way down the coastline), the temperatures have been hot and we've continued to have safe travels (with a mixture of little traffic and quite a bit of traffic in spots). As I've been riding the last two days, I couldn't help but reflect on the entire journey, from the initial brainstorm to all the planning involved, to my interactions with so many different people and the process of seeing the various pieces come together and to our travels these last 20 days.

As you can imagine, I've had lots of thoughts (and plenty of time to think) and was really struck by the importance of keeping the goal in mind for this journey or our individual journeys of faith. Too often and along all aspects of this journey, it is really easy to be distracted from the ultimate goal. Just in the last couple days, we've experienced significant heat, another flat tire, physical pain in all the anticipated places, more cars that have been less patient than at any other time of the ride, etc. that all potentially serve to distract us from the goal. It's no different in our day-to-day lives, I suppose. There are so many opportunities to lose our focus and so many ways that we can become distracted. As we brainstormed, planned and began to ride, the thing that was most helpful for me was the image of being on Miami Beach with my feet in the ocean, bike in the air, connecting back with our students and others participating in the 2nd Annual Walk/Bikeathon. And what I realized was the importance of having the goal in mind to keep our focus, limit our distractions and set direction. Run with perseverance, the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1) . . . keep the goal in mind. It helps to put the distractions in their rightful place. I can't wait for tomorrow. In the meantime, below are a few images from the last couple days.





One quick prayer request: ever since we rode over to the Florida coast and have been biking along the Atlantic Ocean, something has come over Oma and Julie. Suddenly, they've started calling me "Surfer-Dude" constantly and keep talking about grabbing their boards and "hanging ten". Yesterday, I saw them down on the beach in an unusual pose (see below) and have really started worrying about them. I'm sure they'll be better once we get away from the ocean, but in the meantime, please pray that they'll snap out of it.

A special thanks to our hosts for the last two evenings: (1) Paul and Susanne Hansen in Melbourne, Florida; and (2) my sister, Diana, in Delray Beach, Florida. In Melbourne, we so enjoyed tremendous evening and morning meals (still thinking about the peach pie!) and your warm hospitality. While Oma knew the Hansens, they were new to me, yet I felt like I've known them for years and instantly hear and see in them a devotion to God and family. Thanks a bunch for making us feel so welcome and for all you're doing in your community. One of my highlights today was being able to ride a few miles with my sister, Diana, in Delray Beach (near West Palm Beach). For those of you keeping score at home on my family's participation, that now means that Lori, Leah and David have ridden part of the ride as well as my brother and sister. With the rest of my family participating in southwestern Michigan as well, it's been quite a family affair. Di: it was great seeing your new place and hanging out for awhile. Thanks for all your encouragement along the way!

To our students at TPCA: have a great time tomorrow at the 2nd Annual/Best-Ever Walk/Bikeathon. Be safe, encourage one another and thank your teachers and parents for their participation. In particular, be sure to thank Mr. Bengs and the "Dream Team" of parents who have helped pull together the event for tomorrow: Scott (the "Bird and Safety Man") Jackson, Heidi ("Someone Want Some Noise") Nikata, Nancy ("Water Queen") Lee, John (the "DJ") Bruce, Louise ("Watching the Kids") Frasure and Dan ("Techno Man") Brownlee and Lori Grandy.

With My Eyes on Miami,

Charlie