Unable to sleep, I covered Leah and David to make sure they were warm, opened the tent and walked inside the house to gather my thoughts. Slowly, I moved over to sit in one of our chairs. Our family had been working on a 1,000 piece puzzle and I paused to look it over. Now, as I sat down and began to focus on the pieces, I realized that I left my glasses in the tent. The picture of the puzzle was cloudy; I could make out the general image of the puzzle, but the details were fuzzy. Still, I began to look more closely to see if I could find any pieces that would fit. If I squinted in certain ways, it was possible to see some more clearly, but most remained illusive. The analogy struck me: the planning of this journey (or most of our significant journeys in life) was much like the puzzle before me and how faith seems to work. God calls Christians to seek Him and follow when called. He doesn't promise that we will have all the details for our journey. Indeed, if we knew everything in advance, faith wouldn't be necessary. Instead, God calls us to look and listen hard, read and study scripture, seek His will, and respond when called, regardless of whether the route is completely known or mapped out. Like Abraham, we need to go to the land God shows us, even if we don't know where we're going. While we may have a strong sense of the direction He wants us to travel, we'll likely be traveling at times without our glasses. That, in turn, provides an opportunity for us to rely on Him, to travel to an unknown land, all the while realizing that He is in control. Practicing faith builds faith as we see our "skinny legs" develop into stronger legs. For us, this has been a journey of a lifetime and an opportunity to see how God works in all different situations. I pray that you have been encouraged as well.
A few final thoughts. First, a note of thanks to my friend, Norma Buckley (pictured below). With our return trip from Miami to Indianapolis being about 21 hours and deciding to drive straight through, we asked Norma if we could stop at her house outside of Atlanta. Even though Norma was leaving on her own adventure to Italy the next day, she welcomed us with open arms and helped us celebrate the conclusion of the ride. She relayed how she was traveling with a group to Assisi, Italy on a pilgrimmage of sorts to understand better St. Francis of Assisi and learn more about that part of Italy. When I asked Norma about her hopes for the trip, she simply said that she wanted to "pause and reflect", to focus on God full-time (rather than in the spare moments of her life) and see what He had in store for her. I was so impressed -- my friend and her family would take their faith seriously enough to interrupt busy lives and rearrange their schedules so she could shift her full-time focus. Clearly, they recognize the brevity of life and the importance of prioritizing in ways most of us rarely consider.
Second, having had awhile to think about our journey, let me share a few reflections:
* Faith is a journey, not a race: Speed is often important, but a faithful journey is not completed in one day. At times, I felt like we needed to go faster, to sprint along and show others how fast we could go. But I realized that to "make the distance" required strength for the long haul, not for the short term. Faith is a day-by-day adventure that requires us to keep our focus and persevere. Even if we experienced a day with more speed, I realized that the journey involves both down and up hills. It is inevitable that we will have rains, winds, hills and mountains -- we just need to keep pedaling, however slowly during difficult times, to keep heading in the right direction.
* What we eat is important: I could tell a huge difference in our cycling between the days I ate well and drank plenty of water and those days I didn't. Without good food, I lacked energy and focus. But just as good food sustains our physical bodies, spiritual food is critical. Who we hang out with as well as what we watch, read, listen to, discuss, pray about, etc. matters.
* Make sure you enjoy the ride: Julie is not a big fan of driving. Still, she loved driving/riding with Oma in the support van. Why? Because going the speed I went allowed her to see things along the road that she would normally miss. Indeed, she sometimes asked Oma to slow down so she could take a better look at things. Similarly, I sometimes found myself so intent on completing the ride, that I would focus on the ground ahead rather than take in the many sites along the way. Colossians 3 reminds us to "look up" and see the things that are all around us from God's perspective; it helps us enjoy the ride. Our individual rides will be over in a blink; make sure you enjoy your travels.
* Don't Rest Too Much on the Downhills: When I got a downhill in biking, the temptation was to relax and coast. Similarly, my normal inclination is to relax when things are going well and to rely on my own strength. But what I discovered biking was the importance of using the downhills to generate speed and strength for the uphills, the difficult times. If we continue to work during the good times, we'll have more strength for the challenges we're likely to face.
* The Hills Sometimes Look Bigger From a Distance: On several occasions, particularly as we rode through New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, I noticed that many of the hills that appeared to have the steepest inclines from a distance actually weren't that bad once we got closer. What I realized was that we often shy away from things that appear more difficult from a distance and that reserving judgment and getting a closer look helped us to be more informed and take on challenges we might otherwise avoid.
* For Difficult Rides, Break Them Into Smaller Segments: When we started the ride, Matt would ask me how many miles we had for that day. Not thinking, I would tell him the full day's mileage without some further discussion about how we would break up the ride. I quickly realized that both of us struggled when we thought about riding the full 100-125 miles. Because of that, we soon started talking about a city that would be our next stopping point, setting an interim goal somewhere between 20-40 miles down the road. Because much of our training was done in 20-40 mile segments, breaking the ride up into smaller pieces helped us see that the mileage was possible. Similarly, sometimes when we face a challenge, we focus on the entire challenge, not realizing that there is no way we can ride the full distance all at once. If we break it up into smaller pieces, we soon realize it's possible to ride part of the way, then ride the next portion of the ride and just keep going.
* A Little Encouragement Makes a Huge Difference: I can't tell you how much difference it meant to us to receive cards from friends and family, notes on the blog or other forms of encouragement along the way. Two special memories are of traveling through North Carolina and having Lori, Leah and David join us for part of the ride. In North Carolina, so many people waved, honked (in a positive way), smiled and took care driving around us that at times, I felt like we were in a parade! Then, when Lori, Leah and David joined us for five days, it was the best. Seeing my wife driving at bicycling speeds when she's not particularly fond of riding in a car, let alone driving at all, and having Leah/David cheering and sounding their noisemakers as I rode up various hills made me feel like I was riding for the first day. During those times of encouragement, I literally found myself unknowingly pedaling with greater energy and speed, feeling the support of others along the way. Similarly, away from the bike, I'm convinced that most of us will never know how much a kind word, smile and other forms of encouragement impact others. It makes all the difference.
Finally, I want to let you know how much we appreciated the support we've received from so many of you. In particular, I want to thank my family for their tremendous support, Matt East and his family for their participation, Oma and Julie, Dan Brownlee for all his support (including creating the blog and equipping us with technology for the ride), my Mom, sister and brother for their extra involvements, the "Dream Team" of parents who helped coordinate the TPCA Walk/Bikeathon, all who supported us during our various stops in locations across Canada and the United States, our sponsors (including Andy Wernsman at Bill Estes Ford in Brownsburg, who provided our support vehicle, and Vern LaMere and his crew at T3 Multisport (86th and Ditch in Indianapolis), who did tremendous work to make sure that our bikes were ready to go and we had necessary supplies along the way), the staff, teachers and students at Traders Point Christian Academy and those of you who "rode along" during the journey by exercising, praying, following the blog and/or providing financial support.I'm thankful for the opportunity to ride and see so many people participate in this journey of faith. I'm thankful for safe travels and the strength to finish the ride. I'm thankful for opportunities to see how God works through others in so many ways and takes interest in even the smallest of details. I hope and pray that each of us will continue to exercise this muscle called faith, encouraging one another to listen a bit more intently, squint a bit harder to see what God has in store and step out in faith in ways that we're not even able to imagine.
God Bless You and Enjoy the Ride,
Charlie ("Slightly Larger Legs") Grandy
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