I'm brand spankin' new to this bloggin' thing but we'll give it a shot. We are just about two weeks out from the start of this journey. Lots of excitement and lots of questions. Have I bitten off more than I can chew? What will it be like to ride 60 miles day after day? I can't wait to finally get started. What will it be like to visit all of the places I have lived along the way?
This is a journey from my birthplace in the upper pennisula of Michigan to my current home in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. I will be visiting the 4 states and 9 towns where I have lived at some point in my 4o years of life thus far.
This is a journey on a bicycle, yes, but it is more than that for me. I've been intrigued by a particular kind of journey known as a pilgrimmage. A journey taken with the express purpose of meeting God along the way. Over the past several years I've read several books written by individuals who have engaged in this sort of journey. This has stimulated my interest in embarking on my own pilgrimmage.
I do not know how, or where, or when I will meet God along the way. I believe God is with me always. But, I am not always with God. This journey is about retracing my path, reflecting on those occassions in my life when I was with God and those when I was not. Those experiences and people who helped to shape me and my life. This journey is about seeking God's will and direction for my next forty years.
The excercise and hard work, the fresh air and stiff breezes, the hills and the downhills, the potholes and smooth roads, the new friends and old aquantances, the kind and the scary, these will be points of contact.
Where all will I go? What will I learn and see? How will I be shaped? God knows. And as my favored Psalm 16 says; O Lord, "You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore." I will trust in our Lord to lead me and guide me on this journey.
Jff
