Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 12, Final Devotion

May 12, 2011

Final Devotion

Philippians 3:3-6  “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.  Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all  of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.  And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

Today as we make our journey home to Juno Beach, FL I am very aware that what we accomplished is due to the love, support and efforts of many many people.  Martina and I were able to share the good news of the Gospel in a unique way the past 2 weeks.  But to do that we relied on the help and support of many:

·      Nicholas and Caley Kukla and Casey Jerauld kept an eye on my son Mark who stayed home while we were on the journey.

·      My mother came and watered our house plants.

·      My son Mark took care of himself and all his responsibilities without his parents hovering over him.

·      At church, JoAnn Hayes (church administrator and my assistant) Fred Kempel (Council President) and Pastor Jim Stilwell (visitation pastor) worked hard, served faithfully and covered many extra duties so that I could be gone.

·      Pastor Andy Hagen of Advent Lutheran Church in Boca Raton, FL kept my blog on the website current each day.

·      I am most grateful to every pastor and church leader of each congregation that we visited for welcoming us and making all the arrangements for our presentations and providing us with a place to overnight. 

·      I thank God for every person He prompted to come and hear and see about the Village of Hope Ministry.  I am absolutely certain that God will cause a wonderful harvest to occur through all these people who came.

·      I am very thankful to the people of Holy Spirit Lutheran Church who allowed me to make this journey.  Together, God used us to do a great work for the Village of Hope.  Our sacrifice together will allow the love of Jesus Christ to be spread further in Haiti and to make a powerful difference in the lives of many hundreds of children.

·      Finally, the prayers of hundreds surrounded our journey.  All went so well for us because our mission was fortified by constant prayer.

This is the church at it’s best.  Many people humbly pitching in to do their part so that Christ can be glorified and His grace shared to all who need it.

Prayer:  Father in heaven, thank you for watching over us throughout this journey in ways that we are aware of and in many ways we have no clue about.  Thank you for the hundreds of people whom you utilized to bless us along the way.  I pray that you will use our efforts to bring a blessing to the children of Haiti and to each of the congregations we visited.  Father, I look forward to the next great calling you will place upon my heart.  Give me the courage to accept.  Amen.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 12, Final Day!

May 12, 2011

Journal

WE MADE IT!  We arrived yesterday afternoon at Fairfax, VA, to Lord of Life Lutheran Church.  I say “yesterday afternoon” because today is actually Friday, May 13, and we are on the highway driving back to Juno Beach, FL.  Last night got way too late to still write  a journal and devotion.  The day of bike riding was uneventful.  I continued to ride 63 miles through the Shenendoah Valley.  Then time ran out and we drove the  rest of the way into Fairfax to the church.  This was a very special day for Martina and I.  Not only was it our goal destination and it meant the end of our ride, but the  pastor of this congregation is very special to me.  When I was 16 years old and my home pastor Ed Simonsen encouraged me to become a pastor I then turned to two other pastors who I knew well and respected, Pastor Ron Qualley and Pastor Albert Schmidt of Grace Lutheran Church in Miami Springs.  I asked them  what they thought about Pastor Ed’s recommendation.  They both agreed and gave me some very helpful advice.  They encouraged me to seek out another career that I would enjoy doing should I at some point decide I did not want to be a pastor.  That is how I ended up getting my masters degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management and worked for 5 years in the business.  That education and those experiences have been very helpful to me in the pastoral ministry.  Now, 38 years later I had the opportunity to be with Pastor Ron Qualley again.  Since he was at Grace in Miami Springs, he accepted the call to Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Fairfax.  Pastor Ron and his wife Sandy were very gracious to us.  They invited us to their home for a celebration dinner and a shower before we were expected at Lord of Life for our final presentation of the Village of Hope.  The reality is the people of Lord of Life Lutheran know much more about the Village of Hope than I do.  This congregation sponsors over 90 children and last year gave $100,000 to the new health center.  Along with years of being generous donors to the VOH many of the members have visited and served at the VOH.  Pastor Ron is on the board of directors for the VOH.  So as we showed the slide presentation to the gathered LOL members they were able to share with me information about the pictures I had no idea of.  I should have visited this congregation first to get all the facts.  It was a fun evening.  I am so thankful to the people of LOL for their strong support and leadership over many years at the VOH.  Because of them many other congregations have come on board and have had life changing experiences at VOH.  They were grateful to Martina and I for our two week mission of sharing the VOH story.  Martina and I left LOL around 9:30 PM and drove for 2 hours so that we could escape the Washington DC and Richmond, VA traffic.  As we are driving home and I am pondering the last two weeks there is a part of me that is sad that the journey is over.  The exercise was awesome.  700 miles of pedaling in 12 days has put me in the best shape of my life.  I lost 13 pounds which means I am back to my college days weight.  We’ll see how long that lasts!  I will miss the opportunities of meeting new people each day, at new churches I have never been to before in communities I had never visited before.  I will miss the beautiful forests and rivers and lakes and farms that we rode by.  There is also the other part of me that is glad the journey is over.  We are glad to be going home, to be with our family, church and friends and to get back to our life routines.  Once again we realize how fortunate and blessed we are.  We traveled 700 miles without any sickness or injury.  We had no bicycle flats or breakdowns.  Everywhere we were, we were received with special kindness and care.  We had the opportunity to do something very unique for a wonderful and life changing cause.  And now we get to go  home, to people, a home and a calling that we love.  God is good, all the time!

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 11, Devotion

May 11, 2011

Devotion

Psalm 19:7  “The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul.”

The way this bicycle journey works is that Martina is driving the van and serves as my support vehicle.  She has all the food and drink and she provides direction for where I should ride.  Her directions to me mean everything, because I do exactly as I am told.  I have no maps and I have no idea where I am.  Martina has GPS, computer programs and maps.  We both have walkie talkies which she uses to tell me where to go.  This works very well most of the time.  But today it happened a couple of times that Martina told me to go one direction only to call me back and say that was wrong and I should go in the opposite direction.  In this situation it is not such a big deal because  she usually catches the mistake pretty quick, so I haven’t gotten too far.  This is not a unique experience.  It also happened today that I arrived at the church and they knew we were coming but they did not know what our needs were.  That should not have been because I know that I wrote letters and emailed and talked on the phone with them numerous times.  Again, not a big deal, we worked it out quickly and they were very gracious and accommodating.  But imagine if we had  the same problem with God.  What  if we couldn’t be absolutely sure that the Father and Son and Holy Spirit got it 100% right all the time.  That would be disastrous.  We couldn’t rely on God at all.  But, we need not worry, God is indeed perfect in all His guidance and judgments.  We can trust Him completely.

Prayer:  God, though I live in an imperfect  world and my tendency is not to trust anyone completely, help me to see you differently.  Teach me that  I can trust  you in and with all things.  Amen

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 11

May 11, 2011

Journal

Today was a gorgeous ride through a part of the country I have never been in before, the Shenandoah Valley.  I rode my bicycle with the Shenandoah mountains to the west of me and the Blue Ridge Mountains on my east.  Fortunately I did not have to ride through either of them.  Even the valley was pretty challenging with long stretches of up hill climbs.  The distance today that needed to be covered was 150 miles, too far to cover in one day.  I knew already I was going to have to drive part of it.  That was a very fortunate because this morning we woke up and it was raining.  So we got to drive out of the rain.  We drove about 90 miles from Wytheville, VA to Lexington, VA.  Then I rode my bicycle  the  remaining 64 miles to  Harrisonburg, VA where we are staying over night at Muhlenberg Lutheran Church.  This is another older congregation that was started in 1849.  They  built on a brand new  structure of a family life center and a large gathering center, really large.  But so that  it blended well with the original sanctuary they built the outside in the same style.  But inside it is very tastefully modern.  The congregation has dinner and worship every Wednesday evening so they invited us to join them.  After worship they said I could use the showers in the family life center.  The building was empty except for the custodian who did not know that I was there or that Martina and I were staying overnight.  As I walked into the shower room to take a shower the custodian, a woman, had just finished cleaning the showers and  was coming out.  I shocked her at first.  Then I told her that the church Administrator had said that I could take a shower.  She then proceeded to tell me that I should go ahead and shower, but she wishes the office would tell her when they are going to let the homeless people shower.  They never clean up after themselves.  So she told me very clearly that I was to clean up after myself because she did not want to clean the shower twice!  I guess I must have really looked bad this evening!  J  Tomorrow is our last day of riding as we journey from Harrisonburg to Fairfax to visit the wonderful people of Lord Of Life Lutheran Church.  The lead pastor at LOL is Pastor Ron Qualley.  He is one of the pastors who in my youth made a big impact on me and encouraged me to become a pastor.  It will be wonderful to see him again.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 10, Devotion

May 10, 2011

Devotion

Ephesians 5:25  “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church.  He gave up his life for her …”

When a man marries a woman, he really only has a small idea of what he is getting himself into.  I have been a pastor now for 27 years.  That means I have officiated at hundreds of marriage services and spent over a thousand hours in premarital counseling.  I have made a sincere effort to help couples who plan to marry to understand the great commitment that is required in order for a marriage to work for 50 years.  But they only half listen to me.  They think they are so in love they can withstand any challenges that will come along.  Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians really sets the bar of commitment very high with this one verse.  Today my commitment to my wife Martina was tested.  It was not a big deal, but then most of the challenges to a relationship usually aren’t really all that big.  We were getting to the end of our day of riding.  It had been our most challenging day because the hills were now mountains and the up hills were one to 12 mile stretches.  I was struggling on the up hills  to average a speed of 4-6 mph.  The distance to cover today was 78 miles.  Out of pure ego I wanted to make the entire ride.  Climb the mountains and ride the distance, just so that I  could say to myself, I did it!  As we were getting to the last 15 miles I had to start pushing myself real hard, but I was determined.  When there was just 5 miles left I realized, I had not heard from Martina on the walkie talkie in a long time.  So, much to my chagrin I stopped and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Now I was getting frustrated because I was running out of time, I would not be able to  complete the  ride, and I so wanted to.  But I couldn’t raise Martina on the walkie talkie or the cell phone.  Something had to be wrong.  Decision time.  Ride back to check on Martina or finish  the ride (yea me!) and hope she shows up eventually?  I rode back to check on Martina.  Yea God for using the big stick on my big ego.  It  turns out Martina had stopped and was looking for me.

Marriage is always about sacrificing for each other, it’s the  only way.  But when you do it, when it becomes the norm in your marriage, the payback over 50 years is worth it.

Prayer:  Father in heaven, thank you for loving me, by giving me a loving spouse.  Please  help me to honor my spouse as Christ did the church, by giving my life for to them.  Amen.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 10

May 10, 2011

Journal

Today I am so tired that I could fall asleep here at the keyboard.  It was our most challenging day of  riding.  We had been warned that it would be.  Today we met the mountains of Virginia.  They are  beautiful, but they are mean!  It’s not that they are real steep, they  just go on and on  and on.  The first mountain to climb was a 12 mile up hill with no break in between!  With every turn in the road I hoped that we had reached the top, no such luck.  So today, all 73 miles that I pedaled had lots of up hill climbs.  But I have to also  say, Virginia has beautiful countryside.  Large  farms, lots of horses and cows, and many Christmas tree farms.  When we arrived at  Wytheville we were greeted  by Pastor Steve Ridenhour of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.  The church is over 150 years old.  The congregation has  done a wonderful job of taking care of the facilities so they look very beautiful.  They even had four showers so that we could shower when we arrived.  Pastor Steve and members of the congregation prepared a wonderful dinner for us.  Afterwards we had our Village of Hope presentation.  This congregation has been long time supporters of the VOH.  They support  many children and Pastor Steve and one of his members visited the VOH about 15 years ago.  I am sure that this congregation will continue to be strong supporters  of the  VOH mission.

Tomorrow we head for Harrisonburg, VA located among the Shenandoah Mountains.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 9, Devotion

May 9, 2011

Devotion

Matthew 28:5-6  “Then the angel  spoke to the women.  Don’t be afraid!  He said.  I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.  He isn’t here!  He  is risen from the dead,  just as he said would happen.”

Sometimes you have to go through a rough patch before you get to experience the joy.  Today I had two experiences that left an impression on me.  The first is I was riding down hill at a fairly fast speed when suddenly the pavement ended and I found myself in grass and gravel.  I had to make a split second  decision, do I turn the handlebars quickly to the right and try to get back on the smooth road surface or do I ride through this rough patch.  I decided to go through the rough gravel and grass because to have  tried, at this speed, to force my wheel  out of the gravel and  onto the road could have  ended with a wipeout onto the road or gravel.  Better to just patiently ride  through the rough stuff until it ends and then get back onto the road.  The second experience I had today was when I was riding through this long uphill stretch.  It kept going, I  had to gear down to the lowest gears, my legs were getting tired.  It was rough.  Finally, I got to the top and what I saw was this huge several acres meadow of  beautiful brilliant yellow and blue  flowers.  It was breath taking....the little I still had left.  The beauty at the  top made the  rough  stretch worth it.

I return to  the text I opened with which is one of the familiar Easter gospel texts.  The women and disciples who followed Jesus went through a very difficult stretch for  three years as they followed Jesus.  The worst were those  last very confusing days when all their hopes and dreams were  dashed with Jesus’ death on the cross.  But then came the resurrection.  A miracle.  A new reality.  Jesus was  offering them more  than they ever imagined.  Going through the rough patch was worth it beyond any measure.

In our life of faith and  obedience there will be many rough stretches.  We  will experience them in school and work, in all our relationships with spouses, children, parents, friends and coworkers.  We will experience  difficult times in our finances, in our health and in our careers.  Rough patches are a part of life.  And sometimes they are even rougher because we are trying to remain faithful to our Lord Jesus.  My friends, after every Good  Friday there is an Easter for those who believe and trust in Jesus.  And believe me, it’s worth it to remain faithful.

Prayer:  Gracious Father, I pray for your courage and strength to get through the rough patches in life trusting that you will be there with me through it all and there will be grace on the other side.  Amen.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 9

May  9, 2011

Journal

Today the hills became longer and steeper, a foretaste of the feast too come, I fear!!!  Since it was only 44 miles we arrived in Wilkesboro early enough  that we could have lunch at a nearby lake.  We then came to the church, Atonement Lutheran and met Pastor John Frasier and his wife Cara who have been the  pastor family here for  the past 20 months.  They both met when  they were  school teachers.  Pastor John is a second career Pastor.  Pastor John and his wife Cara allowed us to shower in their home, which is a lot nicer than the little hand held shower  I have outside our camper.  We then went  out for dinner together and enjoyed  east Carolina barbcue which you barbcue connoisseurs know has a vinegar taste to it.  I have to say I like my son-in-law’s barbcue better.  I missed my bottle of BullsEye barbcue sauce.  After dinner  we met  with some of the members of Atonement Lutheran  Church for our Village of Hope presentation.  It was very exciting to see their faces light up with the idea that they could possibly come  over to Haiti and visit the mission.  Pastor John has a heart for  teaching the Bible and he would love to see if there is a possibility of teaching/conversing with Haitian young adults or pastors for a few weeks.  Pastor John also sees a connection for how  a mission trip to Haiti could fit well into the discipleship program he is wanting to offer here at Atonement.  I love to see how  God works.  Martina and I are the messengers that plant a seed here at Atonement.  God does all the growing.

Its time to go to bed now.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a  day full of steep climbs to Wytheville, VA.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 8, Devotion

Ride For Haiti, part 2

Day  8

May 8, 2011

Devotion

John 15:14-17  “You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves.  Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.  You didn’t choose me.  I chose you.  I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that  the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.  This is my commandment:  Love each other.”

These are the words  of Jesus to His disciples before He left them to return to His Father in heaven.  What I understand Jesus to be  saying is that the relationship we  share with Him is one of deep and abiding friendship.  And, what Jesus wants us His disciples to share  with each other is deep abiding friendship where love is shared.   Jesus knows that there are great challenges before His disciples.  What will sustain them, empower  them and make them successful is the relationship of friendship that they share with Him and each other.  Lose the friendship with Jesus and each other and all else will be lost.  That is serious.  As I am on this  bike  ride away from church and family there are all kinds of important issues swirling around  at home and at the church.  Normally I  would be engaged personally with most of them.  But  now I am away.  The peace and hope  that I cling to is the friendship I have with Jesus Christ, the  friendship I share with each of my family members and our church leaders, and the  friendship I know  exists between my family members and between church leaders.  With these friendships in place Christ  can  work  in and among us and bring about His  goodness.

Prayer:  Thank you Jesus that you call me friend.  Please help me to be a Christ filled friend to my family, friends and church community.  Amen.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 8

May 8, 2011

Journal

Today was a wonderful day of activities, but only  32 miles of  bike riding.  We had a wonderful evening of dinner and conversation with Pastors Jack and Linda McHenry.  In the morning we woke up, had a casual calm breakfast together and then we went to church by 9 AM.  Wow, is that different than my life on Sunday mornings at HSLC.  I found out that I had been saying the name wrong for the church.  It is not Christ Lutheran Church, rather Christ’s Lutheran Church.  Very cool!  They prepared a wonderful spread of breakfast snacks;  feed them and they will come.  And come they did.  We had about  25 people attend our presentation at the  adult Sunday School class.  After the class Martina and I went to worship and we were allowed to give a temple talk prior to worship starting.  The people of Christ’s Lutheran Church were very appreciative of what we are doing for the  Village of Hope.  VOH has a special place in their heart  because their pastor, after retiring, became the director  at the  Village of Hope for four years.  The  people of Christ’s Lutheran Church support many of the  VOH children and have visited on a mission trip.  Something that really impressed me that they do at CLC is the pastors memorize the Gospel reading for that Sunday and present it without any notes.  Very effective and meaningful.

After worship ended Martina and I greeted people from the congregation and then we went back to the McHenry  home to change and start riding again.  I only had time to ride for three  hours today, riding in the direction of Wilkesboro, NC where we will be tomorrow evening.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 6, Devotion

May 6, 2011

Psalm 71:1,5  “In you O Lord, I put my trust.  For you are my hope, O Lord God;  you are my trust from my youth.”

This morning shortly after Martina and I got started with our ride, something that can quickly become very troubling happened, I lost Martina.  Martina is the navigator.  She has the GPS, the computer and the maps.  Only she knows the route and I just follow where she tells me by walkie talkie to go.  As long as I stay focused on her and listen carefully, we stay together and we arrive on time to our destination.  How did I “lose” Martina?  I took my eyes off of her.  I passed by a 16 screen movie theater and was reading all the different movies that were playing by the time I looked back down the street Martina was gone!  Which means, I’m lost, or  about  to be lost.  It means she turned somewhere and I didn’t pay attention.  She expected that I was paying attention and that I was behind her.  Now we had to take the time to call each other so that I could find  out where she was and rejoin her.

This happens to Christ followers all the time.  This happens to pastors, church leaders, husbands and wives, parents and children, business owners, CEO’s, teachers, coaches, etc.  We are all guilty of taking our eyes off of Jesus and looking elsewhere.  If left unchecked we stopping trusting Jesus and we begin to trust in ourselves, our awesome abilities, training and experiences.  We stop looking at Jesus because we know best.  We stop looking at Jesus and we become impatient, we become domineering and intimidating.  We stop looking at Jesus and we are less forgiving and understanding.  We stop looking at Jesus and we cheat on our spouses and families.  We stop looking at Jesus and we are dishonest and our hearts are hard toward the needs of others.  We stop looking at Jesus and we think it is all about me and it’s not.  WE’RE LOST!  Good  News, glorious news!  There is hope.  Christ died, Christ rose again and in Him we are forgiven and have new life.  So just STOP!  And call out, and find out where God is and join Him there.  He is never  far away!

Prayer:  Father God, I am so sorry that I regularly take my eyes  off of Jesus.  Thank you for your grace.  Help me to get back on the right path and back to you.  Amen.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 6

May 6, 2011

Journal

Today Martina and I traveled from Columbia, SC to Lancaster, SC.  I pedaled 73 miles.  The church we are at this evening is called Reformation Lutheran Church.  A small congregation and church started in 1953.  Julia Edwards met us and showed us around and gave us a key to the place before she left.  That is one thing I am always so grateful for.  All the congregations we have stayed with have been so trusting and welcoming.  When the evening is over they leave us with the key and tell us to make ourselves at home.  It would be a much more difficult trip to undertake if we were treated differently.

Today, we experienced the normal challenges of traveling as well as a first.  An old lesson was reinforced with me, don’t  take your eyes off the navigator if you don’t know where you are going.  For more, see the devotion for today.  A new challenge faced today was a cold, several hours long, drizzle.  I wasn’t cold as  long as I was pedaling.  But as soon as I took a break the cool breeze reminded me that I was wet.  But by  mid afternoon the sky cleared and it was sunny again and I dried off.  If you look at the pictures for today you will see Martina and I once again huddled under the porch of a little country church and had lunch.  God put one there for us so that  we could stay dry.  Once again dogs were an issue.  I was chased by all kinds of mutts as well as a Doberman and a Rottweiler.  Martina got  me a new toy to defend myself, a very loud air horn to blast at them  when they get too close.  It worked well.  The land was  rolling hills.  The strangest thing, Martina took a picture of it, while we were traveling through farm lands and forests, suddenly out of nowhere, and really out of place appeared these massive, 10 and 20 ton boulders.  How  they got there and why is beyond me.  They were  so out of place.  Very interesting.  We enjoy staying in touch with many of you.  Thank you for your emails and phone calls.  It is great to hear from  people back  at home.  Today was the midway point.  We have six more days of riding and then two days to drive back home.  God bless you all.

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 4, Devotion

May 4, 2011

Devotion

John 16:33  “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take  heart, because I have overcome the world.”

This morning Martina and I knew that we had a long distance to cover.  So we made sure that we got an early start.  By 7:15 AM I was pedaling and Martina was leading the way.  She had  the route planned, we knew how we were going to get to Augusta, Georgia from Statesboro.  Martina  goes to a lot of effort to find streets that are rural routes because they have less traffic.  What she can’t plan, nor can anyone else, is what the conditions of the roads and weather will be.  Some of the roads were very rough and some were dirt roads making riding over them very challenging.  Some of the roads had rumble strips along the sides so that I could not ride over them.  There were lots of hills which are always a challenge to climb.  Then we started off with temperatures in the sixties and a light rain.  Yuk!  But the worst of all was the stiff breeze coming out of the northeast that blew  against me all day.   Instead of being able to average 14-16 mph speed, I was working hard to maintain a speed of 8-11 mph!  I had to work much harder all day today against these conditions  to get where I needed to  go.  The good news, with persistence, discipline and hard work we reached our 81 mile goal, Augusta.

Friends, life is like that for us each day.  We have our plans worked out to accomplish certain goals.  And then sin happens.  It is all around us.  It is a part of everything we experience and do.  It comes in a thousand different shapes and forms.  There is no escaping it.  So what do we do, we remember what Jesus did for us on the cross and what Jesus said,  “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart, because I have overcome the world.”  Then with this promise we give our best effort, being persistent, disciplined and working hard.  By the grace  of God we  too will be victorious.

Prayer:  Gracious Father, life is hard.  Sin makes things so difficult.  Help me to rely on your promise, to believe in the victory of the  cross, and to not give up.  Amen

Ride For Haiti, part 2, Day 4

May 4, 2011

Statesboro, GA to Augusta, GA

After a wonderful evening and presentation with Dr. Randy and wife Sandy Smith and their friends from church and work Martina and I got a great night of sleep in their home.  When we woke up in the morning the temperature was in the 60s, it was overcast and raining lightly.  Cold yuky weather to start our day.  We were on the road by 7:15 AM.  We knew we had 80 plus miles to cover.  Martina does a great job of finding back roads so that we can ride through farm country.  The down side of that is people let their dogs run free.  So when I ride by they love to chase me and bark and growl.  So what Martina does is that she looks for  the dogs before I arrive and then she slows down and ride beside the van using it as a shield from the dogs.  It works most of the time.  But today one came after me, and it had part pit bull in him.  He was big strong fast and mean.  I screamed and yelled at him, but he didn’t care.  So I took my bottle of Gatorade and squirted him in the face.  That shocked him and he backed off.  Maybe I have  started something here.  Now Gatorade can market itself as a deterrent to mean dogs.  I hope I get a cut of the  sales.  Besides mean dogs I fought a strong breeze blowing against me all day.  Sometimes I was pedaling so hard and then I would look at the ground and it was  barely moving past me.  Discouraging!  Once again I want to sing my praises of the very small Baptist churches that seem to be everywhere in the southeast, way out in the most remote  locations.  I don’t know how they survive but I’m sure glad they do.  Because quite often they are the ones providing me with a shade tree or front porch to rest and have lunch.  See today’s pictures.  We arrived this evening after pedaling 81 miles at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in downtown Augusta.  Praise God, they have a parking lot.  Pastor David Hunter greeted us warmly and showed us around and made sure we have all we need for a restful night.  God is good, all the time!

Ride For Haiti, part 2-Devotional

Day 3

May 3, 2011

Romans 13:8  “If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.”

In my first few days of the bike trip I have experienced first hand what a wonderful difference great leadership can make.  Leadership according to the Bible is not something you demand or deserve or covet.   Biblical leadership is servant leadership.  And when you have it people gladly allow you to lead them.  A servant leader is humble, sacrificial, and is not seeking the spot light.  A servant leader does not have to insist on his way or force people to follow him or her.  When that is happening they have lost any hope of leading others.  Today Pastor John Barichivich and this evening Doctor Randy Smith demonstrated that people love being a part of what they are up to.  “You point the way and we will follow you.”  And the reason is that they have served these people well and have earned their loyalty.

Our churches need men and women  who understand biblical leadership.  People who don’t understand biblical leadership and are serving in positions of leadership in congregations, are a detriment to the health and vitality of the congregation.  In the same way, people who have been blessed with the gift of leadership and are not serving God with their leadership gifts, are preventing the church from being a powerful agent for God and good in the community.  Are you a biblical leader?

Prayer:  Lord help me to know if I am a biblical leader, and if I am then give me the courage to serve.  Amen.

Ride For Haiti, part 2

Day 3, Journal

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Rincon, GA – Statesboro, Ga

Today was all about speaking to God’s wonderful people.  At 12 noon we were fortunate to gather for lunch with  the wonderful members of Jerusalem Lutheran Church in Rincon, GA.  Pastor John’s wife Julie made a delicious chicken noodle soup and blueberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream.  I think all the people who came didn’t come to hear me talk about Haiti, rather to eat Julie’s delicious lunch.  There was a sincere interest in being a part of the Village of Hope sometime in the future.  However, there is also the reality that there have just been a number of terrible tornados in the southeast that have done tremendous damage and they want to reach out to the churches and communities that suffered loss and destruction.  I told them that I know the Lord will guide them to do the right things at the right time.  He always does.

Martina and I pedaled away from Jerusalem Lutheran Church at 2 PM and made our way to Statesboro, GA where we were expected at 5 PM at the home of Dr. Randy Smith and his wife Sandy.  They are members of Pittman Park United Methodist Church in Statesboro.  This congregation has a very active missions ministry.  They have been on many mission trips among some of the poorest people in the world.  Dr. Smith and Sandy invited everyone from their church to come to their  home if they were interested in hearing more about Haiti.  They also invited their friends whom they have been on several mission trips with.  We had a wonderful group of doctors, nurses, teachers and craftsmen over for dinner and then I did my presentation.  I think it is amazing that people so moved by the love of God and concern for the poor would take part of their vacation time to go and serve others.  I am sure that Pittman Park Methodist Church is a wonderful congregation to be a part of.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, we are off to Augusta, Georgia.

Ride For Haiti,part 2

Devotion

May 1, 2011

Matthew 7:2:  “For others will treat you as you treat them.”

Martina and I met the most wonderful couple last night, Saturday.  Because we had a presentation at Lord of Life Lutheran Church on Sunday morning, I called the pastor, Pr. Paul Elbert and asked him if Martina and I could come Saturday evening already and set up at the church.  Pastor Paul said that would be great.  We arrived around 6 PM at Lord of Life.  Pastor Paul met us there.  He was so happy to see us, so gregarious, so much wanting us to feel welcome and appreciated.  He showed us  wear to set up our camper and then he  drove towards home.  He was only gone about 2 minutes, Martina and I had just moved the camper in place, when he  came back.  He said, this is ridiculous, you still have to set up your camper and my wife and  I have several empty bedrooms in our home.  You have to come and  stay in our home this evening.”  Now, I need to tell you, Pastor Paul had never met Martina and I, except for 20 minutes before.  His  wife Chris still had not  met us,  yet they invited us to their home.  They gave us a beautiful bedroom with  our own bathroom and left us alone for the evening.  In the morning when we woke up  they  had the breakfast table  set for us and coffee and juice and cereal and fresh  cut strawberries  ready.  For absolute strangers!!!

Here’s the point, when  we  arrived at Lord of Life and met the people before, during and after our presentation they all treated us the same way.  They were  warm and friendly and went out of their way to welcome us.  I believe firmly that the personality of the congregation  is so much a reflection of the pastor.  Pastors, beware!  Pastor Paul and his wife Chris have created a community of welcoming and loving people.  When we parted we were all so glad to  have been together.  There is no doubt in my mind that Lord of Life is a wonderful congregation to be a part of their community.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, please plant your love in my heart so that I will be loving to the  stranger, for I am a witness to your love.

Amen

Sunday, May 1

Lord Of Life Lutheran Church

St. Simon’s Island, Georgia

Today, was the first day of my Ride For Haiti, part 2.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with the story, the Ride For Haiti was actually supposed to be a three week event from Advent Lutheran Church in Boca Raton, Florida to Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Fairfax, Virginia.  That trip was supposed to take place last September.  However, due to unforeseeable circumstances we were only able to ride from Boca Raton to Tallahassee Florida in September and we postponed the rest of the trip for May, 2011.

Pastor Andy Hagen of Advent Lutheran Church in Boca Raton and Dr. Chris Ricker of Holy Spirit Lutheran Church and Pastor Frank Wagner of Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, along with Diane Jerauld as our navigator and the driver of our support van all made the trip in September.  However, for this part of the journey, Ride For Haiti, part 2 it will only be Pastor Frank Wagner and his wife Martina Wagner as the navigator.

The part one of the Ride For Haiti was 501 miles  long.  Part 2 will be approximately 1000 miles.

Ride For Haiti part 2 picked up where the part 1 ended.  Today, the  first  day started  in south Georgia at St. Simon’s Island.  We have never been there before.  What a beautiful island of  the most  spectacular Oak trees.  Huge grand trees heavy with what  call Spanish Moss.  All the homes and stores and golf courses are located under the Oak trees.  The wonderful people of Lord of  Life Lutheran Church invited Martina and I to speak to their Sunday morning adult ed class as well as some of their older Sunday School youth.  We had 42 people present.  Lord of Life is a 23 year old congregation.  They bought their sanctuary  from a Catholic congregation that moved out into new facilities.  A beautiful church nestled in the large Oak trees.  You will see it in the picture we attached.  Martina and I worshiped at their 8 AM service and then we did our  presentation from 9:15-10:15.  Lord of Life Lutheran has a wonderful pastor, Paul Elbert.  He has been there 6 years.  Pastor Paul is a second career Pastor, meaning he worked for 25 years in the corporate world before deciding to answer the call to seminary and to being a pastor.  He says Lord Of Life will be his first and only church before he retires.  Paul and his wife Chris moved to south Georgia from Chicago.

After we presented at Lord of Life then we  changed our clothes and planned to start riding towards Savannah.  One small problem, our car battery was dead.  We had left our refrigerator running off our car battery.  Fortunately one of the church members was able to jump us and off we went, leaving around 11 AM.  We rode until 4:30 PM and then I needed to load up into the car so that we could be at our next church, Trinity United Methodist in downtown Savannah by 5 PM.  So today I rode 51 miles and then I had to call it quits.

Something nice about riding in May instead of September, it’s Spring and the flowers are blooming everywhere and the temperatures are in the 70s and 80s instead of the 90s.  Much better for bicycle riding.

I did not know that Trinity United Methodist, where Pastor Enoch Hendry has been pastor for 9 years, is right in the heart of downtown Savannah.  They don’t have a parking lot.  Our camper this evening is parked in three curbside parking spaces.  We have cars and late night diners and bar hoppers and horse drawn carriages walking right by  our camper.  Amazing!  The funny thing was, when we got here three cars had taken the parking spaces that we were supposed to use so Pastor Hendry took street duty and waited for each space to clear and then he would run out and put  a garbage can in the space to reserve it.  Well, he finally got all three spaces and we could pull in.  I’ll bet people have never seen a pop up camper  set up in the middle of their down town.  My daughter Jessica said we are the first class street people  of Savannah.  I just wonder how many police officers are going to stop by our camper during the night and wake us up  and ask what we are doing here.

The adventures carry on tomorrow morning 7 AM as we pedal on to Rincon, Georgia to Jerusalem Lutheran Church.