I expected to be out of Idaho after only one week, but alas, I remain. On my push through the high desert several parts of my bike broke, and I was not able to fix them all beside the road. I planned on being in Utah tonight, but I backtracked to Burley, Idaho. It seems as if I will be taking Labor day off of riding while I wait for shops to open on Tuesday. Good plans just don’t always work out. But it helps me see more clearly the theme of this entire trip. I don’t care about crossing the USA by bike. I don’t care about my other plans and goals and desires. My head still cares, but my heart longs for the true purpose of this trip. To know Jesus more.
“I have known men who came to God for nothing else but just to come to Him, they so loved Him. They scorned to soil Him and themselves with any other errand than just purely to be alone with Him in His presence. Friendship is best kept up, even among men, by frequent visits; and the more free and defecate those frequent visits are, and the less occasioned by business, or necessity, or custom they are, the more
Alexander Whyte
friendly and welcome they are.”
What kind of relationship have I cultivated for so much of my life? How many years of the vague repetative praying did I live through? How often I came to God only when I needed something? How silly to forget I need Him even to breathe (Isaiah 42:5). And for all my needs I need not even ask. In Matthew 6 Jesus was very clear that you don’t need to pray about those things. On my trip, I struggle with that fear sometimes. Where will I sleep? What if I can’t find a place to rest? Yet it doesn’t matter. Some days I have asked for a place to sleep, other days I haven’t. God has provided something every night. Prayer is soley purposed to submurge yourself in God’s Spirit. If you supplicate your needs to Him, it is to vindicate His name and bring Him glory. Elijah, the model of a prayerful man, was so aligned with God’s will, that his requests were spoken as with the authority of God. He asked God to stop the rain simply by declaring that it wouldn’t rain. I’m not there yet. One day this week, in the barren buttes north of the Snake River Canyon, I begged God for shade. Instead of shade in a land with only sage and thorns, dust and heat, I heard water. Hidden off the road was a small stream of cool water. Behind the dried thistles was a small shoreline of lilac and green grass. I plunged my feet and head into the water and found more relief than shade. My will was not God’s will. His was better.
There is no higher purpose, higher calling, or more humble existence, than to know Jesus. The king and savior who desires you as a friend should not be scorned. Everything I see and hear and touch and taste is so temporary it can barely be called real. How hard a lesson that is to truly learn. I feel as though I am years away. I still try to catch the wind in my hands. But all my retirement funds, my currently strong legs, my family and friends, all my hopes and dreams, and everything I love in the world will blow away and be forgotten. All that remains is the spiritual treasures you stored up. And what treasure greater than to know the living God? What other desire is worthy to be pursued? Nothing else for me, thanks. Disney poisoned the world with the lies about true love. Proverbs 3 says to wear steadfast love about your neck. Christ is the only true love a person can have. Every other object of love goes away in the end. I am learning slowly to see how I subconciously and conciously set my heart on other things. It’s getting baked out of me in the sun. God meant for us to know our soulmate and find all good things in that relationship. But it’s not a prince or a princess, it’s a king.
The trip? There have been interesting meetings and beautiful sights. Farms with sprinklers to stand in, and so on. But mostly when I think about last week I think about 100+ degree days with steady and strong east winds that make it hard to pedal. I’m tired and sore, and not sure what the future holds. I hope I can get my bike going and keep riding. If I can get over the Rockies soon there will be a chance I can finish the trip. I’m about 1000 miles in, or at least was until I backtracked. If it wasn’t challenging to do a solo crossing of the USA by bike, I guess it wouldn’t seem as exciting. Some days I wake up and just wish I could go surfing and get a burrito afterwards. I miss how good the icy water makes my body feel all day. I don’t think I will ever miss this bike ride. But I know that whether I finish or not, I have already seen the truths of many scriptures come to life, and I see more clearly the purpose in life, even though I am still so far from true understanding. I hope you don’t read this and think I have it all together or am some sort of inspiring person. I get frustrated many times a day. I occasionally sit by the road to cry for a bit. Not one mountain I summit is a victory. The only victory in my life is the cross Jesus bore for me. Everything else is dust in the wind.
Not such amazing pictures this week. Not in order either; sorry.
Updates on my trip 