Bicycle Adventure coordinators look back at how leading the ride changed their lives

Ryan had clear expectations and provided clear guidance as to the requirements, but no one could have described the impact this journey would have in my life both during the rides and after.

I have to admit, there was some excitement about the prospect of cycling both across the U.S. and various parts of the country while helping families — yet the outcome of what I expected is significantly different and even better.

Physically, my first trip down the Natchez Trace pushed me a bit. I was a little more out of shape than I realized myself but held my own on the ride. I lost around 10 pounds and increased my average riding pace around 1-2 mph. This was surprising because of how well we were fed on this trip.

Yet, beyond the physical, I met some of the most amazing churches that really showed Christ’s love more than words alone. Churches acting in faith and operating beyond what you would expect their financial resources should be to serve their communities.

As we journeyed down the Trace, we met people who were being transformed by what we do. My heart was seized by the impact of our mission. Along the way I realized how God led this journey too. Every obstacle seemed to resolve itself miraculously. This trip truly energized me to press forward even harder.

The second trip, the big one, crossed the U.S.. This trip was with a group of exceptional riders and my first impressions were of physical challenge. The riders had lots of cycling experience and had both speed and stamina. This really was an elite group of cyclists who trained for this event, quite a bit harder than my daily bicycle commute to work. I had to overcome my own selfish nature to be competitive and take a step back to realize that God called me to do cycling and ministry, not bicycle racing. I initially struggled to overcome my own anxiety about keeping up. When I accepted this truth, my ride became much more impactful and enjoyable.

My speed began to increase naturally, too. I knew we were helping families, and it was impacting me even further in my growth, but what I needed to learn from this trip took a bit longer to discover.

I needed to humble myself and not think of how this has impacted me. I realized how much the Lord loves us all. He has given each of us talents that could be used to serve Him. God really gave me the ability to cycle as a gift — simply, God gave me something I love to do and allowed me to show love with it. It’s not complicated, but beautiful. That awareness makes it hard to get caught up in other aspects of life that take us away from our focus on Him, yet so simple. The challenge sometimes is how to use our God given talents.

I understand my impact is different from others and the same too. Some riders may not have been a part of the builds, never met the impacted families, and some completed the ride for other reasons. None of their reasons were wrong. Yet upon completion of our journey, I think all of us had to ask ourselves, “What’s next?” How do we move forward?

Just today, I got to listen to read texts from riders processing their experience. To paraphrase, some felt as though they were in a “Christian Bubble”. Upon returning home, they find it rather challenging, difficult to deal with the distractions of everyday life around them. For those who have been open about their experience, it has a common theme to struggle with news and things that seem materialistic. There is a reason it becomes difficult to return to that, and I would encourage all of us to ask the question as to why. It’s not for me to say how others should move forward, how to implement, if at all, this experience into our lives with/without causing complete disruption. This was their personal experience.

As for me, I am honored that riders and volunteers have both trusted me and the Fuller Center, and made sacrifices to be a part of something so beautiful. Many of us will be friends for life from this experience. We shared vulnerabilities, struggles, and pain in close proximity for a long time and have gained so much from the ride and others.

As a whole, I feel blessed to see all of us change and evolve in a short period of time. Riders and volunteers were humbled and heartbroken along these journeys. I witnessed people act in anonymous capacities to help families in need, stand up for them, and re-evaluate their own lives to see them as equals to the families/individuals in need. Many of us realized that those we helped were just like us but often just had a different set of circumstances that set their course.

The challenge after such and impactful experience is now, how do you guide others to behave in their lives? These experiences transformed me and the lives of several others. What are the next steps? Riders returned to their lives both confident in their abilities and left with a void to fill, often asking, “What to do now?”

My answer, it’s OK to reflect, yet realize that God gave us talents. All of our talents can be used to reflect the beauty of the Lord. We were witness to the beauty of giving and receiving and humbled by it. It’s not an experience that has to end because we return to our daily lives, but to be shown a tool to incorporate into our daily lives then evolve in that. Don’t expect the answers to come immediately.

For those riders who return, please allow new riders to be transformed by God with their experience, and those who are new, be open to allowing the adventure to enrich our lives.

At this point, I consider every day a blessing to be a part of the Fuller Center and I am just honored that people have trusted us enough and me enough to allow me to be a part of this transformation. I also know that these experiences are changing me too and I look forward to getting involved at deeper levels in both my community and with people around the world. I challenge you to pray for me, encourage me, and hold me accountable to doing more after these experiences.