Thank you

I'm going to be posting several blogs over the next day or two to let you know what happened in the last couple days of the trip. So please continue to check for updates. To summarize, though, all twelve riders finished strong in Bar Harbor on Friday afternoon around 5:30 after 60 days on the road. It was a slightly sad parting after dinner, knowing that in all liklihood we won't see each other all together again on thsi side of Heaven, but there is the hope of the reunion on that glorious day.

I want to thank you all for your support along the way. It has come in so many ways... Prayer and financial support as well as host families and churches, those who have sent notes of encouragement. Thank you. This trip has been a success in supporting the ministry of YFC because of you. I'll be sending out emails to those who are on my list asking for your mailing address, but if you could send those to me, I'd really like to send everyone a quick note to say thank you.

In Christ,
Mike

mcsc2c@gmail.com

Still alive

Hello all. Our sag wagon driver, Emma, has a laptop that we found wireless with at one of our stops, so i just wanted to quickly post a note that I am still alive, i just haven't had internet any of the evenings since my last post.

I'll post soon.

prayer request

Just a quick request. Tomorrow is going to be a 90+ mile day and it looks like it's going to be raining all day long. 80% chance of rain. So, please pray for our safety. Thank you all!

Mike
mcsc2c@gmail.com

A long day and a lot of fun

Yesterday, as I mentioned, was a 120 miles day, which is tied for our longest day of the trip. This one felt a lot longer though because it was hilly with up to 13 percent grade at points. You know what though? It was a really fun day. Dan and I rode together for the first half of the day. We got to 70 miles, for lunch around 1:00, and Stuart was about 20 miles behind. He had been riding with Fiona who had 3 flat tires. She was brought up to the front with the van, but Stuart wanted to ride all the miles, which, I can completely understand. Dan suggested that he and I wait for Stuart to catch up and ride the last 50 miles with him. So we talked to Bryan and did that. With about 30 miles to go, my chain started to fall apart. So we took 30 minutes to take a second link out of my basically brand new chain. But it's still working…

The three of use ended up not getting into Newcomb until 7:25. It was definitely a great opportunity to ride with the guys and really neat to ride that late into the evening, when the sun was starting to set and the air was cooler.

Through the situation with my chain, though, we found some great application for Ecclesiastes 4:12. Although an assailant may overpower one person, two can withstand him. Moreover, a three-stranded cord is not quickly broken.

When I realized my chain was having trouble I had stopped to take a picture and was a bit behind Stuart and Dan. I set my bike down and looked at it thinking I'd be able to just push the rivet back into the link. But, I found that wasn't going to work. So, I flagged down a vehicle and asked the gentleman to drive up and have the guys come back to help me. Between the three of us, we had the tools and the knowledge that was necessary to get the job done.

Tomorrow, the team will be leaving NY, headed to Rochester, VT. Until then we are enjoying our day of rest, watching the Olympics, napping, cleaning bikes and enjoying the company of our hosts.

What started out as more or less an average day for us, quickly turned into a day with a lot of rain. As I've mentioned before, the team has seen very little rain for the whole trip up to this point, only about 20 minutes! So, none of us really had the experience to ride today. At least I didn't...
I started out with just my jersey, shorts and jacket, thinking that the rain would probably only last 20 minutes at most. Well, by the end of a 20 minute torential downpour with no end in sight I was starting to get cold, and by the time we caught up to the sag wagon about 15 miels down the road I was just cold; not really thinking about much else. At that point I was worried about how the day was going to turn out...

Dan loaned me a pair of leg warmers, and I put on a long sleeve shirt and my full fingered gloves. That made all the difference. We had a couple more instances of heavy rain throughout the day, and pretty much a constant light rain at minimum until lunch. After lunch, the rain let up for the last leg of our ride into Redfield, NY.

By the way, the second picture is actually of Dan. I was halfway across the mud when he suggested taking pictures, so I took his and he took mine. I haven't gotten the pic from him, yet...

Tomorrow we have a long 120 mile day from Redfield to Newcomb, NY. It looks like its going to get pretty hilly, but the weather should besunny with the wind pushing us along more or less. We'd really appreciate your prayers for the ride tomorrow and for the continued work of YFC around the world.

Today (Thursday) was a nice day. Our route took us along the Erie Canal for several miles in the Rochester, NY area. It was really interesting to see two bodies of water intersect. I understand a Y where two rivers come together, but the canal intersected the river, just like the intersection of two roads. I saw that on the map and I was really interested to see how it was going to work. The only thing I could think was a bridge for the canal to go over the river, but I suppose that would have been a bit impractical. I'm not entirely out of my mind though… I have seen that done, where an irrigation ditch is bridged over another one.

Anyways, up until lunch time I rode with Jonny and Fiona again. They're still doing quite well. Just chugging along like the rest of us. Though, unlike the rest of us, they're not yet sure of how they are going to get from Maine to their next destination (Florida) next weekend… I think they should bike… It was a lot of fun to bike with them again. I've been riding mostly with Dan and Stuart since my Achilles heels have been feeling better (that seems like so long ago!).

This evening, it worked out for me to be able to see my uncle and aunt, who live in Rochester. They drove out to my host family, picked me up and took me out to dinner. It was great to spend some time with them. I've seen them a couple times in the past 4 years since I've been at school, but only briefly, for an afternoon or something. Before that, the last time I spent any large amount of time with my uncle was 10 years ago, before my family moved to Germany.

I also got to spend some time with the host family. We talked and played Catch Phrase for a while before it hit 10:00 and I called it a night to write my post and get some sleep. Tomorrow, we're headed to Redfield, NY, and by Monday we will be in Vermont.

2 days and 2 states

Between Monday and Tuesday of this week, we crossed borders into my 11th and 12th states for the trip (PA and NY). Pretty exciting to get through the massive state of Pennsylvania so quickly! PA, actually surprised me a bit, at least on Tuesday. There were hundreds of vineyards. I was talking to Stuart and Dan, trying to decide what the grapes might be used for. We thought maybe grape juice or grapes for eating, but we nixed the wine possibility, because who has ever heard of Pennsylvania wine?? Well, it turns out we were mistake, there were quite a few local wineries. Anyways. On to New York.
So, along with every other state welcome sign we've come to we were excited to see it. Dan offered to take the pic for me, which was great, but what you dont' see in this picture is the next moment where I'm laying on the ground after my attempt to start moving after the picture. Feet clipped in, gears set too high and grass just don't come together very well for bikers. But on the other hand, I did find out that the grass under that sign is incredibly soft. I really just wanted to lay there for a while.
Last night we stayed at a christian camp in Angola, NY. They weren't able to provide us with food, so for breakfast and dinner we went to the Mustard Seed restaurant. The lady who owns the place (just recently opened) offered to open back up after she normally closes for us to have dinner and cooked a great buffet breakfast for the team. It was really a blessing for her and her team to take care of us, and on top of that it was just a lot of fun.

Niagara and beyond

Well it has been several says since I've had internet to post, and quite honstely, I've been pretty tired each day by the time I've had any time to write posts that I could put up later. So, for now, I'll post today's and if, as I look back over a few of the pictures my memory is jogged about anything, I'll write a short post or two to fill in the blanks.

Today, most of the group rode from Angola to Medina, NY via Ontario, but Arek didn't have a visa to get into Canada, so I offered to ride with him. We still got to stop and see the falls, and even had the opportunity to talk to Jane and Bob, two of the people that work with Joshua Revolution, a ministry that works through confrences to reach young people for Christ. Jane heard about our trip as we were leaving from Anacortes, has been praying for us since and was looking forward to any opportunity she might have to support us. They were both a huge blessing to us on our ride today, since we were riding unsupported. They provided us with a lunch and Bob took the time to give us a quick tour of the falls. What a beautiful place!

Here is just a quick pick of the Niagara River that I took. Arek and I got to ride along a really nice bike path for a while between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Unfortunately, the path didnt' go the whole, way. God was watching out for us, though. We almost went the wrong way when we got to the end of the bike path, and out of nowhere came Loyd and Marie (our advanced team) who pointed us in the right direction.

Danger

I had a conversation with a lady this evening about danger. I was telling her about the ministries we are supporting and she asked if areas like Serbia and Cairo are dangerous. It really got me thinking about how Christians should respond to danger.

At the time, I immediately thought of Jim Elliot and his quote, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." What a profound statement! Jim Elliot gave his life, that which he could not keep, in order to gain eternity, that which cannot be lost. And in so doing, allowed God to work through those events to bring entire tribe in S. America to Christ. Gaining eternity for those people. (If you haven't seen the documentary, Beyond the Gates of Splendor, i strongly recommend it)

Was it dangerous for Jim and his friends to go to this tribe and attempt to build relationships with them and share the gospel? yes. it was incredibly dangerous. But, was it worth it? YES!

I have no desire to recklessly throw my life away. There are a lot of things that I would still like to do before I'm ushered into the presence of Christ for eternity. But those people who are living in dangerous situations still deserve the opportunity to hear the Gospel and trust Christ as Lord. I think of the Iraqis, the Chinese, the N. Koreans, those in Darfur... The list goes on and on.

Though, I've also been thinking that as much as those people need to be reached, the body of Christ cannot be made up of hands and feet. There must be arms and legs that enable the hands and feet, the eyes that have the vision for the work, etc.

My challenge to you today and for the next weeks, months and years is to prayerfully consider where your place is in the body.

Romans 10:14-15 -- How are they to call on the one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in the one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news."

We took a wrong turn and....

You know the old saying "I took a wrong turn and ended up in.... [insert some random place]. Well that's how we felt on Friday as were were biking. First we were in Florida, then Texas was across the river, Grand Rapids... And my personal favorite...
Evidently the beach along the river in Heidelberg has been translpanted to Lake Erie, justwest of Cleveland! who knew? I guess Indiana isn't the only place that's confused. :)
We also passed one of the Campbell's soup plants on Friday. That was kinda neat. I wonder how many cans of soup come out of that facility in a 24 hour period. It's got to be an unbelievable number. And the amount of raw good from tomatoes to spices to chicken that goes in! wow. But, this picture has a bit of personal signifigance to me... This is where Dan and I stopped on Friday to fix the first break down that my bike has had the entire trip. Still no flat tire, but the chain I had put on just 30 miles earlier had a rivet falling out, which locked up the gears. Thankfully it didn't just fall out... Of course I didn't think to take a picture of it.

We ended up just taking the link out of the chain, so my chain is a little shorter than it should be, but it works just fine.
We also had yet another amazing near miss of rain. About 25 miles outside of Gibsonburg, OH we noticed a pretty big thunder head building and moving towards us. As we continued straight east and then slightly north, the storm's northern edge just followed us. Just enough to keep us in the shade but not enough to rain. How unbelievably blessed are we?

PS I've added a bunch of new pictures to the second photo album on the right, as well as a link to John Duncan's trip blog. He has rejoined us for the last two weeks of the trip!

Tar

No, we did not run into tar again... if we had, we would have found a different route. I just wanted to post the picture of my tire as it was covered by tar. The picture really doesn't do justice to how much tar was on my bike. I actually still have a decent bit on there, but nothing that affects the performance, so I figure I'll just wait until I get it out of the box at school. It'll be in pieces and I can give it a proper cleaning, then.