Mike Scott's Sea to See updates

Thank you

2008-08-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-10T18:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-08-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-08-08T04:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-03T19:08:00.000-07:00

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....

2008-08-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

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.

another day; another state

2008-07-31T18:54:00.000-07:00

Well friends, between sending a few emails, dinner and talking to my host family, it's probalby already later than i should be up. But I wanted to just post a quick note to let you all know about today's progress. We are now in the great state of Ohio. Which is exciting. Almost like being back at school, but i'm still 2 weeks away from that...

Alright, it's now past 10:00 and we're meeting at the YFC camp to start biking at 7. I'll try to write more tomorrow, plus i have a few pictures that I still want to post for you (like the tar picture i promised but still haven't gotten from Dan).

Goodnight.
Mike
mcsc2c@gmail.com

PS as much as I poked fun at Indiana in my post yesterday, I did really enjoy my two nights there. Thanks!

just confused

2008-07-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

Well as we were biking our (almost) 100 miles today i ran into several situations where i had to stop and consider for a moment. Like the time that we came to Denver. I had to ask myself if we'd made a wrong turn. Then there was Chile and Peru. I hope those people realize they're living in Indiana. :)
Then I came upon this sign right next to a corn field. First of all, who plants crows?? And second, i'm pretty sure the bible states that you reap what you sow. If in fact they planted crows there, there should be crows coming up... not corn. ah well, Indiana has been a fun state. Alas, tomorrow we move on yet again; this time to Ohio. And I'm just now getting used to the idea of actually being in Indiana. My mind has been stuck in Illinois.

Blessings!
Mike

mcsc2c@gmail.com

Hot and Humid and into Indiana

2008-07-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

Well today was hot and steamy; the first really hot and humid day that we have had. (there was a small herd of cows standing in some water to cool themselves). Though, it felt good to work up a good sweat. The picture here is of Nikki from Cornell (where we were yesterday). Though, I messed up last night and called her Cindy (woops). She very graciously donated $5 for the YFC ministry. It's amazing how the giving spirit of Christ has been exemplified through young children investing in ministry. Thank you Nikki! And thank you to everyone who has invested in the ministry to military teens, both financially through prayer and by supporting us in our trek.
We are now in Indiana. (though the only evidence was a change in the road condition and the license plates) Again, I'm amazed at how quickly the last couple states have passed by. I'm at a loss for what else to write today. Is there anything in particular that you all like to hear about?

Mike
Mcsc2c@gmail.com

Tar, gasoline and hospitality

2008-07-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

Todays 83-ish mile day was moving along quite nicely until right after lunch when the route mapped out for us took us onto a gavel covered tar road for about 10 miles. Dan and I were out front, having left early from lunch, and biked 3 miles on that road accumulating what probably came out to a pound of rocks and tar on each tire plus whatever splattered on the bike. Dan got a couple pictures of the bikes at the end of our 3 miles (I'll try to get copies and post them tomorrow). The guys directly behind us were smarter and only went a half mile in before realizing the situation and turning around. The rest of the team at the back ended up not even having to deal with it, and just going around completely.

I ended up getting to the church at about 4 and spent the next 2 and a half hours cleaning bikes. I ended up learning something new in the process: gasoline is an excellent cleaning agent for getting tar removed from pretty much anything. From bike tires to frames to skin. I'll have to keep that tidbit filed away for the future. Though it's getting expensive....

The hospitality of our hosts in the cleaning process was just astounding, though. The found old t-shirts for us to use as rags, gasoline to clean with, soap and water to rinse everything off with, a hose (and spigot). They offered several time to run and get other cleaners and this that and the other thing. Then, after all that cleaning, we of course smelled like gasoline and they still sat with us for dinner! Thanks to all those who were part of the team that got our bike cleaned, provided food, spent time with us, etc. I have really appreciated it!

In Illinois

2008-07-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

One more quick post for today. The team is pretty excited to have finally made it to Illinois. We've got all of our 'big' states behind us. Its amazing to think that we only have 19 days left until we arrive in Bar Harbor. Just a couple days in IL, a couple in IN and OH. A few in NY one in both NH and VT and a couple in ME and we're done.

It's been so nice biking, there's nothing to worry about, you just get up in the morning, eat, bike, eat lunch, bike some more, eat dinner, give a presentation, have the opportunity to talk to hosts, go to bed, wake up and start over. Getting back to school is going to be a big change.

Providence

2008-07-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned a couple times how we have been unbelieveably blessed with the weather and lack of injury on our trip. It has now been 41 days since we left Anacortes and still, other than the 10 minutes of a thunderstorm that we biked througha few weeks ago on our way to Tokio, we haven't had any bad weather.

Its interesting though, I mentioned the other day that we are below our average on number of miles traveled so far and at times I have honestly been bothered by that. But, I realize now that per usual everything is part of God's plan. I can't even imagine the amount of prayer that has gone into this trip.

Had we been closer to the average than we have been, it could be that we would have been in this area when the 100+mph winds hit on Monday throughout the day. It would have made biking impossible and dangerous even to be in the area. Dan and I found this truck not far from Kewanee almost a week after the storm!
But by the Providence of God we are here now and not then.

You know you're a biker when...

2008-07-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

I just thought you all might be amussed by this... You know you are a biker when you have tan lines on your fingers from wearing fingerless gloves. You can even tell which fingers I have wrapped underneath the handlebars on a regular basis. We all have really well defined tan lines on our legs and arms as well from our shirts and spandex shorts. Some of the guys even have tan lines on the sides of their faces from the helmet strap and a couple guys who are either loosing hair or have really short hair have tan lines where the sun has come through the holes in the helmet.

I'm looking forward to getting back to school with these lines. :)

2008-07-25T17:32:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day. We had the opportunity, for about 15 miles of our ride, to join along side some of the 10,000+ Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). It was a lot of fun to talk to some of the riders. I talked toa couple guys that were there with Military cycling teams. (Air Force and Army).
I also had the chance to talk to a guy who was there with the Livestrong Foundation. It was neat to hear about some of their experiences. I think i'd really like to do the ride sometime in the coming years. Of course I handed out a couple cards, but I only had three with me after handing a bunch out last night...

As we got close to being done with our 75 mile ride, we came to an area where the road was closed due to recent flooding in the area and then 100 mile straight winds that brought down a bunch of trees. Dan, Staurt and I started on the detour while the other stood at the corner trying to figure out the directions. Well, it turned out that the bridge that was out cor cars was passable with bikes. So, Dan, Stuart and I ended up doing an extra 18 miles. Life goes one. We were pretty tired by the end, but we all made it.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Mike
mcsc2c@gmail.com

Wind, Exhaustion and Christian Fellowship

2008-07-24T18:13:00.000-07:00

The wind was really blowing through Iowa today. You might be able to get an idea by how much some of these stems are bent over. It's hard to get a picture of the wind. It really took it out of me. Actually, today was just a rough day for me in general.

I woke up this morning and for the first time didn't really have a desire to get on my bike. I was just tired. I stopped a couple times to read through some psalms, in order to remind myself of God's promise for provision. We only had 46 miles to bike, but I really needed that to get me through.

Even so, as I got about 10 miles out, all I could do was ask for God to sustain me. About 2 miles outside of Central City I saw a Baptist Community Church and a man (presumably the pastor) mowing the lawn. I had a burden to stop, give him a card and talk to him for a few minutes. I pulled over and considered for a minute,but really just wasn't in the mood to talk. So I decided to keep going. Over the the next 100 yards, the burden just kept growing to go talk to the gentleman. So I turned around and had the opportunity to talk to Bob and his daughter. I mentioned what we are doing, the projects we're supporting, but in reality, Bob was ministering to me. I can't tell you how much of a ministry it was to me to just talk to a Christian brother along the route. Bob, if you have the chance to read this, thank you.

Mike
mcsc2c@gmail.com

Iowa, flat?

2008-07-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty tough day! It was our first day in Iowa, and I never expected the number of hills that we saw today! Everybody talks about Iowa as being flat (or at least that's how I've always pictured it). We biked about 96 miles with something like 4000 feet of climbing. It was interesting though, because the hills weren't like the mountains we've crossed so far. Just a long gradual (more or less) up hill. They were short and steep. Several were 9 percent grade.

We did have fun today, though. Arek and I were singing Disney songs through several hills. It may not have made the hills easier, but definitely more fun. :)

This evening we are staying in the small town of Edgewood, IA, and had the opportunity to visit with two church congregations. We shared a meal with the first and gave our presentation at the second. There was a lot of interest in our trip and the ministries we're supporting from the congregations. We set it up more like a panel ended up having a lot of really good questions. It was great to interact a bit more with our hosts than to just tell them what we're doing and call it a night. Which, is what i need to do... I'm exhausted.

22 July - to Brownsville, MN

2008-07-23T19:47:00.000-07:00

Today actually turned out to be closer to 100 miles for me, when all was said and done… Arek, Paul L. and I took a detour off the route to make it into Wisconsin. We figured we'd take the opportunity to add one more state to our number visited. We met back up with the group in Winona. Evidently the bridge there has just been reopened recently. Good thing! Afterwards, I kind of headed off in the front leaving a little early from lunch and I didn't stay more than a 3 min at the rest stop. I was just enjoying the ride through the hills of Southern Minnesota and worshipping with some music on my mp3 player.

Before too long I found myself cruising down a really nice hill in and out of the turns at around 35 or 40 mph. it was just great. When I got to the bottom, I checked my map to see how much further I had to go before I reached Brownsville. Unfortunately, I had just added about 2 and a half miles to my trip. So I turned around and went back up the hill. Unfortunate about having to climb back up, but it really was a nice ride. And the view from the top of the ridge, overlooking the Mississippi River valley was just gorgeous. The pictures don't do it justice.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support.

21 Jul - To Lake City

2008-07-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this after the fact for Monday's ride. It was a pretty short ride, just 50 miles or so to Lake City, MN. The whole team was in pretty early, which gave us the opportunity to enjoy a boat ride and water skiing on Lake Pepin/Mississippi River. I'd never been water skiing before, so that was a treat for me. In addition my girlfriend was able to come visit me for the evening. After dinner we were able to share our presentation with the folks that were there.

The hosts I stayed with last night were a young couple, Amy works with a youth ministry in the town. They were a lot of fun. When I walked into the house I got shot with a marshmallow out of a blow tube. Yeah, it was a good day. Fun, relaxing. Got us ready for today's 90+ mile day.

Oh, yeah... On the way to Lake City we crossed a 9 mile long 'construction zone' where the road surface had bee torn up leaving a road almost as bad as gravel. At the end, where the pavement restarted, there was a sign to warn us of the "BUMP" They should have had a sign at the beginning that said "Bump - Next 9 Miles"! I'd uplad the picture, but I'm borrowing but I'm having trouble getting the pics to go from the computer I'm borrowing.

Weekend #5

2008-07-23T19:20:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that weekend number 5 has now come and gone. (I'm not posting this until Tuesday). The weekend has been wonderful, yet again. I've spent time relaxing around the house, got to talk to a friend on her birthday for a while, went out to see a movie.

Church this morning was interesting for me. We were at St. John's Lutheran, here in Northfield, and I'm not used to the way that a Lutheran service is held, with so many different congregational responses and songs that were sung in response to things. So of course I was flipping through the bulletin and the hymnal most of the service, trying to keep up. The message was on Jacob and his dream of the ladder from heaven.

Also, I wanted to give you an update from the post I made on the 13th (http://mcsc2c.blogspot.com/2008/07/acts-189-10.html). I'm not going to go into details in case the person I'm referring to reads this blog, but I did have the chance a couple times to witness to people in my host families and a guy a met on the road one day. Basically the question arises, why are you doing this ride and of course my answer is, ultimately so that teens around the world have to opportunity to receive Christ as Savior. "Well, what does that mean?"

It means that you have recognized Christ as Lord and that only through his sacrifice do you have any chance at forgiveness of sins. It means that the Holy Spirit has begun to work in your life to make you like Christ. All of which will be evidenced by a burden on your heart to do the things that Christ did. It means that you no longer have an acquaintanceship with him, but a relationship through which you want to please him.

For those of you who have 'significant others' (I don't particularly like that term, but it prevents me from listing all the different possibilities of relationship status), this might help you understand what I mean: When there is someone you love, you do things simply in order to please that person. Not to win points so that you can have some advantage later, or so that the 'love' is returned (that is in fact only loving yourself), but simply because you want to please that person. Love and relationships are a two way street, I understand that. But ultimate love is done without thought of the return benefits.

Christ loved us in the ultimate way, by giving his life in payment for our sins even before we loved him. Without requirement for us to love him in return. Remember what DC Talk said, "Luv is a verb." So, today's challenge is simply to love.

What are we doing?

2008-07-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

This post is specifically for anyone who is new to this blog. I handed out over 500 cards at Sonshine on Wednesday and Thursday, telling each person about what Youth for Christ (YFC) is doing in Europe, Middle East and North Africa. I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you all, and maybe reiterate for those who have been following along, what I'm doing, and why I'm doing it.

First off, I'd like to recommend that you check out my video, which will give you the basics: video

Now, Let me tell you a little about myself and what my team and I are doing. My father is a civilian working for the US Army in Germany. I spent 7^th-12^th grade going to school on base there with mostly with military teens. During the summer after 9^th grade, I trusted Christ as my savior through the work a military youth ministry.

Most people aren't familiar with military teen life. Everybody already talks about how hard it is to be a teen already. Military teens move every three years. I graduated from HS with a guy who moved 14 times in 12 years! In addition they are fatherless (or motherless) for up to 15 months at a time. There just isn't any real sense of stability for the kids. They learn to make friends quickly (since they're always moving), but they don't let anyone get extremely close to them for fear of being hurt. It's just a tough life to live.

In an opportunity to support the ministry that YFC has to these teens I am biking across the US from Washington State to Maine with a group of 10 other riders talking to churches and families about this ministry as well as five community centers that they are trying to build throughout their Europe, Middle East and North Africa region. 75% of the money that is raised will go towards military youth ministries and 25% will go to support of the five other projects.

If you are interested in more information, I'd encourage you to check out these websites:
www.mcym.org – Military Community Youth Ministries
www.yfcbikeride.org/sponsorship.htm - Links to more information about each of the community centers
www.yfcbikeride.org - The main bike ride page

If you are interested in supporting this ministry, please visit my support page and pray for us, the teens that these funds will be used to minister to and the ministry of Youth for Christ: www.firstgiving.com/michaelscott

God Bless!
Mike Scott
mcsc2c@gmail.com

PS I'm going to leave this post up here for a few days to give new readers the opportunity to read more about what we are doing and who I am supporting. I'll post updates for the next few days later.

2008-07-18T07:16:00.000-07:00

HI everybody, I'm sure I'll have a few more readers starting this weekend. I was at SonShine festival in Willmar Minnesota yesterday and the day before and handed out 538 cards to tell people about what YFC is doing, and why we are biking across the country. Right now I need to get going, we're supposed to be on our way to Glencoe right now... My plan is to write a post to tell all of my new readers more specifically about the ministries that I am supporting and how you can be praying for us. If you have any questions, please email me at mcsc2c@gmail.com

A not so rainy day

2008-07-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning at 5:10 to the sound of pouring rain outside of my room. My alarm wasn't set for another hour, so I went back to sleep, but started preparing myself for a 65 mile ride in the rain. At our daily morning meeting, Mark (the guy who re-routed our path through Minnesota) gave us a shorter route.

Supposedly the wind was going to be going against us the whole way. We got under way around 8:30 and moved to the south. At the time it had stopped raining. By the end of the 56 miles I hadn't seen a drop of rain and the wind was at our backs for about half the ride. It turned into an absolutely beautiful day!

So, now we are half way by time. today was day number 30. We've still got a few days befoerr we get halfway by miles. This evening and tomorrow we're hosted at Bryan's church in New London and we'll be going to the Sonshine music festival this evening and tomorrow to talk to whoever is there and interested in what we're doing.

The festival is a huge Christian music festival, going several days with tons of bands. Supposedly there will be about 25,000 people that come through over the next few days. Should be a great opportunity to talk to a lot of people about YFC. And maybe even share the gospel with people. Please be praying for opportunities. Thanks!

2008-07-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well, we certainly are in the land of 10,000 lakes. Today, as we were riding from Pelican Rapids to Alexandria, MN, it seemed like there was a new lake every quarter mile. Most of them were pretty small, probably more ponds than lakes, but all the same, there was a lot of water around. Interesting though, I still have yet to see a single mosquito since we crossed in MN. So I'm thankful for that, and the road today. We were on a bike path for about 35 miles of our 75 miles. It was an amazing ride. Really great to get away from traffic. Be able to ride anywhere on the pavement. It was smooth. Just great. Thank you Minnesota.
I don't know how many of you have been to my fundraising page lately (http://www.firstgiving.com/michaelscott), but I am really glad to announce that donnations have continued to come in to support the work of YFC towards military teens in Europe. To date, just over $10,300 has been raised! It is so amazing to see God bring in money for to reach those kids! Between the financial support of friends and family around the world as well as some of the folks that I have met in the past few weeks, I have been really encouraged to see how much people see the need in this mission field.

I also want to again thank everyone who has offered words of encouragement as we've been traveling. I have really appreciated it!
Also, as a side note, just in case you were unaware.... Alexandria, MN is the birthplace of America. I'm not exactly sure how that works, but the shield on the viking statue proclaims it proudly. Evidently there was a runestone found in the area that supposedly dates back to the 14th Century. Indicating that Vikings were here in the 13oos, well before Columbus discovered the Americas. There is some debate about it, but who am I to say....

4 States down

2008-07-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

This morning we left North Dakota and are now moving through the lake land known as Minnesota. Interestingly though, everyone always talks about how bad the mosquitos are here... I don't think i've seen a single one all day long. That's been a nice change.

We finished our 50 miles today by abour 12:30 and spent the afternoon relaxing in the park near the church in town. The town is a great place. Really laid back and quiet, with plenty to do.

I guess I really don't have much to say today... Tomorrow, we're headed to Alexandria, MN. About 75 miles. I'm glad we're doing more than 50 or so, though. If we are going to average 83 for the trip and we've only been doing 60s and 50s the last couple days, we're going to have to make those miles up later on....

Thanks for your prayers!

Acts 18:9-10

2008-07-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

Dear friends, I was reading this morning in Acts. Really just skimming several passages in the book as as a reminder of how God has grown his church and just the marvelous way that he works. I came across 18:9-10 and wanted to share it with you: “The Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, ‘Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent, 10 because I am with you and no one will assault you to harm you because I have many people in this city.’”

For me personally it is an encouragement and reminder that I can and should be speaking boldly about the faithfulness of Christ and his redeeming work. I know many times I've had opportunities to share the gospel slip by because I was afraid. Not even for my life or safety, as Paul might have been, but simply for my appearance and reputation. As the Lord says to Paul, though, there is no reason to be fearful!

What damage could possibly happen to my reputation that would negate the Holy Spirit saving someone because I was willing to share with them? And beyond that what does my earthly reputation matter when compared to my faithfulness to my Lord? As I'm sure many of you have heard Jim Elliot's quote, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

I guess I write this, as a challenge to myself and to anyone who might read this. Christ did not allow the fears he had of the cross to keep him from doing the things that he knew would please the Father. Pray for the opportunity this week to share your faith with a friend or even a random person that you meet in the grocery store checkout line and when the Lord provides that opportunity don't keep your mouth shut in fear but open it in praise of your Father in Heaven.

To Fargo and start weekend 4

2008-07-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

It seems like just yesterday I was writing the post for last weekend. Time has just been flying by this week! Today wasn't anything too special, I suppose. The wind was coming out of the West again, which was really nice for our SW trip. The first 14 miles or so were spent cruising along up over 20 mph with harly any pedaling. Though there was a bit more work involved when we turned south and had the cross wind.

We got into Fargo around noon and just relaxed in Lindenwood park (picture) until about 6:00 when we had dinner. Bryan's family surprised him in Fargo. That made up for the prank that was pulled on him yesterday... I took some time to play frisbee with Bryan's two sons (11 and 9, I think) and Jonny and Fioina. And just layed on the grass for about an hour relaxing and listening to music. It was a great afternoon.

This evening, I'm staying with a young couple from the Dakotas. The husband has a great testimony. He was an addict from the age of 9 to 19 when Christ got ahold of him and turned his life around. Since then he's been working (more or less) in ministry to teens. I spent a little while talking to them this evening, then came in here to go to bed and started writing blogs instead... Now it really is time for bed.

11 July - To Page, ND

2008-07-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

I've got a couple stories for today, but first take a look at this picture. Do you see any river?!? The 'river' is not even 5 feet across. How is that a river?

Anyways, story of the day. Right around the time that I stopped to take this picture, Bryan (our team leader) and I rolled up towards the support van to see a Sheriff parked behind with Emma, the driver standing at the back end of it with her hands up against the car. Generally not a good sign. As we pulled up, Arek and Becky told Bryan that he needed to go talk to the officer.

As Bryan walked over, the officer asked if he knew her. He said, "yes, this is Emma Duncan." "Does she have a valid license?" "I think so..... Emma, do you?" "Yeah."

The cop turns back to Bryan and says, "Well, her license isn't showing up as valid in our system. I'm going to have to take her into jail in Fargo. Bond will be posted at $600."
At that point, Emma had to say stop because she couldn't hold back the laughter any longer!! The Sheriff had pulled up behind the van to see what we were doing. We ended up having a great conversation with him.

This was the message on the board outside the church that is sponsoring us. Very short and to the point reminder of why we're here, I think. Though, as Stuart basically put it, life can't be focused on what we can do for God. He doesn't need us. We should simply focus on pleasing him. Though, having said that, it is a hard thing to understand the difference. That's where we need the wisdom that he provides.
I'm staying with a family who runs a crop dusting business in the area. They've got two hangars worth of airplanes, plus a P-51D (WWII fighter) that the dad rebuilt and is housed at a museum in Fargo. How cool is that. Instead of driving on family vacations, they take the family plane. But the mom said the kids still ask, "Are we there, yet?" I guess some things never change.
The family had this sign outside in their garden. I thought it was pretty good.

I think that's it for today. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement everybody!

A 'short' 70 miles

2008-07-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

Today was a short 70 miles. Unfortunately, all 70 of those were head into a 15+ mph wind. It was honestly pretty brutal. In many ways harder than any of our climbs. In fact, my average speed of just the time that I spent on my bike today was less than average speed of the entire amount of time that I spent between departure and arrival on our 120 mile day! (I hope that makes sense)

But we arrived and shortly after, we went out for an ice cream. We have been told that a chocolate shake is one of the best ways to recover after a long ride. Between the milk and all the great stuff that is in it and the chocolate to provide a bit of energy. Good excuse for some ice cream, I think.

Cooperstown, where we are staying tonight, has taken good care of us. The Pastor and his wife arranged for us to eat burgers and hot dogs at the pre-dinner to the county fair. (i'm not sure what else to call it). There were about 300 people there from the community, we got to talk to a few of them. It was pretty obvious that we were 'the bikers.'

This evening a few of us are just hanging out with the Pastor his wife and their 11 month old son.

Tomorrow is a really easy day. Only 39 miles to Page, ND. And it looks like the wind will be shifting back to the west!

Thanks for your prayers! By the way, my Achilles tendons are feeling great.

To Tokio

2008-07-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Tokyo. Wait, I mean Tokio, ND. We had a good day of almost 100 miles by the time we got to where we are staying. The ride was pretty nice, though. We got rained on for the first time since we started riding over three weeks ago. We could see the cloud coming for about 30 minutes before it got there and it finally caught up to us around 2:30. It was so nice to bike in the rain. Strong winds at our back, nice cool rain. It was really great. Until it started to throwing lightning bolts. at that point we decided to call it quits.

Thankfully, God provided a great place for us to duck into cover at the Spirit Lake recreation center, on the Sioux Indian reservation. The guy running the facility was just fantastic to let us store our bikes for 20 minutes or so.

Tonight, we're staying at a retreat center that functions as a place for mission teams coming to the reservation to stay. Mike and Libby, the missionaries are taking good care of us.

Sorry, no pictures of the storm.... I didn't think it would get along with the water.

Psalm 19

2008-07-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

This morning, the pastor at the Lutheran chuch we stayed at last night did a devotional for us in Psalm 19, talking about the glory of God evident in creation. It was interesting though, as he was talking and everyone focusing on his words, I looked out the window and noticed an absolutely beautiful sight. This picture, I took on the road about 45 min later, but it will help you imagine the beauty. I really was tempted to interrupt the pastor and just tell him to open the windows to make his point. Here are a couple more pictures of what I saw of God's creation today.

Today's ride brought us a total of 120 miles. It was a long ride. We ended up having lunch after 70 miles, which is further than some of our days have been in total! I wanted to talk to my parents in Germany, and they asked me to call around 3 my time. So I really pushed it today... I'm going to be sore tomorrow. I'm already a bit sore...
The ride took us to Rugby, ND (I know the last couple day's have been different than the original plan for where we'd be staying. we should be back on track in a couple days.) We found out when we got into town that Rugby is the geographical center of Norht America. Kind of neat to be able to say that I've been here.

We don't have host families again, tonight. My understanding is that a YFC organization in the area sponsored a night in a hotel for us. But tomorrow we should have hosts again.

Another wonderful day (day 21)

2008-07-07T15:46:00.000-07:00

We have now completed 3 full weeks worth of our ride. I understand that we have about 135o total miles biked, over 50,000 feet climbed and (though this isn't data for me) almost 89000 calories burned! Needless to say we've been eating a lot of food to keep us going.

Here's a pic of where we stopped for lunch today. It was a great spot during a great day. The wind was, again, blowing at our backs and we were just cruising. My average was over 19 mph and we gained almost over 300 feet of elevation today with a total of 2400 feet climbed. It really was great. Took some time to play soccer, rest and we still made it in by 1:30.

I'm going to upload some more pictures to my slide show in a minute, if you've been keeping up with those and then I'm going to go spend some time visiting with the members of the church that are going to be here to have dinner with us. No host families tonight; we're sleeping on air mattresses scattered throughout the building.

Weekend #3

2008-07-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

Roger and Esther, my host family from Williston, ND were really great. Really the whole church there at First Lutheran was! They made sure we were well fed (Stuart and I each had the biggest omlets for lunch on Sunday that I think I have ever seen!). We stayed up pretty late (11:00) on Saturday night just talking about the differences between America and Europe, between the generations and how today's youth think. Just about everything. It was really wonderful to just have a good conversation.
They also took us out to Fort Union (a fur trading post, main building pictured left), Fort Buford, the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers. While we were at the confluence center (there's a small museum there) , we mentioned the the lady, Kerry, on staff that Stuart and I were biking across the US to raise support and awareness for YFC and it's ministries in Europe. At that she went to grab whatever cash she had in her purse as a donation for us. She gave each of us $5. There have been a few other instances where people have just generously donated as we meet them. It is amazing to see how God provides through people like that and how much people care about mission work overseas!

A great day - Saturday, 5 July

2008-07-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

We had the wind at our backs the whole way on Saturday (and today). It really brought the morale of the group up after several days of hard biking into the wind. Instead of struggling to bike at 15 mph, we were cruising up hills at 20. One of the construction workers who was filling in the cracks on the road knew exactly how we felt. :)
I grabbed a quick shot of half of our support crew (the SAG wagon) as they were going by. Becky and Emma have been great at keeping us supplied with water, food and encouragement throught the day. We've really appreciated them!
This was one of the most welcome sights of the trip so far. At least it was for me, but i think it was for most of the rest of the team as well. It's great to be moving on to our 4th state!

A funny bike story

2008-07-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, just after passing into North Dakota, Dan's chain broke. Not generally a helpful thing when you're trying to go somewhere. But, with the tools he had on hand he was able to remove the broken link and get it put back together in pretty short order. But in the process of fixing the chain, he forgot to run it back through the rear derailleur (the two little gears that sit below the main gears in back and allow you to shift), hence all of the slack in the picture.

So, Paul and Dan then decided the easiest course of action would be to just remove the second of the little gear, push the chain back into place and then put the gear back. Well, it didn't work. After about 30 minutes of fiddling with the system, removing the entire derailleur, and breaking and rebuilding the chain again, it was finally fixed. The 5 or so of us watching had a good laugh.

out of Poplar, in North Dakota!

2008-07-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

I'm over at a host family's house fixing her wireless network. I got it! Anyways, I just wanted to post a quick update while I have the internet for a few minutes. We did make it through Poplar without any problems!! God is good.

We also had a beautiful day on Saturday. about 80 miles with the wind blowing at our backs the whole time! You know that when you can climb a hill at 20 miles an hour with out a whole lot of effort, it is a good day!

Thank you all for your prayers.

An interesting Independence day

2008-07-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Dave's birthday and today was Paul B.'s. We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate, but it was fun to have to at least give cards to them. Thanks, Dave for being here and supporting us, and Paul, it's great to have you here on the trip with us!

Yesterday I saw Dandelions for the first time since day one of our trip in Washington. It's odd to get excited about things like that....
I think these are wild sunflowers. They were all over the side of the road this afternoon.

I also saw this random church as we were coming into Poplar. From a distance it looks abandoned, but there were flags outside... So who knows.

About the ride today.... it can be summed up pretty easily. It was Hot! We ate lunch under some trees at a park in Wolf Point. Nice place, and I am reallly glad that the trees were there. I ended up taking a nice nap.

This evening, after arriving in Poplar we went to an Indian Pow Wow a few miles further up the road. It was definitely an interesting experience. I'm really not sure how else to describe it. Though, we didn't spend a lot of time there. It lasts all weekend. They had some traditional dancing and wear. It was definitely a good experience.

Now, were're trying to figure out how to fit 10 people into a small house. Our host has been absolutely wonderful trying to make sure we all have a comfortable place to sleep. We're spread out all over the house!

Anyways, I need to get some sleep. Thank you for your prayers, especially for tonight and the security of our stuff. I think it will be ok. Everything is locked in the garage of the house we're staying at tonight.

Prayer Request

2008-07-04T05:53:00.000-07:00

Today, we are heading to Poplar, MT which has the highest crime rate per capita in the country. The church that is hosting us has been vandalized 3 times in the past month! So please pray for our safety as well as the security of our bikes and gear. But, we are excited, Poplar is in the middle of Native American reservation and we are going to have the opportunity to experience a Pow Wow. So, knowing that I'll be there until decently late, I'm sure, I probably won't be posting an update in the evening.

3 July 08

2008-07-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

Well, today was a shorter day in miles, but it was really tough. I was expecting to be a bit sore from pedaling so hard in the afternoon yesterday, but I was alright. The thing that made it a hard day was the wind. It was blowing in our face again (yesterday, too). It made it a really long day. We didn't get in to the church until almost 5:00, though we did stop at Dairy Queen for a few minutes on the way. There was also a rest stop on US 2, 14 miles from Glasgow, where we're staying. It was the only thing on the map between the last town and here (20 miles). We took advantage of the rest stop. They had some nice covered areas with picnic tables. The breeze through there was so nice, since we weren't on our bikes. We ended up sitting there and talking for close to 45 minutes… it was such a great place to relax for a while, though it was hard to get back on the bike for those last 14 miles.

Speaking of US 2… Our route for the last three days has had one turn off of US 2, and that was only for 6 miles yesterday. It gets to the point where we get excited about curves in the road… Oh well. Judging from a quick glance at the maps on North Dakota, it'll be even more so there. Several of the maps are just a straight line across the page! I'll have to take a picture of the maps so you all know what we're looking at.

Dinner this evening was wonderful. When I walked into Dairy Queen earlier, I thought to myself a hamburger would be absolutely wonderful right about now. And wouldn't you know… hamburgers for dinner. And they were a lot better than any fast food.

Tonight, Bryan and I are again staying together, and we are both pretty exhausted; Bryan especially. The owners of the house they put us in have two homes. My understanding is that this is their town house and then they have a farm house. Makes sense for the winter time I suppose, plus they can use this house for people like us. So, we have a quiet evening and an early bed time!

2 July 08

2008-07-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

Today was another long day. After 104 miles yesterday, I honestly was just tired and not very excited about biking another 90 today. Plus my seat has been getting really uncomfortable the last two days. I suppose that is to be expected, though. So, about an hour before lunch, I just started getting tired of sitting on that seat, so I pushed pretty much all out to lunch so I could have a real seat to sit on and then continued to push it for a couple hours after lunch until I got to the church in Malta. For the first time this entire trip, I was the first person to arrive. That was odd. All in all it was a good day, though.

This evening after two solid plates of spaghetti, meat sauce, bread, coleslaw (possibly homemade?), and some desert, the team got to join the church's youth group and just shared why we're on the ride, answered questions about a lot of different things, to include the differences between American and foreign cultures. We also got to share testimonies. Which, I think was really great for our team considering we hadn't sat down to talk about that at any point previously. I also had the opportunity to talk to a guy who is in Army ROTC and wanting to enter the Chaplaincy. It was really great to be able to talk about Christianity and the military with someone. It's such an interesting and honestly sometimes confusing area.

I'm staying with Bryan and Dave and Darlene (our new 'advanced team') at the Pastors house. It has been great. They are a lot of fun, ate some ice cream and cookies on top of the all the food I already ate…

Tomorrow will be a shorter 71 mile day. Looking forward to a 'short day' after the last two.

a long day

2008-07-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

Today was an incredibly long day. It's 9:35, but i feel like it is 3 in the morning! I am so tired. So this is going to be brief. We biked about 107 miles today from Shelby, MT to the church we're staying at in Havre, MT. We were told that it was going to be flat and easy going.

The first 25 miles or so were. I was cruising along, very comfortably at about 21 miles per hour, with the wind at our backs across a nice smooth road, wide shoulder, flat with small rolling hills scattered throughout. After that first part of the day, though, the wind changed directions and was coming more across and towards us. The shoulders weren't quite as wide in most places and the hills got bigger. But never seemed to have a big downhill on the other side. I think that might have been my imagination, though.

But, we finally made it after 6:35 of biking plus 1:30 or so worth of resting. The host family that we're staying with has been kind enough to share their computer, so I need to get going, not only to go to bed, but so a couple other people in line behind me can get on before bed.

FYI, a couple of my links on the right were broken or pointed to the wrong webpage. I'm pretty sure those are now fixed. Please let me know if you find any other bugs on the page.

God Bless,
Mike

Determination

2008-06-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

**I wrote this Sunday morning, and am finally able to post it up here. I've sent it out to a few people via email already, in a slightly longer form. I'll be sending it out to everyone else on my email list in the next few minutes. If you don't get it and would like to be on my email list, just let me know. mike.c.scott@gmail.com**

Determination. I've spent the past couple days reflecting on that word a bit. I haven't had internet access since I was in Eureka, so this email has been a couple days coming… Plenty of time to think while I'm biking. But, before I go on, I'd like to suggest that you take a min or two to just sit back and think about what determination means to you.

Determination. When I think of determination, and being determined, I think of being decided, having an ultimate goal, something that you're trying to attain or accomplish; maybe a task that you want to complete or you want to lose weight or something. I have determination to complete this bike ride and bring in support for the work of Military Community Youth Ministries. My mom and a couple of her friends are determined to walk a marathon in November.

Because of our determination, we take time to prepare and focus on accomplishing and meeting that goal. I spent many hours biking before I flew out to Washington, and many more writing emails and talking to people to raise support for YFC and MCYM. My mom and friends are walking miles upon miles every week in preparation. I am sure that you all can relate in some way; something that you are determined to accomplish, where you are taking steps to meet your goal.

In the NET translation of Psalm 108 verse 1, David says, "I am determined, O God! / I will sing and praise you with my whole heart." I think so often, at least for me, I set my eyes on trying to accomplish the goals that I can see directly in front of me and loose the long distance focus on Christ and eternity.

It's like trying to focus a camera on a flower that is right in front of you and the mountains that are miles in the distance at the same time. One of them is going to come out blurry. You have to decide which is better to focus on.

Even this morning, I was reminded during our team's worship service (there weren't any churches nearby in East Glacier) that the Christian life is not a sprint but an endurance race. You have to set your focus on the end or you get caught up and distracted by the things nearby and close at hand. You have to be determined to sing and praise the Lord with every breath.

All that to say, God has been working in my life during this trip so far, though I still have no idea where the $91,000 is going to come from that I have yet to raise to meet my $100,000 goal. As I mentioned to a guy I was talking to last night, if you have an extra $90,000 lying around, I would really appreciate your donation. I know that every one of those dollars will make a huge impact in the lives of military teens in Europe who are desperate for relationship, especially the life altering relationship with Christ. But even if you only have 1, 2, 5, or 10 dollars available for this ministry, every dollar will make an impact.

2008-06-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

Today we biked along the Koocanusa (Koo-Can-Usa) lake, a 60 mile long resivore created by the Kootenai Dam. It was incredibly beautiful. The lake is named for the Kootenai County (Koo), Canada (Can) and USA.

That brought us, of course to Eureka, MT, where we are staying with the First Baptist Church. It was great to be here and talk with them. Though, the fellowship group here this evening was pretty small; all of their kids are at camp and i think i heard that a lot of the adults are on a chior tour/mission trip of sorts. But it was still great to fellowship with the ones that were here!
Last night, in Libby, on of the guys at the church made balloon animals. I asked him to make me a giraffe, which I then attached to my bike bag today. Henry enjoyed the ride. :)
This was the view as we were coming into Eureka. I've really enjoyed the mountains, and I'm sad that in just a couple of days we'll be moving into the plains of eastern Montana and the mid-west. But, I'm sure it will have it's own beauty.

I also had the chance to talk to the VBS group in CA again today. They are a great bunch. As I told them, the team has biked (almost) the distance from LA to San Francisco and back again, now. And we're only 1/6th of the way done.

Now, it is again time for bed. It's amazing how the time slips away from me.

PS On the right, you will find a list of links to all the blogs that the team has. I'd encourage you to check those out as well and get a different perspective on the trip.

2008-06-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

Friends,
Today we moved into our third state, Montana. Like I said yesterday, I'm pretty excited about that. I'm actually writing this on the night of the 25th, but I don't have internet at the moment, so I'll post it when I do.

We are staying in Libby tonight. My host is a very nice lady, about my grandma's age. It has been great to talk to her. She has two grandsons in the Air Force. Both of which have lived in Germany, one is still there. I think I'm going to keep my post today short. I am pretty tired right now.

Oh, a quick update on my Achilles tendons: it's odd, they seem to be going back and forth between which one is causing pain which day. But, as long as I'm keeping the Ibuprofen up, the pain hasn't been bad. Today I was able to push quite a bit harder on my bike, and it felt really good, though, I think I'm going to slow back down, because you miss so much when you're flying along at 20+ mph. 15 is a much better pace, I think; able to stop and take pictures more easily. So, tomorrow I'll probably slow back down.

It'll be nice though, we've got a pretty short ride tomorrow, 'only' 60 miles.

By the way, Jonny and Fiona say hi and they are doing well. Just in case anyone is interested. :-)

An exciting day

2008-06-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well, today was a pretty exciting day. We finally made it out of Washington State! And now we're almost out of Idaho! Only about 5 miles to bike from Clark Fork to the border with Montana. Today was also exciting because I finally hit 1000 miles biked since I bought this bike. But, on the other hand, starting tomorrow, we have the three big states which account for almost half of our trip in days!

Also, I think I may have decided that as beautiful as Washington State was with the Cascade Mtns., deserts, ocean, and everything else, this area of Idaho has been even more scenic. Today's ride took us through Sandpoint, ID and along the northern shore of Lake Pend Oreille. It was absolutely amazing how the mountains jut right out of the water. I have a few pictures, but yet again, I am borrowing a computer... Hopefully I'll be able to connect my laptop soon to upload some pictures for you all. I'm also planning to get an email out here in the next day or two.

As always, thank you all for your prayers and support. I know this is going to make a huge impact in the lives of the military youth in Europe. I get so excited telling the people I meet about them.

A great day

2008-06-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hi all, today was a really great day! We did a nice 92 mile ride, and my heels didn't bother me almost at all! Thank you all for your prayers. It' been really interesting, as I've continued to progress across the US, I've met people who have been on my blog already and have been praying for me, the team and YFC. It has been a real blessing.

I also got to talk to a bunch of VBS kids in California this evening. That really made my day! I'm really looking forward to the opportunity I'm going to have to talk to them each evening over the next couple days. The kids are pretty excited! The winning team is going to get to throw water balloons at Ms. Karan!

I need to get going though, we're sharing the computer at the moment. Tomorrow morning, we leave Washington for the last time, and the day after we'll be in Montana! We're prettyexcited to be moving on to a new place and new people.

2008-06-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

On our route yesterday (Saturday), we passed a forest that had burned down about 20 years ago. Instead of cutting down the burnt timb er and replanting the forest, though, they decided to allow it to just regrow naturally. It was really interesting seeing mostly just small trees amid a forest of dead tree trunks. Kind of eerie. But at the same time it is cool to see the way that God set up creation to work and grow out of so much damage.
One of the views on the way up to our highest point of our ride (Sherman Pass). I'm glad to have that hill behind us. We've just got one more plateau tomorrow, a couple days of flat, the Montana Rockies, and then we'll be in the planes. I'm really not sure if I'm looking forward to those or not.... The flat will be nice, but the view won't change much.... But, I say that and am reminded that i'm not on this ride for the views, though they are a nice benefit. I'm here for the military youth.
Our team at Sherman pass!
And last but not least, the view last night from the front patio of the house I'm staying at last night and tonight. It's amazing to me how God designs each sunset in a completely new and wonderful way!

Also, a side note, we're working on getting everyone's blog addresses posted on each other's pages. I need to get all of the URLs, so be looking for that in the coming days.

Update

2008-06-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

Now that I have successfully added a few posts to the blog, I wanted to give you all a bit more of an update on past posts. First off, thank you all for your prayers, especially for my physical condition. My Achilles tendons are feeling better, though, my right one was still giving me pain today. My sister, who is in school for Athletic training was able to give me some tips. Ibuprofen and ice... So I stocked up on 200 tablets of ibuprofen, but I'm still looking for an ice gel pack. Hopefully we'll be able to find one this Sunday.

Other than that i feel pretty good. Today I took it pretty easy, though, as I plan to do tomorrow, before our day of rest. So, I think that might help. One thing that was really nice though, as I was hanging back with Jonny and Fiona for the day, Jonny pointed out, that this really isn't a race. There's no sense at all pushing through each day and trying to finish 2 hours early each day, when we can take a few minutes to really stop and take a few pictures, talk to people along the way and just enjoy a pleasant ride through God's creation. I think I'm probably going to make that more of my philosophy over the next days, though, I would like the opportunity to ride with some of the people towards the middle and front at times.

Anyways, God has been good so far, as he has continued to bring in support for Youth for Christ, we haven't had any injuries to speak of (other than the minor bumps cuts and bruises, and sore muscles), we've made our objective each day. Our bikes eiter have not had problems, or he has provided ways for us to get them fixed. It really has been great so far and I am really looking forward to what the next 56 days bring!

Blessings,
Mike

P.S. In case you haven't noteced the extra stuff on the right side, I've got links to some related websites that I would encourage you to check out for more information. I also have a slide show of pictures flipping through of more than what I've posted here.

2008-06-20T21:42:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we stayed in Riverside, here area few pics from the evening.
There was a youth event in the next town over (Omak, WA). We had the chance to introduce the group, tell about why we're doing this ride and talk to a few people here and there more personally. We also got to listen to a live performance of the band Issacar (spelling?). They were pretty good. I had a chance to talk to one of the guys in the band. He has a great heart for ministering through music.
I also had the chance to make a few friends there in the town, between my host family that we stayed up talking and having a good time with (maybe a bit too late.... especially for getting up at 6)
I also had a chance to meet this wonderful young lady. She made quick friends with everybody on the team. Though, she was a bit shy, she was kind enough to allow me to get a picture with her.

A funny thing

2008-06-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

A funny thing happened yesterday. We started our climb (relatively easy day) up to Loup Loup pass, but about an hour into the ride we stopped for a short break. We started moving again, but Bryan (our group leader) had some troubles, went to stop and toppled over, because he didn't get his foot out of the clips soon enough. woops. Well, in the process somewhere, his chain fell off the gears...

I was a little ways up at this point and went back down to see what was going on and if I could help. As I came up, I unclipped my right foot to stop, but as I came to a stop my bike decided to go left instead. Obviously I wasn't ready for that.... Not only did I fall over, and not only was it right next to Bryan, but I even went into the ditch on the side of the road.

I was later questioned about my diving experience, I told them it was great, just needed more water!

2008-06-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

On our way up to Washington Pass (a couple days ago, now), we found enough snow for me to very easily stand my bike up right. It was quite the climb up there though, with some absolutely gorgeous views. Unfortunately, i hadn't yet perfected how to have my camera handy enough to pull out while I'm riding.... But, one of my three jersey's allows me that functionality.... so I'll work on som more pictures of the ride.
Here is a pictures of some birds we found at the Pass. The animals have been so incredibly trusting. They'll come right up to you. This evening in Republic we've gotten well within 10 feet of several deer, including a nice sized buck. They were just munching away on the grass in the front yard of one of the houses.
This is Stuart, Zach and me. Stuart is from Ireland, he's 62!! The elevation says 5477, but overall, with the ups and downs, we did a total of over 7,000 feet of climbing. I don't remember the exact figure... But it really was a tough day.

2008-06-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I found internet access at a public park in Republic, WA. So, I'll take a few minutes to post a couple messages here and put up a few pictures, before I get eaten alive by mosquitoes...

Here's a pic of how we wish were riding across the US... Well, sortof. It would be nice not to have to work as hard as we are and sweat as much as we do, but it really is rewarding, the opportunity that it provides us to talk to all kinds of people.

The group that owns the motor bikes here is a Christian mortcycle group that is here in Republic for the weekend for a rally. They're mission organization goes to rallies all over the world to talk to the bikers about Christ. Some of their stories were amazing!

A quick post

2008-06-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

We're about to head out to a youth event in Omak (spelling?), WA. We're staying in Riverside, WA tonight. It is such a beautiful place. Oddly enough, it really reminds me of the southwest US...

Anyways, the one thing I really wanted to say right now was to ask for prayers for my Achilles tendons. For some reason they both started to hurt pretty badly today. I've been icing them since I got here around 3:30 (it was a short day!). I'll try to post more later; maybe even some pictures.

In Twisp

2008-06-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hello all. I'm in Twisp, WA this morning, on the other side of the Cascades from where I was yesterday in Marblemount, WA. we had a pretty greuling up hill climb to Rainy and Washington Passes, but every single person on the team made it and then was the pay off. About 18 miles of down hill where you could coast comfortably at 40 miles an hour. I got a few pictures that I'll try to post soon. I haven't had wireless to use the last couple days, and right now I'm borrowing the churches computer....

I've got a climb each day for today tomorrow and the day after, then we've got our day of rest on Sunday and a couple days of flat more or less thereafter, before we start the Rockies (which look to be easier than what we did yesterday!) I need to get going, it's already 8 in the morning here and we need to get on the road.

God bless, and thank you all for your prayers and support.

Headed out

2008-06-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

I'm headed out right now to go over to washington park here in Anacortes where we'll dip our tires in the pacific ocean and start out towards Maine. Thank you all for your prayers and support for myself, my team, MCYM and YFC International.

Anacortes

2008-06-15T23:45:00.000-07:00

After church, getting my bike put back together and going out for a short ride with Paul (one of the my teammates from England) to make sure everything was in order, my host family took me out for a drive around the Anacortes area. I wanted to just post a couple pictures for everyone to see. I've been told by many people that this area of the US is beautiful, and I would have to agree with them all.
Thanks to the clear weather today, I was able to see Mt. Baker (top, to the North East), Washington Park (center), and the San Jaun Islands to the west (bottom, out in Puget Sound). Obviously, this was all right around sun set. I was also able to just barely make out Mt. Ranier to the south, but it was a bit too hazy for a piture.
I'm looking forward to getting underway on Tuesday. I've already had the chance to talk to a couple people about the work of Military Community Youth Ministries in Europe, and I'm looking forward to meeting and talking to many more people across the US. I've got 51 host families that I'll be staying with yet.

Arrived in Washington

2008-06-15T01:07:00.000-07:00

I made it safely to Washington with all of my luggage and bike. For the most part it was a pretty smooth flight and I was able to get a little bit of sleep on the flight from Philly to Seattle. But, now it is 1 am and I need to be in bed...

Tomorrow I'll get to go to church with my host family and then start the adventure of getting my bike put back together!

On my way

2008-06-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
In just a few hours I'll be boarding my plane to Philadelphia and then on to Seattle. That'll give me enough time to arrive in Anacortes, WA, get my bike rebuilt, make any last minute adjustments, etc., and get ready for to start biking on Tuesday morning. I'm really looking forward to that!

I wanted to first let everyone know that from now on most of my updates will be to my blog and not via email. I will make an effort to get at least one email out each week, but the blog seems like a more effective way to communicate with everyone. Here is the link again: http://mcsc2c@blogspot.com If you would prefer an email or other communication, please, let me know.

Also, more importantly, I want to send another quick general thank you to everyone who has and is supporting me and YFC in any way. Whether that is by partnering in prayer (I know I will need it!), with finances or simple notes of encouragement that have come at the times when I've needed it the most. Thank you, all!

I also wanted to make sure that everyone knows that through your generosity, I have raised over $8,100 towards the mission of YFC to military teens in Europe. I posted a blog entry a couple days ago, mentioning how God was unbelievably faithful in his provision for this trip. I'd recommend that you go read the post (Link), but in short it covers God unbelievable provision to cover the required $6,500 of fundraising even before I realized he had done it! And just to prove his point he had an extra $4.50 in my account! He is good.

Anyways, I need to finish packing the last couple things and go to bed. I've got a long day of flying ahead of me tomorrow.

Thank you again for all of you prayers and support!
In Christ,
Mike

P.S. There is a new Sea to See official blog page if you'd like to follow our progress there as well (http://www.yfcseatosee.blogspot.com/)

6500!

2008-06-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

Friends,
I just have a few minutes to be online while I'm away from home until tomorrow evening, but I took the time to check on the status of my fundraising for YFC. I can't tell you how thankful I am for the generosity of so many people. Thank you!! I know that God is going to do amazing things with this money.

Actually, I was just talking with my roommate, and realized how God has worked this out, He is so amazing! I thought I was still about $600 short of the required $6500, but realized that He had already provided the 600 through the commitment of the VBS program in California, which I have yet to add to my donations.

I still don't know how he is going to raise the remaining $93,500, but just as I said when I started down this path back in February, God is faithful and he has reminded me of that today!

Thank you all again for your prayers, encouragement and support. It will make a huge impact on the lives of the military youth!
In Christ,
Mike

It's getting close

2008-06-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
In just one week, I'll be flying to Seattle and going through a final checklist before I leave from Anacortes, WA on the 17th! I'm still hoping and praying for support money to come in. I need to have $6,500 pledged before I leave Germany on the 14th. Which I'm much closer than I was a few days ago (now over $3,000!!) Thank you to everyone who has supported me in prayer, notes of encouragement and financially so far!

If you are still planning to donate, at least let me know approximately how much by next Thursday, so I can add that to my website as an "offline donation"/pledge.

I'll be working through a pre-ride devotional that YFC has for us over the next days. I'm pretty excited about it.

Also, if you're interested in contacting me during the course of the ride (June 17 to Aug 15), the post below this one will tell you how to do that.

Thank you all for your prayers and support!
Mike

Contact information for the bike trip

2008-06-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

All,
In case you want to contact me during the course of my bike trip there will be several ways to do that.

First, I will have my cell phone with me, though I may not answer all the time.... :) Send me an email if you would like the number.

Second, of course there is email. Feel free to email any time. I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have to be on the internet, but I will try to get back to everyone who emails, and I appreciate any notes of encouragement!!

Third, is the traditional, though now seldom used snail mail. Here are the instructions I received for that medium, if you're interested.

Mailing Locations--The following are dates and locations where you may have something mailed to you. Please allow enough time for it to get there prior to our arrival. Please label each mailing with:

Your Name
YFC Sea to See Ride Across America
c/o (Church or Location below)
Address of Church of Location

June 21	First Congregational United Church of Christ 205 N. Maple Colville, WA 99114
June 28	Bison Creek Ranch P.O. Box 144 East Glacier, MT 59434
July 5	First Lutheran Church 916 Main Williston, ND 58801
July 12	Red River Area YFC Box 3021 Fargo, ND 58108
July 19	St. John's Lutheran Church 500 W. 3rd Street Northfield, MN 55057
Aug 2	Bay Presbyterian Church 25415 Lake Road Bay Village, OH 44140
Aug 9	Calvary United Methodist Church P.O. Box 311 Newcomb, NY 12852

Psalm 78

2008-05-25T06:11:00.001-07:00

Well Friends,

It is getting down to the wire at this point, and to be quite honest, it has been hard to trust that God will provide the support for YfC that I'm required to raise before I can go. I was also a bit discouraged when I heard that I wouldn't be able to make a presentation at my church services due to some army regulations… But, I know that God is faithful!

I've been reading through the Psalms lately and was in Psalm 78 a few days ago. It talks about how God was faithful to Israel through the generations, especially in the desperate time of captivity in Egypt and as they moved through the desert afterwards. They had to trust God day by day for the most basic life needs of food and water. Yet, here I am, worried that he won't provide the means for me to bike across the US and tell people about His work in the lives of military teens and to raise money for those teens.

Actually, as a side note, the regulations that are preventing me from presenting this trip to my church are also preventing the youth ministries here from obtaining church tithe money as well. So really God has timed this trip perfectly to provide for the needs of the youth ministry. (It's amazing how he does that!)

Anyways, since my last email a couple weeks ago, I have had a few very generous donations, and did have the opportunity to talk to a bunch of people after church today and hand out some flyers. The Protestant Men of the Chapel and Protestant Women of the Chapel organizations are going to be able to show the video that Geoff produced for me during their meetings over the next couple weeks and hand out more flyers as well. As I told the people whom I gave flyers to today, though, my vision was for people across the US to make $5 and $10 donations as they are able… I know I don't know that many people, but they say that there is only six degrees of separation between me and the rest of the world.

I also wanted to quickly report (this letter is getting long) that I have been out on my bike. I've got almost 600 miles biked in training, including last weekend where I did 80 miles on Saturday and Sunday. I had the opportunity to go out with a group on Sunday, and felt like I could have done 30 more miles with them!

Thank you all for your prayers and support!

Mike Scott

http://www.firstgiving.com/michaelscott

P.S. Psalm 78 also talks about telling the next generation about God's faithfulness in our lives. If you haven't been taking the time to share with the youth around you (especially your kids), how God has worked in your life and been faithful to you, I would really strongly encourage you to do that. It means a lot to us less 'wise' ones! And it reminds us that God is bigger than just right here and right now.

2008-05-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

Bike Ride Itinerary

All, Here is the route that I'll be taking this summer.

YfC Bike Ride itinerary:
http://www.yfcbikeride.org/pdf/Itinerary.pdf

Anacortes, WA to Fargo, ND

Fargo, ND to Long Lake, NY

Long Lake, NY to Bar Harbor, ME

As promised, the video:

2008-05-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Geoff for making this video possible! He put in a lot of hours.

Back in Germany

2008-05-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

Well Friends, I'm back in Germany (home) for a few weeks taking classes and riding. My bike made it over in one piece after an adventurous trip to the airport, and it has been put back together by a local bike shop. I picked it up this afternoon and I'm planning on heading out for a short ride tomorrow morning to test it out and make any adjustments to get it back to where it was, right now I think the seats a little high… easily fixed.

My fundraising is up over $1,000! Actually, after some very generous donations I'm up to 1,140!! Though still quite a bit short of the $6,500 I need to go on the trip and the overall $100,000 goal. But I trust that God is faithful.

I want to keep this message short, I know an update is long overdue, and I promised a video 'shortly'… It is still on its way; going through editing currently! Between weather problems (especially wind) and classes/exams my photographer has worked very diligently to get this done for me. Thanks Geoff!

For now I'll stop here. I'll send out another email as soon as the video is done.

In the mean time, please be praying for the completion of the video and also for this Sunday morning when I'm hoping to present the trip to my church on the Army base here in Germany.

Also, I was able to post all of the stopping points in Google calendar, if you use it in conjunction with a gmail account (calendar.google.com). Do a search for YFC Bike Ride in the public calendars, and let me know if you have any questions. (now I'm really done....)

Blessings,
Mike
www.firstgiving.com/michaelscott

2008-03-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

Friends and Family,
I wanted to take a couple minutes to write and give you an update on the Youth for Christ bike ride this summer. I know some of you may not have seen my first letter which I sent out in the middle of February. I have it posted online at my blog (where all of my updates will be posted), http://MCSc2c.blogspot.com/. If you'd rather, I can also email or send you a copy, just let me know.

Anyways, since my last letter, God has been gracious through eight friends to provide $575, and a church in California has committed to $600 through offerings during their summer VBS program! Though that is still a long ways short of the $100,000 goal that I have set to raise for the military youth ministries and Youth for Christ overseas, but I trust that God will move and is moving in powerful ways to provide.

One thing that I will be starting to work on tomorrow is a short video clip (which my dad suggested) that I will be able to send out to churches and individuals that I can't visit personally. The clip will give a brief explanation of what I'm doing, a little bit about the ministry of Youth for Christ and Military Community Youth Ministries, fundraising goals and purpose, etc. Answer the basic questions.

One particular prayer request that I have is that I would be more diligent about my training. I did take spring break and go for a couple long bike rides, though the weather in Ohio wasn't very cooperative. It seems that school work and other commitments quickly eat up any time that I could be on my bike, even if it's just a few minutes during the day, I feel like it's not worth it to take the bike out since I don't as long to ride as I would have liked. Which of course, it makes logical sense to just get out and ride no matter how much time I actually have…. I just need to get that through my head.

Thank you all for your prayers and support!

In Christ,
Mike Scott
MCSc2c@gmail.com
http://www.firstgiving.com/michaelscott

An Adventure for the Summer

2008-03-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

Here is the first prayer letter I sent out:

I'd like to tell you all about an opportunity that God is providing in my life: As many of you know, when I was in high school, God worked in my life and brought me to a saving knowledge of Him through the work of a military youth ministry in Germany. As I have grown in my relationship with Christ over the past six and a half years, I have developed a passion for working with youth. I have also enjoyed bike riding for years and have dreamed about riding across the US.

Over the last couple months, God has worked to open a door in which he is allowing me to fulfill my dream of this bike ride and work for his Glory by building up the ministry of Youth For Christ (www.yfci.org).

Let me tell you a little bit about the work of Youth for Christ. YFC is an international organization that has placed missionaries on every continent with a goal to see a new generation of young leaders engaged with Jesus, equipped as His followers and empowered to transform the world specifically through evangelism and discipleship. Currently they are working on five major projects in the Europe, Middle East, North Africa (EMENA) region. Most of these projects are to build youth community centers which will provide alternatives for the youth in their evening activities. (http://www.yfcbikeride.org/sponsorship.htm, bottom of the page)

YFC also works with Military Community Youth Ministries (MCYM) for American teens that are stationed around the world with their parents. Teens in these communities are often hard to reach due to the military culture and its practice of moving families every 2-4 years. The best way for you to get information about their effort is to watch the short video on the homepage (www.mcym.org).

A bit about the bike ride itself and how God is providing an opportunity to support His global mission through YFC: As I mentioned, He has opened the door for me to bike ride across the US this summer, 4,300 miles from Washington to Maine (www.yfcbikeride.org). YFC is hoping to have as many as 60 people ride on this trip (which they are currently short of, so if you know of anyone that might want to ride, let them know) and requires us to raise $6,500 towards their ministry, which goes to fund the trip, projects in EMENA (mentioned above) and, by my choice, MCYM. However, as I've been praying about this opportunity, God placed on my heart to raise $100,000, earmarked (basically) 25% to EMENA and 75% to MCYM.

As I have mentioned to a few people, I know from experience that I do not have the personal capability to raise that kind of money, as in the past I've had trouble raising $3,500. My request is not specifically for financial support, though I would greatly appreciate you coming along side of me in that way, but that you would seriously pray for this trip: For safety, that all the riders would raise the amount of support that God has led them to ask for, the overall mission of YFC and MCYM.

I hope that you are as excited about this opportunity as I am!! And if the Lord leads you to support this mission, and me specifically, my fundraising page is at http://www.firstgiving.com/michaelscott. I would also ask that you would pass this request on to your churches, family and friends. I know $100,000 is a huge goal, but I recall the promise of Matthew 19:26, all things are possible to God.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

Mike Scott

mcsc2c@gmail.com