Biking the road less traveled....

Happy New Year everyone! 

Some of you know that Jeremy and I have taken up the regular habit of biking in the past 8 months or so.  I’m talking bicycle biking, not dirt bike biking.   We’ve never actually gone on a bike ride together, but we trade off, rotating mornings when one person can enjoy the luxury of waking early, taking a long bike ride and then even getting a shower in before taking on the responsibilities of the day.  Personally, I am thrilled to have found a form of exercise that I enjoy and that is easy to make a part of my daily life.  Wiang Kaen is a bit of an exercise vacuum for women.  I could either participate in the evening aerobic session that sometimes takes place near the market, or I could rely on the heavy housekeeping and farming work that keeps most women fit.  One reason that I’ve learned to love biking so much is because it gives me time away.  There are no coffee shops, book stores, malls, swimming pools, women’s Bible studies that give me an opportunity to get out and about without the kids.  But biking gives me hours worth of quiet roads, gliding past fields, watching the morning fog clear, time for prayer and a breath of fresh air for this introvert at heart. 

My first few months of biking were spent in doing short rides near our house.  Somehow being able to plan a 30 minute trip and be back in time for the kid’s breakfast seemed like a nice plan back when I started.  But that started to wear on me and for my 30^th birthday I decided to do a 30 km ride.  I took off down the road on a path I had driven dozens of times before, but biking is not the same as driving and towards the halfway point of my ride I was facing hills that I wanted to push the bike up, not ride up.  All of a sudden I was reminded of my years of swimming when I would face a physical challenge in the pool, and I would have to choose to rely on the Lord to help me.  Now, I love exercise in moderate forms but there is something that draws my heart to the Lord when I am challenged to do something harder than what I thought possible.  Those are times when I truly experience the Lord’s strength. 

One of my regular rides now takes me on a road that reminds me much of my own walk with the Lord regarding His bringing me to this ministry in Thailand.  I know the Lord works in steps and stages with me.  If He had told me, upon my first trip to Thailand, that He was planning to send me here long-term, I think I would have had a hard time accepting it.  As it was though, He led me slowly.  From a 2 month term, to a two year term, to marrying a man whose heart was also in Thailand, to moving to a modernized city in Thailand, to moving to a small town…..  He has only led me at each step as far as He knows I can go by His grace.  Now, back to the actual road.  The first part of my ride is fairly easy, although there’s a gradual incline.  There are dogs barking and people hollering to look at the foreign gal riding her bike, but nothing too difficult.  All of a sudden though, at about 11 km past my house I begin to reach the path of the mountains.  A winding steep hill is half-hidden by an outcrop of trees.  Up and down it goes for the next 5 km.  Breathtaking beauty and breathtaking exercise.  On my birthday ride I went most of that route, up and down all those hills.  On an average day now though I don’t have the time, or the stamina, to make that ride.  For awhile I would reach that first steep incline and turn around, deciding that I should probably get back to the laundry or the family.  The last couple of times though I’ve felt the truth that if I can face the physical challenges in life, or exercise, with the Lord’s help, how much more will that encourage me and be an example to me of how the Lord will help me with the daily challenges that I face in other areas of my life.  It may seem like kind of a jump for some people, to relate physical activity so much to how the Lord can be honored by it.  I have to say though, that all those thousands of hours I put into swimming, staring at the bottom of the pool, the Lord can bring you to a deeper place with Him during that time, it’s not wasted time if you choose to look deeper. 

I’ve made it up that steep hill a few times now on my rides.  It reminds me of our ministry here, that some things have steadily gotten harder.  The first time I rode on that ride I was eagerly expecting a long, flat road for miles to come.  I hoped for some respite.  The fact is that the road beyond that first hill is even harder.  The hills are steeper and longer at times.  The potholes are worse as it is a road less traveled.  It’s farther from home and therefore more tiring.  But do you know that that road also has the most beautiful vistas from the tops of the mountain rises?  Do you know that the road crosses rivers that sparkle in the morning sun and fields of rice and corn?  It’s a part of the road too where I need the Lord’s help more than I did at the beginning of the ride, but to me I know that will make it so much sweeter.  There’s always that choice in life, I suppose, to turn around when I see something that looks too challenging.  Somehow though, going back to those straight, flat roads doesn’t seem as tempting as pushing ahead and trusting the Lord to see me through.  Whether it be up or down or whatever, whatever this year brings, and it’s looking like it will bring some more major challenges, I’m ready because I’m riding with Jesus.