Fellowship United Methodist Church

Saturday, June 6, 2009 - Today is the first official day of the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia, though we will not actually be riding today.  Today we all (approx 1600 of us) arrive in Hiwassee, get checked in, and find our luxurious accomodations in the local high school gym.  Tomorrow we will ride!

I love the simplicity of riding a bicycle.  In this fast-paced, somtimes out of control, culture we live in, the bicycle is refreshingly simple.  Even though there have been technical refinements along the way, the bicycle is essentially the same machine that it was 200 years ago.  And even though there is lots of strategy to riding at the pro level, for the rest of us, it is as simple as turning the pedals.

My reason for doing this ride is also simple.  There are people right here in Paulding County who live in substandard housing conditions and often times even that is a stretch for them financially.  Some of these people have made poor choices in their lives and they are in their current conditions as a result of those choices.  Some of them will learn to overcome their dysfunction.  Others are victims of life's circumstances.  Their lives and their family tree can be changed forever by something as simple as a house.

There is a family in Paulding County who will get a fresh start and a new lease on life this Fall because we are coming together as a community to build them a simple house.  We don't yet know who that family is but it is for them that I am riding.  It is those parents and children that I will think about and pray for over these next 7 days.  I invite you to join me in praying for them as well.