Finding Faithfulness on the Journey
August 11, 2008 -- Sea to Sea riders begin their seventh week on the road that will take them from Wisconsin, through Illinois and part of Indiana before moving into Michigan on Thursday.
Sunday’s rally was held at Crossroads Community Church in Madison, Wis., where tour participants gathered with church members and listened to Pastor Doug Van Essen give a message about faithfulness, the seventh of nine fruits of the Spirit as listed in Galatians 5.
"Bikers, have you started wearing on each other yet? Have you started picking on each other's faults? Are you getting under each other's skin?" Van Essen asked. "Faithfulness is the essence of community and without it community falls apart. Faithfulness is essential to community but the problem is that we can't get it right. The times when faithfulness is most needed is usually when I am at my rope's end and unable to give it. Faithfulness is produced in me, not by me. Faithfulness is produced in me by God."
The Sea to Sea 2008 Bike Tour is sponsored by the Christian Reformed Church in North America in partnership with the Reformed Church in America. The goal of the cross-country trip is to raise awareness and funds—more than $1.5 million —to fight poverty worldwide.
Also during the service, rider Theresa Meinders, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, spoke about the conflict she continues to experience as she considers the goal of raising money to fight poverty at the same time that she spent more than $3,000 on biking gear to prepare for the trip.
"How is it right to go on a tour to end the cycle of poverty and be spending that kind of money on bicycle stuff?" she asked. "Poverty is an uncomfortable, enormous problem and a bike trip such as this is a wonderful, incredible, enormous, and sometimes uncomfortable response. For the moment, my work is to be okay with this tension because I think that in such ‘uncomfortableness,’ there are seeds of change that we can really work towards ending what poverty is around the world."
Dave Teitsma, of Grand Rapids, Mich., also wondered initially how the bike tour and poverty go together. “There seemed to be a disparity to me,” he said. “But I’m excited to see how so many of the riders and those that are supporting us and hosting us really have a heart for the poor and they understand that this is about so much more than biking.”
Teitsma said the hospitality in Madison was wonderful. “Even coming into the church there were signs along the road that said things like ‘Give poverty a flat tire.’ It’s obvious they understand why we’re doing this.”
Bill Wybenga, of Brampton, Ont., says he appreciated the chance to take a break from the rigors of the road and to relax for awhile in prayer and worship.
"Sunday morning music in my ears…" he writes in his blog, "what a change from the wind in my helmet, the sound of truck tires on the pavement, the whistles of trains, the hustle and bustle of early morning weekday preparations, the mad rush when we entered Madison to get bussed to showers, set up camp, to get bussed to the laundromat and then hurry to eat."
Tour spokesperson Claire Elgersma, of Kentwood, Mich., says the tour is now making its way through an area in which many CRC and RCA congregations are located. "It will be a busy week passing by various CRC and RCA churches that will be serving us refreshments. We will also be traveling through Chicago, a very high traffic area."
For Elgersma, Teitsma and more than 50 other riders who hail from West Michigan, this week will be a type of homecoming. “There will probably be a lot of people celebrating and encouraging us along the road,” Teitsma said. “I thought about riding a day or two ahead and spending some extra time at home, but I think I’ll just ride with the group and enjoy the experience.”
As the tour enters its seventh week, says Jim Holwerda in his blog, he finds that he is experiencing a range of emotions. He is glad that the end is getting closer and he will be able to return home to be with family and friends and to ease into familiar routines. But he also finds himself thinking that the tour can't be already two-thirds complete.
"I believe I am being called to another kind of surrender -- the surrender that lets go of something wonderful in the hope of the wonders that lie ahead," writes Holwerda of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Today, the tour travels across Wisconsin and into Illinois, its ninth state, and spend the night in Woodstock.
—CRC Communications and Sea to Sea Communications