Tomorrow is the day – 200 miles on my bicycle to raise money for Teen Challenge through Speed the Light. For those living in Missouri, 200 miles would be like biking from north Springfield to St. Louis. For those on the east coast, that would be like biking from New York City to south Boston. For those living on the west coast, that would be like biking from Seattle to just past Portland. 200 miles is going to be a long time on the bike. I have had many people ask me, why are you riding your bicycle for 200 miles?! I love being able to answer this question…
Recently, I was talking with one of my friends and he asked me, “Steve, what will you remember as you look back on life? When you are on your death bed, what thoughts will you have? Will you look back and have good memories or will you have regrets that fill your past?” I want to live in such a way as to having no regrets and knowing that I have done exactly what God has called me to do in life. You see, my life exists for one reason, to tell people about the saving grace and the relationship that they can have with Jesus Christ. Acts 20.24 sums it up best as Paul says, “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” (NLT) That is what my life is all about – anyone that talks/hangs out with me or is around me on a regular basis know that I quote this or refer to it at least once a day. I have come to the absolute realization that my life is worth absolutely nothing unless I do this one thing…tell others about Jesus.
I have the absolute honor to serve under great leadership & spiritual authority at James River Assembly. My Senior Pastor, Pastor John Lindell, lives what he preaches & models what it looks like to live for Jesus – truly one of the best spiritual leaders I have ever been around! My Youth Pastor, Pastor Scotty Gibbons, no joke this guy, he is a Man of God! It near impossible to walk away from a conversation with them without feeling inspired or encouraged to step out and do something courageous for God’s Kingdom. One thing that Pastor Scotty will often say is, “There is still time on the clock”, implying that there are still opportunities to go and tell people about Jesus! While I still have breath inside of me, I know that I have one purpose and one purpose alone in this life – do whatever I can to live for Jesus and tell others about the relationship they can have with Jesus!
As I have mentioned, we are raising money for Speed the Light during this fall season – the easy thing to do would be to just give towards Speed the Light and say that I did my part – for those that are simply doing that, I am not down playing that at all. But for me, I know that God has placed a passion for biking in my life for a specific reason…not just so that I can enjoy riding on my day off. I believe God has placed a passion in my life for biking, running and other athletics for a reason, to honor, glorify and lead others to Him! It is not just for my own pleasure – instead it is all about bringing my Savior pleasure!
So I ask you this question: what will be running through your head when you are on your deathbed? Someday, when I lay on mine, I want to look back and say, I did all that I could in my lifetime to lead people to Jesus. So when people ask me that question, “Why are you riding your bike 200 miles?!” – I can unashamedly say, I am riding 200 miles so that students who enter the Teen Challenge program can have their life totally transformed when they hear about the love of Jesus. There is a very high chance that I will never meet some of the students in the four Teen Challenge locations here on this Earth, but there is one thing that I know for sure; I will spend eternity with them someday in Heaven! There is still time on the clock & I realize one simple thing – My life is worth nothing…UNLESS, I tell & do something to lead others to relationship with Jesus! That is what my life is all about.
Please be praying as tomorrow this time I will be on my bike into the late afternoon. Specifically pray for safety during the ride with the riders, for the weather to be a nice 64 degrees with sun as well as no wind! Your prayers are so appreciated! If you would like to give towards the $7,000 goal towards Speed the Light as we support Teen Challenge, click here to give online or if you would like to mail in a check, click here – go to the top of the page where it says “200 mile ride – November 5th, 2011″. For up to date updates during the ride, follow me on Twitter as I will be giving updates throughout the day.
