French Lessons (Part 2)

Lesson 6:

Biking in the Rain,
Is really quite a drain.

God is good. He is a good Father, who provides good gifts to those who ask Him. One night in particular stands out. It was about 7pm, with 150km already under our wheels (which was a lot), we head out into the night to finish the last 75 to reach my companion's grandparent's house. Clouds and rain were all around us and we knew rain made biking miserable. I wearily prayed "God, please please don't let it rain on us. But if you need and want it too, please give us good attitudes and knees to hold up till we get there" It  never rained more than a few drops that whole night, even though it was on either side and behind us for several hours. ...and my knee made it the whole way! AMAZING!

Lesson 7:

Always be ready for greasy legs. No matter how careful I was around my bike, each day ended with new chain grease decorating my calves!

Lesson 8: GARLIC AND ONIONS!!!

The key to simple but tasty, meals on the trail

Lesson 9:

God provides what we need...and He likes us to ask Him for needs to show His power! In England,there are few public forests, and the only trees hedge fields, roads, and paths. This makes camping hard, espeically when both hammocks and flat ground were needed. After 45 minutes of looking for a camp site and finding none with the sun rapidly sinking, I finally prayed specifics. Two minutes later, as we crest a hill, we see trees, in a flat area, that would be hard to see from the road. A camp site. It even had sour pie cherries for fun! :)

Lesson 10:

Enjoy the people God has placed in your life. They are a gift to you, just as you are to them.

And then later, after being separated, time together is even better!

French Lessons (Part 1)

'Another favorite question after "Thee" bike trip, was

"So how was France?"

That's like asking a kid how they liked a parade, after meeting Mickey and Minnie, staying up later than normal, and getting stocked up on candy. All they can say, and I echo, "It was amazing!" as memories of so many things dance through my head. Here's what I remember most!

The Lessons of France.

"Sir Ducky" and his creators

Lesson 1

"Sortie" means "exit." After waiting for my massive bike box to get hand-carried in, everyone else had left...all but one customs agent who was engrossed in something other than the wandering tourist who could not figure out which hallway led out. At long last it was found! And I learned my first French word in France. Experience truly is the best teacher. Although my class in spring should help also!

Lesson 2

French culture and American culture.... may look similar but are very different. Especially in communication. Typically:

• Americans are louder in public than French...and often stand out as a result there.
• When in a dialogue, there is freedom to express, contradict, and add to thoughts. No need to sugar-coat, beat around the bush, or withhold them. Each person is "ok" with who they are, and can then banter back and forth without fear. What a relief!
• And though different and at times hard, there is a lot of truth to learn and I liked it!

Lesson 3

People I encountered in France are kind, hospitable, and not stuck-up. On two different, cold and rainy occasions, people took us in for the night and fed us. Complete strangers, who, when asked for directions to campgrounds, offered us shelter. One even helped us with maps, showed a shorter route, and then proceeded to tour us around her area, Cathedrals, a "Bio Boulangerie & Patisserie" and historical monuments with the extra time she saved us! Wow! Complete strangers, befriending complete strangers.


Lesson 4

French fries in France, taste just the same as in the US. They only cost 2X as much, for half the amount. And French bread... yeah. There's a reason why they are known for it!

Lesson 5

While on the topic of food....France (in the country at least) has a good balance of rest time vs work time. Stores close for 2 hours for lunch. And then close for dinner, and do not reopen. All good boundaries come with their limitations... For traveling bikers, that means,  the route and timing is considered wisely, and food bought when possible. Otherwise, there may just be a mad rush at 5:45pm to peddle furiously to the next town 4km away, find a grocery store, and buy food before 6pm. Not saying this ever happened of course...  ;)

Lesson 6

...You'll just have to wait till next week!

Icebergs and Reflection??!!

Recently God has placed the practice of reflection on my heart.

For months, I've been giving reflection small amounts of time, time that I now realize, was enough to simply scrape  the tip of an iceberg. Those amounts of time were enough to scrape real shavings from the tip of the iceberg -they energized me like a snow cone would on a hot summer day. Yet I'm finding more truth. Besides the refreshment - there is so much more to understand, grasp, and explore about it, than merely enjoying a snow cone from scraps of it! This iceberg, is immense. Unsearchable. Deep. Caring. And wants to be known and explored! He is there all the time. He is the perfect gentleman -waiting for me, and all who want to, to spend time to get to know Him.

But I like my merely refreshing snow cones. Why spend the time to search an iceberg? Won't it be barren and lonely in there since no one is with me? Won't I be uncomfortable in the cold of truth? Couldn't I get lost without a guide?

God is the iceberg. Time spent with Him can't be explained. There is no loneliness when with God because He is there, with us, our Comforter. Pain and hurt and hardness in ourselves distort the life-giving glow of His truth. The blue appears cold and hard, instead of radiant from His purity and holiness which warms to the core, those who seek the truth and are set free. And because it is He who encompasses us, He is the One who leads us to His heart, as a Shepherd leads His sheep.

Reflecting. Spending time, the energy to seek out the depths of already known truths and their implications. What a joy! Picking up the ice-pick isn't easy with so many things going through my mind. I've found, developed, and am developing new "muscles" and am a bit sore. Spiritual disciplines are hard -after all, they are "disciplines."

But after digging just a bit, I've decided to give up my hope of an easy life, and make this here Iceberg home.  I don't know where the current is heading yet. But do I know that in the current and coming storms, I'm way more protected now than on any warm beach that would be pummeled and ripped to shreds!