Anticipation

It's been quite a week.

Last Saturday my roommate found out that he got the job he wanted in Massachusettes, so by the end of the month I'm going to be living in Northwest Indiana once again. I can feel the temperature warming up slightly on my commute home from work and it's very encouraging since that commute will multiply by thirteen. Jill (Feikema) picked up a stack of local bike maps and gave one to me, it has helped me find a relatively safe, cyclist-friendly route to work. I might drive the route in my car to see where the hairy spots are and so I don't get lost at 6:30 in the morning some place I don't recognize. These next couple months should give me a good opportunity to get aquainted with my new gear and be prepared for 68 miles per day.

Sunday Jill and I gave a presentation in front of Second CRC of Highland and spoke to people for an hour after the service. It was a very encouraging day. I spoke first and Jill was able to remember all the details that I missed, thank God for that. It's amazing how many things you leave out when you get in front of an audience even if you have a good outline to go off.

Tuesday Jill and I were scheduled to give a speech/presentation in front of our local Classis meeting. Our time got a little pinched and I'm not sure that we were able to convey everything that we wanted. It's hard to read an audience composed solely of ministers and elders, but it seemed that some hoped to have us come and introduce the tour to their churches. Hopefully, Sea to Sea comes up in their next council meetings, but a little prompting by way of follow up emails never hurt anything. This experience reminded me of a verse that has often run through my head since the beginning of my awareness/fund raising effort: "how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" (Romans 10:14 (read the whole chapter if you have time))

Wednesday I signed up for the National 24-hour Challenge, a race that I did last year, which basically asks the question: 'How far can you ride in one day?' It looks like there will be between 3 and 5 people from the Field Museum doing it this year along with Sea to Sea rider David Geerlings who has done this race for the past 25 years. After signing up for that I headed for church to set up for our Cadet derby car race and the concession stand which proceeds went to benefit Jill's and my fund raising effort. We made a decent amount, but I was especially thankful for all the ladies in our church that volunteered to prepare and serve the food. I don't know how we could have pulled it off without them.

Things are starting to happen, as of tomorrow there are only 16 weeks until we have to report to Seattle. Each day I'm amazed to find out how wide spread the information about the tour is getting, when people I barely know come up to me and start talking to me about the tour. There is still a lot to accomplish, though, but right now I need to focus on packing.

PS This blog is on the new promotional video, I'm confounded.