Well, I guess I am going to have to give up my John Wayne card, I am riding in the pickup today, and my bicycle is in the back. I didn’t do any riding before the trip and even though my legs are in shape from riding my stationary bike at home an hour each night my buttocks were not. I have three different bicycle seats and I have been rotating them to get some relief, and I have gone through a whole tube of “Butt Butter” as well. This morning when I got up the thought of riding in as much pain as I was experiencing yesterday pushed me over the edge to “wimpiness”. The worst part of this decision is all the harassment I am going to have to take from my brother Cliff today every time I see him😖😖😩😩😤😤 If we were riding with no support vehicle I would have ridden and wouldn’t have thought twice about it because there would have been no other options except to call Patty and have her come pick me up, but I haven’t gotten that wimpy!

There are no immediate significant consequences from my decision today to choose the easy and comfortable way as opposed to the hard and painful way, except the programming of my will to do the same thing in real life where there are possible consequences that matter, possibly to others and those that last for eternity. Jesus made the principle clear in Matthew 7:13-14 when He said,

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Our character, who we really are on the inside, is shaped all through our life. God the Father’s goal is that my character becomes like that of Jesus. God does His work in me, but I must cooperate with Him by choosing every day whether I will take the easy and comfortable way or the hard, painful, and challenging way. The character that I end up with at the end of my life is who I am forever, so it is worth the cost to choose the narrow gate most of the time. Also the fruit that I bear, the things that I accomplish with my life that really matter and last for eternity are again the result of the choices I make. Easy and comfortable choices seldom result in significant accomplishments, that is just the way it is.

One of my reasons for doing these bicycle trips each summer is to train myself to enjoy doing hard things so that in real life when it really matters I will choose the way that brings growth and accomplishment. Most Christians don’t read their Bibles faithfully, because it is easier not to. Most Christians don’t spend time with a God in prayer everyday because it is easier not to. Most Christians don’t share their faith with others because it is easier not to. People who were once fully devoted followers of Jesus, and then fall away from that devotion to Him do so because of an accumulation of easy choices.,

Oh well, here I sit in the pickup, writing this blog thinking my next blog will be entitled, “Timely rest and recuperation is a key to endurance”, and hope that it is written with truth and transparency, and not as an excuse for “wimpiness”. One of the major barriers to living a disciplined life is the justifying and excusing that we all so naturally do when we choose the easy way.

I better ride tomorrow.