"To say I am lucky to be alive doesn't fully capture the extent to which I recognize this to be true, for as long as I can claim it to be. And hopefully, I'm not nearly done yet. Most of us come into this world amidst a frenzy of pain and emotion and unpredictability, and too many of us leave in the same way. If between the two certititudes of birth and death lies a generous period of love, family and friendships, free from the shackles of violence and poverty, it is a life to be coveted."
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| My 3 AMAZING brothers, just one (or three?) of the things I've been feeling very grateful for! |
I was having a rough day....I mean ROUGH...and I decided I would go for a ride to clear my head/get some endorphins going. It was certainly a ride with ups and downs!
DOWN: 4 km into my ride, my pedals stopped turning. First it just was very hard to pedal, then I couldn't pedal at all. I managed to unclip without crashing (an UP, for sure!) and then sort of looked at my bike, willing it to start working again. For those of you who know about bikes, you probably already have a differential for what had gone wrong (I will write what the problem was below and you will get ten points if you guess correctly!), but for me, it was a mystery. I looked at the chain - it was still on the gears. I tried to move the pedals. They were not moving. So, I did what any girl in my position would do - I phoned my dad. Now, I feel a bit bad for my dad, because this is not the first tearful roadside call he has received from me (my lovely 2002 Civic is pretty reliable, but not completely foolproof), and I think he must feel a bit like "I'm 4 provinces away, Ava....what exactly do you want me to do about your broken bike..." But, he is always very nice about it and makes good suggestions (such as...start walking!).
UP: As I turned to start 4 km back to town, a truck stopped (going the opposite direction on the highway), pulled a U-turn and offered to drive me back to town. I was so grateful! Not only did this lovely stranger give me a lift back, but he is Dutch and CRC AND I've met his wife who is a nurse at the hospital AND he knows all about C2C AND knows 2 people from his church that will be riding! I quickly gave him my contact info so hopefully I will have 2 new riding buddies!!!
DOWN: When I got back home, I decided to take my back wheel off to figure out what was going wrong. As I took it off, the rear cassette EXPLODED. Well, OK, that is maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but some of the gears fell off and the cassette basically came apart (anybody earn any points with that one). NOT IDEAL, particularly considering that I have a 3 day ride coming up starting FRIDAY. Not to mention that that sort of puts a wrench (no pun intended) in my plans for riding today!
UP: I have to go to Lethbridge anyway on Tuesday. And there is a bike store. And I can get it fixed. PLUS, I have a spare back wheel that I've been using on the trainer for the winter, so I popped my tire on the spare wheel and got a 50km ride in.
Anyway, this is maybe a trite example (and some would argue it a coincidence, but like luck, I don't believe in that), but I feel very grateful that God used a (minor) bad situation to become a positive. And that was what I needed to be reminded of today. God is the provider of all things, and He controls the downs and helps use them for ups. Jehovah Jireh - His grace is sufficient!
Cycling update: I'm at 3530km since Sept! Well on my way to my goal of 10,000km in 1 year!!
Fundraising update: I'm at $8387! Well on the way to my goal of $10,000!! I have the most amazing generous friends!!! :)
