Training Hard And Being A Witness For Christ

In preparation of the 2011 spring races we rode hard and used the God provided opportunities to share. We participated in the Early Shootout which is a well known local training ride, leaving on Saturday mornings at the UfA. There are 2 Shootout groups, the Early group (the older more relaxed riders, yeah right) and the adrenaline filled youth :-) Both rides start at the UfA, go on Mission Rd to Helmet Peak, to Green Valley and back Old Nogales Highway. It's about a 60 mile loop which averages about 22-23 miles/hour (that's the Early group).

Anyhow, it is the usual crowd of riders, some you know by name, some you know by jersey and helmet :-) After some good efforts up Mission Rd and after the first sprinting point, a rider pulls up to me and said, "Hi Mike, you don't know me, but you are an inspiration.". WOW, riders that don't even know me are watching. Well, praises be to our Heavenly Father, because me being in my IC3 jersey and with references to christiancycling.com, what a witness for Christ. I hope and pray that they saw HIM in me and not me.

Along the same lines, one of our older IC3 members did his Saturday ride a little later in the day. He rode 51 miles and after about 45 miles "slugging up Rancho Vistoso" as he put it, a rider pulled up next to him and said, "keep going, I'm tired too, I'm with you brother and God is good, HE's the only way" pointing to the sky and yelling "God is GOOOD !!!". Keeping riders focused on HIM, mission fulfilled, at least that day.

And posting all those wonderful little God encounters on our ArizonaIC3-Rides Yahoo! email list, got the entire list fired up for another week, looking forward to more God encounters.