Day 63 - One beautiful Day

On the map it was a beautiful in western Alabama. It was sunny and in the mid 80's. Today would have been a day of going through little towns like Grove Hill, Whatley, Gosport, Claiborne, and Perdue Hill. I think I would have enjoyed riding through those towns. Had annother good day on the bike. I rode 43.4 miles in 2 hours and 1 minute for an average of 21.4 mph. I reached milestones this week. First, I rode over 260 miles in one week for the first time. Second, I went over 2,000 miles for the trip. I am at 2,034 miles. Last night we talked a bit about Psalm 100:2 and the last half of that verse, "Come into His presence with singing." we talked a lot about coming into His presence. But he has a very specific way He wants us to come into His presence --- with singing. One of the things that has to be noticed about this is that there is a great amount of joy in our relationship with the Lord. We are to make a joyful noise, verse 1; have a great deal of gladness while we are serving Him; and we should come into His presence with singing. Be joyful, be glad, sing. There is much happiness that comes with a relationship with the Lord. But when we come into His presence, we should come we ought to be singing. For too many it is like pulling teeth getting them to sing. That should be what our coming into His presence begins, consists of and ends with. The singing has to do with the attitude in our hearts that we pour into our singing. The singing doesn't have to e good but the heart that produces it, is the key. I hope each of you have a good Lord's Day. Come into His presence with singing. Talk to you on Monday.

Day 62 - Into Alabama

Well we made it to Alabama today. On the map we ended the day just east of the little town of Coffeeville. There, it was a beautiful day. Had another good day of riding. I went 43.1 miles in 2 hours and 2 minutes for an average of 21.1 mph. One more day of riding will bring me over 2,000 miles for the trip. That is quite a milestone for this ol' boy. Psalm 100:2 ends saying, "Come into his presence with singing." There are two words that are very important in the Christian life. The first word is "come" and the second is "go." Christ said to come to Him. But when they come they have to be willing to do something - they have to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Jesus. They are the ones who have gotten it right. If one truly comes to Jesus, they are willing , able and wanting do the things that are a part of coming. Our coming is all about Him, not about us. For many, coming is what they do. Many have gotten very good at coming. But for too many coming is all they do. We are also to "go." Go and bear fruit and go and make disciples are just a couple of the things we are to do once we have come to Him in the first place. Today, we look at one of the "come" verses that doesn't refer to just a one time "come" referring to salvation but something that should be a part of every Christian's every day life. On a daily basis, we should practice the "come into His presence" that is a part of our lives from the moment we come to know Him. Yes, we should practice our coming into His presence, not just on Sunday, but every day of the week. That is one of the problems. There are many who come into His presence 1 hour on a Sunday morning and feel they have done their duty to their almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent (that is enough omni....s) God. But coming into His presence is something we should do daily. Whether we come before Him first thing in the morning, at the breakfast table, with the whole family after a great dinner or right before you and your spouse lay your head to the pillows each night. We should have a very specific time that we come into His presence every day. With the schedules most of us keep in our lives we have to be very purposeful. It may be a time that is planned that is at a set time each time. With the exception of an extreme emergency, this should be the time you have set apart to come into His presence. Also have a plan for each time you come before Him. It might be to read a portion of His Word and then pray. For others it might be reading a devotional, studying a few verses, and always spend time in prayer. It could be time spent discussing His Word with your spouse or kids and then prayer. But it should be purposeful, planned, and personal. But please, coming into His presence is more than one hour a week. The Lord is a jealous God and He wants us, all of us. So, coming into His presence should be very important to every one of us. Talk to you tomorrow.

Day 61 - Another Day Closer

Today felt good. I rode 44.6 miles in 2 hours and 5 minutes for an average of 21.3 mph. I do not know why but it felt good today to be on the bike, to go the speed I went, the thought of being in Alabama in just another day. I still stand an outside chance of finishing my ride by the end of next week. I need some feedback from you though. I am thinking about still using the blog to continue doing a Bible study but I will not do that if no one is reading it. Please give me some imput back. I seem to get sucked into a portion of Scripture and just can't let it go. That is what has happened with Psalm 100. What a beautiful Psalm but one with so much to say that as Christians we need to read, study, memorize, listen to, and live by. Last night I talked about serving the Lord as an act of being thankful to God. But in that same phrase he gives us instruction on the the right way to serve the Lord. He says, "Serve the Lord with gladness." So many of us want to serve the Lord for all the wrong reasons. And it is so easy to serve Him for all the wrong reasons. Too often we make our serving all about us rather than about Him. But saying to serve the Lord with gladness goes beyond serving Him for wrong reasons but explains how we should serve Him. I have gone to churches where greeters at the door looked like they had prunes for breakfast. They maybe doing what they signed on to do but are not happy about it. How many musicians, ushers, Deacons, Sunday School teachers, and helpers and maybe even Pastors look like they are glad to be doing what they are doing. Serve the Lord --- yes, but with gladness? Well maybe not. Jesus says "My burden is light." If that is true, why are we not glad to be doing burdens for the Lord? The Word also says that "i will never leave you or forsake you." The problem is that knowing the Lord is with us is not enough for far too many of us. It comes back again to what we have already said; We want the Lord to be with us but we want Him and..... Are you glad to know He is with you, that He will never leave us or turn His back on us? We should be and when we have Him that should make us glad without anything else being added to that knowledge. Lord I love you and I am so glad, so glad, that you love me. I hope you are too and that in all the ways you serve the Lord you are glad. Talk to you tomorrow.

Day 60 - Keep making progress

Well, with today's ride I went over 1900 miles for the trip. I am looking to making the milestone of 2000 miles. Never have I done anything like this and while there have been several bumps along the way, I have tried to faithfully ride to accomplish this ride across our land. I am a little bummed because the ride has not developed the funds I was hoping it would to go toward the purchase of a lodge in order to impact more lives for Christ. But my faith is strong and my legs have gained strength along the way. So I keep growing spiritually and physically. Today I rode 44.2 miles in 2 hours and 1 minute for an average of 21.8 mph. The next thing the Psalmist says in Psalm 100, as another way to be thankful to the Lord, because the Lord is good, is to "Serve the Lord with gladness." The Lord is good. We are to be thankful to Him and in the midst of that, we are to serve Him. I think this is one of the areas in our Christian lives that we fall short with. Too often we serve for us but not serve Him. We do it so that someone will pat us on the back and say "good job." Sometimes we do it for other accolades or so that others will see us. To be honest, we serve Him inwardly asking the question, "What is in this for me?" or "What will I get in return?" When we go into it with that kind of thinking, let's be honest, we are doing for ourselves. Let me give you two verses that will answer the question of who you are doing it for. The first one is 1Cor. 10:31,"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do ALL to the glory of God." Then in Col. 3:17, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus..." That verse fits very well with this subject because it goes on to say, "Giving thanks to God the Father through him." So the Question. Is what I am doing to serve bring honor and glory to God? And am I doing it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? Because if it does, I am giving thanks to God through it. I will talk with you tomorrow.

Day 59 - Quite a day

Today's ride went very well. I rode 45.6 miles in 2 hours and 3 minutes for an average of 22.2 mph. That is the fastest I have ever gone. It just went very well. Yesterday I rode through Vicksburg, Mississippi on the map and I could not but to think about the famous Civil War Battle that went on there. The city itself was known as the Gibraltar of the Confederacy. But in 1863 after a siege that went on for 47 days Vicksburg surrendered. The North was led by General U.S. Grant who as a result of this victory and a few others in the western campaign was ordered by Lincoln to take over the leadership of the war going on in the eastern arena. Up until then, while the north had won a few battles, the war was actually going well for the South. But I could not but think about the lives lost at Vicksburg. Even in an area that had been well protected by the confederacy was not invincible. Christians sometimes think they are invincible; that they would never fall into a particular sin. They think Satan could never tempt them to do something they would not want to do. They think they are invincible. Yet none of are. We all have it in us to the worst things that we could ever think about. But by the grace of God! It is interesting that the Psalmist in Psalm 100:1 says, "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!" Psalm 19 1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork." That declaring and proclaiming is a whole lot of noise going on. Jesus told the religious leaders, when people were shouting during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, that "if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." His creation shouts out the glory of God. Even stones could dry out if Christ wanted them to. One of the best ways we can give thanks to the Lord is to use not just our voices but our whole being to worship Him. That is a way we can thank him. But He says, "all the earth." All of His creation shouts His glory. But we aren't always listening. But he says that all the earth is to make a joyful noise. Yet you and I know that while His creation shouts His glory, not all humanity does. Part of humanity refuses to worship God or give Him any honor or glory. So, the way I see it, we as Christians have to make enough noise so the whole earth hears it. We can't be silent. We of all people have to make noise to the honor and glory of God. And when we do, it will go throughout the whole earth. We need to be noisy people. Noisy for God! And if we don't, God may have the stones do it. Talk to you tomorrow.

Day 58 - Hopefully I can finish strong

I am trying to be done in the next couple of weeks so am trying to hit it hard. Today I went 2 hours exactly and rode 42.7 miles for an average of 21.3 mph. I went over 1800 miles for the trip and am now well into Mississippi. It is amazing how days can seem to go slowly and yet at the end of a trip like this the trip can seem like it went so fast. I guess that is where I am at. It seems like I have been riding for a long time; it I can"t belive the trip is closing on the finish. In Psalm 100, the Psalm for giving thanks, verse 1 says, "Make a joyful noise to the Lord." It says, "Make." That refers to effort. Some effort has to be put into the joyful noise. You and I have gone into enough services to understand what the Psalmist is saying. We all have seen people who stand there with their arms crossed, or look every place but at the music, or don't pay any attention to what is going on while a person is up front trying to lead or direct music on a Sunday morning. It is like they don't even care or trying to say, "Just try and please me!" Sure they have all sorts of reasons for why they are not singing. Their reasons are more commonly called excuses. I am not saying there are not reasons for not singing but do you know what excuse does not work for God? "I can't sing" or "I do not have a very good voice." Psalm 100:1 does not say you have to be able to sing opera or good enough to make a record or even sing in the church choir or on a worship team. NO, it says, "Make a joyful noise." Remember God doesn't look at the outside, He looks at the heart. Through the heart of one who loves God, noise meant to honor and glorify God is received by a God who is pleased with what He hears. "Thanks Lord, I am giving you might best. That is all I can do." Talk to you tomorrow.