Day 3 - Hanging in there

Well, had a good ride again today and averaging more than my usual - 15.4 mph today and I went 42 miles in 2 hours and 44 minutes. Haven't averaged that in several years now but just praising the Lord. On my map I am still following SR 78 heading toward the little town of Westmorland. I made it to the point where SR 78 turns into a divided road and am about 9 miles from town. West Moreland is a town of just a little over 2,000 people. Just a touch bigger than my hometown in Ohio. Maybe someone could share with me a little more about Westmorland as I will riding through there tomorrow.
But what a beautiful day. It has been sunny all morning. It started out in the low 50's and is suppose to get up to around 83 degrees today. It seems to get warmer and warmer as we get a little further away from the Pacific.
I thought I might share a little with you about the man who would be driving the SAG vehicle for the trip and carrying all the gear. His name is Lyle. He is just a little older than me and he is my wife's cousin. About two years ago, he and Barb, his wife, began to come to the church I pastor and he ended up accepting Christ as his Savior. I had the joy of baptizing him and he has been going on a  number of our NLM adventures to Canada. I can honestly tell you how neat it is to be a part of his growing in the Lord. His son and 1 grandson are now coming too.
Riding this morning, I hurt in a couple places in my body that I did not hurt the first two days of the ride. I won't tell you where they are. I will say this, after Paul says in Phil. 3:13, "One thing I do," he goes on to say, "forgetting what lies behind." Right now, for me it is a little hard for me to forget that. Seven hours plus on a bike seat in the last three days makes it really hard to forget what lies "behind." That is not what Paul was referring to obviously though. Since he uses the word forget, I believe he is trying to get us to consider how we use our minds and what does God want us to do with our minds when we have come to know Him? To forget about what we once were. Maybe some of us were great atheletes, or got tremendous grades in school, and had really accomplished great things and we tend to be prideful because of it. Forget about all of that. We are now owned by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. On the other hand, maybe we were really into sin and sin so deep it was hard to believe that the Lord would ever die for me let alone save me. Well, we can put that behind us too. Isa. 64 tells us that that sin is taken away. It is as far away from us as the east is from the west. So forget about it. Oh Satan wants to bring it back to us. Where? To our minds but Paul says forget what lies behind. And still, maybe ours lives were full of being mistreated or brutalized or hurt by others. Forget what lies behind. Why? Because we now have a Savior who promises us He will never leave us or forsake us. I love Psalm 34:8, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." But then the Psalmist goes on to say, "Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." We are so blessed to know Him, are we not? Don't "forget" that!