Day 5 - Another day on the road

Well, another beautiful day in southern California. It is supposed to get up to around 84 degrees today in the area we are going through and very sunny. I am just not used to day after day of sun. I think I could get used to it though. It was only 56 degrees in my basement this morning as I climbed onto the saddle. For me, I had a great day on the ride. Went 40.5 miles in 2hours and 20 minutes at an average of 17.2 mph. I thought by now I would have some leg weariness but seem to be getting stronger and feeling better. I hope and pray that will continue. Tomorrow Lyle and I will reach the California/ Arizona state line. We are still following SR 78 which is really to bad. See, in southern California, the Colorado River divides the two states from each other and based on the map there are only a couple of places where one can get across the river from California into Arizona. So today, that meant riding along the west side of the river, going about an extra 50 miles compared with going straight east from where I started the day. At the same time, I can only imagine how beautiful some of the scenes were. In one 9 mile stretch SR 78 goes right along the river with the Palo Verde Mountains on one side and the Colorado River on the other side. By days end we are just south of the the town of Palo Verde just inland from a major bend in the "Colorado." 
Couldn't help thinking about the map we are using as we make this trip; about the fact that we have to follow it. We would not know which way to go without it and without it I don't have a clue where I am at. Today the map told us we had to go way out of our way compared to being able to go straight east which would make the trip much easier.  But that is the way it is some times when you have to go where the map tells you to go. Isn't it the same way with the Word of God. It gives us all the direction we need to go the way the Lord would have us to go. Some times it seems to us like it is way out of the way. So what do we usually do in those times - question the map or the ONE who wrote it. "How can that be; that is not the way I want to go" comes out of our mouths all too often. Yet God says, "My righteous ones will live by faith." We are called on to trust in Him and His Word (our map). Do we always need to understand why He takes us in the direction He takes us? Nope! We just need to trust Him. It is my prayer that every person who reads this blog can point to a time in their life in which they put their trust in the Lord for their eternity as well as their lives on a daily basis. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."