I have recently decided to take up biking as a hobby so that
I can get some exercise in while also having fun. I don’t know about you, but no part of
running is fun for me, so biking seemed like a fun alternative. Someone had given my parents a bike so they
offered it to me to ride whenever I wanted to.
They just built the Tweetsie Trail, which is a biking and walking trail,
near my house and I thought I’d take their bike, which I hadn’t ridden yet, and
go for a ride on the trail. Keep in mind
that I also bought one of those camelback backpack deals to wear while I was
riding. When I commit to a hobby, I
really commit. The first day I decided
to go for a ride, I had to put air in the tires of the bike because they were
flat. That was a challenge because I
didn’t have a bike rack for my car at that time so I had to stuff the bike into
the back seat of my Nissan Altima. You
can imagine me fitting an adult sized mountain bike in the back seat of my
car. After finally getting air in the
tires and my backpack filled with water, I decided to avoid the trouble of loading
the bike back into my car and ride to the trail. That was another obstacle because the trail
was farther away from my house than I thought.
I ended up having to walk my bike about a mile and a half uphill. It was a cool 91 degrees on that day, so
walking up that hill made me wonder why I thought biking would be a cool
hobby. After the tumultuous journey up
the mile long hill, I finally got on level ground and the trail was within
sight. I excitedly hopped on my bike and
started to coast toward the trail. The
wind was in my hair and the sky was a deep blue. At that moment, I had forgotten about how
hard it had been to get to that point and just enjoyed the ride. It was so peaceful and freeing….until it wasn’t
anymore. Not longer than a minute after
I got started, my back wheel was pushed against the frame of the bike and would
not budge. I clearly don’t know much
about bikes, but I knew enough to know that I wasn’t going to be riding that
bike that day. After stewing in my anger
for about ten minutes, I called my dad and he picked me up. The tire was wedged against the frame so hard
that I couldn’t even walk the bike home.
I got home and unloaded the bike, still very angry that my
hobby wasn’t really going the way I had thought, when I got a phone call from
WCYB telling me they wanted to come do a story on God’s calling in my life to
start a community center in Elizabethton.
Of course I agreed to do the story because I saw it as a great
opportunity to get the community aware and involved in what God has
planned. Right before I hung up the
phone they added, “And we’d like to do it in about an hour. See you at the school!” I was a stinky, sweaty mess from “biking”
adventure so I didn’t really have time to think. I went inside and rushed around to get ready
and got to the school just in time to meet the reporter. I was so blessed by the interview because the
questions she asked me were a good reminder as to why I feel so passionately
about God’s calling in my life. She
asked me at one point why it was important that I start a community center. The
answer for me is pretty simple. It’s not
about charity or making myself feel good, it is the way God calls us to
live. Elizabethton is my community and I
feel very passionately that God has called me to take care of them and for them
to do the same for me. How different
might life look if we all looked out for one another? The whole interview only took about 45
minutes and as the reporter packed up, I gave her the community center email so
that people could write to me about the center if they wanted to. I really wasn’t sure what kind of response I
would get.
Because of the story, I received so many emails of people
who want to volunteer once the center is finally up and running, but I also got
emails from people in other communities saying that they were inspired to do
God’s work in their cities and towns.
The response I got was so overwhelming.
Even the head of the atheist society in a surrounding city commented on
the story on the web and said he wished me well on my journey to start the
community center. I mean, WOW, God works
in awesome ways. I give Him all of the
credit for the amazing response to the story.
In the days following, I started to really think about how God’s plan in
my life is so incredible. I was so angry
about not getting to go on my bike ride, but had I made it out on my ride as
planned, I might not have been close enough to my house to make it to the
school in time to do the story. God knew
that those people who reached out to me needed a nudge to follow His call in
their lives.
One thing I can say about this journey is that it has been a
struggle. Just like my bike ordeal, it
has been full of many ups and downs.
There are days when I just want to cry and give up because I have no
idea what I am doing. I get so frustrated
that I can’t just have the center already so that I can start to get really
involved with the community. Honestly, I
am always tired from thinking about it and how little I know about starting a
nonprofit, but I have learned that it’s important to embrace struggle. God uses trials in our lives to help us grow
in Him. Through my frustration,
exhaustion, and anger I have seen how far God has brought me. I can see how much I clearly need Him. I can see how little I trust Him and how I
need to spend more time with Him to work on that. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, “But he said to
me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake
of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships,
persecutions, and calamities. For when I
am weak, then I am strong.” God loves me
so much, that He stands with me in power, even when I am weak. Nothing brings me more comfort than that
does. No matter what I face on this
journey ahead, I know that I need to embrace my struggles, because they are an opportunity
to strengthen my relationship with God.
