He tied a driveshaft to the bicycle and rode it through Manila!

Not long ago I was driving our truck on a trail that was pretty rough. I had forgotten to tie down the cooler and toolbox and other miscellaneous stuff in the cargo area of the truck after eating lunch, and low and behold when we got back on the trail it flew all over the place. Thankfully only one thing broke; my air compressor. It is, because Murphy works internationally, imported from the states and is a vital part of the tool  kit for the truck so I had to get it repaired. Having parts sent from the states wasn’t practical or affordable, so I decided to go to a machine shop and have one fabricated for around $7.

Much of my Tagalog practice has revolved around shops, and mechanics because often their English is quite poor. So far I haven’t had any surprises, like asking for an oil change and getting a glitter paint job. I was a bit concerned about this one cause it was a pretty foreign piece of machinery to them, but they got right to work doing what I had asked. As they carved out a new part on the lathe I sat and waited. While I waited I was entertained and amazed by their delivery guy who rode a bicycle. A machine shop delivery guy, not a pizza delivery guy, on a bicycle.

I was amazed when I first saw the rider show up with a couple of lower control arms off of what looked like a Toyota Corolla. Then, the next trip he brought a couple of front brake disc rotors from a full-sized truck that looked like they weighed over 100 pounds each. Keep in mind that he looked like he may have tipped the scales in triple digits after a good hard rain.

Then the most fascinating delivery of all was a drive shaft off of a box van. I was amazed at his ingenuity and boldness of riding his bike in Manila traffic with a driveshaft tied to the bike and resting between his legs. I don’t think I’d ever need an adrenaline rush again in my life if I had to ride that contraption through the insane maze of traffic that is Manila.

The Tour De France has just ended. It is almost inhuman what these cyclists can endure. This year the winner, Alberto Contador, rode 2,141 miles in 21 stages which took him a mere 85.8 hours. How is that even possible?! It takes training, and lots of it. To put it in perspective, that is the distance from our home town in Santa Maria, CA to Nashville TN. When I drove that stretch in my car it took me about 35 hours.

It has been said that “pain is weakness leaving the body.” We hope and pray that this will be true even in our walk with the Lord. We can hardly believe it has been nearly a year already since we arrived here. Whenever we hit a landmark like this, it is always so good for us to look back and see what God has done and remember His faithfulness and goodness. We have become aware after talking with several other missionaries that during the first year it seems God allows most missionaries to go through a really hard time. It almost seems like a sort of “right of passage” or testing period. Really, it is training for the race God has called us to run.

We have no idea what lies ahead of us. We have plans, but we don’t know why God has given us so many trials to endure this year. It has felt that just as we get over one hardship, another takes its place. This year I have said twice, of two separate events, “I think this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through.” The first was hard, the second was much harder. However, God doesn’t cease to provide us with strength. At the end of the day, what options do we have but to either trust God and endure hardship or stop trusting and quit. Personally I’d rather hang in there and walk with God through it, but it hurts sometimes.

We have purposed in our hearts to move on with joy through the “light” and “momentary” pain and continue to march on the path God has laid out for us. And we know we do not do it alone. We have a heavenly Father who has assured us that at the end of the race we are on the winning team. We also have a tremendous team of supporters who have cheered us up the long and painful hills and celebrated with us when we have a chance to rest and recover for the next obstacle.

Our first year here on the mission field has reminded me of bicycle races I used to compete in. One event stands out in my mind in particular from my first race. It was the Lake Castaic mountain bike race. The race had a brutal finish, and I have never hurt so bad after a race or felt so good as I did at Castaic.

The race finished on a steep uphill climb that was lined with spectators from the beginning to the end. The hill was so steep that when I pre-rode the course the day before the race I determined that this final section was going to be “hike-a-bike” because no one could ride it. What I learned on race day, was that with all the people standing by the course cheering us on, and of course Eric Rae running up the hill along side Kit, my best friend, and I we could ride up it. No, we could race up it.

It was amazing the power that a team of enthusiastic supporters had on the pain and torment that we were going through. Something about knowing others are cheering for you makes it possible to endure pain unimagineable. When I reached the finish line of that race, I had been cheered into abusing my body beyond anything I had ever done before. I actually had to stay on the bike and roll around for a while because when the adrenaline had left my body, I couldn’t even stand on my own!

This year we have felt a similar kind of support from our prayer partners in the States and elsewhere. While we have found ourselves in trials where we shouldn’t even be able to stand, we have raced through and God has sustained us by your prayers and emails. We are at the end of language school and through all the distractions we can say that we have still learned to speak what has been ranked as the 7th most difficult language in the World-Tagalog! God is so good, and it is only by His grace that we have learned any Tagalog because we have been so distracted this year. We are so thankful for your prayers throughout this very difficult start to our ministry here in the Philippines.