Biking Across America (15 page)

One day, on a whim, I decided to follow Route 62 as far as it went in Ohio. I chased it all the way to the southern part of our state, to its merger with Route 68 and the point at which it sneaked into Kentucky. Now, years later and hundreds of miles away, in a place I'd never before visited—here was that same road that could take me home. I thought of Joe, homeless on the roadside. He had no route that could take him to a place called home.

Taking pleasure in this connection to my hometown, I pedaled up the long ramp leading to the narrow bridge. The highway here was two-lane and there was no shoulder; I rode with the traffic flow, but no one could pass me. It was a harrowing crossing. On the other side, another long ramp led away from the bridge. I rolled down it with great relief.

“Welcome to Kentucky,” the sign read. The Ohio River flowed on my right as I followed a series of earth levees and concrete floodwalls erected by the Army Corps of Engineers to prevent flooding.

The tagline on Kentucky's welcome sign read, “Unbridled Spirit.” My own spirits were high. I was only one state removed from Ohio. I was so close to home, yet my journey was not over; my bike would still roll hundreds of miles as I turned south toward Florida.

At least I had the promise of a road home. I wondered how far south Joe had traveled that day and what bridge he would call home that night.

A
fter a day of navigating traffic on state routes and interstates, I relaxed as I pedaled along a quaint little country road in farm country. Cornfields lined the road and there was very little traffic to contend with. I had an appointment that day, and my thoughts were on the amazing series of events that had brought me to this back road in rural Kentucky.

It all began on a mountainside in Massachusetts. God's plan undoubtedly existed long before that, but on that Sunday morning during my Appalachian Trail hike, I met God in a way that left me in tears, facedown on the trail. He made a promise to me that day, and the sequence of events that followed brought me to this road bisecting the cornfields of Kentucky.

On my hike, I had relentlessly asked about the meaning of my life and whether God knew or even cared about what was happening to the world. That morning, God gave me a message that I was to include in the book I planned to write about my adventure.

I argued with him. I wasn't the person to deliver such a message; it should come from a minister, not me. Frankly, I did not want to include it; people would think I was crazy, and my book,
Hiking Through
, wouldn't sell.
Put this message in your book, and I will get the book where I want it to go
. That was God's answer to my objections.

I realize that many folks raise an eyebrow when a person says he hears from God. And I admit, the idea does sound crazy if you don't know about God's plan for us.

Here are the basics of that plan: humanity's sinful nature means all of us are in deep trouble. God loves us, but he can't tolerate sin, so approaching God is impossible without a remedy for the sin problem. God provided that remedy, sending his son Jesus to die as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. On the cross, Jesus took all our nasty, bad stuff on himself and paid the price for our sins.

Here's the really good part: by believing in Jesus and trusting this great sacrifice, we are saved. Jesus's death is our redemption, our rescue from the punishment for our sins. The door is now opened for a relationship with God.

It gets even more exciting. You may have heard God described as the Trinity. This means “three things in one.” God is the Father; Jesus Christ is the Son; the third member is the Holy Spirit. All three are one God. This might seem impossible, but think about water. It is a liquid; we can drink it. It can also be frozen into ice. Boiling water turns into steam. Three different forms, yet all still water. God the Father made us and loves us, Jesus the Redeemer paid the price for our sins, and where does the Holy Spirit come into the story? When we realize the hopelessness of our sinful condition and accept the sacrifice made for us, the third part of
the Trinity comes and dwells within us! A part of God lives in us. That is quite incredible.

Now back to the question as to how we hear from God. God certainly hears from us; most folks reading this would probably say that they pray. But I've heard Christians say, “Yes, I pray, but I hear nothing back.”

I believe there are many ways God speaks to us, but I'd like to focus on two. Let's use examples from marriage.

Suppose your spouse passed away and left you written instructions on how to do everything from laundry to fixing a leaky faucet. It would then be foolish for you to complain about not being able to do the laundry if you haven't read the instructions. The Bible is the written guide that God gave us. It is the Creator's direct Word to us, his creation. You will learn to know him by reading the Bible.

That written guide tells us that the Spirit of God living within us will also teach us and lead us into truth. The more you get to know God, the more his Spirit teaches and guides you. Spouses often know each other so well that they each know what the other is thinking without any words being spoken. That knowing comes from much communication. On a greater spiritual level, that's what happens as we learn to know God. We read his Word, we talk to him in prayer, and God's Spirit living in us leads and speaks to us.

I know this sounds impossible and preposterous to many, but you cannot understand and experience this until you take that first step and believe in God's plan, in what Jesus did for us sinful humans.

And if you are a Christian but are missing out on the joy of dialogue with the Holy Spirit, I urge you to read your Bible with a new zeal and a desire for God to reveal himself to you. It can happen, and it will happen.

If I were in the pulpit instead of writing this book, we would now have an invitation and lift up an offering!

I chose to believe God when he said he would get
Hiking Through
wherever he wanted it to go. He was in charge of the sales department and I just hung on for the ride.

Shortly before leaving on my bicycle journey, I received an email from a major Christian publishing house stating their interest in purchasing the rights to my book. I'd always heard that it was virtually impossible for an unknown author to be picked up by the established, traditional publishers, that it would be the equivalent of a high school baseball player being picked up by a major league team without going through all the training camps and the minor leagues. However, with God all things are possible!

A publishing house would make my book available in far more places than it already was, but while the offer was exciting, I was unsure if I wanted to relinquish the rights to my book. I had many unanswered questions, and I prayed for wisdom and guidance in my decision.

I'd corresponded by email several times with my potential editor, Vicki, at the publishing house. Though the company was based in Michigan, she worked from her office in Paducah, Kentucky—where my biking route would take me. While I was in Van Buren we connected by phone and talked about my journey and my route through Kentucky. We made plans to meet in person and talk about my book.

God was still in control and carrying out his promise to take
Hiking Through
exactly where he wanted it to go.

Vicki told me that both state routes leading into Paducah were busy highways with no shoulder for bicycles, and she gave me directions that followed small country roads instead. She and her husband, it turned out, also loved bicycling; they rode twenty miles out into the country to meet me and escort me through the cornfields into Paducah.

I checked into my room and we made plans to meet for dinner that evening. I pushed my bike into the motel lobby just before a cloudburst drenched the streets. The front desk clerk was curious about my cross-country ride, but I wanted to do my laundry and prepare for my meeting that night, so I promised her I'd stop back later and explain my purpose in riding across America.

Over some delicious barbecue, Vicki and I discussed the sale of my book and my questions were answered. It almost felt as though I were selling one of my children, but I knew it was the right thing to do. God apparently had plans, and so I agreed to sell the rights to
Hiking Through
.

After dinner, I went back to the front desk clerk to tell her about my ride. When she realized I was a Christian and I related some of my stories about what God was revealing on my journey, I saw her face come alive with excitement. Then she told me her own story.

“I am a single mom with a teenage son and, with the help of my parents, I'm just managing to survive financially. I recently became a Christian, and then my prayer was that my son would also get saved.

“I bought a pair of shoes for my son, but they were too tight for him. So we needed to exchange them. A Christian youth convention was taking place a number of miles from our house, and my son wanted to attend. I thought it would be great for him to go, but there was no money for gas. I had just enough gas to get to the shoe store and back. We exchanged the shoes for a larger size and were about to leave when the clerk said, ‘Wait, I owe you money. You get a $10 refund.'

“I now had money for gas, so I drove my son to the youth meeting, and later that evening, he responded to an invitation to accept
Christ. Can you imagine that? My son got saved because his shoes were too tight!”

Yes, of course I could imagine that. I was quite aware that God moved in mysterious ways. I was still thinking about how God had directed me earlier that morning to a meeting with Joe on the side of the interstate.

I had been so blessed to be able to give Joe a small amount of money. God loves a cheerful giver, we are told; and I was never so happy to give a twenty away, giving no thought to receiving any kind of monetary blessings from my gesture. It should not have surprised me that God also blesses cheerful givers, yet I was very surprised the following day.