faithrunner

Thanks to Legacy Cyclists who donated the funds Several months ago I wrote about The Bikeable Church by Sean Benesh. The idea of a bike-friendly church captured my attention, and we now have bike racks placed around our church campus. Why? Plano and North Dallas have a large cycling population. We have a cycling group connected to Legacy Church that includes over 50 riders. We provide parking places for car. Why not bicycles? Sam and Paul installing a rack The issue for me is that in our community cycling is a hobby and not part of our day-to-day lives. (Some would say our faith is like that too. ) My hope is that we can take away the excuse, "If I did ride my bike to church or work, there's no place to put my bike." My prayer is that more churches and businesses will provide for those who will ride instead of drive . You now have no excuse to ride your bike to Legacy on a beautiful day. Paul Olson, Me, Sam Montag, Jim Hoyt, Mike Tenbusch ...

For many years I have invited Christ followers to see the church and themselves as "a mission outpost where every member is a missionary in his or her own mission field." Whenever I find someone else calling for the same way of living, I get fired up and realize maybe the idea is more than a catchy phrase.  Meet Sean Benesh . He lives in Portland with his wife, Katie, and his three sons. He is a missionary on a bicycle . He has written a short book called, The Bikeable Church , which I endorsed because I was captured by his questions and heart to be a missionary in the true sense where he was planted. He's some of his thinking and challenge: Why do we continue to insist on auto-based commuting patterns for church life and worship? What if we simply reduced the scale and scope to that which is bikeable and/or walkable? As missiologists one of the principles behind exegeting a city is to learn how people naturally gather for fellowship and community. Most often...

I commuted this morning on my bike from my house to a men's small group and then from the group to my office . I met up with Jason along the way, and we made it without major incident from our homes to our destinations on the streets and bike trails of Plano . The reason I would blog about this is that our town is not really suited for commuting by bike on the streets .   Suburbs are built for cars, not bikes and pedestrians. Bicycles in this town are for recreation and sport, and walking is for exercise. Anything "everyday" is 99% done in a car. It's designed that way. Yes, the City of Plano is making strides to make motorists aware of bikes  on the streets (See below), but they are still dominated by motorized vehicles and angry drivers . I recently connected with a virtual acquaintance, Sean Benesh , who lives and commutes in Portland. He muses about such things as being Metrospiritual and creating a "bikeable" church. He has dipped in...

Last Saturday, I ran the Grasslands Trail Marathon outside Decatur, TX. The trails are part of the Caddo-LBJ National Grasslands , which are mostly used for horse riding, but last Saturday, the runners took over the trails early. Thanks to the Race Director and all the volunteers (and cooks!) who made it a wonderful experience. The weather was ideal in the morning , but got up to 80F in the afternoon, which made for a warm finish. What added to the fun was it had rained hard the week before , and the trails were muddy and many places had standing water --memories of our trail half-marathon about a month ago . (Although, that was a much more rugged course.) Every run is a laboratory. You learn something every time you go out because every time is different. You are different. The course is different, and the conditions are never the same.  Grasslands Trail Run, NTTR.org So what did I learn this outing? Running in creation is still better than running on streets....

Here are some things I learned from my attempt to summit Mt. Rainier on August, 25, 2011. First, Creation is still larger than its creatures . I live in a manufactured suburb where we sometimes live by the false assumption that we are in control of our environment and that we are bigger than the land upon which we live. Get out at the base of Mt. Rainier--after driving through the beautiful Mt. Rainier National Park --and you will soon realize how small you are. Get ON the mountain, and you are humbled by how small you really are and how big are the things of God. I am glad the Psalmists lived in Creation rather than in the urban sprawls we have made for ourselves. Second, you are at your best in the footsteps of a guide . I know that some treasure the pioneering spirit of those who head out on uncharted paths, but most of us need a guide. The guides of RMI , Billy, Zeb, and Cody , trained, encouraged, and led us. They also made the trip safe and fun. Don't try something like...

This past Sunday, instead of serving with the Legacy Church family, I joined 3,100+ riders in the LiveStrong Austin ride . The combined total of the fundraising for the weekend was over $3.1 million dollars. You can read a news article here . I rode with some Legacy Cyclists but also as a member of Team Family First , members and friends of Jim and Sarah Craig's family, some who came all the way from Seattle to ride. We rode 45, 65, and the 90 routes in memory of and in honor of those who have battled cancer. While the ride was hard (add hills, humidity, and wind to a ride around Plano), I finished with prayers in my heart for those who have suffered much more than me after 90 miles on the bike in their battle against this wicked disease. I will continue to ride and run as a witness to my core belief that no matter what we face in our human condition, Jesus Christ exhausted evil on the cross, defeated death as our "final enemy," and joins us as a fellow-suffer and su...