Hey all!
Beautiful weather has made training slightly less intrusive for myself (and the rest of the team I’ll bet!)–fellow rider and friend, Cory Ross and I, were able to get in a 200+ mile weekend bike trip last week over our spring breaks through beautiful (and hilly!) southern Illinois. Special thanks to the very generous folks of our home parish–St. Joe’s, at whose masses we spoke at and received the parishioners great generosity!
I was recently asked… “why do you do the ride? was there something that you encountered in the pro-life cause that made you want to do something about it?” I’ve always felt it somewhat a “less noble” reason in saying that the idea for a big ride is what actually came first… my friend and I had completed our first 100 mile bike ride and, in talking with Jimmy on the phone, decided that we wanted to do a BIG ride together some day… mix in Jimmy’s never-ending enthusiasm for helping others and endurance and you get… “Biking for Babies”!
After reflecting on it, I realized that, I, and we, didn’t just choose “pro-life” simply because it’s a “nice thing”. I realized that we both have personal and meaningful reasons for choosing to support the work of pro-life charities on the ride…
Speaking for myself now… I grew up in a family and community that had a great appreciation for life–and not simply in the sense of protecting it from conception to a natural death, but living really GOOD lives… coaching their kids’ baseball teams, staying up late helping with homework, donating time and talent to ensuring the annual parish picnic, giving tirelessly to ensure a school that builds character in students… From there, it seems only a natural consequence to stand up for the work of pro-life… to want to share this happiness with others that so many families and generations experienced and worked hard for through God’s grace…
So, that’s why I, personally, choose to ride… because I want to help protect the happiness and beauty of families. I want to see women and their unborn children to be treated as people to share in something beautiful (LIFE!) and not as objects potentially threatening another’s “happiness”. So, once again, I ask for your prayers and help–in any way you can–because pro-life isn’t about protecting life in some theoretical way as if it’s merely a political position… it is what it is… LIFE!… and I, nor anyone else that I’ve seen, have been happy because they impeded its full expression.
Have a great day!
