There isn’t anything mystical about riding a bicycle 1,000+ miles. There were no fireworks which launched of their own accord upon our conclusion.
Chicago traffic (nor New Orleans, nor Jackson, nor Memphis) did not move beside for us.
99.99% of the people whom we passed in the final miles going down Cicero and Division and Western didn’t know what we were doing other than taking up valuable street space on our $1,000+ bicycles.
But, to say that it all “felt good” would be a feeble understatement.
I don’t think what makes my life, or any life, really worth living are fireworks or high praises… it is the sincere and honest support and love from our family and friends, reflected on with the consideration that God is present and He wants us to be happy.
And that is what I felt last night with my family and friends, old and new, at the Blue Star Restaurant.
I am thankful to have had the opportunity to ride nearly 5,000 miles since we’ve started and fundraised over $150,000 for pregnancy resource centers, but there is still so much which can be done.
And I want to see B4B continue–not because it would be “cool”, but because I honestly believe that the people who are touched by the ride can be changed and grow in a positive way.
I believe this because it happened to me.
The word, the idea–“pro-life”–can’t be just a political or philosophical idea. Pro-life work has to be far more intimate than a passing holiday discussion with a relative we rarely see.
I think pro-life work is about going out of my way to affirm those qualities of life which make me believe that living out commitment, faith, sacrifice, laughter, joy, hope, love, compassion… are a better way to live my life.
So, with that said, what’s the “next step”…
The next step is to believe that America’s culture of life can be renewed–that the debate about life is not the same debate as whether to be financially conservative or financially liberal.
It is far more human than that and far more intimate than that for me.
If you don’t believe me, listen to the song, “In Reverence” by David Tolk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUGspgib1iQ
I’ve closed my eyes and listened to this and I want to believe that my life has something to do with this music… there is something that Mr. Tolk is able to capture that is somehow just outside of my reach.
I guess that Biking for Babies is my own personal attempt to reach out to the Someone Whom this song speaks of.
Biking for Babies, for me, is about saying that there is at least just one part of life that is not about compromise–the beginning and end of life itself.
Believing this doesn’t make life any easier to live–I will still have happy days and sad days, comprehensible and incomprehensible days, tragedies and achievements…
But, that’s okay, because being “pro-life” isn’t about not having those experiences.
It’s about recognizing that life is tragic and loving God anyway.
It’s about inconveniences and enduring anyway.
It’s about going without and sacrificing anyway.
It’s about having and being thankful anyway.
It’s about suffering and enduring anyway.
It’s about disappointment and loving myself anyway.
It’s about finding success and thanking God anyway.
With that, thank you again to everyone who made Biking for Babies successful this year. To my friends, thank you for your friendship and the memories we’ve made so far. To my family, thank you for giving me the love I need to be inspired in my life. To God, thank you for the gifts you’ve given which I’m not aware of and forgive me for those I’m not thankful for.
If you have a glass in your hand right now, let’s toast… to Biking for Babies and life… they’re pretty crazy, but good.
–Mike