samgamgee

9.25.01 - Ride Day 1- Joplin/Springfield to Branson

and so this adventure truly begins. the team split up with some staying in joplin to ride out from St Paul UMC with Pastor Aaron Brown and the rest of us left from Springfield with a team of 8 young men who are on a team of cyclists sponosored by Convoy of Hope.  both teams enjoyed a amazing of worship with these two congregations and huge encouragement as we shared during the service and then were prayed over for safety and protection.

the trip from springfield to branson is about 45 miles.  over incredibly hilly terrain.  for me it was the largest hills

hope community church - springfield, mo worship service

i have encountered yet.  So i was glad (in one sense) that our morning devotion had focused our minds on the idea of wrestling.  i’ll admit there were times when there was a deep seated fear that i wasn’t going to be able to do this.  that sense was leveraged by the fact that the last 25 miles of our ride was straight down the berm of I-65 with the movement of traffic of cars – trucks -buses doing at least 70.  crazy thing i’ve  done yet.

our hosts for the nite in branson is first baptist church.  had the great opportunity to hang with Pastor Mark his students (looking forward to when we launch our student ministry on 10.13)

hanigng with pastor mark and the students at the well- first baptist church - branson, mo

today’s theme is “what is in you?” asking those deep questions about how we’re wired and what talents we can bring to bare to impact the world we live in? today’s prayer focus on for those that are pushing through the mental struggles of having lived through the horrors of those tornadoes.
we’re doing about 75 miles today into akransas. gonna be a cold one…its just 46 degrees right now.