the present:hope tour team on the catalyst stage. my pal paul is to my right (he's 5th from R and i'4th with the camera on my helmet).
my friend, paul hurckman has an interesting post on the venture expedition blog about the impact of “story”. the tension between tell a story in front of literally tens of thousands of people and to just one person.
i find it interesting especially even today, some 12 weeks since riding more than 800 miles with paul and 11 other individuals in the present:hope tour.
i shared again today about the tour with a small group of senior high young men that i’m mentoring in a local high school.
my sharing with them was less about my personal accomplishment and more about the larger idea of a willingness to risk to make a difference in the lives of others, even those we may never have met. it was a great exchange between myself and these 7 young men. most of these guys are making some unwise decisions about lifestyle choices that are impacting themselves in a negative way ( one of the reasons we’re spending time together). i began our conversation with the “what’s goin’ on” video from the post last week with thoughts about another young man, jonah . it was good to hear my 7 young firends championing jonah’s plight and offering to befriend him. and then i showed the tour video and a couple other videos i had shot riding on the highway. those videos were a great springboard into a good conversation about understanding that all of our lives matter and can leverage and impact others in ways we might not even understand while living it out.
i was on the phone later today with two others and again the impact of 12 days on a bike during the present:hope tour came up. there are times i find myself wanting to apologize because it seems like all i ever do is talk about the those 803 miles. yet what it really is about is simply sharing what the weight of those miles– the friendships– the investment from family in friends–and the list goes on — has offered not only to my story in life but literally hundreds of others.
paul notes correctly that the good folks at Venture have yet to receive an application for the 2012 rides…i’m hoping and praying that we can change that. because as paul says…
…the real power in the Venture story happens when one person takes time to tell another how their life has been transformed by being on a tour.
so here’s my challenge…if you’re a pastor or youthworker this Kingdom effort called venture expeditions could offer you and/or one of your students the opportunity to truly benefit the world and discover your soul. check them out.