Ride for Refuge 2011

I haven't posted anything on our blog in a very long time, not because life has gotten dull, but because it has been busy and I haven't felt like I can take the time to just write.  The last few months have been spent preparing once again for the Ride for Refuge.

This year, we had somewhere around 500 riders and raised over $70,000 (we won't get final numbers on any of this until later, and people can still give for a couple of weeks, so the dollar amount will definitely be going up.).  Getting volunteers seemed a little more challenging this year, but God never ceases to amaze me with His provision.  At 4:45 AM on Saturday, people we didn't even know showed up in our garage to help put up ride route signs because they had heard we were short-handed.  Think of that!  Getting up that early on a Saturday morning to lend a helping hand!  On Friday evening the trailer that was loaded with all of the water (2,000 bottles) and gatorade (1500 bottles) broke down, so volunteers loaded up their mini-vans to bring it all to school.  We had planned to just have Randy VanDyke (who owned the trailer) dropped the beverages at the aid stations on Saturday morning, but with his trailer broken, we had to scramble to figure out how to do it.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because we were able to load all of the aid station supplies onto the mini vans, so instead of one person having to drop off at every aid station, the work was divided and much less stressful for everyone.   On Ride day, I was blessed to be able to actually ride my bike for the first time since we started directing this event, thanks to Kristin VanWieren who stepped in and took over my job of sending the riders out.  It was so fun to see the Ride "in action" and to see all of the bikes taking over the streets of Byron Center!

Today, Glen and I are both overly tired and fighting colds, but we are so blessed and humbled to have been used again with this year's ride.  And when we think of the impact that the Ride will have on the lives of Africans, Asians, South Americans, etc..and refugees and vulnerable people right here in our own country, we feel a deep sense of gratitude for having the privilege of making this event happen.  We are praying that if someone else should take over directing the Ride, that God will provide the people, but we are also willing to keep serving in this way as long as we feel called.  God has always been faithful in providing for every single detail to make this happen, and it is really HIS ride, and we give HIM all the glory.

When we have a video of the Ride, we will post it.