Reflection II: Practicing the Presence of God

I saved this post for last because it is the most important aspect of an experience such as Bikecapade II.

While Bikecapade was certainly an adventure intended for fun and physical challenge, I also knew that it would be a spiritual journey as well. There’s no way you can spend such vast time alone, amid such beautiful surroundings, pushing yourself to the limit, without what one writer called “practicing the presence of God.”

That’s one reason I did not use my iPod much on the ride. It inhibits meditation, prayer and reflection. Occasionally, when facing a long grueling climb, it would help to listen to my playlist of worship songs. As I mentioned in one post, I even played “Chariots of Fire” to help make it up one such hill.

For the most part, I am not thinking about anything of great significance when I ride. I just want to take in the scenery, focus on my riding and enjoy the serendipity of whatever comes to mind.

I occasionally pray. Some prayers are for the specific needs of that day: the stamina to get to my destination, safety and protection along the way. Other prayers are just inviting God’s presence, opening myself up to what He has in store for me that day.

We cannot presume what God has in store for us. Maybe riding in the rain will be His way of talking to us that day.

The aim is an attitude of being with God throughout the day. My personal belief system envisions a God of the Heavenlies — not a God of a faraway heaven, but a God who permeates every aspect of the world, who surrounds us and, if we let Him, even inhabits us. The God “who art in heaven” is a God that is more present than the air we breathe or the light we see.

I don’t profess to have great spiritual experiences. No voices from the sky, no visions. Once in a while I get a hold of a simple truth that seems to be His particular message, such as “I will provide all of your needs today.”

There is nothing particularly spiritual or disciplined about my lifestyle off the road. When I check into a motel, all I want to do is shower and eat. I usually fall asleep with the TV on.

One discipline I have maintained over the years has always been my mainstay in running or cycling. Back in 1976, when I first took up jogging on a regular basis, I found it incredibly boring. To give my mind something to do, I memorized about 16 hymns that I grew up with while attending Presbyterian churches (“O Worship the King,” “For All the Saints,” “Be Thou My Vision” etc.”). I always recite them to myself in my head, in the same order. Most of the time I will “loop” on several of the verses, then catch myself and re-start that hymn, and so forth.

On the last day of the ride, this really helped. Because I knew I had friends waiting for me in Las Cruces, I needed to keep up my pace. I forced myself to go through the whole cycle of hymns (which can take about half and hour, longer if I “loop” a lot) before looking down at my bike computer to see how many miles I had covered.

My advice is that everyone should have something like this stored in their head that will occupy their mind when needed. The hymns work for me. For someone else it might be other kinds of songs, poetry or maybe Bible verses. I think it’s important that it be something uplifting and meaningful. Even though I don’t reflect on the words that much, I believe there is a subconscious benefit just to have something healthy running through my mind.

I love the little “God things” that seem to occur on an adventure like this. I remember on Day 3 I had made a mental note of stopping at mile 83 of the 100-mile ride. Don’t ask me why – it was just an arbitrary choice that I had made. But it just so happened that mile 83 came at the very summit of that day’s ride.

I had decided to bring along St. Augustine’s “City of God” for the trip. I probably only got through about 100 pages during various breaks during the ride (I started, by the way, with Part III of the book; the first two parts are not anywhere near as stimulating to me). Ironically, this seemed to fit into the ride quite well, since the Bikecapade route included both the Plains of San Augustin and San Augustin Pass.

The point of this last post is not to preach. I just think the spiritual aspect of a long ride like this is incredibly important. Physical fitness, after all, won’t last forever.

That’s it for the Bikecapade blog (until the next Bikecapade!). Thank you for all who followed along, Writing this blog added so much to the experience (and certainly made me happy I decided to cart my laptop along). I’m glad I could share this adventure with you. It’s been a great ride.

-- Randy