I’m going to be honest with you for a moment.
As long as I’ve been with Biking for Babies (7 years now), I have never hopped on a bike.
I guess technically I have, when I borrowed my friend Andrew’s bike to “train” for about a month in 2017. And when we set up our sponsor booths at SEEK15, 17, and 19 which had an interactive bike challenge (we’re sponsoring SEEK21 too!).
But to be honest, I have zero desire to hop on a bike and ride across the nation like most of the rest of my fellow Biking for Babies’ community.
And if we’re being really honest, I think they are nuts for doing so.
So you might be wondering why I’m a part of this organization 7 years after I said my first yes, or maybe why I even said that yes at all!
I’ll give you two answers: God’s providence and His community.
When my friend Jeremy (now Brother John-Mary of the Discalced Carmelites) asked me to help out with this bike ride across the country by driving a van and helping to keep the riders watered and sunscreened, it was two semesters after I graduated college. It sounded like my last great adventure before too much “adulting” took over. So I said yes.
And even though I only knew a couple of people on the ride, it was one of the most transformative experiences of my life.
Can I tell you of the things we experienced daily? Nope. Do I remember the exact locations of where we stopped or the things we saw? No way.
But I remember the generosity of our hosts, the unexpected “God-moments,” and most of all, the incredible presence of God working through the ordinary moments of our communal living.
I’m not sure if you’ve experienced anything like that before: the full understanding and appreciation of God existing through the people around you.
Until a few years ago, I don’t think I really appreciated it. I just knew that I desired it.
It’s in the moments of genuine community, authentic sacrifice, divine joy, and true discipleship in the most real ways that has brought me back to Biking for Babies, year after year.
I never laugh more than when I am with my Biking for Babies family. I never see the depths of ecstatic longing for Heaven on earth than when I am with my Biking for Babies family. I never appreciate God’s gift of life more than when I am with my Biking for Babies family.
Community is everything.
It’s why God exists as a community, a triune God.
It’s why the model of family is a community.
It’s why it says in Scripture that man is not meant to be alone.
The Biking for Babies community is not filled with carbon copies of pious athletes. We each have our quirks, our gifts, our weaknesses. We have opportunities to grow and share with each other. We have moments when we let each other down.
Our community challenges each other to be better disciples, better humans, better brothers and sisters and friends. Our community listens to each others’ fears and builds each other up. Our community is not perfect but strives to be more like Jesus in the different areas of our world.
Y’all, God comes into the midst of this community and helps us to recognize that each of the incredible people who are a part of this organization are gifts just as they are.
And if that doesn’t say “Culture of Life,” then I just don’t know what does.
If you want to be a part of a community like this, I personally, right now, am inviting you to check out our Missionary Formation Program through our National Ride. Applications close on February 28, and I can guarantee that if you participate, then God will be on the move in your heart in a way that is different than you have experienced before. Join us!
