Final Thoughts

Just typing those words, "Final Thoughts", brings with it: One) a sense of sadness as I am missing my teammates, the support and laughter we shared, learning British phrases, defending the merits of peanut butter (the comfort food I brought with me that does not have the same allure to my British buds); Two) a sense of relief as I have been thinking about this day, the first post-ride Saturday, sitting on a chair in Peet's Coffee and not on my bicycle saddle.  This is the first weekend since February 3rd that I am not riding outside; Three) a sense of overwhelming blessing, for the experience of the past 5 months, and also coming home to the loving arms of my wife, so good; and Four) a sense of thankfulness as Team Blazing Saddles has dispersed and everyone, not living in Burundi, has made it home, healthy, bike intact, with an amazing experience under their belt, and a fire in their belly to serve God wherever called.

There are so many moments from the ride that seemingly happened yesterday:

Pancake Lesson 

Dean and I teaching our chef, Jacques, how to make pancakes in the kitchen of the place we stayed the first night of the ride.  He doesn't speak English, and we don't speak French, but somehow we communicated and he cranked out delicious pancakes for us every morning.

Simon shares the Gospel

Enjoying the endless beauty of Burundi.  Both its terrain and people are something that must be experienced firsthand and watching Simon and/or the Burundian support team share the Gospel during our roadside rest stops.

Hearing the text notification sound, even though I was told I would not get texts in Burundi, from my phone and looking to see it was from my son, who is currently in Ghana.  I was unable to call or send emails and was feeling cutoff from my world, so that text was a total gift as it felt like home was coming to Burundi.

The deep and sometimes not so deep conversations I had with my teammates while riding through Burundi.

Simba

How I saw Simba

Simba, Josh's dog, that barked half the night outside my bedroom window.  I've seen demon possessed people in Africa, but never a demon-possessed dog.  Until I met Simba.

Watching school children, yelling "Muzungu" (white person), stream out of their classroom as we approached a village and the laughter of the people as we would greet them with   "jambo" or "amahoro" as we would ride by them.

All those memories are wonderful and lasting, but what I take home with me are these three thoughts:

One, Burundi Dave does not complete a 420 mile, 30,000 foot climb bicycle ride without the help of the other riders and the four-man Burundian support team.  I tend to be a lone-wolf when it comes to most tasks in my life, spiritual and/or non-spiritual.  I like working alone but, I now realize, that approach may not produce the optimal result and working with teammates can create unexpected and better outcomes than going it alone.  So I need to be more open to people who offer their help and need to seek out people who share my interests and work together to accomplish goals set before me.

Two, when it comes to answering God's call, I realize, no matter how unsure I may be of my abilities, it's best to say yes to God.  From the training to the Tour itself, God put people in my life to encourage me and help me reach my goal.  Also, the unexpected blessings I received from doing the Tour is overwhelming.  The most off-the-wall blessing is my son being offered an internship by one of the readers of this blog.  No way that happens if I didn't sign up for the Tour.

I am 100% confident that God is preparing the hearts and minds of people that will be there for me when I say yes to Him in the future and I'm excited to think about the many blessings God is waiting to shower down on me when I choose to follow His path for my life.

Three, my faith, the Christian faith, is meant to be an exciting life, getting out of my comfort zone and demonstrating God's love to others through my deeds, accepting the challenges God puts before me, so my faith will be strengthened in preparation for the next call from God.  And answering the next call means God will bless others through me and I will be blessed in ways I can never imagine, and that's exciting to think about.

It can be dirty and messy but oh what joy comes with it!  I remember near mile 60 of Day 6, resting on a hill and absolutely exhausted, Simon asking Paul A., "You're hot and sweaty but don't you feel so alive?". The answer is, YES!  We were physically exhausted, smelled bad, and didn't know when the hill would end, but because we rode up the hill  (answered God's call) we were treated to a fantastic view (God's blessing) and felt so alive!

God's greatest command to Christians is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself".  In short, "Love God, love others".  If you're a Christian, and not already doing so, you've got to get out of your comfort zone, and start loving God and others using the gifts, and you have many, God has given you, to their fullest potential.  Remember, you don't have to do it, you GET to do it, and will be blessed in ways you could never have imagined.

I know I'm going preachy here but, for gosh sakes, sitting in a pew and telling people how bad they are because they are not Christian is not an attractive presentation of the Christian faith yet I think that's how many non-Christians see us.  If we come alongside them, however, and love them as God loves us, great things will happen.

If you're not a Christian, I'm available if you want to talk.  I'm no biblical expert, but I can tell you why I love God and why I want to follow His path for my life.  What you do with that information is between you and God but know that I will be praying for you.

So my friend, I leave you with this:  if you have even an inkling of an idea that you want to participate in next year's Tour du Burundi, something I highly recommend, email Simon now and start a dialog.  Also, check out his blog, which includes his observations of the Tour.  It doesn't hurt to explore the idea and I'm happy to offer my input, and who knows, maybe next year you'll be the one blogging from Burundi.

And I can't sign off without one final request for donations.  I did more climbing and miles than I ever expected and I'm hoping that may motivate you to support the cause now that I've actually completed the Tour.

As I have time, I will post more pictures and video to my blog but it will take some time to sort through everything.  And like I've said before, my attention now turns to my deserving wife who has supported me through this entire process, so pictures are secondary to her.  She is wearing my "It's all about me" baseball cap as I write this so I think I better go.

May God bless you and thank you again for joining me on this amazing adventure!

Burundi Dave, signing off.

Amahoro (Peace)