God Meets Your Needs

“God will meet all your needs according

to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”

- Philippians 4:19

After four days on the bike, I have seen God providing for Janet and me. Our ride began with Wyatt and Christina renting a long bed truck and hauling our bike and all gear from Norfolk, through the tunnel to Buckroe Beach in Hampton, VA. There we had our ceremonial dipping of the rear tire in the Chesapeake Bay and began our ride. In the four days, everything on the bike has worked better than expected. We have learned that the chain connecting our sets of pedals comes off if there is no tension on them. So, no mad spinning thinking about that hill ahead, otherwise it is stopping to put it back on. Might tighten it a bit. Otherwise, everything on the bike has gone well.

Had a wonderful Warmshowers stay with Deb in Richmond after a long day of biking. Again, God provided. I needed a screwdriver and there was a simple bike stand along the Capital Trail. Simple fix. Thought I was going to make it to Fredericksburg yesterday, but our alarm didn’t go off, so we had a late start. Decided early to stop short in Thornburg. Good thing we did. We got into our hotel room and three minutes later an East Coast lightening storm hit. It rained over an inch in less than an hour. We were able to sit in the hotel and enjoy the storm.

Today, we headed to Woodbridge, just outside Washington DC. Just before lunch, we came across a bridge that was out. As we came to the bridge, there were cars in the VFW building. It had rained all day, and we were soaked. We pulled the bike under the entryway, entered, and learned an AA meeting was starting in 20 minutes. They invited us to get warm, have coffee and warm our leftover pizza. We stayed for part of the meeting and went on our way.

Just before we left, I was in the kitchen filling water bottles, and an AA member was making another pot of coffee. I asked about the fact that nobody in the meeting had raised their hand for being less than year sober. He told me he has been sober for 20 years yet comes to a meeting every day. It is part for fellowship, and part for accountability. As I listened to them recite the 12 steps of AA, I wondered how much we all need that to rely on the grace of God. It is not by our own power or strength, but by God’s grace that we can enter the kingdom of God.

God does provide. On one day, I commented that the next bench I saw, we were stopping for lunch. Within a mile, we found a bench. Yet we hadn’t seen one for miles. Then, I commented that I wanted ice cream. In about five miles we came to a Dairy Queen at the gas station just off the freeway exit we were passing. We knew were going to need to do laundry tonight. Our hotel had washers and driers, and the next building over had a laundry mat with quarters and one load package of soap.

We have seen some great sights already: horses running through the field, a doe with her fawn, the capital at Richmond, the Fredericksburg battlefield, the field where the British signed the end to the Revolutionary War to name a few. Reading about these in the history books makes it come alive to see them in person.