Ride for Eternity

Well, call us crazy, but we did go out on Saturday for the Ride for Eternity. After Wes took his dose of Chemo at 8:10a.m. on Saturday we bundled up and then over the bundles we leathered up and off we went. We met the other dozen or so bikes at Morden Motorsports and took off from there to meet the rest of the bikes at a little church in Ritchot. Thankfully the church was warm and cozy, the coffee was piping hot and the muffins were mmmm fresh! We visited for awhile getting to know everyone, there were only a couple of familiar people so this is always a great way to get to know others.

Wes and George visiting outside the church in Ritchot before we left for Seven Sisters Falls

We arrived at Seven Sisters Falls after a quick stop in Garson, which is where we lost the one gentleman from Altona. He had been wondering why his motorcycle was steering so funny and when he parked beside us at the gas pumps I saw why. His front tire was almost flat to the ground. He had brought with some tire repair thing, but unfortunately it was his valve stem on the tire that was shot. So, after a quick call to CAA we all said goodbye to him and had to leave him behind to wait for help. We arrived at Sisters Falls about an hour or so later and went to the Baptist church where the youth group was serving us lunch. They had barbecued hamburgers, coleslaw and cake which was very good.

Wes visiting with a gentleman from Steinbach at Seven Sisters Falls

Just some of the bikes at the Seven Sisters Baptist Church

Many wore Christian markings on bikes, backs and bodies

...interesting group!

Great group of people...same purpose...same passion...

The Baptist youth group served us a bbq lunch...nicely done!

After lunch we drove up to Pinawa and then headed back to Birds Hill Park where we were going to meet with all the bikes and form a parade back to Ritchot. All totaled they thought there could be about 100 bikes or so and we visited again as we waited for everyone to gather for the final run. The CHVN van was going to lead the way through the city and back to Ritchot. It was all very nicely organized.

Everyone meets at Birds Hill Park to form a parade of cycles to

make our way to Ritchot!

Every second for a quick visit is utilized well!

The parade leaving Birds Hill Park

Back at the church in Ritchot for supper, music, door prizes

and great conversation!

We made it back to Ritchot for supper which was served by the staff and members of Teen Challenge and the band Peacemakers played. What a talented group of young men. Now, anyone who knows me knows I like my music loud, but I have to admit this time I found the music a bit overpowering though I enjoyed the style immensely. However, when you perform in a gym I think the acoustics just aren't conducive to a solid sound which was too bad. But, oddly enough guess who won one of their Cd's? Yup, so I'm going to hear them play like their supposed be heard. I'm pretty sure I will enjoy it much better from a recorded studio.
When we were telling Mark and Eva about our day and I explained that even I felt the music had been a bit loud. Mark's eyes popped open, "You thought the music was too loud?" he looks at his dad, "I can hear her music from the shop when I'm working in there, I didn't think anything was ever too loud for mom!"
OK, so what you have here is a complete exaggeration, but I thought I would tell the story as I heard it, not necessarily as an absolute truth!
The highlight for me was watching the young men working together. Not one was without some kind of marking, whether it was simply a design or gang marking I wouldn't know, but there was such a joy in them, a camaraderie that didn't make you feel like pulling back. In fact, if I could have I would have loved to have sat down with every one of them to hear their story.
One young man from Steinbach did share his story and his testimony was the icing on the cake for the day for me.
One of the things that the director shared that struck me was that Teen Challenge is not a drug or alcohol rehabilitation centre. In fact they don't promote rehab at all, they promote Jesus Christ, because once you have him in your life the drugs and alcohol aren't.
Well, this is just a quick overview of our day, but tomorrow I would like to share with you Daniel's story.

Stay tuned.

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:10