Countdown to Triathlon – 198 Days, 28.25 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 52 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -  A person can find fun and excitement even at the nail salon.  Barbie Jo

I went for a long needed pedicure today and manicure and had no idea that this was the Vietnamese New Year.  While I was there, Buddha and the dragon came in to bless the establishment and went into all the rooms.

First came Buddha, then the front and back of the dragon.

The owner of the salon had tied a Vietnamese New Year's  card containing money outside under the eaves and the dragon had to jump up high to retrieve it. 

It took longer than usual to get my nails done, but it was a treat to see something I've never witnessed before.

The Journey - Installment Fifty-Two

       
(I think I've shown this picture before, but it leads to the "Hill" and also to the intersection where the ambulance carme for me.  You can't see in the small picture, but my face is red and I have been exerting myself.)

      


        The next morning we arose once again at 3am in order to ride 45-50 miles and return in time for Morena to leave for work.  My rotten attitude crept back and riding for two hours in the dark just seemed to depress me more.  Hollen either rode behind me or somewhat ahead of me.  I hated every mile.  I just couldn’t seem to find the joy in what I was doing or to appreciate what God was trying to accomplish with me.  It was hard to ride and cry.    Hollen kept saying, “Mom, go faster,” but I couldn’t see well  because I had to wipe tears from my eyes.  Because of the dark and the tears I was having difficulty seeing. Fortunately, because it was dark, Hollen didn’t realize that I was behaving like a baby.  I cried out to the Lord, quietly, so that Hollen wouldn’t hear me, that this assignment was too hard for me and that I hated the feeling of being trapped with no way of escape from the upcoming ride.  It is truly amazing how far we can allow Satan to bring us down, especially when we are attempting to serve God.  I was having an argument inside my head about how miserable I was.  One part of me said that here I live in a free country where I can worship the Lord without persecution and how blessed I should feel that God would choose me to ride on this ride.  That part of me said Christ died a most painful and horrible death for me.  Then Satan contributed his bit by causing my mind to tell me, “ Yes, but He only was on the cross for three hours and you have to get up and ride the bicycle every day, day after day.”  I was so absolutely horrified that such a thought could creep into my mind that I cried out to the Lord and immediately asked for His forgiveness.  It caused me to cry even more at such a horrific thought that I had allowed Satan to plant in my mind.  Until this writing, I have never admitted this to anyone because I was so ashamed. 

            We continued to ride and I continued to cry.  Think of how well I might have ridden that day if I had been full of joy instead of crying and feeling sorry for myself.  When we arrived at my “dead bird place,” my bird was gone.  That really caused me to cry out loud to Hollen that “my bird is gone and I really needed him today.”  Hollen snapped back at me since he was certainly losing his patience with me by now, “Mom!  That bird has been here for 5 days.  That is a miracle in itself. Every night animals come out and clean up any dead things.   Probably a mongoose carried it off and it is amazing that it was here for so long.”  As the sun began to rise, the light began to illuminate our day and my spirits.  By the time we could see well, God’s blessing that day overflowed beyond belief.  That day and that day only, God showed us ten dead birds.  Never before had I noticed so many dead birds and I kept repeating as I passed each one, “Hi dead bird. Yes, I know God loves me and is with me.”  I finally snapped out of my crying mode and looked around at the beautiful scenery of Hawaii and began to stop looking only at my perceived misery and myself and actually appreciated what I was seeing.  

COME BACK ON MONDAY AND SEE IF I GET A SPEEDING TICKET ON MY BICYCLE.