Countdown to Triathlon – 213 Days, 30.4 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 43 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -

Philippians 2:14-15
Do everything without complaining or arguing,
New International Version of the Bible

Definition of Grumbler

1. Noun. A person given to excessive complaints and crying and whining.

Exact synonyms: Bellyacher, Complainer, Crybaby, Moaner, Sniveller, Squawker, Whiner

Oh boy!  Was that ever me in those days.  I'm not doing that now.  I may not like all the exercise, but I am definitely not complaining and grumbling.  I learned my lesson.

The Journey - Installment Forty-Three

        Hollen lived in Ewa Beach, Hawaii and his house was right on the beach.  The view was stunning each day, all day long.  I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect place to stay and visit with my son, his wife Morena, and baby Kaleo.  Kaleo was only about three and a half months old and it was so nice to get acquainted with him since we lived so far away and wouldn’t get to see much of him as he grew. Hollen, Kaleo and I rode every morning on the bike trails, streets and sidewalks.  It was hot and the humidity made it so much more difficult to ride.  I was discouraged because at first we were not riding very far and I felt as if I were riding at my maximum and wondered how I would be able to ride 220 miles in three days.  Knowing how far I had to ride in June made it seem as if I were not training at all.  I really hated riding each day and I knew that I needed an attitude correction and couldn’t seem to change my attitude myself.  I began to sing under my breath because I didn’t wish to expend any more air than necessary.  The song that I sang over and over was Change My Heart O Lord. The words go something like this – at least this is how I sang the song:

Change my heart O Lord,

Make it ever true.

Change my hear O Lord,

Make it ever new.

You are the potter,

I am the clay.

Mold me and make me,

This is what I pray.

As I rode and sang under my breath, I just kept imagining myself as a huge lump of wet clay and picturing the Lord molding that clay, (me) to His own purpose.  I have always struggled with the verses of Romans 9:20-21 which say:

               : But who are you O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?”  Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same  lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? "

           My parents taught me to always strive to be the best I could be.  By my way of thinking, the best always meant that I should not be that lowly pot for common use but rather I should be used for noble purposes.  Of course, that way of thinking occurred before I became a Christian. But even after loving the Lord for many years, I still did not understand the significance of this verse nor how I could let the potter mold me to become what He wanted me to become; not what I wanted.  I wanted to be able to let go and let God shape me, but I just didn’t know how to go about doing that.  So sing I did.  Every day I prayed that God would change my heart and attitude and make me joyful in my preparations for the bike ride.  I wanted to be riding with joy in my heart, with gratitude that God had chosen me to participate in this ride instead of riding each day with a sense of dread.  But each afternoon about four o’clock I would begin to think about the next morning’s ride with my son, “my torturer.”   I prayed constantly for a change in my outlook, but nothing was happening to change my bad attitude.