Each day is God’s gift. It’s all you get in exchange For the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one! Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily! This is your last and only chance at it…

Ecclesiastes 9:10 (The Message)

Yesterday’s riding challenge – self-imposed – was twofold. I wanted to do fifteen miles, and also to post an average speed above 16-mph.

I had a route that would give me the distance, but with several miles in the stop-and-go of Tarboro, that meant I had to ride hard on the open stretches where I could push my limits.

I was successful… pause for some polite golf applause – thank you… but my success made me realize I need to add a third category to the “why” of my riding.

First, I ride for fun – that’s what got me hooked. Then, I realized that I am riding for my health – turning 70 required something new and cycling helps. But now – and I have suspected this for a little while – it turns out I am also riding for performance.

Performance means I want to be in a little bit of competition with myself. Not other people (at least not yet, who knows how that might develop!).

I should not be surprised. Back in high school when I ran track it was not enough to be fast I also had to be the fastest. I enjoyed winning and I enjoyed setting and holding school and district records in track & field, in soccer and in cricket too.

What motivates me now is to be the best that I possibly can. I always have this sense – and it doesn’t matter if it is running, or teaching, or writing, or playing a game or (now) riding my bike – that there is more “under the hood” and that I should be accessing it.

Interestingly, it was not until I was in my 20’s that excellence in pursuits other than playing games meant anything at all to me. As a child and then I teen I always scooted by on natural talent. I was smart, I was coordinated, I was fast… and I was happy enough with that.

Well, happy enough until I wasn’t, and I began to realize that things like a university education were consequently out of reach… and people who practiced were better than people who did not… and coasting by on natural ability was simply not enough.

Then I came to America. And I met Rebekah. And I learned that excellence was something that required hard work. And then I learned that hard work was actually rewarding. And I began to value learning for its own sake and to understand that my faith expected me to make good use of the good gifts God has given me.

Not just given to me but trusted me with. And so excellence became also an expression of worship.

So here we are, retired and living in Tarboro because we fell in love with this community and its beautiful people. And it turns out I can’t get away with coasting any more now than I could when I was eighteen.

Life, it is a gift. So if I am doing anything then why not do it to honor God? And honoring God means to do my best and to be my best and to work for my best.

Because God wasn’t messing around when I was created, and the gifts God gives me are for a purpose. So I echo the words of Eric Liddell and say, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure.” When I ride I feel God’s pleasure… then I understand that I am also blessing God.

“”I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure.”

Eric Liddell (Presbyterian missionary)