Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist

The Wallick Family

Don, Linda, Joel & Faith

Dear Friends,

            Some of you know I took up cycling last fall.  I tried to keep up during the winter as best I could, but a busy schedule, bad weather and uncomfortable indoor bikes at home and at the YMCA kept me from doing too much.  Once the weather began to clear, though, I was off to the races.  When I started cycling in the fall, my goal was to gradually build up to at least 50 miles a week on my bike, then work on getting faster, then add more miles.  This month (April – when I’m writing this), I’ve now finally achieved this – I’ve had two consecutive weeks of 50+ miles on my bike!  I love that my legs are so much stronger and that my blood pressure has begun to creep back down.  And I love the scenery I get to take in on this area’s bike trails.  But it hasn’t been without challenges.

            In February, when we had a brief warm up into the 50-degree range, I got on my bike and headed to the Alum Creek trail.  Before going too far, I hit a patch of frozen mud and wiped out, tearing my cycling jacket and receiving cuts and bruises on my knee and elbow (I knew I’d become a serious cyclist when my first reaction was “Oh, no!  I hope my bike is OK!”  It was.).  I kept on cycling that day, though.  Another time earlier this year, I’d planned on a 15-16 mile ride, but began to feel pretty fatigued at about mile 10.  I forced myself to pedal on and felt great when I was able to complete the ride.  As I get stronger I can cycle farther and faster.  Eventually, I’ll move up to 60 miles a week.

            It occurred to me as I rode today (21.2 miles, by the way!), that we are entering a time of challenge here at Church of the Good Shepherd.  We’ve been together now for 18 months as pastor and congregation and wonderful things have happened!  But as we continue to grow and as we continue to re-engage our neighborhood, we’ll have growing pains.  Our routines will be disrupted.  We’ll have to do some things differently.  We’ll have to challenge ourselves to keep going when things get hard. 

            But as we get stronger and push ourselves further into our new future, I have no doubt that we will become a shining beacon of hope and love for all those around us in this community.  As the Book says, “…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus”  (Philippians 3:13b-14).

            Press on, my friends.  Let’s see how far we can go!

Peace, 

Rev. Don Wallick