How It Began

It was a Saturday morning. I think it was in December. Melanie and I had walked downtown to get a little exercise and run a few errands. We stopped in at the bike shop to say "hi" to BJ and he told us that he was planning a ride in September, a self-contained bicycle tour from Seattle back to Dixon and then maybe on to Bloomington, Indiana. He expected to average 65 miles a day. There was an implied invitation in what he said.

When we left the shop, Melanie said, "You should go, too."

I tried to shrug it off. It has been a few years since BJ and I last toured together. My situation has changed. There were a lot of hurdles in the way of my going. But Melanie kept talking it up all the way home.

"You should go while you're still able."

I asked her, "Could you live without me for a month?"

She could.

"You'll have to give the cat his shots."

She said she would.

"Well, I'll think about it." I was beginning to take the idea seriously.

On Monday, I called my brother. Our 81 year old mother has impaired cognitive functioning. She has required a lot of attention from us both. I told Jeff what I was thinking.

"Could you take care of mom for a month?"

He said he could.

After worship the following Sunday, I ran the idea past my church council. It would mean I'd be away for five consecutive Sundays. They approved the idea. So on Tuesday, at my weekly pastors' text study, I asked my friend and colleague Chris, "What are you doing in September?"

She said, "Give me a week to think about it."

The following Tuesday she agreed to cover my worship and pastoral care duties. She insisted, however, that I call this trip a sabbatical.

"I won't do it if this is just a vacation," she said. So it's a sabbatical.

And that cleared the last obstacle.

I have been riding, and training, and tinkering with my bike, and gathering my gear, and on Monday, August 27, BJ and I will board a plane bound for Seattle.

I'm excited and maybe a little nervous.