Everything Points to Today

You may have noticed from my Instagram feed that I have been spending a little time in Lansing over the last few weeks. Or, maybe you haven't been paying attention to my Ig; in that case, I've been spending some time in Lansing over the last few weeks.

As is often the case, the story of what is happening today follows a thread that was pulled many years ago.

In a past life, I hosted a local talk radio show. My friend Mark Congrove (Mark, if you’re reading this, let's get together soon) came in to the studio to talk about a crazy thing he was doing to raise money for an organization called Lakeshore Pregnancy Centers. They do some great work to help women make the choice not to have an abortion (free ultrasounds, clothing, counseling, classes for the young dads). Mark and a group of 12 or so people were going to ride their bikes from Holland, MI to Dallas, TX. They called it Ride for Life. Catchy, right?

Ride For Life...We Made It!

Mark says, “You should come with us!”

Within a few days, I had a road-worthy bike and was putting in the saddle time training for an 11-day, 1,100 mile trip to Texas. I could have never known how this Ride for Life would greatly impact my life.

Even before training and taking this trip, I was working on my Masters Degree in Communication at GVSU. The degree was part of Danielle’s master plan to encourage me to pursue new opportunities outside of radio. About a year after earning that degree, I took a position as the Communications Director at Ridge Point Community Church. It was never my intention to stay there long, but it was going to be a fun challenge to learn new skills in a new industry.

In the summer of 2017, I went away for seven days of therapy - The Shoreline West bike tour hosted by the League of Michigan Bicyclist. Each 60-mile day was an opportunity to think through the future. Each hill was a chance to pray. The beautiful landscape of northern Michigan a reminder of a wonderful creator. Sore muscles, quiet time in the tent, ice cream cones and local beers. Time to reflect. Alone-time stuff.

It was during this ride that it became clear to me that it was time to leave my job at Ridge Point to pursue something life-giving (not life-sucking). After 4 years of learning new skills and building up a portfolio of impressive projects, it was time to move on again.

I got confirmation of this God-prompting to seek out new employment…(pause)…when I was fired.

Funny how God works?

It was’t too long before I was hired as a Technical Writer at JR Automation. To be sure, this is not life-giving work for someone like me. But it paid the bills for a few months and taught me a valuable lessen about how to not let work overtake life. I punched in. I punched out. Work was left at work. You can do that? Turns out, YES, you can do that.

Nine years of pedaling. Studying. Mastering new skills. Curating a portfolio of work and building a resume. Learning how to balance work and life.

Everything points to today.

Without radio, I don’t meet Mark. Without Mark, I never love to ride a bike. Without riding, I never think about pursuing a life-giving career. I never learn to stop working. I never get to today.

2 weeks ago I started working at the League of Michigan Bicyclist as Director of Development. I will work to engage members and riders around the state to advocate for cycling and to make Michigan roads safer for all cyclists. I am so excited. It is as if all of the things I love, all of skills I've developed, and all the lessons I've learned are coming together at the right time and in the right place for this job... for me.

Everything points to today.

I’ve said before here that I don’t believe God is a cosmic string-puller aligning the minute details of our lives; rewarding the behaved and punishing the disobedient. But it is hard to look at the stories of our lives and not see how things align, and have been moving that way for sometime without us noticing. It must be like when the first time humans experienced an eclipse. “What the hell is going on?… Oh, I guess I should’ve seen that coming!” You have to ask yourself who put this all in motion? Or you have to believe syzygy is a bi-product of happenstance.

The thread that was pulled almost 10-years ago…