I’m finally fully into “biking season”—praise the Lord! I have a treadmill in my basement that gets me exercise through the winter months…but I always long to be outdoors and pedaling. The weather has turned warmish and sunnyish, and thus, time to get out pedaling!
For those who might be newer here, I’m a fairly avid cyclist. My goal each year is to pedal at least 2000 miles (~3200 km) each year, and because I refuse to ride in ice and snow, this usually limits me to mid-March through mid-November each year for my pedaling adventures. With the warming weather, I’ve been out almost daily lately for a 10-12 mile ride, and I’m already closing in on 200 miles for 2024 as I’m writing this.
The thing is, I live in northwest Iowa. What that means: the winds come whistling over the plains! And while many people have a mental picture that Iowa is pretty flat…I think anyone who has biked the gravel roads of Sioux county would tell you that it’s not quite as flat as you might think. That combination can really sap you…particularly if you’re heading uphill for a mile or two with strong headwind.
The other day I was getting ready to head out for a ride, and my wife commented, “Pretty windy out there, isn’t it?” She was right: sustained winds of about 18 mph, with gusts of 30+, which isn’t always fun to navigate.
But my response: “Eh…it’s Iowa. If I don’t ride when it’s windy, I won’t ever ride!”
That might be overstating things a bit, but there is truth here: most times I head out for a ride, I make decisions about where I’m going to pedal based on which way the breeze is blowing, and just how windy it is that day. My general rule, if I can help it: I head out into the wind, and then turn around to get a push for my trip home. My neighbor, Tony, is also a cyclist, and we sometimes meet each other when one of us is headed out and the other headed back home. This happened recently: Tony flying back into town, smiling and waving as he blew by at 30 mph with the wind at his back while I was cranking hard and crawling along at about 8 mph.
The wind is an obstacle, sure, but it doesn’t stop me from doing the good, hard thing. I love to ride, and dealing with the wind is part of it. I make plans to mitigate it, and use it to my advantage when I can, but I recognize I can’t avoid it. If I’m going to enjoy my pedaling adventures, I have to decide to deal with the wind.
In fact, I can hear the wind whistling outside, and yet I’m contemplating heading out to pedal shortly after I finish writing this. I think this could be a metaphor for many things in my life, not least of which is my work as a teacher. Not unlike pedaling my bike, I also find deep joy in teaching (of course!) but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy. There are “headwinds” of various sorts—some I can mitigate, some I can use to my advantage in certain circumstances, and some I decide to just crank it out and pedal through. Honestly, that sounds a lot like discipleship too: Jesus never promised us that it would be easy following His way. Thanks be to God that he has already marked out the path ahead of us, and gives us the strength to keep on keeping on, even when headwinds come our way!
Dave’s Faves
Here are three things I’m absolutely loving right now that I hope you might love too…
Dave’s Fave #1: Getting Published…
It’s always nice to see something I’ve written in print! I’m a featured blogger on the Association of Christian School’s International’s official blog for this month. I have had two pieces published there, which you can read here:
Also, I’m excited to announce that I’m going to be giving one of the keynote addresses at ACSI’s Flourishing Schools Institute in Houston in October. It’s an honor and a privilege to be part of this amazing group of educators!
Dave’s Fave #2: …and Getting Cited
I definitely still think of myself as a teacher first and foremost, but serving in higher education is kind of a weird thing. At some point along the way, I also became a scholar, or maybe even an academic? :-)
Dordt is not a “publish or perish” kind of institution, but I’m grateful that I get to do scholarly work, like writing book chapters and articles, and present ongoing research at conferences. In that light, I hit a milestone recently: my published work has been cited 100 times. This isn’t a huge number compared to many academics, but it is a big deal for me! You can see a list of my published work (and who is citing it) on Google Scholar.
Dave’s Fave #3: The Oh Hellos EP
The Oh Hellos have fast become one of my favorite bands. (They were an important part of the soundtrack for writing my first book!) They are a sibling duo who were my top artist on my Spotify wrapped for 2023. (Which was no surprise to me at all.) I love the way they work their faith into their lyrics, and the acoustic folk-rock vibes are excellent. I’ve been listening to their original recording, The Oh Hellos EP from 2011 on repeat for the past few days—amazing music. Give ‘em a listen, and drop a comment in response to let me know what you think!
The Last Word!
The end of the school year is out there, just over the horizon, friends. We have plenty to do between now and then! At the risk of taking a passage of scripture out of context, let me share a short section from Philippians 3 with you. This come right after the section where Paul describes to the Philippians how he is pursuing Jesus, and has no confidence in his human strength, but deeply desires to become more like Jesus day-by-day. And then, these famous words:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thingI do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:12-14)
Now, I am not going to twist brother Paul’s words here into a sort of “rah-rah, you can make it to the end of the school year, teacher!” message. Instead, let’s take what Paul is saying seriously: what are we striving towards? Not the end of a school year (okay…maybe that too!) But rather, we are pursuing ultimate things: faithfully following Jesus, and using everything we’ve got to pursue the everlasting glory of His kingdom!
Let’s keep that perspective, yeah? Our work, Christian educators, is supremely important, and we must not take it lightly! But why is it so important? Because it is one way we each are working your our discipleship, becoming a little more like Jesus day-by-day. Let’s keep pressing on toward that goal, friends! Pedal into those headwinds!