Monday 30 April 2012

From Midnight to Maverick!

In case you can't make out where My Midnight Man is standing, he is in a box; the box used to ship a bicycle, more specifically His bicycle.  He rode the bike from London, England to Geneva, Switzerland in June 2009.  He did a sponsored ride to raise money for Crisis--a charity that helps homeless people reclaim their lives.  www.crisis.org.uk

My Midnight Man left the bike in Switzerland with the group who hosted the ride, Discover Adventure.  www.discoveradventure.com They boxed up all the participant's bikes and returned the bikes home. So here he is re-assembling his bike.  

My Midnight Man's best friend, "Jon-David", was a great encouragement to My Midnight Man.  

"Jon-David & John the day John left for Geneva"
Due to a work accident, My Midnight Man was seperated from his beloved "Trusty Steed"--"TS" (aka bike!) for over three years.  But that seperation did nothing to dampen his passion for bicycling.  

There were times of frustration during the last three years--My Midnight Man battling pain, boredom, lack of finances and fitness.  But having successfully completed the London to Geneva ride, it put a desire into his heart and mind to do another ride. 

After a long healing time and lots of prayer, My Midnight Man is now pain free and back on his bike.  Yippee! I believe MMM's passionate desire to take action to help others was instrumental in his experiencing God's healing touch.  

The new goal for MMM is to ride from John O'Groats, Scotland to Land's End in England, across Southern England, through London, cross the English Channel, on to Paris, over to Geneva, Switzerland, then further south to Nice, France.  The plan is to ride the trip over a five-week period in the Summer of 2013. That's approximately 2,200 miles or 3,520 kilometres.    

For those who have participated in fund-raising athletics, it is customary to ride with a team or with an organisation that arranges the logistics, like Discover Adventure.  The problem with these groups is that often part of the money required by the organisation is directed toward lodging, petrol for support vehicles and food.  Therefore, not all of the money goes toward charity.  

MMM wants all the sponsorship money he raises to go to the charities he is now focusing on, The A21 Campaign.  http://www.thea21campaign.org/ and ECPAT UK www.ecpat.org.uk/  Both of these organisations work to raise awareness of human trafficing and the eventual abolishment of modern day slavery and the abuse of children caused by child prostitution and pornography.  

My Amazing Husband is hoping to recruit friends to ride with him for different parts of the trip.  He also wants to do the trip independently of fund-raising groups.  And MMM is prepared to ride by himself, if he must.  He will have to cover all his expenses--for bed and breakfasts, any repairs he needs to make enroute, food and communication.  

"Jon-David" was discussing MMM's aspirations to ride such a long way, charting his trip on the map and taking on all the logistics.  The next thing "Jon-David" says is, "Man, you are a Maverick!"  MMM laughed till he was breathless.

Keeping in mind that a Maverick is an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party, those who know MMM will agree that this is an apt desciption!  !-)

Now, My Midnight Man is being called, The Maverick Cyclist.  So, from now I will be calling my independent, unorthodox thinking husband, "The Maverick."  I hope I won't confuse too many people.  

I will keep you posted of The Maverick's progress; and notify eveyone when he gets his own blog and fund-raising page set up.  

Serving Jesus, Author of our faith,
"Lady Helene"

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