Surrounded By A Great Cloud of Witnesses

Yesterday I helped Tom Randall finish his historic bicycle ride from the Pacific Ocean to the Mississippi River. We rode the last 50 miles in a Minnesota downpour and dipped our wheels in the mighty Mississippi. We rode to the Champions PGA tour event in Minneapolis. We rode around in a golf cart during the pro-am and saw a bunch of his friends. Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Hale Irwin, Don Pooley, Charles Coody, Gil Morgan,Tom Purtzer, Loren Roberts, Andy Bean, Jim Thorpe, and Peter Jacobsen to name a few. All of them great athletes in their own right. All of them amazed at what Tom had been able and willing to do. They laughed and hugged him and last night they threw a magnificent party with a cake in the shape of a bicycle. The last few days were harder for Tom then he expected. Yesterday in the rain we took turns encouraging each other. I told him the story of Nehemiah and how Nehemiah had been tempted to quit building the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah sent word down saying, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down." I yelled to Tom over the Minnesota wind,"You are like Nehemiah. You are doing a great work and you cannot quit now." When we were within sight of the Mississippi I couldn't hold him back. As he crossed the 2500 mile marker tears streaked his face. What possesses someone to ride 2500 miles, most of them while nursing two cracked ribs? There is something about Tom Randall that glows. Tom feels what we all should feel. He feels the pleasure of God. In the movie Chariots of Fire when Eric Liddle tried to explain to his sister why he loved to run he said,"Jenny, I know God made me for a purpose, to be a missionary in China. But He also made me fast and when I run I feel His pleasure." As Tom dipped his wheel in the mighty Mississippi he felt the pleasure of God. The great thing is I was close enough to feel it too.