Comments on: Faith….on and off the bike

By: Shawn McAfee

Shawn McAfee — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 01:50:00 +0000

Glad your safe brother! Sounds frightening.

By: Carlisle

Carlisle — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:48:00 +0000

I find myself dreaming of a ride where I do not have to see any vehicles. I’ve had far too many close calls to count and have grown to dislike vehicles very much. I keep riding and I keep the faith, but still dream.

By: Chuck Huss

Chuck Huss — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:44:00 +0000

I get a lot of close calls here in Tampa too. Just this morning I was on a norrow street and the person behind me didn’t care to wait two more seconds for the car in the oncomming lane to pass so he decided to pass me without leaving the lane. I sometime want to move to a place where everyone is not in such a big hurry but I don’t know if there is such a place in the U.S. anyway.

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:36:00 +0000

I have only been folliowing this blog now for two weeks but really am enjoying it. You have a nice way of making me think about life and also have helped with my cycling also. I plan on taking some time to go over your past articles soon.

By: Darryl is Loving the Bike

Darryl is Loving the Bike — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:04:00 +0000

Well said, Joel. Thanks for sharing your own personal insight and as always I hope you keep on pedalling forward and continuing to be the good man that you are.

By: Joel Phillips

Joel Phillips — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:50:00 +0000

During my journey through life, both on and off the bike, I have had the privilege to experience some pretty amazing stuff. Conversely, I’ve been witness to the darkest atrocities of humans. What I discovered about myself was I lived life in a veil of fear. If I am to be totally authentic with myself and the rest of the world, then I have to share it was fear that drove me to follow through with my commitment to ride in last years “Ride the Rockies”. It was a brilliant plan on my part, set up a website, blog and make myself accountable to others…then I would become so afraid of how I would look if I didn’t follow through, that I had no choice but to follow through. The elation of crossing the finish line after a week long bike ride should have lasted longer, there should have also been a feeling of accomplishment, yet I felt empty, and never understood why. I’ve been woking with a life coach, and she enabled me to see that I was literally living my life in a veil of fear, reacting rather than taking action…funny thing, that brilliant plan, turned out to be my calling. You see, through the veil of fear, I couldn’t see that my actions had positive influence, and that positive influence was leading to successes. Nope, I was growing more and more afraid. I was starting to feel overwhelmed and I wanted to abandon everything I had been doing and go crawl into hole and hide. So what does any of this have to do with faith? Fear does not give room for trust and trust is the foundation of faith. I have learned ways to deal with my fear allowing me to be fully present in a given situation through my work with Grace (life coach), giving me a fresh new perspective. As my fears subside I trust myself more with the decisions I make and I have faith in myself which leads me to have faith in others, and not fear an outcome that may never be realized. I guess it’s the long winded way to say, having faith is being able to set aside your fears.

Be well and happy riding…