Left Hand Canyon

This past Sunday was Father’s Day, so I wanted to do something special for my father because I am in Colorado, and he is in North Carolina. My father is a beast when it comes to fitness, so I decided to challenge myself with a bike ride. If you follow this project/blog, you will realize that I bike a little more than normal. This ride is called Left hand Canyon and it was going to take me over fifty miles and more than four thousand feet climbing. To sum it up, this was not going to be fun, but I prayed and thanked God for the opportunity He has put me in and the drive I have in my heart. This ride had a sole purpose to make me ponder how amazing my dad is, but it turned into much more.

As I start the climb, I am feeling great. I am going to climb this mountain, the sun is out, and I have support from family and friends. Less than ten minutes in, I feel like I have traveled a decent amount. In my head, I am probably three to four miles in, but as it goes, I was only on mile two. I won’t go into too much detail about the ride besides the fact that it was gorgeous views and a smooth, steady climb. When I arrived at mile thirteen, this is where I hit a mental wall. The clouds were turning black, the wind had picked up to where I was barely moving, the slope percent increased and I just ran out of food and water. This is where my second prayer of the ride came in. I had to pray for safety from the lightning, the ability to get to a place that had water and food, and lastly, for a continuous smile on my face. The Lord provided in all things. I made it to a water spigot where the locals fill up for their houses which would allow me to make it to Ward. When I got to Ward, I went into a general store that had food, but they only took cash and the ATM was out of money. Luckily, the ride was downhill from this point so I would not be wasting too much energy to make it home.

When I was climbing the mountain, I only saw sprinkles of rain, not a down pour. As I made my descent, about three miles down, God allowed it to rain as I was climbing so I would not become mentally defeated. The descent was very fast, twenty-five miles an hour or more and when I hit where it had rained, my tires began to throw water up and soak me and all of my clothes. I know reading this, it does not sound too bad, but things to keep in mind, I am at nine thousand feet elevation so the temperature is right at sixty degrees and the wind is blowing. I began to shake from the cold, my teeth were chattering, my hands and feet were going numb. Prayer number three. I thanked God for the experience in climbing the mountain and getting to Ward, safe travels down, but then my prayer changed. It turned into reflection time. No matter how long the rain last, the sun always comes out. No matter how cold it gets, the seasons change. I prayed these things as they came true. The further I traveled down the mountain, the warmer I got. The closer to home I traveled, the dryer my clothes became. 

Non-believers would say this is common sense and it is, but God blesses us with everything. Literally everything. The warmth that comes from the sun, the air that we breathe from trees and plants, opportunities that present themselves to us, our house, pay checks, all praise be to Him. Due to all of the distractions in life, we constantly forget that everything brings praise to God. Lastly, I want to leave you on this note, no matter how long the rain last, the SON always comes out. This world is evil and satan has a different agenda, but by reading the word, we know that the Son will come back and we will win the fight!