Starting My Book

Actually, I've started several writing projects:
Title - "Waiting For The Wren To Come" - poetry
Title - "Band of Gold" - play
Title - Our Story- The Life of Women in Columbia-Greene Classis - research project
Title - "Little Shepherd Boy" - children's book
Title - "I Reached For the Stars, And Caught The Moon" - Sort of autobiographical - with the
C2C bike tour as the backdrop.

Forward: In January, 2008, I read in a church bulletin insert that more riders were being
sought to participate in a cross country bike tour sponsored by the Christian Reformed
Church with the Reformed Church in America. The purpose of this tour was to raise
funds to address and awareness of the issues of poverty in our world. The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) held a similar effort in 2005 to mark their 150th anniversary. The funds raised by that effort supported church starts throughout the North American Continent.
Because of the success of that effort and the desire of others to participate in something similar, the Sea To Sea Tour - Biking to End the Cycle of Poverty was organized. This resulted in the largest cross continent tour to ever take place. When it was completed, over 200 cyclists and approximately 25 support staff journey either some or all of 3831 miles throughout North America. More significantly, over 2.1 million dollars were raised to support mission efforts in the CRC & RCA. The funds raised were to be distributed among these organizations:
In order to ride, each cyclist had to raise either $4000.00, $8,000.00 or $10,000.00 dollars.
Donations continued coming in throughout the summer. Numerous individuals across the country also contributed as we made our way throughout the towns, villages and cities in 8 states and the province of Ontario, CA. Waitresses handed over their tips, diners in small coffee shops and other eateries pulled out their wallets to support the effort when they heard about the tour. Folks in groceries, gas stations and along the roads offered whatever they could to offer a helping hand. These contributions came spontaneously and with heartfelt generosity by people happy to help support such an effort. That doesn't begin to describe the support of the family, friends and "strangers" we met on the way who offered the precious drink of cold water, or held up a home made sign to encourage bikers as we pedaled what sometimes seemed like endless miles. And the cakes, cookies and other fare offered to help us maintain our energy. You cannot imagine the support and encouragement we received by so many others who went out of their way to remind us we were not alone. Additionally, the help we received by our support staff cannot be underestimated or over appreciated. The SAG drivers and "Kitchen Ladies" were part of this rolling, mobile community - a community which was born out of the desire to feed His sheep and share the love of the Lord.

How I got involved in this effort is a story in and of itself but I realized that it was a backdrop to a larger story - the story of

The title came from a saying I heard around the same time that I heard about the trip. I have paraphrased it, I think, because I don't remember the exact phrase. But the concept is pretty clear. While many of us reach for the stars and actually get to grab ahold, sometimes we reach for something and don't get get it. In sharing my intention to participate in the ride, I received mostly encouraging feedback. Mostly but not all. There were a few responses of the "what are you nuts?" kind of question or the ever heartfelt, "better you than me" comment. Of all the people who had something to say only a couple which fell in the negative category. For whatever reason, these people were adamant that this was not something I should participate in. However, their reasons weren't persuasive enough to dissuade me from following through on this decision. I did appreciate when people expressed concern for my well-being as my overall health in general was never in the great shape category. But when people asked, "what if you don't make it", I could and did reply, "well, then I've reached for the stars and caught the moon instead - not a bad deal."