Gratitude Journal - Day 3

Today I am grateful for inspiration.
I haven't ridden my bike with any regularity in ten years. Since I stopped racing I've shunned the bike in favor of running. But this summer I'm committed to riding two 100-mile charity rides. One in June in CT and one in August on Long Island. So today I started my training regiment with a 20-mile ride on my indoor trainer.
To keep me going I popped in the DVD of the 1999 Tour de France - Lance Armstrong's first Tour after surviving his battle with cancer.

 Lance was a huge unknown. He wore #181 as his USA Postal team was the last team invited to the race.  He had a few stage wins in the TDF before his cancer hiatus but nobody expected much of him after being on his death bed only one year before.
And then he went and won the whole darned thing.
And he did it again for 7 years in a row.
The race I watched today was Stage 9, Lance's first test in the mountains.  He had taken the Yellow Jersey the day before in the Individual Time Trial, but it's rare for a rider to be a good Time Trialist and good in the mountains. Riders who win TT's are usually big and powerful, and riders who win in the mountains are typically small and light. Only a select few can do both.
So Lance was expected to finish in the middle of the pack on Stage 9, but instead he blew them all away.

The moral of the story is, don't ever let anybody count you out.
We are not defined by our limitations, but by our amazing ability to exceed all expectations.
God made us that way.
God delights in watching us discover that we have wings.
And when we spread those wings and take a leap of faith,
   God delights in watching us soar.