Written by a Cafe1040 Student

Once off the plane, the excitement of being in Europe finally hit me. I had experienced a certain level of excitement before leaving for this trip, but now it was a reality. After grabbing my luggage at the airport, our team met the staff and we took the bus to where we would receive our primary mode of transportation, the bicycle. After going through a couple of classes first, the anticipation only grew, and we finally got to the moment, the moment where I could have some sort of tangible independence on this trip. I felt like I was receiving a car. Note: The company was short on bikes, and some of our team got nice rental bikes. This made me even more ready to hear a staff member call my name, I turned my head to look over at my bike; all I could do was to stand there in shock…

There he was, Excalibur.

Now I had adequate experience with riding a bike back home, so I wasn’t too worried about biking every day to where we would need to go, so I began to champion the idea of disgust in my mind with one of pride and underestimation of how horrible this bike was. I thought, “I can totally ride this heap of junk”. But as I began to get on it, I quickly learned Excalibur would be the most significant tool in my experience of humility. Even the existence of this bike was one so fitting to the name, and probably why God picked it just for me. My mentor fished this bike out of the lake one day and brought it home. That’s correct, right out of the canal. It creaks, ceases up, and is a rusted mess. Some days, I want to give up and say, “God, just give me another bike! I will literally do anything for it!” But that is not the point.

Through this analogy, the Father has taught me to recognize my heart and how I am commanded to obey him. He hasn’t given me a nice bike, but He has given me the best team around me, to support me, pray for me, and overall love me. The keyword that has been discussed throughout our early classes has been obedience.

Am I going to obey what Father commands me to do? Or will I just sit in my hotel room waiting for the weekends to roll around?

Will I push myself to engage with strangers and try new foods from cultures that are a bit too spicy for me? Or will I just run down to Taco Bell (yes we have one) and only talk to the people in our team?

None of this stuff is easy, but by obeying God, surrendering to Jesus who lives within me, and providing the Holy Spirit will work in ways I would never believe possible, the bike doesn’t even come close to what I can overcome.