TransIowa V6 - The Withdrawal

the bear - 2010-04-11 9:37 AM Not trying to be mean, It's your decision to do or not do for whatever reason you choose, but I'm really looking for the answer, or at least some discussion:

How does one distinguish the voice of God from other inner voices like cowardice and self-doubt?

drewzaun - 2010-04-11 3:08 PM I don't know, maybe I am out of line here but I can't read your post and not think about all the real suffering in this world. How many children are suffering in Haiti, and 1000's of other places around this world. I sure do hope God has his eye on the more important things going on, and surely could care less about your performance in some bicycle race. I don't know you at all, but this kind of talk sounds so supremely arrogant to me. I am sure you are a great man and I am simply reading this wrong. Or perhaps your church is to blame. Either way...

You are withdrawing from this race, not because God commands it, but for some other reason. By allowing yourself to think God is making this decision you are missing out on some lesson in your personal life. If you do not want to do this ride, don't. And there is no reason to feel bad about it or make excuses for it, and remove the responsibility of this decision off of yourself and put it on God, who as I mentioned has more pressing matters to attend to.

Make sure the people who sacrificed so you could train for this are ok with your withdrawing, and apologize to the RD for more work and to whoever may not get a chance to ride because of your spot, whatever. In the end it is just a ride, not life or death we are talking about.

Peace.

drewzaun - 2010-04-11 8:08 PM I don't know, maybe I am out of line here but I can't read your post and not think about all the real suffering in this world. How many children are suffering in Haiti, and 1000's of other places around this world. I sure do hope God has his eye on the more important things going on, and surely could care less about your performance in some bicycle race. I don't know you at all, but this kind of talk sounds so supremely arrogant to me. I am sure you are a great man and I am simply reading this wrong. Or perhaps your church is to blame. Either way...

You are withdrawing from this race, not because God commands it, but for some other reason. By allowing yourself to think God is making this decision you are missing out on some lesson in your personal life. If you do not want to do this ride, don't. And there is no reason to feel bad about it or make excuses for it, and remove the responsibility of this decision off of yourself and put it on God, who as I mentioned has more pressing matters to attend to.

Make sure the people who sacrificed so you could train for this are ok with your withdrawing, and apologize to the RD for more work and to whoever may not get a chance to ride because of your spot, whatever. In the end it is just a ride, not life or death we are talking about.

Peace.

tri808 - 2010-04-11 6:27 PM



Without turning this ugly, or getting into a religious debate...I will simply say that for many people who believe in God, they believe that God has a message and will for each and every person.  You don't need to be the President of the United States, nor do you need to be devestated by a huge earthquake to get God's attention.  The belief is that we are all equally important, and every decision we make should be to glorify God...not to appease our personal goals or ambitions.

If you don't believe the same things as Bill, that's fine.  It's Bill's choice to choose how he wants to live his life, and none of us are in a position to say if he's a coward or if he owes anyone an appology.  To sacrifice a full years worth of training for something you believe in takes a lot of courage IMHO. 

Have a wonderful day.