They biked 3,000 miles, from San Francisco to Virginia Beach, to raise awareness and money to fight poverty and homelessness. 
 

Starting at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the four riders, Daniel Nabers, Benjamin Harris , Ade Oni and Janetta Evans, rode east for ten weeks, through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia, to Virginia Beach.  They faced mountains, wind, hail, rain, dogs, snow, traffic and snakes.  When they left Valdosta in May, they only had nightly accommodations arranged for eight nights of their ten-week journey.  Vowing not to spend donated money on hotels, the group relied on God’s provision and the generosity of strangers for shelter.  During their cross-country journey, they only had to sleep outside two nights.
 

“When God asks us to follow Him, He already knows that we will need things along the way,” said Daniel Nabers, cyclist and Wesley Foundation intern.  “His concern is that we simply get up and go. I learned that God will always make good on His promise to take care of us and watch over us. We were very vulnerable all summer – to the elements, to having a place to shower, to having a place to sleep – and in everything God showed Himself every day. It only rained on us three days the whole ten weeks we were cycling!”
 

Born out of a desire to do more for those in society who are often overlooked, the VSU Wesley Foundation Cycle of Hope aims to help heal communities by exposing misconceptions about poverty and homelessness.  The real difference, they say, will happen when people reach out in their own communities and establish personal relationship with those who are less fortunate.   

“Donating is great,” Nabers said, “but personal relationships are what we are called to and where we can make a real difference in the life of someone.”
 

None of the five had ever biked a substantial distance before the summer’s cross-country trek.  Nabers said they chose cycling because it seemed like an impossible mission for people who had never before cycled a substantial distance.
 

“We wanted our physical commitment to encourage and motivate people into a place where they thought, ‘Hey if they are riding a bike 3,000 miles, I can at least rethink how I view the homeless,’” Nabers said.  “I want people to know that no one on this trip was a cyclist before the trip; we felt God calling us to this. God doesn’t call the equipped; he equips the called.”
 

While not everyone can do what he and the other Cycle of Hope cyclists did physically, anyone, regardless of their physical or monetary status, can change a life, Nabers says.  Smiling at someone you see on the street, regardless of what they look like, can make a difference.  Volunteering for an hour a week in a local soup kitchen is a way to serve in the local community.  There are countless ways, he says, to make a difference and to show compassion. 
 

While the Cycle of Hope trip was a one-time event, Nabers says that it will be a catalyst for a community service program called “His Hands,” which will offer college students an avenue to reach out into the community of Valdosta and will give them opportunities to volunteer and live out their faith through works.

All funds raised from the Cycle of Hope will be divided between the Humble United Methodist School in Uganda and Safe House Outreach in Atlanta.
 

“The Wesley Cycle of Hope is a fruitful expression of the Wesley Foundation's goal to make disciples of Jesus Christ who live with the resolve to love God and people,” said Rev. C.J. Harp, Director of the Wesley Foundation at Valdosta State University.  “We hope the Wesley Cycle of Hope will be a visible demonstration to the Church and the World that the love of God is on the move.”

--By Kara Witherow, South Georgia Advocate editor

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