All Things Beautiful

You won't feel sorry for me. But really, you should. I know there are jobs harder and more complicated than mine, but today, right now, I can't think of one.

The Viva Catie II: From Tennessee to Texas bike ride conquered the streets of Austin, Texas, rounding the corner to East 6th, and with great nobility finished the last leg of this journey to clapping hands and weeping hearts.

And I, with the inadequacies of all that I love about the English language, I have to attempt to share this moment with you. In all honesty, the only word that even begins to let you you into this triumphant and humble moment of victory: beautiful.

It was beautiful.

So much about living life in this broken world involves breathing in and walking through things that are ugly. But then a journey like this begins, and it's possible that all things that hold beauty and grace shine lighter than the darkness.

The day began as each day of this journey began: a carb-filled breakfast, last minute filling of water bottles, loading of bikes, and group prayer. Today held a bit of a change. Cyclists from the Lance Armstrong Foundation joined the Viva Catie team for the ride into Austin. What a sight to behold! They set off and were soon cresting a hill. From the cars, we had a perfect shot of all 54 feet pedaling in unity. And that's when it first hit:

This sight is beautiful.

Almost 45 miles marked the route from last night's place of rest (Bastrop) to the new Lance Armstrong Foundation Headquarters. These miles would be hard for many of our cyclists who were used to biking 20-30 mile legs of this trip. We didn't know who would make it all the way into the Foundation, or who would raise a humble hand and enter Austin buckled-in. They had come this far; we prayed their strength would rise with the day.

One of the neatest things I've learned on this trip has been the biking lingo: SAG, flight lead, and car up were not in my vocabulary 10 days ago. In route today, you could hear the cyclists call out to each other the dangers of the road ahead. With one patient eye, an entire team can be saved. Hearing them call "car up", "debris", and other words of caution, words designed to protect those who make up the path you too travel, caused my heart to thumb with that word again:

Beauty.

And then they came. They came with great strength down 6th, turning left, and easing the pain of a 1200 mile journey with the fruits of great victory. They labored hard. Some days they labored with the intensity of giants, others they labored in less physical ways, but the toll was there. As the great celebration of a well-battled journey went on, you could see in each cyclist's eyes the pride in having run well the race.

There is was again. Beauty in all it's many forms. One of the best song lines is about Grace. Bono reminds us that Grace makes beauty out of ugly things. Death is ugly. Broken lives and broken hearts are ugly. Dreams unfulfilled are ugly. But he's right, Grace makes beautiful those many horrible things.

Catie's death was ugly. The suffering, the absent pain, the present agony, all these things were ugly. But today, handing over $15K to the Lance Armstrong Foundation in honor of Catie, that was beauty. Living out loud her request to have 100% of people working on finding a cure for this ugly disease, that was beauty. Painful days of 105 degree Texas heat was ugly.

But today? Today was simply beautiful.