DAILY BLOG

Today, as I was reflecting on the unity that will be required to make our cross-country bike tour a success, I posted an entry on my Amazon blog about the following family covenant that my family and I have made together. Read my blog entry »

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Covenanting Together

Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord,[a] for this is the right thing to do. “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. — Ephesians 6:1-4

As a member of this family:

I desire to enter into a covenant relationship between God and each member of my family in which I will honor God as I serve my family in the role that he has ordained for me—brother, son, mother, or father.

I will strive to live out Ephesians 6:1-4 in all aspects of the home and life together.

I will strive hard to walk in humility and obedience and in my heart of hearts want nothing more than to serve the Lord.

Though we are not perfect and will have ups and downs, I will always return to the unity that we all share in Christ.

Above all, this is my heartfelt commitment.

Signed,

Rich Wagner
Kim Wagner
Jordan Wagner
Jared Wagner
Justus Wagner

Consider doing something similar with your family by downloading a .pdf version of the family covenant »

New England Cable News did a brief feature on our upcoming bike tour. As you would expect in a 1:40 piece, it greatly simplifies our story and the book, but it is fun seeing the boys talk about the tour. You can check it out here (note the short commercial before the story).

One qualification: We actually smile a lot more than what is depicted on screen! You’ll definitely find that out as the tour begins on our video blog updates.

As the tour countdown continues, the Wagners are being featured on their region’s local cable news today — New England Cable Network and WCTR, channel 3, in Worcester MA. It was the first time Jordan, Jared, and Justy had been interviewed before for television. They did a great job and were far less nervous than I would have been at their age.

Justy talks about the meaning of our motto ad alta simul

Jordan reflects on the upcoming tour

Rich is trying to look like he is fixing
something while the camera rolls

This past weekend, we had a pre-tour BBQ at our home church, Heritage Bible Chapel in Princeton, MA. We have been blown away by the amazing support and love that HBC and other friends have given us for the upcoming cross-country bike tour. We are very excited to represent Heritage as we go across the country speaking about The Expeditionary Man.

On first take, the idea of bicycling across the country seems so simple. After all, what else do you need besides a bike and maybe someone to follow behind to provide support? Well, as is true of so many things, the details are what snags ya. I wrote back in April of the challenge of deciding what we need to bring along. Since then, we’ve pretty much made all of those decisions and ordered nearly everything we’ll need for the trip. We are still waiting on our spare wheels, but nearly all our other spare parts, misc. equipment, and on-the-bike nutrition are now all ready to go. Here’s a picture of our current inventory:

In addition to our luggage, we’ve got to squeeze
this in the support vehicle. Doable right?