Students Bike 250 Miles

Thirteen students at Bethany Christian Schools are still in class this week as they complete the last week of their biking J-Term course with a 250-mile self-contained biking and camping trip to three state parks in northern Indiana. The students took off on a rainy Wednesday morning (June 2) for their four-day trip and will be biking to Pokagan (Angola), Chain O Lakes (Albion) and Potato Creek (North Liberty) state parks.

One of the curriculum innovations at Bethany this year was the introduction of a two-week J-term in which each student took an intensive, one-credit hands-on course all day for two weeks in early January. However, students in the biking course met for only one week in January--getting an extra week of Christmas vacation--in lieu of meeting during the first week of June.

In January the students spent their week learning about bicycle safety/maintenance, camping plans, trip mapping, and the history and geography of northern Indiana state parks. The class also worked out on stationary bicycles and volunteered at Chain Reaction Bicycle Program in Goshen.

Also participating in the trip are three faculty leaders from Bethany and a student from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, who is serving as the trip pastor. Parents gathered with the group before their departure and together prayed this blessing on their trip:

God, creator and lover of all, thank you for this day.

For the beauty of your creation.

Thank you for this bike

And this chance to ride.

Give us strength to ride fast

and the stamina to ride far.

Shield us from catastrophe, keep us alert,

and bring us safely home at ride's end.

May our spinning wheel

sing a song of praise to your glory

And may each turn of the pedal be an act of thanksgiving

to you for the blessings of this day.

And may our ride with you go on forever,

world without end.

Amen.