The Ride:Well Tour

DONALD MILLER PLANS TO BIKE CROSS-COUNTRY FOR AFRICA

The Popular Author of ‘Blue Like Jazz’ Joins ‘The Ride:Well Tour’ Bicycling From Los Angeles, CA to Washington D.C: Proceeds To Build Wells In Africa Through Blood:Water Mission.

Donald Miller has joined with Blood:Water Mission and Venture Expeditions in their plans to build 1000 Wells in Africa. This summer, Don will join riders on the Ride:Well Tour, cycling from Los Angeles, CA to Washington D.C. to generate funds and raise awareness for Blood:Water Mission’s 1000 Wells Project.

The riders will begin their trip on June 4th traveling a southern route across the United States, finishing in Washington D.C. on the 28th of July. They will be speaking at churches and schools along the way, as well as participating in city rides in Dallas, Nashville, and Washington D.C.

The Ride:Well Tour is a joint effort between Nashville based Blood:Water Mission and Minneapolis based non-profit Venture Expeditions. The tour exists to promote awareness of social justice in North America while generating funds for water projects in Africa. The tour is still accepting applicants for the ride on their website www.ridewelltour.com. For more information go to www.ridewelltour.com.

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Just a reminder that this is the last week to complete applications for the cross-country ride. You can apply at www.ridewelltour.com If you have any questions or comments email Blood:Water Mission at ridewell@bloodwatermission.com

Love is what I got.

This is the second story to be shared from you through Axiomwear. Please continue to comment on people's stories especially - because the people who share also read the blog - and we know you would want a comment on your story :-) Send in your story to axiomwear@gmail.com or through our myspace. Thanks! Stay tuned for new shirts in the new year - we're so excited!


Here is a story sent in from ...

Elizabeth, 20, New York, United States

So, you asked for stories. Or something. And I'm not sure this applies, but it made me happy and made me feel loved, so here's what we did:

Tonight a bunch of us went out to the middle of nowhere and had a fire. We were all without realizing it crowding around this one guy who was sorta feeling down and one of the other guys suggested we go around the circle and all say something nice about the guy in the middle to try to cheer him up. Then everyone took turns standing in the middle with everyone saying things they like about the person. It was really weird cuz in this group of friends most of our "compliments" to each other come in the form of insults. So it was interesting to hear people express deep and insightful feelings of love towards one another, right to their face. I learned all these things that my friends love me for that I never realized were important, and it was really cool to be able to tell my friends how much I love them without feeling awkward at all. It also made us think hard about what it is specifically we love about each other. Basically, it was one of the most wonderful experiences I'd ever had with a group of friends.

Later we sung Father Abraham and cracked up about how much it seemed like one of those youth group activities, except way more sincere, cuz we weren't being forced into it but we actually thought it up on our own.

the end

Uncarving old habits

We at Axiomwear want to encourage conversations that lead to healing, hope, and love. Instead of saying "Hi, how are you?" then walking away before you hear an answer, we hope people will start saying, "How is it with your soul?" and intentionally listen to what the other person has to say. We need to be there for each other because it's the right thing to do. This is online so it's only a partial hug, but it may be just what someone needs to hear. Sometimes we feel like we can't tell our closest friends our deepest thoughts, or our hurts and fears...even doubts. So we ask that you share your stories - stories of hurt, help, hope, and healing. Please know that we do not and will not share your personal information and will not post your name or your story without permission. This is a process and a starting point.

Please respond in kind if you were particularly touched by a story. Or email us your own true story through myspace or axiomwear@gmail.com.

Here is the first one:


Female, 17, Australia

My first reaction to this was, do I even have a story? Wouldn’t it be just another one?
That same sad story, one that is overly recognised and unavoidably superfluous. But here I am, writing this all the same.

Ideas are floating around that everything is meaningless. Lives are painstakingly built up, only to be lost and passed materialistically on to the next in line. To me that seems like an empty justification. I’m allowed to f*** up because it doesn’t mean anything.

To the people that are watching you, it means something. This idea might not be as apparent, but I assure you they don’t ignore you because they don’t care. They can’t pay attention, because admitting there is a problem with someone they love is harder than most people can cope with.

Having realised this, I tried to sort things out on my own. But that wasn’t so successful. Big promises made on good days. Sincere as you may be, it’s hard to stick to a decision when life is being particularly turbulent.

Maybe it’s because I’m no good at decisions. I’m a floater, just waiting for somebody else to illuminate my path and give me some direction. I use to wonder, if I could just find that direction, I’d be able to embrace it, and that would make me better, right?

I’m able to stand up and say, there are things wrong with the way I sometimes look at the world, and I will readily admit that I am not strong enough to do this on my own.

For me, being reliant on God has meant that I have come through. It’s like every absent-minded “Lord, I need help, don’t I?” was somehow taken into account and slowly, you cannot imagine how slowly, things began to sort out.

I have given up a few detrimental aspects of my life. And the amusing thing is they were never conscious decisions. You say things will be different, that the changes will be extreme, and the next day you’re lying on the bathroom floor sick from your latest purge, or simply lying there because the energy required to move again seems too overwhelming to consider.

I can remember how bad things got. How bad they still do get. But I have learnt not to indulge my sadness. It’s the easiest path, letting things go, and like most things what is easy is not the same as what is right.

I read somewhere that madness was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I expected techniques of replacing and distracting to make a difference. When things didn’t change I should have re-evaluated. Life was about chasing that distraction, that feeling of ecstasy, that empty bliss. But that’s a lie. Ecstasy is merely not knowing things will fall apart when you wake up.

For the first time in two years I can say I don’t have an eating disorder. I no longer harbour the anger that forces me to carve what I refuse to feel into covered places on my body. That doesn’t mean I am not overcome with the same feelings of depression, but such lows are growing fewer and further between.

What I can finally appreciate now is that things are never going to be perfect, but that doesn’t mean I have to make it worse for myself. It takes a change to get you out of old habits. It takes an acknowledgement of the situation, and a friend to sustain you when you feel like giving up. Most importantly it takes a God who loves you, even when you’re pathetic or wrong, to bestow mercy in a way no other person can offer. That is what gives my life meaning, and hope that things will continue to get better. Being accountable to God, and to the amazing friends I’ve relied upon. My weapon against the awful darkness is the knowledge that when I fall, someone is waiting to pick me up.

Beginnings

There is a big difference between the way the world is and the way it should be. Where there should be love, hate and hurt prevail. In a world where fame is contrived, there’s hostility instead of amity and all kinds of passionate indifference for anyone we consider of less worth than ourselves. How did we end up here? There’s an increasing gap between the hearts of those people who can help and those in need of relief, running down through the generations. This detachment, which begins in the hearts of people, is bleeding out into the culture and spreading like an inferno. What can be done? Can this be reversed? Will love burn up and ultimately cease?

//There is hope. Love never fails.

Even though things continue to be getting out of hand, there is hope. Nothing ever changed overnight; there is no fix-all, kiss and be well bandage, but there is hope. If a revolutionary movement happened, stagnant hearts would again beat in rhythm. Love is the rhythm of that revolution. In the inferno that is consuming love, the starting point needs to be where the damaging flames burn the hottest. The origin of this fire is within the heart; therein lies the disconnect. Love has been thrown around so much it has become worthless. It needs to be about something that is worth dying for, and as a result, worth living for. No problem was ever fixed by focusing on the results of that problem. We believe transformed people living exemplary lives of love can help make the world more of what it should be.

Repair. Renew. Reconnect.

Maybe this is what it's all about.
Love, and love.

To love and to be loved.

There needs to be more meaning behind what this clothing line is going to do... something that's bigger than me and you - something that's not cliché, something that helps this world become a better place to live and breathe. We aim to send a message of hope and love by creating wearable, conversation starting, works of art. We hope these conversations cause those involved to think about deeper, more meaningful things than everyday empty rants. The desired end result: a domino effect of transformed lives.


-Nathanael / Axiomwear