(Burgin Baptist Church, Burgin, KY, on a 9 mile Family Ride.)

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

Psalm 86:1

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Psalm 86 (NRSV)

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God;

be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all day long.

Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.

Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication.

In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me.

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.

All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.

For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.

For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

O God, the insolent rise up against me; a band of ruffians seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant; save the child of your serving girl.

Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

(Shiloh United Methodist Church, Goshen, KY, on an 81 mile Ironman Course Charity Preview Ride.)

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

Psalm 85:10

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Psalm 85 (NRSV)

Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin. Selah

You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.

Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us.

Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?

Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.

The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.

(First Baptist Church, Fairdale, KY, my home church, on a 14 mile ride with visits to the home I grew up in, my high school and baseball field, and both grandparents' homes.)

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

Psalm 84:3

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Psalm 84 (NRSV)

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!

My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. Selah

Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.

They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed.

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you.

(The Church of the River, First Unitarian Church of Memphis, TN, on a 16 mile ride in the city and across the river to Arkansas.)

O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!

Psalm 83:1

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Psalm 83 (NRSV)

O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!

Even now your enemies are in tumult; those who hate you have raised their heads.

They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against those you protect.

They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

They conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant—

the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites,

Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;

Assyria also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah

Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the Wadi Kishon,

who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground.

Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

who said, “Let us take the pastures of God for our own possession.”

O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind.

As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,

so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your hurricane.

Fill their faces with shame, so that they may seek your name, O Lord.

Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace.


Let them know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.