I purchased a Road ID for my bikepacking trip. My sweet wife Susan is concerned about my safety on the trip, “What happens if you get hurt while bikepacking and are laying on the trail unconscious?” So I got a Road ID – a rubber wrist bracelet with a metal tag stamped with personal information – my name, year of birth, city, state, country, emergency contacts and listed allergies. I wear it when training, and I will wear it on my bikepacking trip.

When I told my friend Johnny Breitenfeld about getting a Road ID he said, “That will be good – at least they will know whose carcass they are pulling off the side of the trail.” Johnny always sees the humor in life – his quip got a grin from me.

While my Road ID paints a basic picture of me, there are other many other identities, or roles, that I play – mountain biker, adventurer, husband, father, son, brother, neighbor, co-worker, and friend. None of those identities can compare to the one identity that has made an indelible mark on me – that of Christ follower. It was at the age of 13 that I realized that I was separated from God by my sin and needed to  restore a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I made a decision to follow Christ, to ask Jesus to mend my broken relationship with God, to forgive my sins, and to make me  right with God.

No other decision has had such a deep impact on my life. Jesus has shaped me, has changed my heart, and made me to be the person that God intended me to be. As I follow Jesus’ example, I hope to become more like him in character, in my communication, and in my dealings with others. I will never be completely like Jesus, but am growing more in his likeness. My relationship with God through Jesus has made me into the person I am, and is molding me into the person I will become. All my other identities will fade over time and the only one that will last is my identity in Christ.

Thank you Jesus.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
1 John 3:1-2 (ESV)