Dreams and Patience seem to go hand in hand. Sometimes I want to race and win so bad that I forget to enjoy the ride. I forget to enjoy practicing and that what I am doing is the thing that I have dreamed of ever since I was 12 yrs old. Last week Anaheim 1 got rained out for the privateers that were out of the top 40, which was a blessing in disguise for me. This week I was able to realize that God has given me the opportunity to do something I have asked Him for many times. Then all of a sudden it didn’t matter how I did. All that mattered was the ride.

What amazes me about God is that His timing is perfect all the time everytime. I have a devotional book, Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, that I take with me everywhere. After my first practice session I was rumbling around the back seat and saw it laying there. So, I decided to open it up and see what it had for me today. The title of the Devotional was “ Here I Am, Send Me.” I was blown away. It talked about how God didn’t direct His call to Isaiah, but Isaiah overheard God saying….. who will go for Us. It went on to say that God doesn’t single out someone and say, “Now, you go.” It said Remove the thought from your mind of expecting God to come to force you or to plead with you.

That spoke right to me and instantly changed my attitude. My problem at the track wasn’t anything to do with my bike or my training. It was getting me to show up and ride. Scott Cram had to show up and ride, not God. I realized I had been waiting for God to some how come down and do it for me. But then God just spoke to me and said, “ Look at the bike you have, look at how hard you have trained, trust in me and the fact that I got you here.” Then it hit me that I wasn’t there by accident, but God has been at work to get everything setup the way it was for this weekend on this day. I have thought of this many times, I know that God is behind everything that I do. But today it seemed to hit a little deeper and with a lot more of an effect. Plus it is the second time God has used my devotional book in right before a race. The first was right before my first National at Washougal. The devotional on the day before I left was all about finishing. It said that God doesn’t look for a specific finish, it is the journey he is concerned about. And that was all I was thinking about before the Washougal National.

So, after the practice sessions I still didn’t ride the way I wanted. I had not been riding much in the last 3 weeks and I was just freshly healed up from some bruised ribs. I didn’t get the triples down or the whoops, but I felt a lot better about how I was riding compared to the previous year. This is where the patience came in, which is something I am not usually very good about. But this weekend was totally different. I am usually really uptight and nervous at races. This time I had confidence that I was here for something and that I had done everything possible to be prepared. So, instead of going out on the track and trying to ride over my head, I decided to hold back a bit and take it easy this weekend. Some would say that is wise, while others would call it cowardice or fear. I just looked at it like this, there are going to be 6 more races and I want to be at all of them. I have worked hard to get here and I don’t want it to end by doing something stupid at the first one.

So, after Friday practice we loaded up and went back to the hotel. Feeling pretty good about the practice session even though I didn’t ride as well as the other riders, I just enjoyed the fact that I was there. Anyway, it felt good to be back racing Supercross. Friday night I didn’t get much sleep, as I normally don’t before a race. Well, I ended up just laying in bed until 1 a.m. listening to my Ipod trying to go over the track in my head. My thoughts ended up wondering back to Kansas growing up. Man it has been a long road since I was just a kid riding a trail bike and dreaming of racing Supercross. I started thinking how much God has changed me since then and all that He has guided me through. I thought of the story of the man walking on the beach with God. The one where he asked God where He was when there were only one set of footprints and God answered “I was carrying you.” That story has always stuck in my mind.

Saturday went a lot better. I still didn’t get the triples down or the whoops, but I was finally able to start riding aggressive again. The lack of riding from all the rain in Southern California really put a kink in my program. So, by the time my qualifiers rolled around I was feeling a lot better and loosened up. The only problem is that I needed to feel like that for practice so I could get the triples and whoops down. The race wasn’t the time to go out and try to jump something for the first time. So, I put in the best ride I could and left everything out on the track. Next weekend is at Anaheim again, so I am going to get some practice in this week and hopefully show up at A-2 and do a lot better.