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Onthe Road Again – 2013

/ Dennis A. Gray / Leave a comment
Alex being Interviewed on the Ride

My brother Alex being Interviewed during the Ride to Conquer Cancer 2012.

Freezing rain and ice pellets aside, it must be spring, because there were earthworms all over the bike lanes this week. Thank God for fenders.

Yes, I have finally gotten started on my 2013 cycling season. It’s pretty damp in the morning which makes it seem a lot colder than it actually is, but even so, it feels good to be on the road again. There’s just something about riding a bike that makes me feel so much younger than I feel most mornings. I turn 60 next year and a lot of mornings I feel every bit of my 59 years and then some. But this past week, riding to Guelph Little Theatre last Saturday, then to work a couple of mornings, I have felt better than I have in a long time.

Winter’s over (weather be-damned), spring is here; I’m on my bike again. Life is good.

Of course that also means that the Ride to Conquer Cancer, benefiting the Campbell Family Research Centre at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, is less than two months away (it’s happening June 8th & 9th). The next few weeks will be very busy as Team Kortright ramps up its fundraising efforts. Stay tuned for more info on these efforts in the days to come.

This week however, I am very pleased to announce that we have two new team members this year; Dr. Phil McAlister and Les Ferrier.

Many of you in the Guelph area will be familiar with Dr. Phil from his Living Healthy show (available o n YouTube) and his work at Tranquil Therapeutic Solutions on Scottsdale Drive. He’s been a cyclist both on and off road for some time and it’s great to have him on board.

Les Ferrier has been a supporter of Team Kortright all along the way and has decided to ride with us in 2013. Les is now officially the oldest member of the team and brings years of cycling experience with him (he and his wife Barb spent their honeymoon cycling) and so we are very glad to

have him on the team as well. Welcome to both Les and Phil.

On the downside however, this year even more of my friends are battling with this terrible disease.

Prominent in my mind and heart when I think on what we are trying to do with the Ride to Conquer Cancer is my friend Cindi. She is just finishing up her chemo-therapy regimen and while the treatments are much milder than they were back when my brother went through it, it’s still no walk in the park. In fact, a walk in the park takes a lot out of Cindi most days (when it happens at all), but thanks to the support of her family and friends, and especially her husband Pete, the journey to healing continues. You can read her story over at their blog “Following Jesus is Hard.”

It’s because of people like Cindi, my brother, and so many others that have both won and lost their struggle with cancer that I continue to participate in the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer. And it’s because of the far too many people you know who have and are struggling with it that I ask you to help by making a donation and sponsoring me again this year. As in past years my goal for 2013 is to raise $2500. This is the amount each rider pl

edges to raise before they enter the Ride. With nearly 5000 riders again this year I’m sure we’ll set a new record once again.

Or maybe you haven’t sponsored me before. In that case I invite you to do so for the first time. Your donation will go to continue the research and patient support at the Princess Margaret. Last year the nearly 5000 riders rose over $16 million, the largest cycling fundraiser in Canadian history. It was a remarkable experience.

So please; follow the link to my personal Ride page and make a donation. You can donate online or print out a donation form to send in with your cheque. If you get there and it happens that my $2500 goal has been reached then I would ask you to support me by sponsoring one of the other members of Team Kortright.

Thank You and may God bless.

Dennis

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You can sponsor me with a donation at the following link or by clicking the banner in the left margin.

www.conquercancer.ca/goto/dennisgray2013

Read Morgan Guyton

/ Dennis A. Gray / Leave a comment

I’ve been working on a draft of a blog post about the Israel/Gaza situation for a while now. I’ve been having trouble finding the words to say what I feel needs to be said. When I read this I stopped trying and deleted the draft.

I can’t say it any better than this.

http://morganguyton.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/six-things-i-can-say-about-gaza/

It’s Not About the War

/ Dennis A. Gray / 2 Comments
In Flanders Fields memorial at John McCrae birthplace, Guelph Ontario

Memorial, with the complete poem “In Flander’s Fields” at the John McCrae House in Guelph, Ontario Canada. (Photo via Wikipedia Commons)

It comes as no surprise to me that many Christians, and especially pastors, struggle with Remembrance Day, or Veterans Day as it is called in the United States, Armistice Day in other parts of the world. The struggle is born out of the fact that war is generally considered to be a bad thing, and not all wars are created equal. Some it is easy to see the necessity of the conflict and so can be regarded with some degree of honour; others, unfortunately, are much harder to justify and are the source of the philosophical struggle. How does one honour the fallen in an unjust war without giving credence to the conflict we opposed so strongly?

The most common response to this is, “We are not honouring the war; we are honouring the soldiers.” But for many this is a difficult concept to buy into because in their minds if the soldiers refused to fight there wouldn’t have been a war. As is often the case this idealistic approach can rarely play out in the real world.

In the real world diplomacy often fails. In the real world governments feel pressure to ‘send a message’ and ‘issue a measured response.’ In the real world some countries are governed by genocidal regimes that simply must be stopped. The average soldier in combat boots and fatigues with a rifle and a fifty pound pack isn’t in a position to make a judgment call on the bigger picture. They can object to specific acts, such as burning a village full of women and children, but the beyond that; well, they rarely get to see beyond the next hill.

So, keeping this in mind I would like to suggest a slightly different wording for the statement above.

We are not honouring the war; we are honouring the sacrifice!

Being a soldier is by and large an act of faith. In good faith soldiers lay their lives on the line believing that their leaders would not ask them to engage in an unjust war. In good faith they answer the call of duty believing that the best interests of their nation are at stake. In good faith they sacrifice some measure of their own freedom and all too often their own lives in the belief that doing so will bring some measure of freedom to others and allow them to live better lives.

It is that faith which puts them in a position to go to war. It is that faith which leads them to make the ultimate sacrifice. It is that sacrifice of faith that we pay tribute to on Remembrance Day.

Another aspect of the real world, regretfully, is that faith is often betrayed. However; and this is the most important thing I wish to convey to you, the betrayal of that faith by the government of the day does not in any way diminish the value of the sacrifice made by the men and women in uniform.

You see Remembrance Day is not about government policy; it’s not about international politics; it’s not even about whether war is just or unjust, right or wrong, of necessity or of opportunism. Remembrance Day is about the men and women in the tanks, trucks and trenches, the fighter planes and bombers, and the ships at sea and under the sea who, in good faith, answered the call of duty and ultimately sacrificed their lives by doing so.

And that is all it is about.

That sacrifice, made in good faith, must never be taken lightly. It must never be dismissed because we disagree with the politics of the day. It must never be demonized because of our own pacifist beliefs. If that faith was betrayed, if that faith was misplaced, it in no way diminishes the value of the sacrifice; and the fact that sacrifice was made must never be forgotten.

This is why I think it highly appropriate that the U.S. elections are held in the shadow of Remembrance Day. I wish that federal elections in Canada were held at this time as well. Holding elections so close to Remembrance Day reminds us that in a democracy the leaders who send the men and women of our armed forces into battle are selected by the people, by you and me, when we cast our votes. If our leaders have engaged in an unjust war it is because we gave them the power to do so. Few leaders in the Western world can declare war on their own; they require the support of their governments. Those governments were put in place by the people. Which is why the sacrifice of those men and women must also be important to you and me; to all of us.

So on November 11th, regardless of your political leanings, regardless of your philosophic or theological approach to war, please, take a moment to remember the sacrifice made in good faith by men and women who fought to oppose evil and promote freedom on our behalf.

Gear Up – Ride to Conquer Cancer 2013

/ Dennis A. Gray / Leave a comment

Today is “Gear Up Day !” 

What is Gear Up Day? It’s the official launch of the 2013 Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer campaign. Next spring, on June 8-9, 2013 I will be riding in support of the Princess Margaret Hospital cancer research centre for the 6th time!  It will be my 3rd ride since my own battle with cancer. Once again I am glad to be riding as the captain of Team Kortright.

What I’m not so glad about is that this year, as in every year previously, the number of people the team is riding for has increased. It can be disheartening to see more and more of our friends and family are being afflicted with this disease. But like them, we ride on, because giving up isn’t an option. They continue living on relying on friends, family and faith to get them through. The most recent of these is my friend Cindi Olsen whose victory over cancer is being chronicled by her husband Pete over at their blog – Following Jesus is Hard.

And so, once again I appeal to all of you to support Team Kortright and I as we continue to do our part in the fight against this disease. You can donate online by clicking on the banner on the left side of your screen and checking out my Ride Page.

While there you can also join Team Kortright by clicking on the “Join Dennis’ Team” button. Sign up and be a part of what is always an amazing adventure. If you want a look at what the ride is like check out the previous posts by clicking on RtCC in the tag cloud.

I’d like to thank you all in advance for your support as we continue to seek the goal of conquering cancer in our lifetime!

Shalom….  Dennis

After the Ride

/ Dennis A. Gray / Leave a comment

Well, it’s been over a week and I am only just now getting around to posting about how the Ride to Conquer Cancer went this year. Gives you an idea how hectic my week has been.

That said, the Ride went just great! We all had a good time; endured some rain, met a few challenges, found new friends, sweltered in the heat, ate food, drank beer, rode a lot of miles.  Team Kortright did very well raising $19,000 out of the $18.1 million raised by the collective 4,852 riders. It was all I expected it to be and then some. There was one thing however that I did not expect.

At lunch the first day a guy with a video camera comes up to my brother Alex and I and asks us a few questions about why we were doing the Ride to Conquer Cancer. It’s not unheard of; it happened to me back in 2008, the first year of the Ride. They talk to a lot of people and then spend several weeks going through the footage and putting together the promo videos for the next years Ride. There is a ton of footage that is taken but never used, so it wasn’t that big a deal. What happened the next day however, was something different.

At lunch on Day 2 the same guy spots us from across the lawn and calls out to us. He comes over and I remind him that he already spoke to us the day before. He says that’s why he’s looking for us again. He liked the footage so much and said we had such good presence that he wanted us to record a couple of scripted sound bites for use in the promos. Right now I can’t remember exactly what we said, but he spend about 10-12 minutes taping us delivering a couple of catch phrases and an invitation or two.

Alex being Interviewed on the Ride

My brother Alex being Interviewed by video promo guy during the Ride to Conquer Cancer 2012.

Alex was thrilled, grinning from ear to ear. And the video guys seemed to find him the more appealing of the two of us, of which I’m glad. I had my moment in the sun back in 2009 when I found myself part of the promo videos. I got calls from friends right across the country saying they had seen me in one or another of the ads. This year it is Alex’s turn and I couldn’t be happier. He’s an amazing guy who has always been an inspiration to his big brother. Now the whole country will get a chance to be inspired by him as well.

Once again I want to thank each and every one of you that supported Team Kortright and myself this year. You are the best of the best and we will always be grateful.