Not Becoming Weary and Not Giving Up

The Cape Town Cycle Tour is a large-scale international cycle race; more than 35,000 cyclists from all around the world participate in the race and more than 2,500 volunteers manage race operations. On March 11, 2018, more than 70 members from the Cape Town Zion supported this event.

Since the event was scheduled to begin early in the morning, we gathered at 3 a.m. and got to the venue after driving for forty minutes. We were supposed to volunteer at a rest area in the middle of the course, located at the mountainside. It was pitch black because there were no streetlights or electricity. Thanks to that, we could admire the stars shining beautifully.

Not long after the race started, the riders started showing up one after another. As time went by, more and more riders showed up, and soon there were so many riders all together. We encouraged the cyclists when they entered the rest area by giving them drinks and cheering them on with exciting dances. They got excited by our enthusiastic cheers and gave us thumbs up or high fives. “I participated in cycling tours in many different countries, but I’ve never seen supporters like you,” said one of the participants, expressing his gratitude.

The South African public service broadcaster featured the race along with our support activity. Our brothers and sisters in green vests kindly handed out drinks to the cyclists, holding the placards saying “We Love You!” We were very proud of them.

Our support activity started very early in the morning and ended at 2 p.m. Except for the snack time in the morning, we had no time to take a break while cheering on the cyclists. When the event ended, we all felt exhausted. During the event, everyone seemed to be okay without looking tired or weary. Actually, we were all tired, but none of us showed it. Before, we used to express our feelings when something difficult happened to us. However, we have become more mature in faith and learned to be patient for the glory of God. We could feel the love of the heavenly family from the brothers and sisters who encouraged one another by offering drinks. Finishing our volunteer activity, we committed ourselves to running the race of faith until the end, together with our heavenly family members, no matter what hardships may befall us.