Photo courtesy of Mason Gravley and Paul Austin/Facebook.
USA (MNN) — Two bikers recently tackled a daunting challenge for a cause.
Mason Gravley and Paul Austin, native Floridians, entered a cross-continent race from Canada to New Mexico called The Great Divide Mountain Bike Race.
With this race, Gravley and Austin raised funds for a translation project in the Himalayas of Southeast Asia with Wycliffe Bible Translators. This translation project has been ongoing for 15 years, but was slowed because of social unrest. The people group is marginalized by society and they need the Bible in their heart language to grasp the hope of Christ.
Austin and Gravley started the race on June 14 and covered 2,745 miles. The pair carried a recorder for journaling, a phone for safety and a Bible for studying. Other than that, it was just the basics of food, water and equipment.
Photo courtesy of Mason Gravley and Paul Austin/Facebook.
They wanted to finish the race in less than 20 days. The pair crossed the finish line two weeks ago after riding for 25 days, 12 hours and 20 minutes.
The goal on the project was to raise $22,353. So far, they raised 7% of that goal.
But Gravley isn’t done. He went on to bike a 7,000 mile loop through 30 national parks in the American west and is currently on the road continuing to fundraise. Gravley hopes to finish this leg of the journey in five months.
Over 500 people groups in Central and Southeast Asia still don’t have God’s Word in their heart language, according to Wycliffe. That’s why Wycliffe is working to begin Bible translation projects for every language by 2025.
Austin and Gravley write on their Facebook group page, “Like always, God receives the glory for everything we will do, which is one reason we’ve chosen to support a Bible translation project with this ride. Like Wycliffe, we believe that every man, woman, and child should have the opportunity to read the Word of God in a language that speaks to them best. We want to use the talents and passions God has given us to raise awareness and financial resources for Wycliffe’s work in Asia, giving all of the glory to God Almighty.”
You can join Gravley and Austin by supporting Wycliffe here.
