Cycle213: Praise God for Willing Hearts
Introduction
On Saturday 26th November, a group of students gathered with others at the Big Red Barn to host a sponsored cycle. I was privileged to walk alongside Sarah as she organised the event, gathered people around her to pull it off, and as she cycled for the Bibleless people of the world and talked to many people about what the team were doing. The day was a huge success and loads of fun. In total, they cycled 235 km and walked 28 km, raising R 52,140.12!
A huge thank you to Sarah and her friends, to all who cycled, the prayers and sponsors, and to anyone else that was involved in any way. If you are interested in hosting an event, go to this link for more information - www.wycliffe.org.za/event/get-active
by Helen van der Walt
Testimony: Sarah Coutlakis
I first heard of Wycliffe Bible Translation when we had some visiting speakers at our church, Hartbeespoort Open Baptist Church, a while before the 947 Ride Joburg cycle race in 2019. I was utterly shocked to hear that over half the languages in the world have NO Scripture. Today, the number is 213 million people with NO Scripture in their language. I had no idea. This led me to join the Wycliffe cycle team for the 947, which was awesome.
When Covid hit, Wycliffe decided to do a “Move for God’s Word” challenge instead of the 947. I invited a bunch of friends to join me in doing a 12-hr cycle relay to raise awareness and funds. However, students are normally penniless, so the relay didn't bring in much support. I still wanted to help, but didn’t know how…
"This turned into the event called Cycle213 – for the 213 million people with not a single Bible verse in their language. All glory to God, it was a success!"
I prayed, and then decided to try again. This time, learning from the cycle-relay, I tried for a popular bike park to attract attention. I cut and sold plants again, and asked those who wanted to join if they could commit to raising a sum of money. This turned into the event called Cycle213 – for the 213 million people with not a single Bible verse in their language. All glory to God, it was a success! Everyone who came and got involved was a major support, whether they were cycling, busking, selling, praying, supporting, or riding around dressed as Bible Man – they were amazing.
God used one of my friends mightily: Urs challenged his friends all over South Africa and Switzerland to contribute at least R1/km. In the end, sponsors gave up to R34/km for his 33 km. He had 32 sponsors in total and collected R 44,112.53 in sponsorship! Praise God for willing hearts.
I took French as a subject in school, and then studied five languages at University, two of which I majored in. Despite studying three of the languages for a year, I still struggled to get by in any of them. After majoring in French and Portuguese, I realized that my Portuguese went downhill extremely quickly after not using it, to the point where reading was extremely difficult. All this again made a huge impression on me as I realised the major struggle it can be to learn a language, and how difficult it is to read in that language even after studying it. Languages can cause barriers and misunderstandings. I’m sure there are some who find language learning easy, but for the most of us it’s a battle. Years later, reading the Bible in a language that is not your own is still quite a feat.
"How precious it is and how privileged we are to have easy access to what the Bible says and means, because it is in our language!"
The Bible is a “lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105); but how can it lighten our way when we don’t understand it? Imagine if you were without this light… Just for a moment, think of what it would be like if you were one of the 213 million people without any of the Bible in your language. How precious it is and how privileged we are to have easy access to what the Bible says and means, because it is in our language! This is what inspired me to support Wycliffe and the language groups they partner with: so that one day everyone will be able to have access to and understand the Bible in a language that speaks to their hearts.
If everyone contributed just a little bit, it would make a big difference.
