Otium Sanctum - Holy Leisure

One of my favourite passtimes is mountainbiking! Heck, I love spending a few hours riding my mountainbike in the mountains around my home - I am particulalry blessed that I live in Cape Town (Somerset West). About 800m from my home we have Lourensford farm - one of the stages of the ABSA Cape Epic. Then we have some magnificent trails in the Helderberg (about 2km from my front door). And, if I want something a little more adventurous my friends and I put our bikes on the racks and drive the 20 minutes to Elgin, Grabouw (Oak Valley or Lebanon) for another two of the Epic stages.

Hills, climbs, downhill, single-track and scenery!

It is a wonderful way to celebrate God's incredible creative power! I also find it to be a great way to connect with guys who would never darken the door of a Church! We can chat, offer one another support and find companionship and meaning for life's journey.

The monks of the 13th century spiritual communities called such activities that mixed praise, service to others, and personal relaxation "otium sanctum" [holy leisure].

This post contains a few picture from my ride on Lourensford this morning with my friends Graham Power (with whom I wrote my new book 'Transform your work life: Turn your ordinary day into an extraordinary calling' see http://bit.ly/transformwork (Graham is the chairman of the Power Group of Companies see http://www.powergrp.co.za and the founder of the Global Day of Prayer http://www.globaldayofprayer.com for details), and Dawie Spangenberg a friend from
Somerset West who runs Central Weighbridge Company.

Good times, good friends, great cycling!