LANCASTER, Calif. — The Antelope Valley minister who rode his bicycle from Fairbanks, Alaska, to the Florida Keys has finally stopped pedaling and is now on vacation with his wife somewhere in San Marcos, Fla.

Lowell White, the 68-year-old “Spirit Rider,” reached his destination on Dec. 4, and was met by his wife, Evelyn.

“It was a blessing,” he said after the 6,000-mile journey. “It was long, but it was filled with a lot of principles of discovering myself and my environment,” White said. “The Lord spoke to me in my spirit. He kept reminding me, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you and I cannot lie.’”
White pedaled through the cold, snow, wilderness and unpaved roads of Canada, with wild animals often a little too near for comfort. At times he had to use the Word of God to reassure himself to get through the experiences.

The minister, a pastor at Highlands Christian Fellowship Church, had as his purpose to spread a message of hope to all those he encountered. Back on May 24, when he departed, White told of the vision God had given him. He said the purpose for the bike ride came to him 30 years ago while at a friend’s house.

He described the moment as if God’s divine presence came over him, and it felt like gold.
“It was like the quality of gold, wrapped in sunshine, beautiful warm sunshine… and this infinite love, so peaceful and so loving,” he said in May. Then he had a dream of a dagger with an elaborately decorated, brilliantly shining handle that began in Alaska and ended in Florida. God spoke to his spirit, saying the world needs to know the Holy Spirit is here.

For miles, White seemed to travel alone, but says he was accompanied by angels and the spirit of his wife.

“The support I received from my wife… she was on the trek at home, holding down the household, managing communications with the media. She kept everyone abreast of my travels and talked to me four or five times a day, encouraging me,” he said with obvious gratitude and appreciation. “That’s a helpmate; that’s a unit. We were on one accord and that is what made this a beautiful trek.”

Along the way, White had some encounters of the close-to-death kind, sleeping in the cold wilderness alone with bears and wild cats often just a few feet from his tent. At times he went through stretches of what seemed uncharted territory with no human soul around. That is when his survival skills kicked in, he said.

“The challenge was the distance when there was no one around,” White recalled. “You had to entertain yourself, manage your water, prepare for the unexpected because you didn’t know how long it would be before you got to another place. When I saw bears eating berries on the side of the road, I ate the berries on the side of the road.”

His willingness to step out in faith touched the lives of hundreds of individuals across the two countries. He said at each city or small town where he rested, people opened their homes, entrusted him with car and house keys, fed and clothed him, but more importantly, helped him share his message.

Back at home, Evelyn, held down the fort, but in spite of her smiles and pleasant presence, she had a few challenges of her own.

“The biggest challenge for me was that his physical person was not there with me,” she said. “He is the spiritual head of the household, taking care of the bills and that kind of thing, and then we were communicating by phone. It was not the same. I also contracted pneumonia so I didn’t have him there to take care of me.”

Most of the journey, she did not worry so much about his safety, but when people she spoke with mentioned the dangers, she would slip into a bit of anxiety.

“Talking with other people, they would say, ‘aren’t you scared of the bears? Aren’t you worried?’ For a moment I would be, but I would have to quickly bring myself back and remember that the Holy Spirit was with him, and I’d have to shake myself and say, ‘He’s OK.’”
The couple plan to return to California within another week.

To view photos from the journey, visit holyspiritrider.com.