I feel like travelin’ on….

   We take a lot of bike rides these days, especially since Forest can ride his own bike without training wheels now. We got one of those handy dandy fancy tricycles that have the push-handle for Warrior.  Previously, he would pedal about 8 feet and give up. Then we had to break our backs and bend down to push him the rest of the way. This is just *so* much easier.

(I do not have a hairy stomach, that is little Miss Peach’s head! lol)

   Now, I’m going to have to admit that these days I don’t have a lot of time left at the end of the day to spend praying. From the time I wake up, until the time I go to bed, I always have at least one child awake. I make time for my devotions when I can, but sometimes it is so difficult. You know though, I think God knows I’m trying, because He speaks to my heart through the every-day so often. Which brings me back to the fancy-schmancy tricycle. So here we are on our bike ride, Grace in the sling, Forest riding his bike, crashing occasionally and getting back on, and me pushing Warrior on his trike.

  These handled trikes are brilliant… except for one thing. The child is still the steer-er, which means in a nutshell, they can choose the direction in which their bike goes, not the push-er (adult).  So, I’m pushing along, and all the sudden, we’ll make a sharp veer to the right and be going right for the ditch, or a big pot hole. I’ll look down and Warrior is looking backwards at a bird hopping in someone’s yard or to the side of the road at a pile of ‘coconuts’. (Pinecones. Don’t ask.) But as long as he keeps his eyes on the road, isn’t looking backwards, or to the side, it’s a perfectly smooth ride. No travel health insurance needed. After about the 15th time of the abrupt turning, it struck me (I guess ‘it’ was God) - I am exactly the same as the distracted bike-rider with the push handled bike on the path of righteousness. God is holding my hand, and pulling me in the right direction. As long as I keep my eyes straight ahead, and am not looking backwards, or to the side, at the temptations that are thrown my way, I’m good as gold. I can sit back, and trust in God’s guidance and strength. Just like Warrior can in his pusher. But when I start to look back, to contemplate what it would be like to go that direction, I start to veer… a little more, a little more, until I’m sideways in the middle of the path, or even worse, in the ditch. And sometimes it’s even worse, sometimes I get it in my head that I can handle it by myself, and I don’t need Him at all. And at those times I’m like Forest. I pedal along and it feels like a smooth ride for a while. Until I get distracted and pedal myself right into a ditch, and skin my knees and cut my hands, and have to get back up myself. The beautiful thing is, He is always there, ready to push me again when I admit I need Him.

   Lord, please help me to keep my eyes on the road. On the path that You have created for me, even before I was born. Help me to trust that you are all-knowing and will help me get through the pot holes and puddles. Help me to remember that You alone are enough, and keep me from straying to the right or the left.  Amen.

My heavenly home is bright and fair,
I feel like traveling on
Nor pain nor death can enter there
I feel like traveling on

- (From the lyrics of I Feel Like Traveling On)

Rev. William Hunter D.D.