Monday’s Message

The vehicles of this world can leave us stranded. ~Abigail Rice

Have you ever felt stranded as a result of running out of gas, or getting a flat tire?

Thanks for joining us for Monday’s Message with Abigail Rice and Trench Classes United. Today’s message is an inside view of a day with toddlers and a great reminder of how things of this world can send us off road if we are not including our spiritual self.
Going on a walk with my three boys today

With a little one in a stroller

And two toddlers anxiously waiting to ride their bikes

Even though I remind them every time they want to try to take their little plastic tricycles down the dirt road - it’s going to be a very rocky ride and taking their bikes probably won’t be the best choice of transportation…

To no avail, they still insist on using their bikes as their preferred vehicle for our walk

Per usual, as we are just about .02 seconds down the rocky, dirt road, they then decide they no longer want to ride the bikes and attempt to cram themselves along with their bikes into the stroller...

Now I am left to push this 90+lbs load down our rocky gravel road…

We eventually make it to the cattle guard at the end of our drive where we cross over to the main paved road and the boys then decide they want to attempt to ride their bikes again
​
“So they can go fast” they say

However fast they think they may be going, it almost always involves multiple stops along the way with some sort of meltdown, tantrum, or what I call a “bike fight” when one decides the other has a better bike that he now wants to ride, and you get the picture…

It inevitably takes twice as long to get down the road and and we have to turn back to head home before we even get to our intended destination

With everyone including the bikes crammed into the stroller yet again...
We make our trek back to our gravel road to get home before the sun sets
Once we get to the cattle guard crossing
I tell the boys it’s time to ditch the bikes
& leave them at the gate for daddy to pick up on his way in
 And they have to walk the rest of the way back home
(because honestly there is no way I can push that heavy load up the rocky hill...)
The sun is now setting
We are all walking together (minus the little one in the stroller)
My oldest, Amos, is now gathering “pretty rocks” as we walk
And Azariah joins him
The setting is much more of peace and curiosity
And it is then I realize this whole time God has been showing me
This scenario is a lot like my walk with Him…
I oftentimes fight back
I want to do things my own way
Take my own vehicle down the rocky road
Even though I am constantly reminded of my preferred vehicle of choice
The vehicles of this world
Usually leave me high and dry
And I need a lift from God
And He always scoops me in
Placing me in His stroller
As I insist on cramming myself and all my baggage in
I feel safe
I feel loved
And when the rocky road subsides
I jump out
With my baggage in tow
Only to go back to my old ways
to get back on my own bike
Because I think I know this paved road will be easy
And even with my baggage I can still go fast…
That never lasts
I am the one ending up in a meltdown
A tantrum
Filled with confusion
And doubt
Only to realize
It’s my own baggage stopping me from getting to my destination
And it is only once I finally listen
And let go
And leave my bike full of baggage at the end of the road
I now get to actually walk with God
I can finally breathe
& take it all in...
The sun as it sets
The pretty rocks along the road
And it's in that moment I know
My Father knows best
And in order to get through this test
I must walk with Him
Remembering all the things He has said
All the baggage He has stripped away
Has to be left in the past
It will only slow me down
And this road I am on now
May still be rocky
But as long as I am walking
Next to my Heavenly Father
I am reminded that I am HIS daughter
And I can simply pick up the rocks
Admiring the beauty of the lessons
And what the real journey is
On this rocky dirt road
That will lead me back home

"And He told them many things in parables (stories by way of illustration and comparison), saying, A sower went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and ate them up.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil; and at once they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they dried up and withered away.

Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them out.
Other seeds fell on good soil, and yielded grain—some a hundred times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some thirty.

He who has ears [to hear], let him be listening and let him consider and perceive and comprehend by hearing.

Then the disciples came to Him and said, Why do You speak to them in parables?
And He replied to them, To you it has been given to know the secrets and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

For whoever has [spiritual knowledge], to him will more be given and he will be furnished richly so that he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

This is the reason that I speak to them in parables: because having the power of seeing, they do not see; and having the power of hearing, they do not hear, nor do they grasp and understand.

In them indeed is the process of fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: You shall indeed hear and hear but never grasp and understand; and you shall indeed look and look but never see and perceive.

For this nation’s heart has grown gross (fat and dull), and their ears heavy and difficult of hearing, and their eyes have tightly closed, lest they see and perceive with their eyes, and hear and comprehend the sense with their ears, and grasp and understand with their heart, and turn and I should heal them.

But blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear.

Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men [men who were upright and in right standing with God] yearned to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

Listen then to the [meaning of the] parable of the sower:
While anyone is hearing the Word of the kingdom and does not grasp and comprehend it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the roadside represents.

As for what was sown on thin (rocky) soil, this is he who hears the Word and at once welcomes and accepts it with joy.

Yet it has no real root in him, but is temporary (inconstant, lasts but a little while); and when affliction or trouble or persecution comes on account of the Word, at once he is caused to stumble [he is repelled and begins to distrust and desert Him Whom he ought to trust and obey] and he falls away.

As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the Word, but the cares of the world and the pleasure and delight and glamour and deceitfulness of riches choke and suffocate the Word, and it yields no fruit.

As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the Word and grasps and comprehends it; he indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundred times as much as was sown, in another sixty times as much, and in another thirty." - Matthew 13:3-23

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