Dusty Roads, and Strong Shoulders
At times, I get reminiscent about my youth and simpler times in my life. And today April 8, 1911, Joe Busby was born, today would have been my Grandaddy’s birthday.
When I was just a child, two or three times a year my family would go to Fort Payne Alabama to visit my Grandmother and then up to Lookout Mountain to visit my step Grandparents there. My step Grandfather never showed any difference between me and his natural grandchildren, my brothers, and my sister.
On every visit we (the grand kids) would go for a walk up the old dusty dirt road he lived on and go to the local store at the end of the road.
As we ventured down that dusty, rocky road I began to get tired, and the rocks were beginning to take its toll on my feet. So, Granddaddy threw me up on his shoulders. Granddaddy was one of the kindest and most humble people I had ever met, He was very trustworthy and very respected, a great mentor and role model to try to emulate as much as possible.
I was just 5 or 6 years old but I remember him carrying me on his shoulder, as if it were last week, I don’t recall ever saying anything about the walk, but he looked down and saw me struggling and up on his shoulders I went.
I wonder how often in our struggles without saying a word God just grabs us up and places us on his mighty shoulders, we go. The Bible says over and over how God guides and carries us:
Deuteronomy 33:12 Of Benjamin he said:
“The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him, Who shelters him all the day long; And he shall dwell between His shoulders.” NKJV
Psalms 17:5 Uphold my steps in Your paths, That my footsteps may not slip. NKJV
Psalms 119:117 Hold me up, and I shall be safe, And I shall observe Your statutes continually. NKJV
Psalms 139:10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You. NKJV
Again, that got me thinking about the nature of God.
The poem about footprints in the sand. How when there were only one set of tracks is when He carried us. I think that is what He wants to do the whole time. I truly believe that if there are ever two sets of tracks it’s when we are trying to do things on our own.
Now if Jesus is in my heart in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus is in the Father, so how many tracks should we see?
Someone once likened God as a Father teaching a child how to ride a bike, How He runs along behind holding the bike and making sure that it doesn’t fall over, then when the time is right, He lets go and off we go on our own.
However, the more I read the scriptures, the more I believe that God does not want to ever let go,
He never intends for us to make it on our own,
He is always there and only when we try to do it on our own are we left to do just that, on our own.
Why would we want it on our own if we didn’t want to do something we shouldn’t be doing anyway?
I can make it on my own, but it is so much easier to do it Gods way and stop pulling away, because He will let you leave, in Luke 15:1-7 we see in “The Parable of the Lost Sheep”, then Luke 15:8-10 we see “The Parable of the Lost Coin.”
Then, Luke 15:11 The story of “The Parable of the Lost Son” reads:
Luke 15:11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So, he divided to them his livelihood”.
The Father will let you go even though He knows that is not what is best for you, and as the saying goes:
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
As we see in this story;
13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
“Keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay.”
17 But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”
“But when he came to himself,” when he realized that things were better off at home, and the rules were not that bad after all,
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”
See the Father is looking for your return every day.
21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
The sin is already forgiven!
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry. NKJV
Treated the son as if he never left. Understand the fellowship may change with God, but the relationship never changes, if you are his child.
I believe He always carries us, if we let Him. We have seen that in “The Parable of the Lost Sheep”.
Luke 15:4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. NKJV
There are those shoulders again. So, happily He carries us.
Notice this even though I was on my Granddaddy’s shoulders, I was still on the dusty rocky road.
The circumstance did not change, where I was had not changed, my destination did not alter.
What changed was instead of me taking the steps it was Granddaddy,
Instead of me facing the rocky road, he took it on him.
Instead of my weight on my feet they are on his.
Remember who is carrying you!
