There have been these two bicycles lying next to a local farm pond for the last month now.  I had never really given them much thought until this morning.  Walking past this pair amongst the early morning dew, I was struck by their newness.  The rising sun glimmered off of their fresh colorful paint. The contrast of the bright primary colors of the frame bordered by the earthen hues of the grasses and soil suddenly produced a type of loneliness to the scene.  A discarded Christmas gift perhaps?  I wondered if the bikes had been anticipated, and maybe even cherished at first by the children that had left them there.

But now, lying in the grass and weeds, as I came closer, the effects of their neglect became more obvious. Their chains were rusting, one of them had the handlebars turned backwards and the brake cable appeared to be pinched and cracking.  It was rapidly apparent that in a very short while, these two new bicycles would be nothing more than a forgotten memory, rubbish for a trash collector.

And then God spoke.  ‘You know, I feel a lot like those bicycles David.  There are times when I am pursued and dreamt about, when all that possesses your imagination is me -- the riding with me into adventure -- when I am literally the wheels that gave your desires life.  Together, there is nothing stopping us, until … something else comes along … life happens.  And I’m left lying here, waiting for you to come back ... wondering if you’ll be back.’

He took me to the book of Joshua, chapter ten.  Joshua along with the Israelite army is fighting against those who would infect God’s people, who would distract them away from the gift of the bicycle.  Joshua and his army are winning the fight, but time is running out, daylight is fading and soon it will be dark, and so Joshua prays a bold prayer:

                                                                              “O sun, stand still over Gibeon,
                                                                           O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon”
                                                                                            (Joshua 10:12b)

Then the word says, ‘The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down for about a full day … Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!’ (v13-14).

My King spoke again.  ‘I am so for you David, I will stop the sun for you if needed. Do not lose heart; do not leave me lying in the weeds.  I am the gift of greatest value, and we have much more exploring to do.’

To the King,

David