“REED” This

Stuck

This past Saturday I and a few others were helping someone move. There wasn’t a lot of big stuff, but a small, enclosed trailer was going to be just right to make it easy to load and haul it in one trip. I made arrangements to borrow a trailer and had made my way to its location early that morning. I knew the trailer was parked in the yard behind a house. As I located the trailer, I began looking at the ground. Now, we have had a lot of rain lately, and my concern was driving my truck through the yard in order to reach the trailer. Then, being able to get back out. I surveyed the ground and even though it was quite wet, the grass was very thick and there were tree roots along the top of the ground in several places that gave me confidence that the ground would hold up. I have to admit, there was a little voice inside me that was not sure, but I still felt that I could make it. So, I decided to take the plunge and headed off the drive into the yard. It was wet, but we were making progress and things were looking good. I had gone about seventy-five feet and slowed my speed just a little bit and that was a mistake. That’s when we began to sink into the ground and were no longer moving forward. I got out and saw that my tires had sunk into the ground several inches. I looked around to try and find anything that I could put underneath the tires to lift and keep them out of the mud. I found some square concrete steppingstones that I wedged behind my rear tires to try and get traction to back out. I was able to back up onto the stones, but they quickly sank into the ground and my tires began to spin on them. I put a few more in front of them to see if I could get enough movement forward to have momentum to get to a little higher ground, but those stones sank into the ground as well and the tires began to spin on them. I tried to reposition the stones but found they had sunk into the ground so far that I was unable to pull them out. I knew then that I couldn’t get out on my own. I was stuck.

I called several towing companies before one finally answered their phone. The man was very nice and said he could be there in fifteen minutes. Sure enough, after that time had passed, he pulled up to assess the situation. I was very thankful he didn’t laugh at me or ask me, “What were you thinking?” He just smiled and said, “It happens, especially with how much rain we’ve had lately.” He quickly hooked up the winch cable to my back bumper and pulled me out in less than five minutes. I thanked him and paid him, then headed toward the one we were helping move. We were thirty minutes late, but were able to haul everything in the back of my truck and a couple of mini-vans. We accomplished what we needed to do, with only the extra expenses of paying a tow truck, putting some good-sized ruts in a yard, possibly losing several steppingstones, and having to wash a lot of mud off my truck that afternoon.

I was upset with myself. I had not listened to the little voice of reason that told me the ground was too wet and would be too soft to drive on. Because I didn’t listen, I got myself stuck. I think we all do this from time to time in other areas of our lives. We decide to do something or buy something without listening to the small voice inside that is trying to guide our decisions. We neglect to listen, or just decide to ignore it, and move ahead. It’s only after we have gotten ourselves into trouble that we will acknowledge that we should have listened and followed that voice. God has given us, His children, that wonderful voice of reason to guide us in every aspect of our lives. Jesus tells His disciples and tells us in John 14:16-17, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” The Holy Spirit lives within us. If we will just acknowledge Him and ask for His help, He will help us stay out of trouble and certainly can keep us from hurting ourselves. He is always with us, ready to instruct and guide us in every decision we have to make. And if we will listen and follow, it will always be the best. And God is so good, even when we don’t listen, He still loves us and pulls us out of the mud, back to where we belong. It will cost us because we have disobeyed, but He will restore us and will never leave us.

My advice to anyone right now, don’t go driving any vehicle off solid ground until we’ve had a few weeks to dry up around here. And remember, in any decision you need to make, big or small, make sure you ask the Holy Spirit to tell you what you need to do or not do.

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, September 13, 2022