“REED” This

Procrastination

Early this past January I was driving down Gloucester Street one morning and ran over something in the road. Very soon after, I began to hear a tick, tick, tick as I was driving and realized whatever I ran over had stuck to my tire. As I drove a few more blocks and turned left toward my destination, I felt the back of my truck move in an unusual way. One more block and I pulled over to the curb, opened the door and looked back at a flat left rear tire. Changing a tire is never too fun, but I tried to make it a learning experience for my son, Connor. I had a full-size spare to put on, but what worried me was it was the original spare and had never been used. My truck is twenty-one years old, which means that spare was a twenty-one year old tire that had been sitting underneath the bed of my truck the entire 298,000+ miles I had driven it. The tread looked great, but the small cracks in the sidewall concerned me. After putting it on and lowering the jack, it definitely needed some air, but it was holding up. I drove to the nearest gas station and filled it up and the truck rode just fine. Later that day, I took it to a tire place to get repaired, but the four-inch metal object that had pierced the tire had done too much damage and the tire could not be repaired. I would have to buy a new tire. They only had one tire in stock that was the right size, but it was a different make. I don’t like having one odd tire. I was told the spare was actually in pretty good shape, so I decided to wait and see if the company I had bought the tires from originally could get me a matching one. After all, there should still be some warranty left on that set. The trouble then became the original tire place had shut down and the nearest existing store is an hour away. I would need to set up an appointment with the other store and make sure they had tires that matched mine in stock. Several times I meant to call and set that up, but things kept hindering me. I had to deal with Covid for a couple of weeks, and then I needed to help this person or that person do something and things kept happening that prevented me from taking care of it. All the while, the spare tire was staying aired up and working just fine. That is until last Wednesday.

This past Wednesday I was driving to work as usual. I did drop by and pick up Cameron to ride with me. As I got onto the island, I needed to run a quick errand off Sea Island Road, so I was stopped at the light and sitting in the left lane. After the light turned green and the cars in front of me finally started moving, I let off the brake and began to move forward. It was then I quickly realized I now had a flat tire and proceeded to pull off to the side of the road. Sure enough, the left rear tire was flat and looked as if it simply was falling apart. I was immediately thankful I hadn’t had a blowout going 50+ miles per hour across that causeway and that the tire gave out while I was stopped and waiting for the light to change. And as I had thought before, my predicament now was the spare had given out and I did not have another spare. I needed help. Thankfully, Pastor Mike was able to pick us up. I grabbed the wheel from the original flat back in January and took it to get a new tire put on it and brought it back and changed it. That took the entire morning. Thankfully, I was finished in time to wash up and make it to lunch.

As we were waiting to be picked up, I told Cameron, “Well, here’s another ‘“REED” This’ article.” He said, “On procrastination?” I laughed and agreed with him. I’d said all along that I needed to get that done but kept putting it off. My procrastinating ended up costing me a good bit. It cost me the inconvenience of changing a tire on the side of the road; a little soreness from having to get down under the truck to set up the jack in the right place and pull the tires off and on; a little embarrassment as people drove by and saw my predicament; and a lot of time that was set aside for study and preparation, therefore the Bible study was not ready for Wednesday night. And it cost Cameron time in the office, as well as Mike’s morning having to drive me to Brunswick and back to get a new tire.

We are warned many times in scripture to not delay in our decision to follow Jesus. We don’t know when our life on earth will be over, either by death or Christ’s return. Jesus said in Matthew 24:36-44, “No one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son Himself. Only the Father knows. When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes. Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left. So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into. You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”

We need to be ready. Don’t put off your decision to receive Jesus as your Savior. Your procrastination could cost you a lot more than the inconvenience of a flat tire.

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, March 15, 2022