by Kelly Dixon
Reading: Romans 12:1-2
The dirt road that I live on is being paved. The process has created a huge mess because we are right in the middle of a rainy season. To make matters worse, I live at the end of the road. Gradually the workers have been bringing in red clay as they form the bedding for the new road. Driving through the middle of wet red clay, at its best, makes your car think it is a fish ready to swim through water and, at its worse, gets you stuck. Therefore, we have been changing our route to go around the field that is adjacent to my front yard. However, sometimes the route through the red clay is better than even our alternate route. The other day I was faced with the decision of which route I should take – going around the field or staying on the road. I chose to go around the field. After all, it had been raining a lot the day before and my Chevy Suburban was only two-wheel drive. I made the left turn onto the road that went around the field and was about to make the turn right as I got to the corner of the field when BAM – I was stuck! And to make matters worse, I had people who I was supposed to be meeting at the office at 8 a.m. I began to panic. With the thought that I had to go get my husband’s car, I opened the door to the muck below and looked down at my high heel shoes. “That’s not going to work,” I exclaimed. I then picked up my cell phone to call my husband. He then called my dad and before I knew it my husband shows up with a chain and my dad with a tractor. Ready and willing, they were able to pull me out. However, I was quickly given the instructions afterwards that I should “stay on the road.” Where were they when I made that decision 30 minutes ago?!
Reading: Romans 12:1-2
The dirt road that I live on is being paved. The process has created a huge mess because we are right in the middle of a rainy season. To make matters worse, I live at the end of the road. Gradually the workers have been bringing in red clay as they form the bedding for the new road. Driving through the middle of wet red clay, at its best, makes your car think it is a fish ready to swim through water and, at its worse, gets you stuck. Therefore, we have been changing our route to go around the field that is adjacent to my front yard. However, sometimes the route through the red clay is better than even our alternate route. The other day I was faced with the decision of which route I should take – going around the field or staying on the road. I chose to go around the field. After all, it had been raining a lot the day before and my Chevy Suburban was only two-wheel drive. I made the left turn onto the road that went around the field and was about to make the turn right as I got to the corner of the field when BAM – I was stuck! And to make matters worse, I had people who I was supposed to be meeting at the office at 8 a.m. I began to panic. With the thought that I had to go get my husband’s car, I opened the door to the muck below and looked down at my high heel shoes. “That’s not going to work,” I exclaimed. I then picked up my cell phone to call my husband. He then called my dad and before I knew it my husband shows up with a chain and my dad with a tractor. Ready and willing, they were able to pull me out. However, I was quickly given the instructions afterwards that I should “stay on the road.” Where were they when I made that decision 30 minutes ago?!Do you remember when what you read about Jesus caused you to make some incredibly radical choices and brave decisions? We look back on those times with incredible affection – they were the days when we really were up for anything. God could send us to a distant land, or the poorest community at home. We would be obedient to Christ’s call without hesitation. We would commit to people who were very different to us because we had heard the words of Christ to ‘go.” Yet, through the days of our lives we can truly get stuck in a rut; a rut of routine and of being ‘average’. As time passes and as we immerse ourselves in the ‘job’ of being a follower of Christ, we lose our edginess and end up living off the stories of the past rather than the energizing reality of ‘doing’ what we were originally called to do, right now, here in the present. We get wrapped up in the values of the age; success, notoriety, that size matters, the pursuit of a comfortable lifestyle. And before you know it – BAM! You are in a rut! Getting stuck in a rut is easier to do then we like to admit. It is as easy as making the wrong decision that takes us down the wrong path. Sadly, the easiest thing for us to do is to stay in it. We certainly wouldn’t get our high heels muddy that way. But choosing to stay in it will have the effect of paralyzing us to the point where we put God’s call for our life on hold. The best thing for us to do is to be very intentional about getting out.
Do you feel you are stuck in a rut and you are out of fellowship with God and His will? When we are in fellowship with God and seeking His will, He will motivate us to do what He has called us to do. God blesses us when we strive to follow His call for our lives and to seek His will in all things. When we are stuck in a rut, He is willing and ready to get us out. To do so, we must look towards Him and rediscover the initial desires we had to follow Jesus. We must recommit to the call God has for us to be a living sacrifice for Him. God knows it is hard for us to recommit on our own. So He sends in the troops with “chains and tractors” to help pull us out. If you are in a rut, He has done the same for you. Look around for His troops. It could be a neighbor with godly advice; a friend with a similar story; or an invitation to a Bible study group; or a simple call to "come aside" and be with Him. Seek God by looking for the messages or messengers that He is sending your way and don’t forget to thank Him for the “chains and tractors.”
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I have taken the wrong turn and ended up stuck! Please forgive me for failing to search for You. Lead me in recognizing Your call for me to come back into fellowship with You. Dust me off and set me back on the path You have planned for my life so that I may fulfill Your call on my life to its fullest. I love You. Amen.
