THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Several years ago, I was working at a place called Parker, in Booneville, Mississippi. I worked there for ten years and drove to work down highway 45. I saw lots of things on that road in those ten years, and several not-so-good things happened to me on that road, but one of the strangest, most unsettling things happened one day while I was driving home after work.

As I came into the little town of Biggersville and went down the hill, there was a long flat stretch of highway. The road had four lanes; two northbound lanes, and two southbound ones separated by a grassy median. I was in the right northbound lane and there was, at least, one vehicle beside me in the left northbound lane. I like to be aware of what’s going on around me when I’m on the road, so I’m always checking my mirrors. The next I looked, I saw a car coming up behind me. It was moving pretty fast. I could tell he was speeding. I was sure he would slow down to the speed limit before he got to me, but as he came closer, I saw that he was not going to slow down. I was shocked at what he did next.

He couldn’t pass me in the left lane because someone else was there right beside me, so he passed me on my right side. He left the highway, and almost lost control as he went into the gravel. The car slid to the right, then back to the left. Rocks flew all over my car as the guy struggled to stay in control. To make matters worse, there was a bridge right there in front of us. Fortunately, just as we reached the guard rails he got the car back on the road just in time to cross the bridge without hitting it. Thank God for that. It could have ended badly. Wow! What an insane experience!

Another time, I was headed to work on the same road early in the morning, and it was snowing. I guess it had been snowing longer toward Booneville because the closer I got to work, the worse it was. I was going up that same hill in Biggersville when the tires on my van started spinning. Soon, I came to a complete stop. Thank God there wasn’t much traffic out. Since I couldn’t go forward, I started backing down the hill to get a fresh start and a little more speed. As I was backing down, I saw an eighteen-wheeler coming toward me. I was concerned, of course, but my heart almost jumped out of my chest when the truck started up the hill and started sliding. Fortunately, I had gotten over on the left side of the road and had the left wheels where the gravel was. After a few long minutes of holding my breath, the truck finally made it past me safely. Then I continued backing back down to the flat part of the highway as quickly as I possibly could in those conditions. Thankfully, I made it down before any other vehicles came. Then, I started back up the hill with a little more speed than I had before, and soon, I was over the hill and back on my way to work. Another situation where I'm thankful God was with me.

On the roads we go down every day, there are many things to cause us stress and aggravation. There are things that cause us to slow down, and sometimes even stop. Many times, there are things that make us take detours, but if we are headed to a certain place, we usually don’t allow any of those things to stop us from reaching our destination.

There’s a road that’s less traveled. It’s referred to by many names, but many call it “the road to heaven.” On the road to heaven, we should be even more determined to reach our destination. There are many things that get in our way, and slow us down. We can get distracted and even stop at times, but we have to keep going. There’s too much at stake to turn back now. Love for Jesus and the promise of eternal life with him are great motivators, but sometimes the cares of this life, and the things of this world make us lose sight of our destination.

Jesus said the road that leads to life is narrow, and not everyone will find it (Matthew 7:14). So, if you’ve found that road, stay on it, and don’t let anything make you stop and turn back. If you haven’t found the road to heaven, then let me point you to the map that will show you the way. God’s Word, the Holy Bible, is that map. If you follow this map, it will lead you home, and Jesus, his Father, and the Holy Spirit will all be right there with you every step of the way. Have a happy journey. I’ll see you on the other side.

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DATE WITH DESTINY

I was Twenty years old and it was Summer. I was driving my dune buggy on the two-mile road that led to my house from the main highway. I hadn't had my toy long but I was driving it like I had always had it. It had been raining and I wanted to get home before it started again. One of my friends was with me and he said something about slowing down. I was driving faster than I should have been on that curvy, wet road.

Then my friend asked me a good question. He said, “What would you do if you went over this hill going this fast and there was a car stopped in the road?” I said, “I’d do this,” and quickly bumped my brakes. When I did we started spinning on the wet pavement. As I desperately tried to regain control, we slid off the road into the ditch, but we didn’t stop or even slow down. That’s when I saw the light pole coming straight toward us. Just as we reached it, we quickly turned and missed the pole and started flying backward into a muddy field. As soon as we came to a complete stop, I shifted into first gear and stomped the gas to the floor, slinging mud everywhere. When we got back on the road, I drove quite a bit slower the rest of the way home. That was a scary experience but I was so thankful that God was watching over us.

I wish I had continued driving slower from then on, but I was young, but not quite as wise as I should have been at that age. You may think I’m exaggerating when I tell you this connected story, but I promise I’m not. Just a few months later it was winter and I made a spur-of-the-moment decision. I worked several miles from home and decided to try to make it to my house and back to work on my lunch break.

I was on that same road to my house where I had the dune buggy accident earlier in the Summer and once again, I was driving too fast. It had snowed earlier in the week and there had been ice on the roads for a couple of days, but the sun came out that morning and melted most of it. There were pine trees on the right side of the road casting a shadow on the pavement. Where the shade was, the road had not been exposed to the sun so the snow and ice had not melted there. 

Just as I was going over that same exact hill I saw the patch of ice. I hit my brakes in the same exact spot where I had on the dune buggy. The car began to spin out of control just like the dune buggy did. I tried to regain control just like before but I slid off the road into the same ditch at the same spot. Then I saw that same light pole coming straight toward me. Just like before, as I was just about to hit it, the car quickly turned and started rolling back into the same muddy field. It stopped almost in the same spot as the dune buggy. I’m not kidding. No exaggeration. It was eerie how similar those two incidents were, and I knew once again that God had been watching over me. That time, though, I had to walk to a neighbor’s house and get him to pull my car out with his tractor.

There was a famous philosopher and poet in the early twentieth century named George Santayana. He once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I hadn’t forgotten the incident the previous Summer, but it wasn’t fresh in my mind either. I hadn’t learned anything from it, that’s for sure. There are many variations of Mr. Santayana’s famous quote. The one I like is, “Those who don’t learn from their mistakes are destined to repeat them.” I believe that one can better be applied to this situation.

The Children of Israel went through similar situations where they would serve God for many years and be prosperous. Then they would turn and serve other gods. Then God would send them into captivity. Later they would repent and turn back to God and he would deliver them, but the cycle continued.

Today, many of God’s followers are in the same situation. When we turn away from him and return to our old ways, we get into trouble. Then we call on God for help. He helps us but then we seem to forget and go our own way again. When will we learn? God will not bless us when we turn away from him and do our own thing.

A good relationship with Jesus is very important. Serving the God of heaven is very important. Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me” (Matthew 12:30). He also said, “No one can serve two masters” (Luke 16:13). In John 14:6, he said he is the Way. No one can come to the Father except through Jesus. He is the door (John 10:9).

Let’s not forget who he is. Let’s not forget where he brought us from. If we do, we may find ourselves back there in the same situation we were in before. We don’t have to live in the past or focus on it to learn from it. Sometimes, we do have to look back at where we were, to appreciate where we are now. I want to learn from my mistakes and be determined not to repeat them. Who’s with me?

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STUCK - PART 2

Just over a year ago, I wrote a post called “Stuck - Part 1.” I talked about several times I was stuck when I was growing up. Today I want to tell you about a few other times I got stuck.

I don’t remember exactly how old I was when this first one happened, but I know I was between three and six years old. We were at our parent’s house, and they had a wooden kitchen chair in the living room. I don’t think we had any chairs like that at home. I believe my grandmother’s kitchen chairs had metal frames with no rounds.

My sisters and I were playing on the floor and for some reason, I put my head under the bottom of the chair between the seat and the round. When I went to pull it out I was stuck. I couldn’t get free. I panicked and started yelling and screaming. My mom and dad ran to see what was wrong. I was young, but I remember even then feeling so stupid when they told me I had to turn my head sideways to get my it out. I didn’t remember turning my head sideways to get it in there, but sure enough, that’s all it took to get free. I can see my dad now just laughing his head off. It’s funny to me now, but it sure wasn’t then.

When I was about nine years old, I had a plastic toy car with big wheels, about as big around as a baseball. Of course, they were only about an inch wide. They had a metal axle made into the wheels which just snapped onto two plastic braces on the bottom of the car. I guess I was pretty rough with it because, as I played with the car outside the wheel and axle assembly kept coming off.

When writing about the crazy things I did when I was younger, I always say “for SOME reason” because I don’t know why, and I can’t even begin to imagine why I did most of the dumb things I did. Well for some reason, I put one of those wheels in my mouth. The next thing I knew, it was stuck.

The axle and the other wheel were sticking straight out. I pulled and tugged on it, but I couldn’t get it out. It was stuck behind my top and bottom teeth. I was opening my mouth as wide as I could, but it wasn’t wide enough to get the wheel out. In fact, my mouth was opened wider than it had ever been before, and it hurt really bad. When I saw I wasn’t going to get it out, I panicked.

I was closer to my aunt’s house than ours so I ran screaming as loud as I could with a foreign object prying my mouth open. Finally, I found her, and once again, I felt so stupid when she just took hold of the wheel that was sticking out, tilted it upward, and pulled it right out. What an ordeal. I was so happy and thankful, and embarrassed. All I could do was hug her and cry. Wow! What a memory.

Another time, which I plan on writing about in more detail later, I went to my uncle’s house to stay for a few days. It was winter and there was snow on the ground. While I was there it got worse and I was stuck there for more than a week, but it was warm and I was safe. One day the sun came out and the snow started to melt. That afternoon I went with him to the store about a mile from his house.

It had gotten cloudy again and the melted snow was freezing again when we headed back to his house, which was at the top of a steep hill. We were almost to the top when the tires started spinning, and we were stuck. The good thing was the snow had melted quite a bit and most of it ran down the hill. It was only a few inches thick there close to the top. So, he kept spinning in one spot until the ice crumbled, and the tires touched the road, allowing it to gain a few feet. He did this several times until finally, the car was over the top of the hill. Soon, we were back at his house. After a few days of sunshine, the snow was gone, and I was able to go back home. Another wild adventure came to an end.

What a crazy childhood I had. What a bunch of dumb stuff I did, but God always provided for me and protected me. I’ve done many things in my life that I shouldn’t have, and some have caused me pain, stress, and all kinds of other troubles, but God has always provided a way out. I’ve learned many lessons from my bad decisions, and hopefully, I won’t do those things again. Hopefully, we all learn from our mistakes, but I think if we just trust God and stay in constant communication with him, he will tell us when we are about to do something we shouldn’t. That’s what Paul meant when he said, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). We need to stay in constant contact with our creator. We need to listen when he speaks to us, and we need to obey. Life will be better for us, and we will spend a lot less time being stuck in bad situations.

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© 2020 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6