Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

* Ruts
* Scripture: Both Jesus and John the Baptist said, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 3:2 and 4:17, NKJV

I've been in a rut. A really big rut. Really! Actually, it was twin ruts that must have been cut by many passages of large trucks through boggy, soggy clay.
Guests of gracious hosts, my son and I were enjoying the summer day at their weekend house in the country outside of a large city. The location was definitely 'off road' with only the rutted track serving as access. About the time we were settling down to a delicious meal that included shis-ka-bob prepared on a spit in the fireplace, a rouge storm blew in, drenching the day with pelting rain.
We were inside and dry, but became concerned about our chances of making it back to a real road to return to the city. So we packed everything into their little foreign-built car, and headed out.
Although there was room to travel alongside the ruts, our driver chose to straddle one rut, with the other wheels on the narrow strip between the trenches. Alas, the sun hardened clay that we came over earlier was now rain slickened. The elements of gravity and ooze took control. Not just one, but all wheels now followed the ruts, not touching the bottom, however. We were hung up on the underpinnings of the car. Might as well have been jacked up on a maintenance lift!
How ya gonna go when the wheels aren't touching anything? A wrecker or tractor was out of the question. It took quite a bit of work, and numerous pieces of lumber and fence posts, but we made it out.
We would be fortunate indeed if the only kind of rut we encountered in life was a track worn by a wheel or by habitual passage; a physical channel or furrow!
Sometimes it is even more difficult to get out of a usual or fixed practice in our lives, especially a monotonous routine. The kind of a rut that has been sometimes described as a grave with open ends.
I have often heard that repentance means turning about, going the other way. Think about this: what if the 180 degree turnabout just leaves you in the same old rut, only going the other way? In our case, we actually turned that car sideways to the tracks, filled in the ruts, and drove off.
One local church posted this advice on their sign: 'How to Get to Heaven: Turn right. Go Straight!'
Straddling the ruts of life is not always the best option, nor even a turnabout that leaves you in the same ruts.
Sometimes we need to do a right turn, and leave the old ruts totally behind.
January 29, 2006