Unshackled Echo ~ May 13, 2017 ~ Stuck

Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on

June 28, 2013 as Stuck

I remember a time when my father and I got stuck. I don't remember the exact situation, but I think we were leaving the area after rabbit hunting. Driving across a low spot in the farmer's field we were in, the truck became stuck. My father tried rocking back and forth in forward then reverse and all the other tricks I'd seen him use to get a vehicle out of the mud. They'd never failed before, but that night they did. We were stuck.

Then my father shocked me. He walked to a nearby barn and borrowed a shovel. He shoveled sand into the bed of the truck. I kept thinking, Now we'll never get out of here. He's making it sink down more! It was one of the few times in my life I doubted my father's wisdom and sanity. Much to my surprise, after he finished putting sand in the bed of the truck, he drove right out of the hole, across the rest of the field and to the safety of the road. We were moving again! The added weight caused the tires to press into the earth and have enough traction to move forward instead of spinning on the surface.

It's easy when the weight of life is on us to want to moan and ask God why He's letting that happen. Perhaps God, seeing what we can not, know, that the ground we're moving across or will be moving across soon is slick and wet and easy to become stuck in. Perhaps He's adding weight so we can maintain traction of focus on Him. Or maybe we've driven our lives into an area we shouldn't have and the results of our own will and actions have caused the added weight. Either way, the answer is the same. Instead of cursing the weight and being discouraged, let us be thankful that we aren't needlessly spinning our wheels and that we can we can let the burden focus our attention on Jesus and give us the traction to seek the safety of His solid rock. There, in the way of His will, we can give Him the weight that we're too tired to carry.

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