May I
introduce myself to you? I am a Dutch colleague of you and
I like to share with you something that happened in my life years ago.
I was
driving my lorry with low loader and I was carrying a twelve-ton
forklift,
which had a quite tall upright. When I approached a railway viaduct, I
slowed
down and was able to manage. However, because the viaduct sloped a
little, I
got stuck at the last few inches. I thought: 'With a strong yerk I'll
get out again'.
And with a blow on the gas I managed it. But then I got into a more
terrible
mess...! Along the large viaduct, there was another, quite narrow one,
which I
had not noticed. When the upright of the forklift came free from the
large
viaduct, it sprang up in the slit between the two viaducts. I couldn't
move
anymore, neither forward nor backward. The only thing I could do was to
deflate
the tyres of the forklift completely and those of the low loader
partly. Thus I
got out of this trap. Later on I had a map in my lorry in which nearly
all
level crossings and viaducts (in Holland) where mentioned. All provided
with
bottom clearance and headroom.
Just as
it happened to me with the lorry and low loader,
it may also occur in life. In life we also can get stuck. We get
involved in
problems and then try to free ourselves by using 'tricks'. Sometimes
that seems
successful too, but in reality sooner or later one ends up in a
complete
deadlock, with no way out. That's how things went in my life. I tried
to talk
myself out with feeble excuses. After being married for some years I
turned out
being not honest. My wife and I began to drift apart. I was sure of one
thing:
This life of mine was rubbish and I did want to change! But I didn't
know how
to tackle the matter. When I tried to mend my ways I discovered time
and again
that it proved to be a failure. Somehow things went wrong again and
again.
Perhaps you recognise this, and you might be tired and entangled too.
If you
desire a real change, there is a solution. I have found out that there
is
another way. (Even when your situation is not as bad as mine was I'd
encourage
you to consider that other way.) This way is one, which never end in a
blind
alley. 'That way' is the Lord Jesus. He said:'I am the Way, the Truth
and the
Life'. And also He said that anybody who is spiritually tired and at a
loss
about what to do, may come to Him. He promises rest and peace inside.
Let me
tell how my life was changed after all. I told God about my
shortcomings and my
sin and my want for rest. I asked Him forgiveness for everything that
had gone
wrong in my life trough my own fault. I thanked God that the Lord Jesus
died
for my sins and rose again from the death. I made everything right with
people
as far as I could do. And God forgave all my sins and He renewed my
life. He
did also with my wife's life for she also confessed her sins and
accepted the
Lord Jesus as her Saviour. We did this by kneeling down and speaking
out all
what was a burden on our hearts. God renewed our lives.
Our
marriage life became more beautiful than it was in
the time we first fell in love. After we both decided to let Jesus in
our lives
and to live with God we lived all those years so happy together for
almost 30
years. After a marriage of over 32 years my dear wife, Fija, got
cancer. After
being sick for 10 months she went -in complete rest and peace of mind-
to be
with her and my dear Lord Jesus where, I'm sure, I will meet her when
it is my
time to leave this world. O yes, she was only 54 years, much too young
and I
rather had her many, many more years with me. But it was Gods perfect
time. God
really had given her and me a new life and His rest and peace was with
us in
this difficult time of our lives, and is even still with me, even now
my
dearest love one is not longer at my side. When we accepted Jesus it
was not
'some idea' or 'a leap in the dark'. No, God was all those years'
faithful and
He really changed our lives.
He wants
to give you all this peace in your life too. If
you have a desire to have a balanced life of inner peace and rest under
all
circumstances of life find then a quiet spot where you can be alone and
talk
with God, even in your cab. Whether you call loudly or whisper softly,
well
that doesn't the matter. All you say to Him straight from your heart,
He hears!
And not only does He hear, but He will also answer you by giving you
peace and
rest in your inner life if you make an honest confession. Do you
remember that
map in my lorry? I always made use of it when I had to pass a
'doubtful' crossing
with my low loader, or had to go under a viaduct with an extremely high
cargo
and when I was not sure of the headroom. At present I have another
'map' with
me. Actually it is a book. That Book is the Bible. I read in it of Gods
perpetual love for me and His plan with my life. This Book is for me a
guide
that protects me from getting 'stuck' again.
A
blind
alley or...
The
Bible speaks of two ways. Of the first way it says: There
is a way which seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death...
(Proverbs 14:12). (I was on that way before I went to the Lord Jesus. I
headed
for 'eternal troubles', lost forever. Hell is real!)
The
second way that is mentioned in the Bible is the Lord
Jesus. He says: 'I am the way... (John 14:6)... he
that believes in
Me shall live even if he dies... (John 11:25)
Now I am
on this Way. Heading for 'eternal happiness',
safe forever. Heaven is real! Which way do you choose? If you're still
on the
wrong way do what you do when you get lost somewhere in the country
with your
lorry: go back, start afresh and take the right way!
Martien Stam
Dutch
lorry driver