Paths and Ruts

Going Home

© 1996 Debbie Turner Chavers

Last week-end, I found myself on a road that appeared on the surface to be quite firm.
But I would soon learn that appearances can be deceiving!

We (husband and I) had a break in the weather and after being trapped inside for days, we decided to go for a drive. 

So we drove to the country on the other side of Nashville. 

Hills and valleys, streams and rivers. The country side was beautiful. We finally arrived at a scenic place to get out and take a walk through the woods. My husband began to look for a firm place to pull over and park off the road.
The road bed and the surrounding roadside appeared firm.

No standing water, yet beneath the surface, the clay mixed road bed had thawed, froze again, and thawed again after a hard rain.

Everything looked beautiful in the forest. The evergreen trees were freshly washed from the previous rain. The country road was not dusty and the sky was blue with just a hint of breeze blowing.
Just beautiful.
Until..... we pulled off the road.

Life can be like this at times. The path your on, appears to be just fine. Until you take a moment to pull over. If we had examined our path closely we would have noticed that the road was fairly firm but just inches into the side of the road the land was mush!

Quickly realizing our mistake, we turned the wheel and started moving backwards.
Well, sort of. We actually moved backwards and forwards, and backwards and forwards with much prayer and steady slight turning of the steering wheel.

Going forward into the mush seemed counter productive but the driver hoped to find more solid ground on which to get a running start toward the road.
But we had made a rut.

Sometimes even our well meaning actions to get out of a mess....put us in a rut.

After much effort and many false starts we finally made it back to within a few feet from the road. Not back on the firm ground of the road bed.
But close.
So close....yet so far.
Long story short. We have a friend who lives right off that country road who has a tractor.

We walked down the road and our friend pulled us out of the ditch with that beautiful country tractor. After a bit of effort he pulled us out of our dilemma, for which we are very grateful.
What could have been a huge aggravation ended on a positive note because of the help of a friend when we wandered off the path.

Life is like that.
God has a chosen path for us to follow and yet if we through accident or rebellion wander off it,
He is prepared to rescue you if you will come to Him and ask.

Don't leave your life or your truck in a ditch. Get some help. I am glad we did.

~Debbie




This is a repost from my Word Parables blog,
"Choose Your Path Carefully " © 2010 Debbie Turner Chavers


Proverbs 4:26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

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