JAMMED
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, 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 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.
JAMMED
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 too. 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’ll 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 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 sin 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 these years so happy together for almost 30 years. After a marriage of over 32 years my dear wife got cancer. After being sick for 8 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, 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 still with me even now my dearest love one is not longer on my side. When we accepted Jesus it was not ‘some idea’ or ‘a leap in the dark’. No, God was all these years faithful and 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 for ever. Hell is real!)
The second way which 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 for ever. 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
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