This is part three of a post from two years ago called “Stuck.” In part 1 and part 2, I shared a few experiences, from when I was younger and got stuck in some bad situations. In part 3, I want to talk about a few other times I was stuck.
My cousins and I were out riding around the old back roads. I always liked going down roads I had never gone down before. We were in a place that is known to flood when it rains a lot. There were sand bars on the road and in the fields left over from times when the river waters had come up in that area.
The road was getting rougher the farther we went, and I didn’t want to mess my car up, so I decided to turn around and head back to more familiar roads. I soon saw a little opening where trucks and tractors entered the field so I drove on to turn around. Well, that did it. The tires quickly sunk into that sand and my car came to a complete stop without me even applying the brake. WE WERE STUCK!
We all got out of the car to see how bad the situation was. It was pretty bad. Just about that time an old car came around the curve and slowly eased up to where we were and came to a stop. There were several shady-looking characters in the car and one of them stuck his head out and asked, “Y’all Need Ne help?”
Now, as far as I know, those men may have been the nicest guys in the world, just out riding around, like we were, but we were just teens and, at the time, most of our experiences with people who drink had not been good ones, so we said, “No Thanks.” They drove on and we started working to get the car unstuck. It wasn’t as bad as we had first thought, so we got it out of the sand, and we were soon on our way.
Another time that comes to mind is a little disturbing to me when I think back on it, but I’ll just go with “desperate times call for desperate measures.” My oldest son wasn’t even two yet. He and I were out just riding around. I came upon an old road that I had been down several years before I started driving. It was once a main road that connected two towns, but it hadn’t been used by the general public in many years. It was mostly used by deer hunters and dune buggy, and ATV riders. It was literally a dirt road.
As I drove down the road I was thinking it was still in pretty good shape. After we had driven for a while, I came around a curve and the road was blocked. A tree had fallen into the road. Even if the tree had not been there, it would have been impossible to continue on because there was a mud hole right where the tree had fallen. I was thinking we will have to turn back, but I noticed a trail bypassing the tree and mud hole. It appeared that several vehicles had left the road and had driven around the base of the tree.
There was a hump all down the side of the road where the road bank was higher than the road itself, so I knew that might be a problem. I was driving a small Toyota car, and it was pretty low to the ground. I knew I would not get over that hump traveling at a slow speed, so I gave it some gas and turned the wheel just as I came upon the detour. Instead of the car going over the hump and around the tree as I had planned, the tire hit the hump and simply slid down it, turning the car back on the road, into the mud hole, and up under the fallen tree. I WAS STUCK AGAIN!
I tried to reverse the car, but it only spun. I had some experience with stuck cars and I was sure it only needed a bit of a push while someone gave it a little gas. I had a dilemma because I had nobody to help me. My son was only a baby and he couldn’t help. He didn’t even know anything was wrong. He just sat there in his car seat looking around.
We needed to get out of there. We were a long way from the main road and it would be getting dark soon. There was no time to walk out. I don’t remember seeing any light bulb pop up over my head, but I had an idea. I could turn the car on and put it in gear, then I could control the accelerator from under the hood. Then when the car came out of the mud, I could pull the coil wire off and the car would stop. Great idea, right? I wasn’t sure, so I unbuckled the car seat and took it out of the car with my son still buckled in it. Then I put him on the other side of some small trees on a higher level so I could still see him and there would be no way for the car to get anywhere near him just in case things didn’t go as planned.
With the car in gear and the wheels turning backward, I started pushing and it started moving. It was working! Then, all of a sudden, the hood started closing on me. It was being pushed down as the car was backing under the fallen tree. “No, no, no!” I screamed. I had to kill the car and it was still stuck.
While my son was just sitting quietly in his car seat just watching the action, and I was standing there, totally frustrated and as mad as a hornet, I was wondering why these kinds of things always happen to me. Just then, several people came by on ATVs and a couple of the guys helped me get the car unstuck. I was grateful and I thanked them, then we turned around and headed home.
There are many different ways we can get stuck, both literally and figuratively, but no situation is impossible with God on your side. I don’t remember the exact words I prayed that day, but I’m sure I asked him to tell ME what to do, not to send somebody to help me. I’ve learned, though, that God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we want him to. He answers them in a way that is best for us. What I tried to do was dumb and dangerous. That was my idea, not God’s. I know he sent those nice people to help us that day, and I’m thankful he did.
We need to learn to wait on the Lord like it says in Psalm 27:14. We need to stay in constant communication with God and develop a close, personal relationship with him so we can hear and know his voice when he talks to us. We don’t need to wait until we get into trouble to talk to him. He has a lot to tell us every day, so we need to be quiet and listen. Prayer is two-way communication with God. It’s the key to a healthy relationship with him. So start using that key today.
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