Just Coasting Alone:
(Click for Audio) Yes. I said “alone”…and you expected “along”. But this morning I was thinking about a near certain disaster and I was coasting along, alone.
Monday evening, just this week, I was fitting another implement on my tractor. The Front End Loader. It connects easily, and just as easily it disconnects so you can do other things with this Jack of All Trades tractor.
The dogs were running around, chasing birds and rabbits. The evening was cool and getting darker by the moment. I thought to prepare my tractor for some early morning work, tomorrow. You understand? Getting stuff done today to make tomorrow more productive, more quickly.
Well, one of the hydraulic fittings had too much pressure on it so the fitting would not fit properly. With the tractor engine running, I was attempting to determine which fitting the hydraulic hose was attached to so I could loosen the nut and bleed a little pressure. Well, as distractions and coasting alone times would have it, my right hand was in the wrong place, while my left hand was moving the lever to see which directions the front end loader would move. And my right hand, in the wrong place, at the totally wrong time, was crushed by the front end loader arm as it cycled through it’s motions.
Immense pain. Fear of significant damage. And, truthfully, the right reaction on the controls to back off the arm away from my right hand, trapped and hurting, worked. I had my gloves on so I could not see if there was any horrific damage….and I left it on as I uttered a desperate prayer. Just three words. “Jesus, help me.”
You see, I’ve been here before. No. Not with my tractor. But in other less damaging but equally stressful moments of life. I’ve made a mistake while coasting “alone” and not paying as much attention as I should have, I failed in my task, and knew then, as I knew now, there was only one thing to do. “Jesus, help me.”
It was my bible study last night that my studies gave me a scripture to share today. It was David. A psalms. Again. He writes from such honesty and pulls no punches. He gets stuck in the mire of life and cries out for help. I want to know what he did to get stuck! Why? Again, David, why are you stuck? Again? He simply states it. I’m in the mire. I’m sinking. Deliver me…
Deliver me out of the mire,
And let me not sink;
Let me be delivered from those who hate me,
And out of the deep waters.
Let not the floodwater overflow me,
Nor let the deep swallow me up;
And let not the pit shut its mouth on me.
Hear me, O LORD,
for Your lovingkindness is good;
Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.
And do not hide Your face from Your servant,
For I am in trouble;
Hear me speedily.
(Psalms 69:14-17 NKJV)
For I am in trouble! Hear me speedily! Deliver me!
You see. When you’ve been here before, and you realize it’s as a result of your enemies, or your self, and you are stuck. Again. You learned the first time who to go to, and it is easier to respond more quickly the second and subsequent times.
If you are trapped in a web of your own doings, or if the enemy has surrounded you, repeatedly and speedily, you have only one solution. “Jesus, help me.”
Oh. And my hand? A little sore. Light swelling. No broken skin or obvious damage. “Jesus, helped me….”