Wrong Turn...
I wonder if any of our listeners
saw the news item[1] a couple
of weeks ago about a Lorry Driver in China who took a wrong turn.
On New Year’s Day, an articulated
lorry driver decided to follow a short cut on his satnav near the city of
Changzhi in the mountainous Shanxi province. Unfortunately, as the mountain
pass gained height, with a rockface on one side and a sheer drop of 330feet on
the other side, the tarmac road also started to narrow. The driver found
himself caught between a rock and a hard place as he realised he would have to
start reversing his articulated lorry back down the mountain road.
And then catastrophe struck: one
wheel lost traction and the vehicle’s front right side swerved dangerously over
the edge, hanging over the precipice, Italian Job style. You can see the
nerve-wracking drone footage on the Daily Mail website.
I don’t know if you’ve ever taken a
wrong turn in life but it can set you back a long way. And it’s terribly easy
to look back with regrets.
· A decision
made years back that affected your career or your relationships for the rest of
your life.
· An incident
in your past where you can’t forgive yourself or someone else.
It’s easy to feel that we’ve taken
the wrong turn, we’ve driven up the wrong road, we’ve got ourselves into major
trouble and now our future is hanging in the balance like that lorry teetering
over the edge of the Chinese precipice.
Well here’s some great news for you
from Psalm 103.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As long as we are alive there is
still hope. Because as long as we are alive, we have time to come to Jesus
Christ, in which there is always hope. Come to him, come back to him and you
will find forgiveness, help and a fresh start. No wrong turn is too difficult
for him.
And so that I don’t leave you
hanging, to conclude that news story, the driver of that lorry was able to get
himself out of the cab safely, and three days later the lorry was pulled back
to safety by dumper trucks and cables. No-one was hurt.
Thanks for listening, and have a great day.
Followed by “The Long and Winding Road”
by the The Beatles.
Charlie Newcombe 19/1/22