Are Ya Stuck?

Thursday, March 17, 2011
Are Ya Stuck? I recently found myself slightly buried up in the mud. I won’t go into great detail, as it is just a bit embarrassing. I will tell you that it did not involve my personal vehicle, and my pastor’s yard may have been involved. Let me also add that there were a couple of witnesses, or else you would have probably never heard about this in a blog. Nevertheless, there I was – buried up to the running boards at 10PM (that’s a hint in case you were wondering) with nowhere to go until someone came and pulled me out.
There are many who call themselves believers today that are stuck. They’re in a rut that they’ve become all too comfortable with. It’s even gotten to the point in their life where they don’t even realize they’re stuck anymore. They’ve been going through this same routine for ages, and now the rut is so deep they can’t possibly get out on their own. They need someone to come and help them out with a tow. Even a push won’t work.
We like to live in our comfort zone. We like to do things that don’t challenge us much. And to be perfectly honest, too many of us going to church at the regularly scheduled times are comfortable. Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night – even throwing Sunday school into the mix – it’s part of our weekly routine. We go when it’s time to go. And we go home when it’s time to go home. But what about the real ministry that happens outside of those regularly schedule worship times?
What about the people we meet every single day that need us to be the church? What about the hurting people next door that don’t know where their future is headed that are looking for hope? What about the single mom that is struggling that needs the church to step up and help? What about the homeless? What about the elderly? What about the hopeless, the destitute, the suicidal, the addicted, the atheist, the angry, the imprisoned…what about them?
For many, the needs of those outside our comfort zone aren’t even felt anymore. For far too long we’ve been in this rut of our routine. Now we find ourselves in a place of not even feeling the hurt and pain of those outside our rut. Friend, that’s both a scary and dangerous place to be. Without real compassion for hurting people, the church is nothing but a social club. Period.
You see, when I was stuck in the church va…oops…I mean when I was stuck, if someone were to go behind me and push with all their might it wouldn’t have gotten the job done. Those wheels would have continued to spin, and the mud would have continued to fly. I would have still been stuck. Pushing wouldn’t work.
I needed someone who wasn’t in the mud to pull me out. I needed to be led, with the assistance of a chain, out of the rut and back on to the solid ground. Last night I was led – and Rev. Hezekiah Stewart of the Watershed Mission in Little Rock led me. The chain was the Holy Spirit. And if ever there was a time when the wheels have hit solid ground again, it’s now.
Will you join me in the journey of our lives? Will you join me in taking the Gospel to people outside our rut? Will you allow me, or someone else, to pull you out of the mud and into the solid ground of Christ and His mission to the lost and dying of this world? Would you join us in what He’s doing? Would you?



That’s just a thought, and I welcome yours.
Until next time,
blake

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