BBD 02.24.09 The Ride to Hell
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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02.24.09
The Ride to Hell
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he
himself is rightly judged by no one. - 1 Corinthians 2:14-15.
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that
leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is
the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who
find it. - Matthew 7:13-14.
I once took what I thought was a ride from hell soon after starting a new
job in 1975. The company I worked for had two offices, one in Elk City,
Oklahoma and one in Monahans, Texas. The owner of the company decided that
we needed to go to Odessa, Texas which is about 40 miles from Monahans to
pick up a new inspection unit. Jim McMasters was going to be the operator of
the new unit and I was going to be the assistant operator. The owner of the
company, Earl Beard, had just bought a new Mercury Marquis. When we were
ready to leave I tried to sit in the back seat but Jim insisted that I sit
in the front. It did not take very long to understand why he wanted to sit
in the back.
It is 400 miles from Elk City, Oklahoma to Odessa Texas. Our trip took only
four hours! This was before air bags, or shoulder belts - the car did have
seat belts and I definitely had mine fastened. Through the little towns that
we went through, Earl did slow down to around 70 to 80 mph. He also slowed
down once going around some curves to about 90 mph while making a call on
his mobile phone and driving with his knee. I think I prayed more on that
trip than I had in a long time. I was praying for a highway patrol officer
or a deputy sheriff or someone to see us and stop us. We did not see any law
enforcement on the trip to Odessa. On the way home, after we left Jim to
drive the unit back, we saw one highway patrol officer while we slowed down
briefly behind a group of a few cars that were driving slower. After being
stopped many times for speeding Earl finally bought a plane and obtained his
pilot's license. Of course, he already had a lot of hours in, flying at low
altitudes!
If I had it to do over again I would have confronted Earl and asked him to
slow down. If he then did not slow down, I would have at least tried to have
him let me out on the side of the road somewhere, anywhere. I knew that I
was in danger but I did very little about it. There are countless millions
of people even billions of people that are on a trip to hell which is far
more dangerous than the trip that I took. James says, "For what is your
life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes
away (James 4:14)." The trip will soon be over and they will arrive in a
place that is worse than the worst that they have ever experienced in life
and there will be no escape (Read Luke 16:19-31).
If you are on that trip to hell the time is now to get off that road and
onto the narrow road that leads to Heaven. The time is now to open up the
door and jump out. Escape while you still can! Jesus is the only way of
escape. Receive Him as your Savior (John 1:12; Revelation 3:20) and begin to
walk down the narrow way to Heaven where the joy and peace will never end.
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