The Muck

A winter storm was coming. You could feel the change in the air even though it had not yet started to snow. Rushing to prepare for any needs during the storm, he stopped off to get more grain for the horses.

Moving several hundreds of pounds of feed was exhausting, so he drove the truck as close to the barn as possible. Parking in the grassy pasture, he noticed the softening of the ground. The recent rains had left the pasture a bit softer than he liked to drive the truck over--especially with the addition of the much left behind after the herd grazed in the area. Slipping into knee high mud boots, he hurried get the grain into the bins and get out of the weather--a chilling wind was bringing in the storm. The horses quickly gathered into the barn to be fed as he finished storing the grain. Feeding them, he went to move the truck and let his wife know he would soon be in--hopefully before they lost all the daylight.

With the softer ground, he slipped the truck into four wheel drive and began to slowly, carefully pull out of the barnyard. The tires spun, but he managed to slowly inch the truck forward . . . until he reached the upward slope the last thirty feet or so before the gate. The area was especially mucky and slick. His tires spun and spun . . . losing the traction he needed for the steep uphill climb. The truck was miring down in the muck of the barnyard. He'd have to go get the tractor to pull it out.

Walking to the house, he grabbed the keys of the tractor and informed his wife, asking her to drive the truck while he pulled it out of the muck. He ran on to the tractor while she bundled up to join him. The temperature was dropping, he hoped the old tractor would start--it was getting cranky in its old age.

He turned the ignition and it just growled. The cold had seeped into the aging contraption and the battery just wasn't strong enough to combat the age, and elements. He called to his wife to bring her car over to jump start the tractor. She did . . . and they were able to get the cold natured beast to start. But the hydraulic fluid was too cold to lift the bucket. Night was almost upon them. It would take too long for the tractor to warm up and move the truck before nightfall.

He took their son's four-wheel drive vehicle. If he could find a chain long enough, it could sit on the outside of the gate and pull the truck up the hill. Of course the chain wasn't long enough! Still, the ground was grassed just inside the gate, surely they could use it to get the truck pulled just a few feet out of the muck--he'd leave the tractor warming up just in case.

Attaching the chain from one vehicle to the other, he realized just how slick the ground had become. Between that and the uphill climb he hoped he didn't get another vehicle stuck as well. It pulled the truck a bit, he just needed another foot . . . the grass was pretty slick . . . they were close, if he could just get up over the lip . . . stuck! Now both four-wheel drives were stuck in the pasture.

Muttering to himself he went after the come-along and more chain. Attaching it to a strong fence post, his wife sat in their son's vehicle to steer as he slowly pulled it inch by inch with the come-along over the lip and through the gate. When she felt traction under the tires, she pulled the vehicle forward so he could remove the chain and then moved the vehicle to its parking space. He then rigged all the chains to reach the truck still farther out in the pasture. Checking the tractor, the hydraulic lift was still too cold to lift the bucket. He'd have to inch the truck up the incline.

Daylight had left them as he slowly inched the truck forward with the come-along. Having taken in the slack of the chain, he had to release it and set the come-along up again. His wife could feel the truck try to grab traction, but the steep incline of the "lip" at the pasture gate was just too much with all the muck and elements against them. Using the chain they were almost free of the muck, but there was no more space to use the come-along. He would have to set up using another post in order to pull the truck through the gate.

He went to move the tractor so he could use the post near it. The hydraulic fluid had finally warmed, the bucket lifted. Using the chain attached to the tractor he easily pulled the truck out of the muck and mire--onto solid ground. Disconnecting the chains, his wife drove the truck back to the house to part it while he put everything else away, closed the gates, and checked on the horses once more. The storm was about to hit, but they were finally prepared.

Sometimes in our lives we are doing all the right things, preparing for the storms about to surround us, caring for others, and we find ourselves sucked into the muck of life. We try to work our way out and often become mired down even worse. We use all the tools that we have at our disposal, but the storm is about to break around us. We are afraid.

Those are the times that we draw upon the slow and steady strength of God. We want to rush and we rail at God out of our fear and frustration. God continues to place tools at our disposal. Slowly, we find ourselves pulling out of the muck and into comfort and safety once again.

Though we may be frustrated by not having a quick, instant fix, God is always with us . . . always leading us . . . always making a way. When one plan fails, God always has another way provided for us. As long as we continue on the path, God will bring us out of the muck and onto solid ground.

I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work. For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don't go back until they've watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They'll do the work I sent them to do, they'll complete the assignment I gave them (Isaiah 55:8-11).

God, teach us to trust you and know that even we are caught up in the muck and mire of life that you have a way for us. Teach us to be willing hands to help others. Calm our hearts and spirits so that we may trust you to be our solid ground. So be it. Amen.