Mr. Wilson was excited about the new house we were building for him. Unfortunately, Mr. Wilson wanted to be the boss of building his house. Since he didn’t know much about construction, that turned out to be a big problem.
We had dug down on 3 sides of the planned house site for a basement foundation. We had prepared wooden forms that would receive the tons of cement needed to make a strong foundation, and today was the day to pour that concrete. It was going to take more than one truckload of concrete to get the walls poured. We hoped everything would go smoothly!
The first cement truck came on the jobsite carrying 40,000 pounds of heavy, wet concrete. The experienced driver drove onto the property, staying as far away as he could from the hole for the foundation. Then he carefully backed up to the big hole, positioning the chute where the cement would come pouring out over one of the side walls. With our help he poured out his load of cement. His truck was much lighter without all that concrete, so he drove away quite a bit closer to the hole than he had driven coming in.
The second truck was there already, waiting for his turn to pour cement, but this time with a less experienced driver. Mr. Wilson was right there to tell him what to do, guiding him into position. The problem was that he was pointing to the tracks left by the first truck as it had driven out, closer to the big hole. “Oh no,” we thought, “he’d better not get that close to the excavation with a fully-loaded truck!” We could tell that the driver was nervous and did not want to follow those tracks, but Mr. Wilson insistently directed him that way. This reminds me of a verse in the Bible that says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:1212There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 14:12)).
Unwillingly, the driver followed Mr. Wilson’s bad directions. Then it happened! As the full truck backed up beside the hole, the ground began to give way, causing the truck to tip and slide toward the edge! Right away the frightened driver shoved his huge truck into first gear and tried to pull forward. It was too late. He only got a few feet away before getting stuck!
He called his boss and asked them to send a tractor right away to pull him away from the edge. Then he jumped out of the cab and watched. The ground continued to give way. The truck tipped toward the foundation hole, the frame twisted, and the back of the concrete truck, weighing tons, gradually rolled into the hole. The wooden forms we had so carefully built cracked and splintered as the weight of the truck crushed them.
The tractor that was called to help arrived too late. The truck lay in a twisted mess on the floor of the basement, along with a pile of spilled concrete.
The driver’s boss made him climb into the barrel of his truck and wash it out. The chemicals in the concrete made him sick for a few weeks, but we were thankful that no one got seriously hurt. A crane and a tractor came and hauled the broken truck out of the hole and off the property. In time we cleaned up the job site and began again, building forms and pouring the walls without further trouble.
The Bible is true, and we need to listen to the warnings found there. “Go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away” (Proverbs 4:14-1514Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 15Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. (Proverbs 4:14‑15)). Although Mr. Wilson didn’t intend to direct the second truck into the hole, that is exactly what he did. And there are people around us that do not have faith in the Lord Jesus who will steer you onto the wrong path, a path that will end in a worse disaster than a truck in a hole!
The Bible is clear that we choose one of two paths in life: “Wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life” (Matthew 7:13-1413Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:13‑14)).
The Lord Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)). He is the only path that will lead you safely to God. We hope that you will think about which path you are on and choose the one that leads to eternal life!
Messages of God’s Love 1/3/2021