When I worked as a truck driver, something happened which made me think about the fact that we can’t really count on tomorrow.
Bill was a truck driver who worked for the same company that I did. In the trucking business we drivers sometimes have to load our trailers and then unload them again at the delivery end of our trip, which we call a “run.” And sometimes what we have to load or unload is mighty heavy and bulky, and sometimes there is no one to help us.
As Bill was either loading or unloading his trailer, he fell and injured himself quite seriously. He must not have realized at the time just how badly he was hurt. He called his dispatcher (the man back in the office in charge of the drivers) and told him that he was a little dizzy and that he was going to sleep for a while before going on. Many trailer trucks have a place to sleep right in the cab. It is L called a bunk and is about the size of a single bed. When a driver gets too sleepy to go on, he can pull over into a rest area and stretch out in the bunk for a couple of hours.
Several days passed and there was no further word from Bill. His dispatcher decided they had better find out where he was.
They found his truck at the place from which he had last called in, but it was all locked up. They had to break in—and there they found Bill, stretched out in his sleeper bunk . . . DEAD.
The men who found Bill said that he had laid his clothes and papers out very neatly, like he wasn’t in any pain and planned to go on. But an examination of the body showed that he had a broken ankle, a broken arm and collar bone as well as a fractured skull!
I thought about how often men and women, boys and girls, go on with their plans each day not knowing how serious sin is with its awful results. And yet each one of us has been born with a sinful nature that can only produce sin. “By one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12).
We don’t know what Bill was thinking about his injuries. Perhaps he was in shock and didn’t realize he needed to get to a doctor. Perhaps he thought he was tough (truck drivers need to be tough because their work is hard) and could take the pain until he had some time off or was back at home. Whatever he was thinking, his decision that a little sleep was all he needed was fatal. It was his very last decision.
I thought of how we are often tempted to put off serious matters until later, when we have more time, maybe when we are older, or are in better control of our lives, or have had our fun, or have “made our million,” or whatever reason. And yet how often what we intended to do is forgotten, covered up by Satan’s ways of rocking us to sleep. And tomorrow when we awake, or more sadly, don’t awake, we will find ourselves having to face the judgment for our sins from which there is no escape.
Today there is escape. There is a God who loves and cares about YOU. He gave up His own Son to die for you. If you will accept the Lord Jesus as your substitute, believing that He died for your sins, the matter is settled forever!
Don’t count on tomorrow! Settle the serious matter of your sins right now!
ML 05/20/1990