Our 1977 van had a problem. Even though it was thirty-one years old, once it was started and going, it worked very well. It was a camper van with a refrigerator, sink, cabinets and comfortable beds—everything we needed for camping. But this was the problem—it really didn’t like to have its engine idling when it was hot. Vapor lock would set in, and we would have to wait for about thirty minutes while the engine cooled off before it would start again.
One day we were returning on an Interstate highway from a long trip. We came around a curve and found ourselves in a construction area. All the cars and trucks ahead of us had come to a complete stop. After about five or ten minutes, traffic started up again ... everyone, that is, except us! Our van wouldn’t start. Once again it was vapor locked, and there we sat in the fast lane, with a cement barrier on our left and traffic whizzing by on the right.
Earl was trying to push the van out of the way of traffic, but the cement barrier made it impossible. We were in a very dangerous spot! Because of the curve, other drivers couldn’t see us until they were almost on top of us. And I wondered what would happen if two big trailer trucks came roaring around that curve side-by-side! Both of us were praying that the Lord would preserve us from an almost-certain accident.
Suddenly, a man in a pickup truck stopped, parked his truck in front of us, and got out a big hook and towrope. Then he hitched us up to his truck. “I’m going to take you to a safe place,” he said, hopping into his pickup.
We heaved a big sigh of relief as he towed us to a place made for truckers to pull off the road and rest.
“Thank-you, thank-you,” we said as he came to collect his towing equipment and say good-bye. We offered to pay him for his help, but he wouldn’t accept any money. When I handed him a gospel tract, he said, “I already belong to the Lord Jesus. Keep that for someone else.” Then he was gone as quickly as he had come.
Was he an angel that the Lord Jesus had sent in answer to our prayers? He looked just like any other man.
You know, God the Father sent His Son Jesus into the world to be our Saviour. The Bible tells us this in 1 John 4:1414And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. (1 John 4:14): “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” Jesus didn’t look any different than other people, but He was the sinless Son of God. God sent Him here for a very special purpose—to die on Calvary’s cross for sinners like you and me and take the punishment for the sins of every person who would accept Him as their very own Saviour.
You and I are in desperate need of salvation. We can never be accepted into heaven with our sins. It’s as though we have vapor lock, and here is the help we need. The Lord Jesus Christ loves us and wants to wash us clean from every sin and take us to that safe place where we can have rest and happiness. And it won’t cost any money either, because Jesus paid the full price. “[You] were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold ... but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19)).
Are you redeemed? Are you prepared to go to the safe place called heaven?
ML-10/17/2010