It was a dark Wyoming highway, well past midnight, and I was making the 450-mile monthly trek back home from my Air National Guard weekend duty.
I was alone. No other cars were crazy enough to be out that late on a two-lane road. I had to stay awake. Occasionally I would see the orange glow of eyes along the road, tucked in the bushes, reminders that deer, antelope and elk were nearby.
I fiddled with the radio, settling in on a talk show from a distant place that bounced across the night sky. I opened the windows and adjusted the heat. Anything to stay awake.
My mind wandered.
I was thinking about my home, nestled against the Tetons. I was thinking bout what my work week held. I replayed conversations with coworkers and family members. The highlight reel of the day’s events began to play.
And then I was jolted awake.
My car had drifted off the road and the “rumble strip” began to shake my car – and me – violently. You know that’s the patch of road that is purposely ridged so it shakes the tire and hopefully the occupant.
Now alert and awake, I eased my car back between the white lines. I pulled off at the next safe place and took a nap. I was saved from myself, thanks to the rumble strips.
Motor vehicles running off the road account for one-third of all traffic fatalities nationwide. These kinds of accidents account for most of the fatalities in rural areas and are most often caused by driver fatigue, drowsiness, or in attention. Many of us can testify that rumble strips on our highways work.
We can also agree that there some well- placed rumble strips in life, those warnings that keep us on the center of the road. These things jolt us back to reality, warning us that we are nearing the edge of safety.
Life is full of signs that are not to be missed. “Road out ahead,” “No Diving,” and “No Open Flames.” We can ignore the obvious signs, but we do so at our peril. Many have ignored the signs that scream at them, ignoring the warnings and the shaking of their being. They press on in supposed ignorance and end up in a ditch. Life does not operate in a vacuum. The cause and effect principle works every day. If you act, a direct result is often most assured.
Some who are reading this have heard warnings from their physicians as they patiently explain the effects of our causes. “Lose weight. Quit smoking. Quit drinking.” The doc is right. He is a rumble strip trying to keep you on the road.
What kinds of rumble strips does God put in our lives? What He to do to keep us centered, to keep us from deadly crashes? We hear his voice. “Love your children,” “Give up the bottle,” “Stay away from evil influences,” “Quit abusing your body,” and others. Yet we insist on playing chicken with the cosmos in a futile attempt to beat the system.
Mankind has a long history of ignoring God. 2 Kings 14:15 tells the story of the Israelites rejecting God. It sums their actions ”they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers …they followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”
Many of us have become useless to God, useless to our employer, useless to our friends and family simply because we have ignored the rumble strips around us.
How blessed are those who encounter the rumble strips, gentle reminders to get our lives back to the center.
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