Gospel Thoughts...

Continuing our spotlight on Michael Duncan, author of SHADOWS: BOOK OF ALETH PART ONE here is a guest post that gets down to the real truth about things...

THE TOW TRUCK

by Michael Duncan

I would like to try and equate the gospel to a simple illustration of a man who was stuck in a ditch on the side of the road.  For all his effort and skill, nothing he did could extricate him from the ditch.  He tried vainly to put his car in reverse, then forward, and then reverse again.  To his dismay, his efforts not only made his car filthy with the mud and grime of the ditch, but further entrenched his vehicle.  

During his great frustration, along came a man who, like the first, had been stuck in the ditch.  He spoke to the first man about a tow truck which was able to pull his vehicle clear of the hazard and put him back on the road.  The second man told how he had been in a similar circumstance and how much he appreciated the tow truck for its rescue.  The first man nodded and had to note in his mind that the second man was free to drive the road, but he doubted the story of the tow truck.  

The second man departed only to be followed by another and another, all sharing a similar story of being rescued by a tow truck.  He couldn’t deny that all the people spoke so highly of the tow truck and that they each insisted that the tow truck could help the first man from his plight.  He finally asked a solitary traveler how he could find the tow truck and be set free from the ditch.  He was told that when the time was right, the tow truck would find him.

Time passed and the man, in despair, cast his face to the earth and wept, longing to be free from the ditch.  When he did, he heard the rumble of a powerful engine roaring up the road.  Turning his eyes back to the road, he saw what appeared to be the largest tow truck he had ever seen.  His hope grew and he delighted to see the tow truck arriving to remove his vehicle from the ditch.  

Then, as it grew larger in his sight, he wondered how much the tow truck would charge him to free his vehicle.  He wondered if he could afford it or if it would be better to just keep trying to leave the ditch on his own.  As he looked at it he wondered if such a tow truck would even notice his small, insignificant vehicle stuck in the ditch.  Surely such a tow truck would never even notice a worthless vehicle as his.  

The tow truck stopped where the man was stuck and the driver came out to evaluate the situation.  The tow truck driver asked if the man wanted to be set free.  The man asked how much it would cost.  When the tow truck driver said it was free, the cost had already been paid; the man could hardly believe it.  He doubted the driver and told him so.  The tow truck driver informed the man that there was no other means of escaping the ditch, that he alone had the truck and equipment that could release his vehicle.  The man asked the driver how he could be sure and the tow truck driver told him that he had to trust and believe. 

Despite his doubts, the man received the tow truck’s cable and attached it to his vehicle.  Amazingly, the truck wrenched the vehicle from the ditch without any difficulty.  The tow truck driver helped the man clean off the mud and grime and asked the man if he would simply tell others when he sees them stuck in a ditch.  

With gratitude and joy the man drove off in his vehicle and, a few miles down the road, spotted a vehicle in the ditch….

“…because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction.” 

– 1 Thessalonians 1:5

©2011

Michael Duncan