Surely we won't make that!

Have you ever been Four Wheel Driving? I recently gained a new client for my Television Production business - a 4WD magazine that has a DVD supplement each edition. My job is to shoot stories for this DVD supplement, and as a result I have done some very interesting assignments over the last few months. Last weekend I was hired to shoot a story on a 4WD Club who's members spend the occasional weekend clearing and repairing a remote 4WD track that winds through some very rugged bush and which ends up at the top of a jagged mountain range. After shooting under some very difficult circumstances (we dressed for the cold, but not for the rain!), we finally made it to the top of the mountain. Thinking that now we were at the top we would turn around and head back down again, particularly because the steady rain was growing heavier, imagine my surprise when the club's president informed us that now we were at the top we could now head off to our destination, which was a further 5km into the bush! We piled into his 4WD and proceeded to drive down some of the most frighteningly sheer drops I have ever seen! I was "lucky" enough to snare the front seat, so I had a front-row seat, so to speak, as we plunged off these massive drops, the bottom of the truck banging and scraping on the rocks as we slowly inched down the inclines. Incredibly, we were making good progress. At one point, however, we reached one particularly sheer drop, and, as I peered over the dashboard and looked at the massive incline, I turned to the driver and said, "Surely we won't make that"! He turned to me, smiled, and said, "Watch me"! Sure enough, because of his experience in 4WDing, he skilfully manoeuvred his 2 tonne vehicle up, over and around the boulders, and, before I knew it, we were at the bottom. Isn't life like this sometimes? We can sometimes find ourselves facing an extremely difficult situation or circumstance. We peer over the edge, and decide that there is no way we can possibly go forward. Our natural understanding will look at what we are facing and find ourselves saying, "Surely we won't make that!" But, Jesus says, "Watch me"! If we put our trust in Him, He will guide us through the rough patches and the slippery slopes, and before we know it, we will find ourselves on the other side!

That tree looks strangely familiar....

A few years ago I drove past a bus with one of those destination signs above the front windscreen that simply said "Lost". After initially wondering where I could get myself one of those sign thingies, I began to ponder why it is that us guys have such a fear of asking anyone for directions. It's a well-known scientific fact that the male of the species has an almost primeval aversion to asking for directions. A woman has no qualms about stopping in the inside lane of a busy freeway during peak hour to ask for help (I know because I've seen it happen). A man however would rather keep driving until they reach Iceland than admit they don't know where they are and have no idea how to get to wherever it is they want to go. Is it because we don't like to admit we don't know as much as we'd like to think we know? Is it because we think that asking for help is a sign of weakness, that it would tear down the invincible "Superman" persona we have so meticulously cultivated over all those years? To be honest, I reckon it's a little bit of all these. But whatever it is, there is a solution. Two words - G.P.S!

With those little puppies a man will never get lost again. No matter where you are, your trusty Sat-Nav will give you the solution. In the middle of the Sahara Desert? No problem.Take the next left, cross the roundabout, second exit, and in 300,000 metres you have reached your destination.

There is another G.P.S that you can trust in that will guide you and place you on the right path - God's Positioning System! His Word, the Bible, is the ultimate map for life. No matter where you are in life, no matter how lost you feel, how sad, how broken, His Word will guide you, give you the solution, point you in the right direction, and help you reach your destination. So next time you are lost, reach for your G.P.S - God's Positioning System, and let His Word guide you.

When all else fails read the instructions

Have you ever bought a piece of furniture from Ikea? They look so great in the showroom - all sleek and shiny and so, well, Swedish. You go to the warehouse and give them your ticket and they give you a flat cardboard box. And you think to yourself, "How can a TV cabinet/chest of drawers/four-poster bed possibly fit inside a box the size of a dinner plate?" But it does. You get home, open the box, and out pops a giant jigsaw puzzle. What do you do next? Do you reach for the instructions? Heck no. You're a man for crying out loud. Men build things. Do you think Noah had instructions when he built the ark?*

So...Tab A goes into Slot C...fold B so that A is perpendicular to the right participle of the convex parameter...no, wait...Tab A can't fit into Slot C...

And so it goes. And all the while your wife is saying "why don't you just read the instructions?" And then before you know it, four hours have passed and the TV cabinet/chest of drawers/four-poster bed looks nothing like the one you saw in the showroom, you have half a dozen screws left over and it looks like it may collapse at any moment. That's usually the point when we finally admit defeat and grab the instructions, only to find that there is no Slot B and that the one main screw that holds everything together is still in the little plastic bag keeping the tiny pieces of left-over dowel company. Does this all sound strangely familiar?

How often do we face things in life and think to ourselves "I can get through this. I don't need help. It can't be too hard." How many times have we bottled everything up inside because "that's what men do". How many times have we gone it alone, and ultimately failed? If you're anything like me, it's way too many times. But let me tell you, we have an instruction manual that has the answer to every question we ask, every problem we face, and every hurt we feel. It's full of stories of guys that have been through the exact same things as us. It shows their failings, their struggles, and their triumphs. And it shows how they did it. It's the ultimate Instruction Manual. So, don't wait until you have a bag full of screws left over - read the instructions first!

*Noah WAS instructed how to build the ark (Genesis 6:15-16)