My eyes jolted open, only to see what I shouldn’t see through my windshield: tall grass whipping by as I drove somewhere I knew I shouldn’t be. Confused and panicked, my foggy brain picked my foot off the accelerator. What in the world had I done? Where was I?
My breath escaped me as I realized what I was doing: I had fallen asleep at the wheel – crossed oncoming traffic, and then continued to drive, sleeping, through the ditch.
Before you take my license away, you need the rest of the story.
Seventeen years ago, I was an overly ambitious high school student, taking a more-than-full credit load of college PSEO classes. My dad had been laid off and income was tight, so I ran headlong at the chance of free college. Between class, homework, and several part time jobs, I slept very little.
I thought I was crushing it. I was young, driven, and figured I’d sleep later. I never thought that “later” would be in a ditch.
Life has a funny way of waking us up.
Opening our eyes, we realize we’ve been focusing on the wrong thing.
So I’ll ask my question from the title – did you miss it?
Miss WHAT?!” you say.
The most important day of your life happened this week.
Did you see it? Or were you driving through a ditch with your eyes closed?
Once my brain fog cleared, I directed my car toward the embankment of the ditch. The poor thing looked like she was trying to get to the next level in Jumanji. Some would count that a success. I was embarrassed.
Why? Because, despite appearances, I wasn’t in Jumanji!
I didn’t INTEND to go off-roading, but I was.
What does off-roading have to do missing important things? Everything.
Maybe you didn’t INTEND to ignore the most important day, but you just got distracted. Bunnies and candy will do that to a person. Maybe your eyes were just closed. Literally. Maybe you were sleeping.
As I drove to the ditch’s edge, I tried, mud splattering, to make my way back to the road. My stomach fell when I saw the oncoming traffic I had blindly crossed during my nap. How many cars were present for my sleeping game of Frogger?
Focusing on the wrong thing in life doesn’t seem like a big deal, until you realize what’s at stake. On that day, my life was at stake.
On this day, YOUR life is at stake.
I know it doesn’t seem like it… It’s just another day.
Perhaps we were too sleepy making Easter baskets to open our eyes to why Easter even exists.
What if we opened our eyes before the ditch? Maybe it’s not a roadside ditch. Maybe it’s a graveyard ditch.
After all, they say that 100% of people die. You can’t beat that stat.
If you’re like me, you’d like to spend that final ditch in heaven. Trouble is, I used to think I was a good person.
Is that your plan? Just be good enough and God will let you in, right?
Wrong. The Bible says ALL have sinned and fallen short of God’s holiness. That, unfortunately, includes me. I can never be good enough to earn a spot in heaven. Quite the opposite – the Bible says that payment or wages for my sin is eternal separation from God.
The story isn’t over there though – which is why Easter is significant!
John 3:16 tells us that God loved us so much that He sent his perfect son – Jesus – to pay for the consequences of our sin and that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) will have eternal life in Heaven.
That “believe” isn’t like the Santa Claus believing. Trusting Jesus is like putting on a parachute before you jump out of a plane. I can SAY I believe in parachutes, but actually strapping my body into one is a different story. If I’m skydiving, my only hope of survival is complete reliance on that parachute to save me.
The same is true with Jesus. Repenting of your sin, fully trusting in His death on the cross and resurrection (on Easter!) is the one and only way to get into heaven.
So let’s open our eyes to Easter and get out of the ditch.
Meet your farmer – Liz Gerdes. She and her husband run a farm-to-table raw milk dairy. They empower moms to confidently feed their families nutrient-dense food using farm fresh milk! Visit gerdesfreshfarm.com or follow her on Facebook @gerdesfreshfarm or Instagram @gerdesliz for more info.
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