Using the phrase, “It was a perfect storm,” is almost cliché now. Yet, such seems an appropriate description to these circumstances.
While Traci was driving to a school activity one evening last week, the left front tire on the car shredded and came off. She was driving on the interstate in Northern Palm Beach County…at 5:20 p.m. in rush hour traffic…through a very messy construction zone…with no shoulder along the road to speak of…in the left lane against the concrete barrier. Got the picture?
She pulled the car onto the left “shoulder” (if you want to call it that) with the left front tire against the barrier—no room to change it. It didn’t matter anyway—the spare tire was flat! (Remember? It was a “perfect storm”!)
Her first call was to me; the second was to AAA to get them to tow the car. I drove up, gave her the van and she was on her way. I sat and waited for two hours. Why two hours when AAA said 30 minutes?
Thirty minutes after calling AAA, a service truck showed up from the first company, thinking it was a tire change we requested. Nope, not a tire change. So, company #1 couldn’t help us. Call AAA back. Towing company #2 was notified. After thirty minutes, they ended up deciding I was too far south—not their territory. Call AAA again. Towing company #3 was notified. After another 30 minutes or so, they decided I was too far north—not their territory. Called AAA to find out “what’s up?” Company #4 was notified. They said it was not really their territory, but they’d take the job.
Experiencing this whole ordeal made me think about our evangelism efforts as Christians. Too often we look at or think about certain lost souls and decide, “That’s not my territory!” Another Christian also determines, “Not mine.” Another concludes, “Not really my territory.” Each Christian declining the opportunity before them and rejecting their responsibility. Meanwhile, that lost soul still sits in danger on the highway speeding to hell, and we argue about whose territory it is. Guess what? Jesus said that if they are “in the world” (Mark 16:15), they are in my territory and your territory…alike!
When we think about lost souls, may we never decide that someone lives too far away, or lives in too risky a neighborhood, or isn’t really my type of person. May we never jeopardize another’s soul (or our own soul) by letting them sit by the road of life, thinking we’re on cruise control to heaven!