Ministry and Care

Stuck In a Rut?  It Could Be a Blessing! 

When I was a lad and had nothing much to do on the weekend, I would sometimes play a game with the garden hose in my back yard.  What I’d do is string out the garden hose and then double it back upon itself, thereby making a couple of parallel ‘tracks.’  I’d then elevate one end of the track and run tennis balls along it (try it today – it’s fun!).  It was as much fun developing twists and turns in the track as it was rolling balls along it.  I loved adding bridges and tunnels and trialling different layouts.     

Little did I know I was actually acting out a Bible verse in doing all this!  Long ago, in the days of horses and wagons and dirt roads, wagon wheels would leave ruts in the mud on rainy days.  Trams follow similar ruts – only the ruts they follow are no accident: their tracks are deliberately sunken into the road so tram cars can run along them. There’s a Bible passage that talks about ruts: “You guide me along right paths”  (from Psalm 23). The word for ‘paths’ in this Bible verse can be translated ‘ruts’: ‘You guide me along right ruts.’  The idea is that God has a sure and certain plan for everyone’s life.  Everyone is here for a reason – a reason that’s spelled out clearly by Jesus: “My purpose is to give life, life in all its fullness” (John 10:10).  Jesus came to give people real life – a life that is rightly connected with God, with other people and with God’s creation.  So the next time someone accuses you of being in a rut, say thank-you!  It could mean you are:

• Well connected with God (receiving God’s forgiveness)
• Well connected with others (practicing love)
• Well connected with creation (practicing care); and 
• Well connected with self (living in hope)

And of course, that’s what our college is all about – getting people into right ruts – ruts that mean life in all its fullness.