Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, February 23, 2025
This truck is stuck. It hasn’t moved in years, how many we do not know. It has green streaks (moss?) adorning its doors. It has grass growing behind and before it. All four tires are flat. It’s not going anywhere.
We pass this truck a couple times a day on our walks, so I’ve had lots of opportunities to observe it and wonder over it. How did it become this unused, unmoving big rig? What will become of it? Will it ever move?
As I mulled this over, I found myself back in my high school physics class where I learned Newton’s First Law of Motion, which states that:
“A body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force.”
I haven’t thought about that physics class for decades, and, after some effort, this is the only memory I can dredge up from that class. I’m not sure why it made such an impression on me. It could be that, unlike so much of what I heard in that class, it seemed to be stating such obvious truth. In other words, I could relate!
Taking the first scenario literally, I knew that on cold, wintry Alaskan mornings my teenage body would remain at rest until an outside force – my mother, or father, or an older sister – would act on it. Only then would I sleepily get up and remain in motion until I arrived at school, dressed and breakfasted and ready to learn from more outside forces, my teachers.
Have you ever felt like a stuck truck? I have. Whether the inertia is physical, mental, emotional, spiritual — or, often, a combination thereof — it can be a discouraging state to find yourself in. At first you might resist or even resent any outside force that attempts to help you get unstuck – a doctor, a therapist, a pastor, a family member, a friend.
Or God, who might be reaching out to help you through one or more of those helpers.
This week we were startled to discover a new development in our stuck truck’s story. It now has a long yellow cord plugged into its innards, reaching out from the house nearby. It’s been several days now, and that’s all we’ve seen thus far, but it seems promising.
I’m now thinking of those outside forces who help us overcome inertia as bright yellow cords, plugging us into help.
The biggest and best cord of all is Jesus:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13 NKJV)
As a new week begins to unfold before us, we may need to pray for air in our tires, gas in our tanks, and the willingness to put the pedal to the metal as God guides and provides for us.