TIME TO WAKE UP [F, 6-12-20]

“DAILY” DEVOTIONAL: Listening for the Spirit

TIME TO WAKE UP              [F, 6-12-20]

Dale Pitcher, a clergy colleague in IL, was one of my mentors. I heard this story from him.

Joe and Leroy were a long-haul truck-driving team. When one was driving, the other would sleep in that little cabin behind the driver. Occasionally they were called in for a refresher course on driver safety. As the more veteran driver, Joe was called in first by the examiner.

“Now you are going down a long hill, and your brakes have failed, and another semi is coming down a long hill opposite you, and his brakes have failed, and at the bottom of the hills is a one-lane bridge. What will you do?”

“Well, first,” said Joe, “I’d wake up Leroy.”

“Good grief, man, why would you take the time to wake up Leroy?”

“Well, he hasn’t been driving very long, and he’s never seen a really big wreck.”

There’s a really big wreck coming, and everybody—I mean everybody—needs to be awake and ready. It’s time to wake up Leroy.

John Robert McFarland

When our grandson, Joe, was about three years old, this was one of his favorite stories. When we’d start down a hill, he’d pipe up from the back seat, “Time to wake up Yewoy.”