Stuck In The Sand
Pastor David: Hello. I want to share with you a story that took place. A true story.
When I was young, I was around 18 years old, and I was in college, and a close friend of mine and I who had graduated from high school together. We were active in our church, especially with the youth.
The pastor and his wife approached the two of us and asked us to come up with an activity and take the kids in the church that were getting ready to graduate from high school.
They asked us if we wouldn't mind finding an activity, something fun to do, and celebrate graduation with the new graduating class. So at that time, I lived on the East Coast, very close to a beach, and there was one section of the beach that allowed vehicles on it. Not many places along the coast on the East Coast allow that anymore, but at that time, they did, and it was fun.
People during the day would go there, not so much camping or anything, but primarily drive down there to have fun with friends and family, and go fishing and things like that. But we knew graduation was going to be late in the day, and my friend, he and his dad both had four wheel drives. One was a jeep, and one was a large pickup truck that was raised up in four wheel drive, with big tires, and his dad said we could use it.
So what we thought we would do that didn't cost anyone money was we would just take all the kids and go on some trails and have fun in the four wheel drive.
Another thing we did was you were allowed at that time to have people in the back of the truck while you were riding around. I don't think they allow that now, but that's what we did. We had fun. We took the truck, went down to the beach, and had fun.
If you've ever been on a beach, you know there are tides - there's low tide, high tide, you know, ebb tide, right in the middle. Well, when we got there, apparently it was low tide, and we were having fun, having a blast.
There's soft sand, as you can appreciate, as you get closer to the dunes, and then, when it's low tide, right where the water has been, it's normally more packed, and it's easier to drive on. So we were having fun. We were hopping dunes, as we called it. You know, where you drive over a sand dune, not ridiculously fast or anything, but it's just fun. It was fun for us. So all of us were having fun.
It started to get dark because we started when it was daylight, but it was late in the day after they graduated. We were just having fun and got on that spot on the beach, and my friend's driving because it was his dad's truck. The music minister from the church was with us, my friend and I, and a handful of youth. There were probably graduating that year, six or eight kids. I say kids. I was only a year older, but we were having fun and got stuck when the tide started coming in.
We got stuck on that part of the beach that you knew if you waited long enough, it was going to be covered in water because the tide was rising and the water was coming in. Well, there's a lot of vehicles on this section of the beach because there weren't many places you could drive on the beach.
On this particular section of beach, there were constantly vehicles. It seemed like, well, the later it gets, and the darker it gets, the fewer vehicles. You know, people didn't want to be out there. Here we get stuck, and there's a group of us, so we're all pushing and pushing.
When that sand gets really wet and soft close to the shore, it's like a suction cup. And it was just like, man, we could not get that thing unstuck.
So we told all the graduates, all the kids that had just graduated, you know, 'Go have fun on the dunes. We're going to figure this out. We'll find someone to help pull us out.'
Not long after that, only a few minutes or so, it's like dust/dark at this point. Two guys, I remember thinking at that time, older guys. Now, I don't think they're so old because I'm older, but they were probably, I'm guessing, probably in their 30s - 20s, or 30s. And they were coming down the beach on the sandy part, and we said, "Hey, we're stuck. Do you guys mind helping pull us out?"
I think we even had a strap in my friend's dad's truck. They said, "For 20 bucks, we'll pull you out."
Well, you have to understand in that area, I mean, people just didn't do that. You know, everyone helped each other. If someone was stuck, someone else pulled them out because you knew the chances of you getting stuck were pretty strong.
So, I mean, it was really uncommon, and I just blame it on the Holy Spirit because I'm a pretty mild guy. I'm, you know, 6'3". So I'm not a real small guy, but it takes a lot to get me riled up, or flustered, or whatever word you want to use.
But, boy, I just felt the Holy Spirit very strongly and uncharacteristically, I walked up to the driver's window, and I said, "We're out here helping kids celebrate their graduation, and we're all children of God. You can't do us this way. You can't charge us to get out of here. All we're asking for is a few minutes of your time. Just pull us out."
The two guys started laughing, and they were being ugly. My friend asked me because he knew, because we were going to go out and get pizza afterwards. He knew I had some money in my pocket, and he said, "Dave, don't you have money?" And I said, "Yeah, but they can't do God's children this way. This is wrong."
I felt very strongly about it.
So anyhow, these two guys drive off laughing at us. I had just wagged my finger in the driver's window and told them, 'You can't do God's children this way.' And they drove off.
Then my friend got mad at me.
He was like, "Dave, my dad's truck's going to get swamped and ruined." And it would ruin a truck. It could ruin any vehicle. He said, "It's going to get swamped and ruined from the salt water. Just pay the guys." And I'm like, "No, this is wrong. You just can't do that to someone else when they're down and out." And then he got angry, really, really angry at me.
So the music minister was there, my friend and I. Well, my friend was so angry, he said, "You guys walk that way, and I'm walking this way. I'm going to find someone else who will pull us out, and you guys go find someone else."
And we started walking, as it turns out, south. The music minister and I started walking south, and my friend was walking north on the beach.
I mean, it was not far, but it was so dark out there, maybe two or 300 yards. We walked south, and here there's a truck stuck in the sand up to the axle, and it was these same two guys.
Well, without seeing anything, and again, I just believe it was the Holy Spirit. I walked straight up to the driver's window, and I said, "See, I told you."
Both of them, both of the guys in the truck said, "Look, we're sorry. If you'll pull us out, help us, help push us out. We'll go down, and we'll pull your truck out." And we said, "Okay." So that's what we did. So we helped push them out. We hopped in the back of their truck.
They drove back up the beach, and we hollered out, "My friend came back," and he got in the truck, in his dad's truck, and they pulled us out of the sand.
Well, he was still upset, so he still didn't want anything to do with me for that moment. And it was God, you know, it just was because he went off in the sand dunes to go find all the kids that we brought out there. And the music minister and I went over to thank the two guys for helping us.
They actually said, "Hey, do you have a minute?" And we said, "For what?" And they said, "You know, when you said you can't do God's children this way. We're down here from", and it was a city that was, oh, a two-and-a-half-hour drive away.
They said, both of them said, "We came down here to the beach to cheat on our wives. We want to know more about the God that you're talking about because we don't have any doubt that what you said and told us we needed to hear."
So we said, "Sure." So we got in their truck, and we drove a little further south down the beach, and there was a pier down there. And we started talking to these fellows, and they confessed, and we didn't know them, and they didn't know us, but the situation that God orchestrated ministered to them, and it hit them in the heart. And they said, "You know, tell us about this God." And it wasn't long and drawn out.
I mean, it was within 10 to 15 minutes. They both said they wanted to get saved. "How do we get this God that you have? How do we have the same confidence that you have? How do we find the same peace that you have?", because I was willing to let my friend's truck stay stuck in the sand, but I was doing it with conviction.
I knew that, I knew that, I knew that this is what the Holy Spirit wanted me to say to them. And they both accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior right there, right then.
Then they both said, "Look, we're really sorry for what we did earlier, and thank you for being here and sharing with us about your God. We're both going back home." And it was like I said, about two and a half hour drive each way. They said, "We're both going back home to get back with our wives. We shouldn't be down here in the first place."
Then they drove us back to my friend, and at this point, everyone's happy. Then we went from there out and got pizza, but the most important thing was being stuck in the sand.
I think all of us go through times in life when we're stuck in the sand, you know, what do we do? Well, trust God. Don't run to your own instincts, run to God's.
'All right, God, you're teaching me something. Or maybe I shouldn't have done something, I got stuck. Or maybe I'm right in line with your will and got stuck.'
What do you want me to do? Where do you want me to go? What do you want me to say? What do you want me to pray?
Sometimes in just life, we can get stuck in the sand of our own life, a situation, and say, "God, I need your direction. I need to know where to go, what to do," and He will guide you. He will direct you. He loves you. He loves you so much. He lets you witness about His love to others from time to time.
Well, this has always been a blessing in my life, stuck in the sand, and it's a true story.
I pray that it blesses you and your loved ones, and friends, and maybe total strangers. Be blessed. If you're stuck in the sand, seek God and watch Him turn it into a blessing.
Amen. God bless.
