EPISODE 34 / STUCK IN A RUT?

Route 66, a historic highway in the US, was popular after World War II but faded after being bypassed by interstates. The Bible talks about a broad road leading to destruction and a narrow road leading to life. Being stuck in a rut means lacking excitement and not moving forward. To get out of a rut, one must evaluate their life, take on new challenges, identify goals, seek new experiences, and rely on God's guidance. I'm pretty sure that I've driven on different parts of Route 66 across the country, but its heyday was way before my time. And just the stories and the nostalgia of what Route 66 was. It was began as US Highway 66 in 1926. It began at Lake Michigan and snaked all the way across two-thirds of the continental United States 2,400 miles and wound up at Los Angeles, California and the Pacific Ocean. After World War II, it really boomed, it really got popular as the soldiers came home. Had some neat sights, the Totem Pole Park, the Painted Desert, you would pass by the Wigwam Motel, you've seen that where you get to stay in a teepee. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, there's a spot that says, standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, from the Eagle Song. Cadillac Ranch, I know I've passed by that, where the Cadillacs are buried standing up. There were all kind of shops and diners and dives, just some neat places that have just kind of faded over the years and disappeared. Interstates kind of wiped Route 66 out. Now really all we see on interstates are a Loves or a Pilot and now everybody gets thrilled when they see a Buc-ee's. In 1984, the last bit of Route 66 was bypassed and it was pretty much over. You can still go from point A to point B on our United States interstate system, but it's not as neat, it's not as interesting. Now I want you to listen to a passage of scripture with me from Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14, and hang on, I'm going to apply it. It says, Enter ye at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go that way. Verse 14, Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leads unto life, and few there be that find it. You see, the Bible talks, and of course speaking of salvation, that there's a broad way with a big gate. It's a four lane super highway and most of the world is on this road. It's an easy road and it's the road to destruction or the road to hell. But then the Bible paints there a picture of a narrow gate and a narrow road. I see it as a bumpy road, just a two lane highway and it's hard to find and not many people go that road, and that's talking about salvation. That's talking about heaven. Here's the thing, we think about going to heaven, the ultimate journey, but Jesus says that he came to give us life and life more abundant. So it may be a narrow gate and it may be a narrow way and it may be a bumpy way, but there are so many neat things to see along the way. Today's episode is called Stuck in a Rut, and many people get stuck in a rut, that they're missing all the interesting things along the path of life, along this journey. God has given us so many neat things to enjoy, people to enjoy. Listen to what Jeremiah 29, 11 through 13 says. It says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. Now listen to, also listen to Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. You see, God has given us purpose, and you and I need to realize that we don't have to be stuck in a rut. We don't have to live life on an interstate with very few interesting things to see and enjoy along the way. It's not just the destination, but it's the journey, the great things that God allows us to have. We know so many people who are stuck in a rut, and life is boring to them, and they just don't seem to have the joy. And I want you to know, God does not want us stuck in a rut. He wants to prosper us. He wants to bless us. He wants to use us for his kingdom's sake. Now listen, routine is not a rut. I love my routine. I love kind of the same things. I love my staff meetings on Monday morning. I like the times that I go to the gym every day. I like eating around the same time. I like doing a lot of things on a schedule. So don't confuse a routine with a rut. Let me tell you what a rut is, and you can identify whether you're in a rut or not. A rut is no excitement, that you don't feel excited about the things in your day. You don't have something coming up on your calendar that you're excited about. You're not excited about the people that you interact with. That's a rut. A rut is a comfort zone that you're afraid to step out and experience something new, go somewhere different, eat a different type of food. I don't know. You can fill in the blank. But here's the thing, a rut is there's no excitement. You're stuck in a comfort zone. But here's the main thing. You're not moving forward. You're not making any ground. Not moving forward in your relationships. If you're married, your relationship should be getting better, not boring. So if you're not moving forward, if there's no excitement, you're stuck in a comfort zone, you may be in a rut. Your job, you should be growing, advancing. You should be challenged. If you're not, if you don't have any excitement about what you do, you might be in a rut. But in our faith, in our walk with Christ, we should never, there's no excuse for being stuck in a rut. If we are stuck in a rut in our walk with Jesus, it is not Christ's fault. It's ours. It's my fault. We should be breaking new ground. We should be learning new things. He's got good stuff for us. He doesn't want to harm us. He wants to bless us. He wants to use us. And if we're not growing, if we're not changing, if we're not maturing, there's really nobody to blame but ourselves. So a routine is not a rut. A rut is no excitement. You're stuck in your comfort zone. You're never challenged. You're not moving forward in areas of your life. So I wanted to give you five ways today to get moving again. Five things that you can check and you can jumpstart where you are. I had to jumpstart my Jeep the other day and sometimes you've got to hook up the cables. You've got to hook it up to a different power source and you've got to boost that thing off. So here are five ways for us to get to moving again if we're in a rut. Number one, you have to take honest evaluation. You have to look at your life and be honest about it. Am I in a rut? Have I lost excitement for the different areas of my life? Have I built a little shell and I'm just living in my little cocoon and I'm not going to go out of it? You're not moving forward. You're not growing as a person. You're not growing as a man or a woman. You're not growing as a husband or a wife. You're not growing as a young person. You're not growing as a Christian. You're not growing in your job, in your career. You have to take honest evaluation and sometimes when we look in the mirror, in any area of our life, most of the time it's not going to be a fun experience. It's not going to be comfortable to us, but we have to be honest and see if we're stuck in a rut. The second thing I would encourage you to do is identify some musts. Take on something new. Take on a new Bible study. Take on a new couple's Bible study with your mate. Put some feelers out there. It may be time to change careers, change jobs. You know, identify some musts. Maybe you have a bucket list, some things that you would like to do. One thing that I love in life is I've always loved a challenge. I like things that are challenging to me that I've never done. I like when I came to this pastorate at Wyatt. It was a challenge. I was very comfortable where I was at while working in Tupelo at a great church at Belden, but God set a challenge before me, a new adventure, a new place. Identify some, I mean, some people call it a bucket list. I guess that's okay, but some things that you would like to do before you die and before you check out of this world, because yes, if you're a believer, you're bound for heaven, but my friends, we're not going to get another shot at this life. This is all we've got, and so I want to squeeze every drop out of it. One recent thing we've done is bees. I mean, we have bees. If you would have told me that we'd have been fooling with bees, and we just came in the house a few minutes ago, they're getting warmed up and buzzing around. And so Jennifer and I are enjoying fooling with those bees. Take on a new challenge. Listen, take an honest evaluation, identify some musts that you just got to do, a bucket list, and take on a new challenge. That is, look at some things that are hard, that it's going to take some time. It's going to take some effort. If you're going to read through the Bible in a year, it's not just going to happen by osmosis. You've got to put something into it. So take on a challenge physically, maybe wanting to lose weight, get in shape. Listen, it's a challenge. I've gone over a year and I've missed one day, a weekday. I don't work out on Saturdays and Sundays, but I've only missed one day in over a year. Now that may be my obsessive compulsive nature carrying me. But if you had told me a couple of years ago that I would be walking every day and lifting weights every day, I'd have told you it was nuts, but it was a challenge. So take honest evaluation. I looked at myself and said, man, I can't go on like this. My blood pressure has gone through the roof. And so I said, you know what, I've got to look in the mirror and realize that I'm not treating myself right. So I took on a challenge. So honest evaluation, it's not going to be fun. It's not going to be pretty. Identify some musts. Here are some things that I must get done before I leave this world. Take on a new challenge. It doesn't matter what it is. Take on a new challenge. Number four, set some realistic goals. I want to weigh this. I want to read through the Bible. I want to paint this room. I want to retire by this time. I want to, hey, let's change this out. Let's do this in the yard. Let's start a garden. I don't know. But not just goals. I'm going to set a goal. I'm going to be the president of the UN. That's just dumb. But realistic, obtainable goals that, man, it feels good to reach a milestone. I have some more weight I want to lose, and I can't wait until I get to the weight I want to get at. I don't know. It's just kind of a personal goal. So honest evaluation, identify some musts, bucket list, if you will. Take on a challenge, something that's going to take real effort. But set realistic goals and rest. Rest is a great thing, and I want you to know not only is routine not a rut, rest is not a rut. It's good to get rest. It's good to think. It's good to take it easy sometimes. So if you're out there today and you feel like you're stuck in a rut, like life just looks the same every day, every week, every month, every year, year in, year out, month in, month out, week in, week out, day in, day out, if you feel like you're there, try these five things. Try those things, and I think God will bless you. I think God wants our life to be exciting. We as believers should live an exciting life. I heard a guy up around Nashville that he bought a new radio, and he got it home, took it out of the box, looked at it, read the instructions. He set it up on top of his refrigerator, and he set the dial to WSM Nashville. You've heard of that. That's the home of a grand old Opry. He set it to that. It started to play, and then he pulled all the knobs off the radio. He had already tuned in to what he wanted to hear, and then he tuned out everything else. I'm afraid that's what we do in life. We get situated, and we get set, and we pull the knobs off. We don't experience new things. We don't have adventures. We don't see God. Even in our faith, we've come to know the Lord. We've gone to church. We got baptized. We're faithful in attendance, but we're not breaking new ground. We've pulled the knobs off, and I promise you, friend, there's more out there. God has something exciting for you, for your marriage, for your children, for your church. I think that's a good ... I'm excited about this episode. I think I know a lot of folks, and I think I've been there, too, where we feel like we're just stuck in a rut, and God wants to prosper us, to bless us, to use us in mighty ways for his kingdom. Evaluate. Identify your bucket list, if you will. Take on a challenge. Set realistic goals, and then rest, and let God do the rest. Let me pray for you, friends. Father God, we thank you, Lord, for this day. We thank you for being so, so good to us, Lord. I pray for my friends, Lord, that you would keep them safe as they go and come. God, that you would bless their work. God, give them vision of things that you have for them, gifts that they haven't unwrapped yet, Lord, to bless their lives. Lord, if I'm talking to a believer that is sealed in you, they are sealed, your word says, into that day. But God, you have different stops along the highway. Lord, we don't want to travel on the interstate. We want to experience all you have for us as men, as women, as parents, as students, God. So I pray, Lord, you'll open our eyes, that you'll give us an adventure, that most of all, God, we will desire a deeper walk with you. Lord, we love you, and we thank you so much for loving us. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.