“Give Me 40 Acres” is a song sung by the Willis Brothers in 1964. The first two stanzas go like this:
He was headin’ into Boston in a big, long diesel truck
It was his first trip to Boston, he was having lots of luck
He was going the wrong direction down a one-way street in town
And this is what he said when the police chased him down
Give me forty acres and I’ll turn this rig around
It’s the easiest way that I’ve found
Some guys can turn it on a dime or turn it right downtown
But I need forty acres to turn this rig around
I sang that song many times in my years of driving tractor-trailer. There were a few times when I was so frustrated I wanted to cry. I would say to myself, “I should have thought this thing through before I came to the end of this road.”
My brother and I would leave at twelve o’clock Sunday night and not see the sack until ten o’clock Monday night. Those winters were made up of slippery, narrow roads; heavy loads; crazy drivers; and lack of sleep.
Strangely, we both look back at those years with fondness. That’s who we were and the challenge was one we enjoyed most of the time.
Now I’m in the ministry and my study is the truck. Sometimes when I need to present a passage of difficult Scripture, I could sing, “Give me forty acres and I’ll turn this rig around.” Ministry also has dangerous roads, heavy loads, some crazy individuals, lack of sleep and a vehicle that’s not always cooperative.
Paul told Timothy to keep on trucking:
1 Timothy 2:14-16
Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness,
1 Timothy 3:1-5
But understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
How do you drive through this situation, or how can you turn it around?
Give it some thought.
Gary