You Can’t Do That!

You Can’t Do That!

Repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.

Acts 3:19

Sulphur Springs, Texas, where we live, has one of those famous old Texas brick town squares in the middle of downtown. It’s a bit like an English roundabout with traffic coming in at all four corners of the square and traveling around the square until drivers get to the appropriate street to exit.

Regardless of where the townspeople are trying to go, they almost always end up on the square at some point. And navigating the traffic on the square can be entertaining.

One busy Saturday morning, an old farmer came into town to get a haircut and do his shopping. He was in an original Model T Ford, which he guided proudly into the traffic on the square. About halfway around the square, he decided he did not want to be on the square so he stuck his hand out the window, indicating he was going to make a U-turn right in the middle of the one-way traffic.

Seeing what he was about to do, a policeman yelled, “Hey, mister! You can’t do that!”

The old man stopped, poked his head out the window, took a good look around, and yelled back, “Yeah, I think I can make it!” Then he wound up that old Ford and drove upstream through dodging, honking traffic back to the place where he had come in and headed back to the country, where he belonged.

The policeman was so shocked that he just stood there in the middle of the square, laughing his head off.

Although what that farmer did wasn’t legal, it is biblical. When you realize you are headed in the wrong direction in life, make a U-turn and go the way that will get you back home where you belong.

—Clyde Shrode

Lord, I know I often need to turn around and run to you. Thank you for loving me and for always taking me back. Amen.