I have a few times, but there's always been a good reason for it. The road was icy, the road was muddy, the car was too fast, the sun was in my eyes, I was adjusting the stereo, I was reading the map, my wife was tickling me, etc. etc. Yup, there's plenty of solid (and not so solid) reasons for my missing the road!

Whatever the reason (or bad excuse) was, my truck came to an abrupt stop! Never mind that I'm a five-million-mile driver. I was in the ditch! Not the place I wanted to be, but there I was.

I always managed to get out somehow. Whether it was a tow truck, a farm tractor, a few disgruntled friends pushing or the mind-boggling mud-driving skills of the man at the wheel (lol), I got out!

Spiritually speaking, every believer hits the ditch at some time or the other. We're barrelling down the backroad, trying to coax a few more miles out of that aging Ford, and the journey seems to be going pretty well. Then we let that old sinful nature take the wheel and our tires come to a "not-so-holy" standstill in the snow, muck and muddy ditchwater of a spiritual derailment! Yup, I've been there.

GETTING OUT isn't that hard. God's forgiveness is always available. I John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

STAYING OUT, on the other hand, requires us to honestly recognize the reasons that put us there and make the necessary changes. Was it our impatience? Was it our selfishness? Was it our pride? Was it our unforgiveness? What was the reason we "hit the ditch"? We need to name it, own it and change it, or it's gonna happen again!

God can help us make those changes.

Proverbs 3:5–6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

The more we live in obedience to His Way, the more He's able to change those negative habits, thought patterns and lifestyles that want to put us in the ditch and keep us there! He'll help us keep our wheels on the road!