My husband and I have known each other since high school in Minnesota. He was a senior, I a junior, and he owned a green ’68 Pontiac GTO. While out of town with friends, he gave me the keys to his car and permission to drive it. I took my girlfriends for a drive on a road that had a bold sign warning “Road Closed” – which I unwisely ignored. We soon found his precious rear wheel drive car stuck in the mud up to its chrome wheels. I lost one of its mufflers in the process.


But that wasn’t the last time I got “stuck in the mud”! I’ve been stuck many times since – in the muck that lies in my past: painful memories, stubbornness, regrets of sins or unforgiveness of myself or others. Jesus told His disciples, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The truth of the Gospel is that Jesus’ death on the cross has freed us from getting stuck in the penalty and power of our sins. He set us free so we can press on toward an upward call of God in Christ, both on this earth and with Him eternally.