The first time that I can remember falling asleep at the wheel was on a trip to New York from Toronto. I rarely fly. I don’t like the experience of flying, but more importantly, I love to drive. You can say that my favorite pass time is definitely taking a road trip.
On this particular trip, I was traveling with my girlfriend at the time and we were to be in White Plains by 7:30am. This was to be an important presentation that I was doing for a business that I had. And Rita and I were excited to get there. However, it was 3AM, we were behind schedule and needed to pick up the pace if we were to arrive on-time. However, I was very tired and Rita was no company for me because she had already fallen asleep.
I remember thinking that if I could get to the next town, we would stop and I would stretch my legs, maybe grab a coffee before continuing. There was something hypnotic in the way the white lines on the highway were lit up only by my headlights. It seemed that from nowhere they would creep into the light in a rhythm that was hard to fight.
In a few seconds, I was awake and very aware that I had dozed off travelling at 120km/hour. In those brief moments that I was asleep, I had drifted to the left. Not enough to cause an accident, but enough to startle me. I woke Rita and asked her to talk with me till the next gas station. We napped for an hour and continued successfully to our meeting.
We were very fortunate to have arrived alive and to make it back home safely.
15 years ago, I had just married and my wife had just been baptized. We loved God and sought to live according to his will. I remember praying that if God saw that there was any chance of my falling away, that he please take me then so that I never stray.
I cannot tell you the exact moment when it happened, when I fell asleep spiritually. It was more of a slow movement away. The further I moved, the less I began to understand what I read in the Bible and the less I enjoyed going to church each week. Then, I didn’t care at all about the faith I held so dear just a year or so earlier.
Looking back on it from here, I can remember that for over a year I went to church but never went into the sanctuary choosing instead to sit at the entrance on the stairs and listen to the sermon from outside.
It was my girlfriend that helped to wake me up. I had fallen asleep spiritually. And in that sleep, time passed, life got great and my focus was on wealth, myself, my possessions and bragging about my brilliance. I saw the growth of my company and the decline.
I was on a road-trip to Toronto from Calgary and my girlfriend decided to listen to a prophecy seminar that we had on audio cassette. That seminar woke me up.
On that trip I realized that I was asleep for over 14 years. I lived a terribly sinful life and affected many people. While asleep, i lost my home, my beautiful wife and children. I lost my health, self respect and the respect of others.
Such a shocker to wake up to find that I had drifted so far to the left that I was in trouble and affected. I was thankful that the Holy Spirit had not forsaken me and the Grace of God was still sufficient for a sinner like me. I thank God for such forgiveness of sins as terrible as mine.
Fifteen years of living like I was in charge and that I deserved what I wanted. I could have perished on so many occasions and been lost forever.
My girlfriend and I rededicated ourselves to God through baptism and became married in January of this year. Life is often not easy and Satan is at my heals daily. Resisting the devil becomes easier through the Holy Spirit who keeps me, but I rely on God always to be my strength. Without Him, I can do nothing.
God is great. He found me when I didn’t realize that I was lost.
