Be Alert

I live on Highway 20 between Canton and Cartersville. Occasionally, a stray dog may wander into a lane hoping to find its way back home, or a deer may dash across the road. Although the Georgia deer are much smaller than where I grew up, they can still cause significant damage if you hit one.

When you are raised in mountain country, as I was, it was not uncommon to travel miles without seeing another soul, but the wildlife were abundant, and you had to be vigilant about the herds of antelope that ignored traffic etiquette or laws. In north central Montana, everyone had a grill guard on their truck, and some had one on their car to minimize the damage of hitting a crossing deer or antelope, but it did little to protect the windshield from a leaping goat!

Over the past 11 months, I've traveled more than 61,000 miles on the campaign trail. Many of those miles were on two-lane roads where I had to dodge tire remnants, bumpers, and even downed trees lying in the roadway. A few weeks ago, I was traveling south of Columbus at about 3:00am, and five deer appeared in the road as if posing as target practice. With little time to spare, I had to choose between the deer and the ditch. Fearing the impact of hitting the ditch, I chose the deer.

I knew upon impact that the damage was severe and soon realized my truck would be in the body shop for months. Although frustrated that my truck was destroyed, I realized just how blessed I was that I was fully alert when the mishap occurred. If I had been drowsy or distracted, the outcome could have been much worse.

Mark 13:33-37 refers to the Lord returning and the importance of being on guard and fully alert.

"Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore, stay awake — for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning — lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake."