Not too long ago I was driving a truck along a road that I very seldom travel. I passed through a little town called Randolph, Utah, when all at once I was struck with a sense of familiarity. I was taken back 32 years ago along this same stretch of road when this experience occurred.

I had taken a load into Evanston, [and] I was on my way home now empty. My normal truck was in the shop for service and repairs, and I was driving a truck that no one else wanted. [You] see, a driver gets a feel for his truck—all of its quirks, its idiosyncrasie[s]. I was not used to this rig; I didn’t like it; it drove funny.

Well, I was moving along at the speed limit, it had been raining - the highway was wet, I had the radio up enjoying my tunes, and a hostess fruit pie in my right hand. Oh, life was good - when all of a sudden I came up over a blind hill and discovered a four-wheel drive pickup idling - all but stopped - in the middle of the highway. In a split second, this is what I processed:

The driver was a woman looking both ways uncertain where to turn. She was too close; I couldn’t stop. There were banks of sand on both sides of the road. I couldn’t go around her - or I would run over her, and I didn’t want to do that. The only thing I could do was stomp down on the brakes and hope for the best! I did, but the best is not what happened. Immediately the truck slid sideways out of control. I will never forget that feeling of sliding sideways in an 18-wheeler on a narrow highway. The trailer started to come around to meet the tractor. The last thing I remember seeing was my truck and trailer going over that pickup in the middle of the road, and then everything went crazy!

When the chaos finally stopped, well, I was still upright, I was still sitting in the driver’s seat, [and] my trailer was right outside my driver’s door - I was jack-knifed. The tractor had turned 180 degrees and I was headed back the way I had come. And then I remembered my fruit pie. In that moment of immediate reaction, all my muscles had tensed for impact. My fruit pie was mush all over my hand. What a mess! Life was not so good.

I was angry, really angry! - at a foolish driver who had probably got herself killed, and almost me too! I kicked open my truck door, jumped to the ground, and ran around the other side of my rig expecting to see her all tangled up in the wreckage. To my surprise, she wasn’t there. Where was she?

I turned and looked down the highway, and there she was several hundred yards down the road. How she escaped, I have no idea! She must have seen me coming down the road sideways out of control and romped on her pickup. Either way, she was okay.

Her backup lights come on, and she backed up to where I was. I stood waiting for her; I was fuming! When she stepped out of the pickup, she was as pale as a sheet of paper, visibly shaken, and she was oh-so apologetic. She felt terrible. My heart softened, and I didn’t chew her out - I … “ah, no problem.”

Well, she walked away without a scratch. The damage to my rig was minimal; we went on our way - no big deal. The biggest loss, I guess, was my fruit pie.

Now 32 years later here I was on that same road thinking about that experience, thinking of that woman. And that moment has come to epitomize for me the danger of indecision. At best, being indecisive makes us weak, worthless, and annoying to those around you. At worst, it makes us dangerous! Whether it is the highway or the Lord’s High Way, know where you are going, my friend. Decide your decisions before you have to. A bold right decision made once never needs to be made again. Who’s on the Lord’s side, who? You!