Just Junk It

We were recently on a family vacation and were traveling along when we began to hear these funny noises coming from the truck, neither one of us could figure out what was going on. The noises were getting louder and louder. We eventually had to stop to have the truck checked because some of the lights warning you when something is wrong were flashing. Well this is after midnight on the New Jersey Turnpike and we are on our way to Virginia. We pull over to the service station and the guy says, let me hear what’s going on with your truck. We turned the truck on and he said, oh no shut it off. I know exactly what it is, he said, your engine is gone. What!!! The engine was gone, the heart of the truck was broken. Can you imagine being at a service station in the middle of the night with your entire family husband, wife and three children? This was anyone’s worst nightmare. The guy said you could either let the truck go or because it was in such good condition in all other respects, we could replace the old engine and get a new one. The guy said we would not make it back to New York and certainly not to Virginia, but he thought we could make it to the next exit four or five miles away. He said if you go there you can get a hotel for the night and figure out what you need to do in the morning. After saying all of this, he then said make sure that you take your time and only drive about 20 – 30 miles per hour because if you don’t you could completely blow out the engine and be stuck on the side of the road on the turnpike. Oh my God, is all I could think. What have we gotten ourselves into? Well, we decided to take our chances and get to the nearest hotel and get the kids to a safe place so that we could make a good decision the next morning. I know you know that I was praying the whole way.

The next morning my husband was on the phone calling our mechanic at home, family nearby who was wondering where we were and how we were doing, and local tow services. Many of them had all kinds of advice including one that stuck out to me. Just junk it. Hmmm. That statement says a lot about how our society thinks today. When something is too hard or gets to be too much of a burden, we want to just junk it. When a rift occurs that appears to be too much of a hassle we want to just junk it. What about those people who have at times in their marriage gotten to a place where it seemed like there was no room for repair of the relationship because it would take too much work, it was too hard, the heart of their relationship was broken, so they want to just put it away and just junk it.

Marriage is not one of those things that when it gets too hard that you just junk it. Marriage is a lifetime commitment and covenant between that man, that woman and God. In Mark 10:1-12 the Bible talks about how the Pharisees were asking Jesus about Moses allowing people who were married to divorce. Jesus answered them saying that Moses only allowed this because of the hardening of their hearts, but this was never the intention of God. He meant for marriage to between one man and one woman who would be joined together as one and not separate. Yes once the heart or the engine of a marriage is hardened it takes a lot of work to make repairs. It takes a lot of effort. There may even be some sweat and a whole lot of tears. However, if you to take it slow, get the help and support that you need, seek the Lord in prayer, don’t listen to outsiders who tell you it’s not worth it and ultimately make the decision that you want to work on your marriage and keep your covenant, you won’t come to the conclusion to just junk it.