The Day I Forgot What I Taught
Listen to:
“So we must be more careful to follow what we were taught. Then we will not be pulled away from the truth.” — Hebrews 2:1 (NCV)
You don’t forget the sight or feel of a life-changing event. And no matter how much you try, there’s nothing you can do to erase it.
That moment came for me as I was underneath a truck, preparing it to be towed. I was removing the drive-line when the brakes failed.
I looked over my chest and saw the front wheels rolling toward me. In that split second, all I could think was, “Oh, WOW. This is going to hurt.”
Then I felt the tire start to climb up my chest. I heard it before I felt it—the sickening crack of ribs breaking, one after the other.
It was a weight I’ll never forget.
I was the trainer that day. It was a routine call, nothing out of the ordinary, so I told the trainee to stay in the shop.
But I forgot the very basics I had drilled into others. I didn’t double-check. I didn’t follow the list. And the cost was high.
After I was released from the hospital, the trainee said, “If I had been there, you wouldn’t have been hurt. You would have made sure we followed every step.”
That hit harder than the truck itself. What she didn’t realize was that she was echoing what I had already been saying to myself since waking up from the coma. I had replayed the accident in my mind, over and over, and discovered that it wasn’t just one thing that went wrong—it was three small things I had forgotten.
Alone, each might have seemed insignificant. But together, they were catastrophic.
I had skipped over three basic safety steps. And the cost was almost too high.
The same is true spiritually. We know the Word. We know what keeps us safe—prayer, Scripture, obedience, reverence. But sometimes our experience speaks louder than our caution.
The danger is subtle. You get busy and say, “I’ll pray later.” But later never comes. You hold on to a small offense, and before long it hardens into unforgiveness. You shrug at conviction, and soon your heart grows unrepentant.
And just like that, a hole opens in your spiritual security fence. Not because God left you—but because your attitude left Him. You ignored the basics.
This lesson reminds us: Experience kills when it causes us to ignore the basics. And the same God who warned Israel, corrected Peter, and stopped Uzzah is still saying today, “Follow the instructions.”