Mr. Thomson wanted to go home, but he was too sleepy. The day at the factory had seemed endless. The last thing he wanted to do was drive while fighting drowsiness.

“I’ll catch a quick nap,” he said to himself as he looked around for a place to stretch out. “Then I’ll be much safer.”

He spotted several sheds right behind the factory. Feeling his way into one of them, he groped for a level place. “Here,” he yawned as his hands felt what seemed to be a tabletop. “This is perfect.”

With a sigh Mr. Thomson lowered himself onto the flat surface and folded his hands above his stomach. “This table even seems soft,” he mumbled. Then, with another lung-expanding yawn, he drifted into sleep.

Two hours later he awoke. Yes, he felt better. Now he could drive home. He started to get up, then stopped. He couldn’t raise his head, or his arms, or his legs! Some unseen force held him tightly to his makeshift bed.

“Help!” he repeatedly called.

Finally someone appeared at the door. “I’m stuck!” Mr. Thomson explained.

The man disappeared and soon returned with several others who had flashlights. They shone their beams on the hapless napper, then gasped. Mr. Thomson had fallen asleep atop a container of tar. His body heat had melted the material just enough to fasten him securely. They had to cut the helpless man’s clothes off to free him.

Sin is like tar. We get comfortable with it, and zap, it’s got us! That’s when we need Jesus to cut us free and forgive us for what we’ve done. He’s great at getting people out of sticky situations.

Reprinted from Charles Mills, Eyes of the Crocodile (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2000).

Written by Lawrence Maxwell
Illustrated by Bruce Day