Like the author in the devotional, I have seen danger a couple of times in my life. My first memory was swimming in a lake in Kentucky. I turned around to look at someone and saw a water moccasin snake about six feet from me. Something scared him off, so he didn't attack. I think I added to the water level at that moment if you know what I mean. Another time, I was swimming (seeing a pattern here) in a lake in Canada. My dad was doing something with the boat and lost control. The rear of the boat, with the propeller spinning wildly, came way too close to me. Whew... It is amazing I have lived as long as I have!
Our Christian lives can be fraught with peril as well as we seek to serve the Lord with all of our beings. Combine our tendency to sin with our known and unknown sins and we have a dangerous combination! I know I have a tendency to do stupid and/or sinful things over and over. I ask for forgiveness, but I think I hear God saying "Seriously, Duane? We talked about this!" ha! Oh well. God and I will keep talking about the "not sinning" stuff. I hope you will keep that conversation open with God as well.
Lord, thank you for encouraging me to sin no more so I can server you better. I love you and praise you!
Simply Saturday
Memories
I had an odd thought last night as I was driving home -- how would I rebuild my life if I was in a car accident and lost my memory? What, if any, memories would I want to get back? What memories would I have difficulty accepting if I relearned them? Would I still be gay? Would I still want to do computer stuff for a living? Would I still write this blog every day? How would my life be different?
I am sure that the people that are important to me would still be important to me. I hope that the people that shouldn't be important to me would no longer be! I hope that I would be able to dump a lot of the baggage that I have accumulated over the years. My joke with my friends is: "Yes I have baggage, but it is tasteful and color coordinated..." ha!
I hope that "things" are not as important to me. I swelled with pride as some friends visited my home for the first time last night. I have several more friends coming over tonight for a potluck dinner. They are just "things". I hope they are as important to me in my new life.
Lastly, I know for sure that I would still pursue my relationship with God. The most important relationship in my life has to remain in place. I wish I could dump all the sin and shame that I can't forgive myself for so I could focus better on serving God. I wish I could dump all the crap that is in my head so I can fill it with God's Word and Jesus' teachings.
Want to know the good news? First, I did not have a car wreck. I remembered who I was when I woke up this morning and I am writing my blog. WoohooO! Second, if we give our lives to Christ fully, He can help us move on with our lives. He won't wipe away the bad memories or baggage, but he will forgive us. He will help us forgive ourselves. Our sins are lessons learned. Removing ourselves from the places we are tempted and the people that can tempt us is a good start. We move on. We acknowledge the crap that has filled our lives and move on to serving God to the best of our abilities! Praise God!
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I am far from perfect, but despite my mistakes and my sins, I will never abandon the Lord and he will never abandon me - adapted from a statement about Abraham from the EfM Training Guide
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