Water under the bridge!

Surrender your heart to God, turn to him in prayer, and give up your sins— even those you do in secret. Then you won't be ashamed; you will be confident and fearless. Your troubles will go away like water beneath a bridge, and your darkest night will be brighter than noon. You will rest safe and secure, filled with hope and emptied of worry. (Job 11:13-18 CEV)

I have heard this saying hundreds of times, "That's water under the Bridge!" I hear it often when some one is trying to tell me to forget something. I never knew it was biblical. It's hard for me to forget about my faults and failures. Sometimes I have a dificult time forgiving and forgetting. I struggle forgiving myself and others. Being a Christian puts you under a microscope with others but also yourself. Because I know the power of God, I also know he knows everything about me. He knows my deepest and darkest sins. There is shame for that weakness. But this is verse states it all. I need to surrender it ALL to God. 

When I surrender to my Heavenly Father, I slept easier at night. I walk through my day with confidence and more importantly it allows me time to focus on the job at hand. If My mind is occupied with my failures and shortcomings, I can not focus on the things that really matter. Surrender!

Lord I know my sins. I praise you for removing them and giving me confidence in my weakness. You have granted this amazing gift through your son, Jesus. Thank you Lord for washing my sins away in that water that flows under the bridge. I praise you for the peace, joy, and hope you provide in the midst of the pain! Amen!

Vic is dirty again!

Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. (Psalm 51:2 NIV)

My bike needs washed again. It's never ending. We had some rain today, not a lot, and it doesn't take anytime at all to get a bike dirty. They are testing a car that is selfcleaning. Could a self cleaning bike be on the horizon? I hate to admit it, I would miss washing and waxing my bike. Give me a warm 75 degrees, a hose, and VIC and I could waste an afternoon. I would much rather ride, but sometimes you just need to lose yourself in some physical labor. It's also a great way to perform a close inspection to see how the bike is holding up. 

I think God feels the same about me. He would much rather prefer not to have to wash away my sins. He would love to just love on me and watch me live in his will. Realistically, he knows that's not going to happen, I'm a sinner. So, he enjoys the opportunity to wash my sins away. It's a time he gets to be intimate with me. He gets in touch with me on a very deep level. When I ask him to forgive me, it is a time of great closeness. It's a time where I open up and let him "inspect" my life. He washes away all the dirt!

Praise God he is patient enough to cleanse me when I get dirty. He knows it's going to happen again and again. He still enjoys the time with me, even if it is to straighten out my life. Thank you Lord. Your love is amazing!

Speeding!

So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24 NIV)

I am a law abiding citizen, except when it comes to speeding. I am definitely a fast driver. I am always amazed at how fast people drive. Very few people obey the speed limit. I usually like pushing 7-10mph above the posted speed limit. Most people are at least going 5above. It said that most officers won't pull you over for that speed. So why don't they post it for 75mph instead of 70? The answer is obvious. We wont obey any posted limit. We will always go beyond it. So post it at 70 and you keep them from going 80. 

God made "the law" knowing we could not keep it. So what did he do? He sent his son to die for us so we could be saved from the breaking of the law. The laws are right. They are there to keep us safe and to enjoy the greatest blessings of life. Yet, we always break them. We are all sinners. He knew we couldn't keep them and the only way we could live the greatest life was to come to his son, Jesus. Praise God he has given us a way to handle our sins and to be forgiven for break his law. Thank you Jesus for coming to my rescue on the cross.

People never forget and rarely forgive.

Acts 25

 ⁶ After spending eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him. ⁷ When Paul came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him. They brought many serious charges against him, but they could not prove them.

 ⁸ Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.”

Paul was ruthlessly attacked by the Jewish leaders. It sure sounds alot like politics in America. When someone in America decides to run for major political office, they better be ready for the storm. Several great candidates including our own Governor Mitch Daniels have decided to forgo the strain because of their families.  I can understand that. No one is perfect, we all have "skeletons in our closet." It would be great if we could honestly air those and move forward. But, that just can't happen, especially in politics. It should but it can't. You can't explain your life of sin before Christ. It takes too much time and our society is too interested in 10 second sound bites. 

Even if you're not guilty, no one wants to know about it. In our country we take pride in innocent until proven guilty. That certainly holds true in criminal trials. But, in every day life, it's far from true. In politics, it's guilty until proven innocent. You are guilty on the front page and you're cleared on the back page.

It's time our country has compassion for people who genuinely make mistakes and are sorry for those errors in judgment. We need to be able to forgive and move on. Even more so are those who are ASSUMED to be guilty and are not. Those who accuse are not held to the same scrutiny as those accused. We need to leave room for the sinner in all of us. I am not like Paul, I have made mistakes in my life. Mistakes I'm not proud of. Yet, they are buried in my past. I don't want or need to bring them up. God has forgiven me and he has forgotten. People never forget and rarely forgive. Paul didn't even need to hide his sin, but it didn't free him from the attacks. 

This world is ruthless. We can only survive with the power of a Savior who is full of grace and love. God forgives and forgets. He is there for us, through guilt and innocence.