SLIGHTLY LESS SINFUL THAN YOU

Rush hour traffic.  Running late. You know what I'm not caring about in these moments? Obeying the speed limit.  Honestly, I'm just trying to go slightly LESS fast than the fastest driver out there!

I know 79mph is speeding.  By a lot, even.  But I also know that I'm not speeding as much as the guy who just passed me going 83--and so I know I probably won't be pulled over and held responsible for my 79mph.

As many of us do this out on the road, I'm convinced we're doing it in our spiritual lives as well.  

We're called to holiness, but it seems a lot of believers are more concerned about where they land on some kind of "spectrum" of spiritual life than on really desiring holiness.  

Before we know it, our aim isn't holiness, nor honoring our God with the lives He gave us.  And our lives become one big game of "I'm slightly less sinful than YOU."

Yes, I do it.  And I cringe at the thought, because it's not at all what I long for!  I want purity of soul.  I desire rightness of action. I long to do what God wants, not just a slightly more sanitized version of what somebody else is doing.  

I don't want to buy this lie...

Heathens   <------- ME ------->   Legalists

...the lie that says, "Everyone who is more permissive than I am in their choices and actions is a heathen, and everyone who is less so is a legalist."  What??!??  When did I become the standard?

I am not.  You are not.  We are called to holiness, as He is holy.  We fail, we fall, we need His grace.  But we are, in no uncertain terms, called to holiness.  

No more "I can watch this because someone in my small group watches this--or worse."  Holiness.

No more "So-and-so doesn't report everything on their taxes, either."  Holiness.

No more "Nobody else reads their Bible either."  Holiness.  

I am the LORD, who brings you up 

out of the land of Egypt.  

So be holy, for I am holy.

Leviticus 11:45 

* Is this a struggle for you?  What are some of the standards you see yourself setting for your life that are based on what other believers are willing to do?

  

 

SHE SCRIBBLED IN MY BIBLE

Really.

At first I wasn't happy about it.  I mean, come on.  My Bible? Of all the books she could've defaced. That thing is meant to be passed down to her someday.

But when I thought about it for more than 5 seconds, I smiled.  And now it is, by far, my favorite page in my Bible.  

Because she simply wrote in the book she found open on the table.

My Bible just happened to be that book.

Joy.

And now this page serves as a reminder of a day when my tiny girl happened upon an open Bible.  Yes, she wrote all over it.  But the main thing is that she happened upon an open Bible I had been reading.

Again...Joy.

Because, if I'm completely honest,  it's far more likely that she would've scribbled on my iPhone or laptop.  She sees me using those things a whole heck of a lot more than my Bible.  

And that wrecks me!


I would let that precious, tiny thing scribble on all the pages if it meant that daily she would come down the stairs, bleary-eyed and bed-haired, to find the open Bible I've been reading.  

Father, You gave me life to do the very thing of sharing truth with my children.  But more than just reading it to them or telling them about it, I want them to see me read it.  I want them to perceive my love for truth.  I don't care what they do in life if they just walk with You and love Your Word!  Keep me mindful that I GET TO be an example for them in regard to the Word of truth.  I GET TO show them what it means to hide it in their hearts, that they may not sin against You--a profound privilege!  Why don't I do it more?  God, strengthen me to impart truth.  It's not a breakout session of what I'm here to do.  IT IS WHAT I AM HERE TO DO.  

* What would YOUR children most likely scribble on? 

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.   

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

WHEN A SNAKE CHOKES

"Whoa, look at THIS, Mommy!" my son said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me out the front door.  

Near the tree in our front yard I saw a snake, but I had to take a closer look;  Something was odd about it.

It had choked to death on another snake.

I had never seen anything like it.  And to be honest, it gave me chills.

Because this year our family has encountered the most vicious attacks.  We have been face to face with evil. Evil. We have come up against the stare of the most vile and vitriolic stuff imaginable and stood eye to eye with the darkest of things, though we have stood in innocence.  

And we know there's a serpent behind it all.  Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).  

I believe the same serpent who enticed Eve into sin is still trying to do his thing.  But the very one who seeks to devour us WILL choke. 

This hope means everything!

Yes, this snake will strike the heel but our God is victorious.  He will crush his head.  

When that cunning serpent comes after us, we need not give him reverence, nor honor him with our fear.  

It's okay.  That snake's gonna choke, y'all.

The God of peace 

will soon crush Satan 

under your feet.

Romans 16:20

THE BLESSED UNREST

Finding yourself broken over what is or what is not?  Really, it's not necessarily a bad thing.  

Oh, it feels bad.  Crappy, even.  It rubs at our hearts until we're raw.  But these thorns in your flesh and mine can be the very things that drive us to do something about them.

Don't dismiss your brokenness.  It can be a beautiful catalyst.

Is there something that annoys you, frustrates you, angers you, keeps you up at night about the way things are...or aren't?  Is there a holy unrest gnawing away at you, refusing to be ignored?

Congratulations.  You're blessed.  

The blessed unrest is a gift, in spite of the way it seems to grate on your soul.  It hardly seems a benefit when it drives you to your knees.

But there--in our face-down state--there is an awareness that the God of all creation is calling you to right a wrong--to be in on righting something that coincidentally happens to be breaking His heart, too.  

I have wrestled with these broken-hearted questions of my own:

Why don't Christ-followers love the Word--I mean, really hunger for it?  Why isn't it a priority even for those who love God and want to walk in His ways?  Why does it seem so hard to consistently be in the Word?  And if we believe what it says, then how can we manage to go sun-up to sun-down without prioritizing any of "our" time to read the thing?

And why does the term "Bible conference" bring up images of an old-school, Gaither-gathering snoozefest? Who on earth is going to do something fresh?

No idea why He called such a broken, jacked-up individual, but He did.  The odd answer, I suppose, is me.  

I am.  By the grace of God alone, I am doing a new thing.

GodBreathed was born of a blessed unrest.  And what started as frustration has grown into a Word and worship experience that is happening in 5 days in Atlanta. 

What will spring forth from YOUR frustrations?  What might YOU be called to do?  What wrong may God be putting on your heart to right--right now?  

Please don't excuse the holy unrest.  

Consider how God might be poised and ready to bless the ever-loving heck out of you and the rest of the world through it.  

Thanks to Ben Arment, my Dream Year coach who taught me that frustration shapes a dream, to my family for encouraging me to walk in the calling God had in mind, and for the rest of the Dream Year 2012 team for constantly inspiring me to live wide awake to the stuff of God. 

FUNNIEST JESUS VIDEO SPOOF EVER!

Every few years or so, I re-find this little voice-over gem and I laugh all over again.  Enjoy the video that totally gets it wrong--but in a pretty funny way!!

LOVE, PLEASE

Kids need clear boundaries, responsibilities, and sometimes even tough love. But it's not all they need.

I can be pretty tough on my kids.  Yes ma'am, no sir, do your homework, make that bed, try that again please.  Not that these things alone are overbearing; In fact, I find them downright necessary.

But really...I can be pretty tough on my kids.

I'm always thinking long-term with them.  And sometimes in my quest to raise God-honoring, considerate, polite, well-behaved kids, I miss opportunities to show love and grace.

Today I saw in Proverbs 28 that a ruler who oppresses the ones under him (or HER) is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.  

A too-harsh ruler inhibits a harvest.  WOW.  

I want my kids to be fruit-bearers.  I want their lives to be crazy-ripe with the stuff of God.  My mind is consumed with working for a someday harvest when it comes to my children, because I really believe our lives are not for us but to bring glory to the Father.

But the one who comes too heavily against the ones in his (her) care is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.  

When I was in 5th grade I had to have a signed daily report of my work because I wasn't exactly the most disciplined student.  My parents warned me that if I forgot my report, I would be spanked.  Every day for months I had my report, but one day I forgot it at school.

I braced myself for my punishment, but my dad sat across from me and said, "There is no way I am going to punish you for forgetting the report today after months of doing the right thing.  Be sure to bring it home tomorrow though.  I love you."

The sweet surprise of mercy. Modeled beautifully for me.

My kids need direction--absolutely.  But they need love.  Lots of it.  And they need grace in plenty.  And they need these things from me because it models the grace and love of the Father.

And yours need it from you, too.

GO AHEAD...BE IRREVERENT

Reverence.  Reverence is reserved for the things that have your attention, your time, your thoughts, even your reactions.

God is worthy of your reverence.

Your current fear is not.

The phrase "DO NOT BE AFRAID" is used 166 times in Scripture, but it's so much more than just some command not to feel "scared."

The Hebrew word for "afraid" is yare' meaning dread and reverence.  

Reverence!  

Yes, we show reverence to our fears.  We carve out spots in our minds and spaces in our hearts and let the very things we dread take up residence in us.

And THAT is what we're being commanded--all over the Word--not to do.  

That thing that keeps you up at night?  Stop showing it reverence.  Yank it down off the pedestal in your mind and quit giving it a place in your heart.  Your biggest worry?  It doesn't get to have your full attention anymore.  Stop allowing it to find an audience with you.

Reverence is reserved for the Holy of Holies, for the Only Wise God.  He is deserving.  So very worthy.

Which is why we need to stop shoving Him off the throne to make room for our fears.

Time to be irreverent.

The LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid.  

Deuteronomy 31:8

* What's the fear that has your full attention right now?  What would it look like to stop showing it reverence?
   

GO TIME

I'm on my face, y'all.  

Ten days until GodBreathed.  T E N   D A Y S .

Ten days until the doors of the Rock Barn swing open and we welcome in the people for whom we've prayed.  Ten days until we taste and see that the Word of the LORD is plenty good.  Ten days until we draw a line in the sand and say that from this day forward, we are going to allow truth to have its right place in our homes, our families, our heritages.  

You may be nowhere near Atlanta that night, but can I dare you to pray alongside us?  May I plead with you to ask God for the stuff of heaven to collide with the ones present in that place on October 6th?  Can I beg of you to flood heaven with requests on our behalf? 

There is no way on God's green earth that this event will come and go without God's glory being revealed in some way.  His hand has been way too SEEN in all of this--even on the hardest days (and trust me, in the last 300 days there have been *MANY* contenders for the title of "Hardest Day")!  But it's more than that.  I know His Word does not return empty but does what He intends it to do when He sends it out.  Praise Him!

Ten days.  240 hours (good heavens, it's terrifying when I think of it like THAT).  

Go time.

Thank you doesn't even suffice to express my gratitude for your prayers!!!!
   
 With love and thanks,

PRETTY SURE GOD DRIVES A HUMMER

If God drives a vehicle, it's surely a Hummer.  And that really ticks me off sometimes.

Two mornings a week, I drive into Atlanta for work, braving the morning rush hour commute.  I love when I get behind a small car so I can see beyond it to get a view of the traffic up ahead. Getting stuck behind an 18-wheeler?  Total nightmare.  Driving behind a Prius?  It's like commuter gold!

You know what I feel like right now?  I'm following God, but He's in a big fat Hummer.  I cannot see any further down the road than His massive presence.  And I'm a little bit afraid it's going to drive me insane.

Because I want to know.  I want to know what's next.  I want to see what's ahead.  But I can't see past HIM.  Big, massive, omniscient, omnipresent, GOD Almighty.  I'm sorry if it's irreverent, but following without being able to see the scope of what's ahead just plain sucks sometimes.  

But I hear Him.  He just asks me to follow.  Follow when I can't see around Him.  Follow because He's worthy of my trust.  Follow when life is crazy hard and I want to see that it won't always be this way.  Follow because He is ONLY good.

Follow.

Father, there's no way apart from You.  No good thing apart from You.  But the path, while certain in victory and hope, is unknown to us and that requires more than we have in us to follow.  We need You to give us strength to be able to walk in Your ways even when we have no idea what's up ahead. 
  

THE DISCONNECT

Ever been in a one-sided Dance-Off with your dentist?

No?  Just me?

I wish I could say that was a dream.  But no...Thanks to the beauty of nitrous oxide, that's how I spent my Thursday morning. 

I had a root canal this week.  As I've mentioned before, I am petrified of pain, and was promptly hooked up to the laughing gas to take the edge off.

The strange thing about the laughing gas is that your body is doing weird stuff while you still have your right mind.  At first I was lying there and saw something waving around.  Then I realized it was my hands.  They were gracefully "conducting" the classical music that was playing in the background. "Knock it off!" I thought to myself, and willed my hands to rest. But before I knew it, they were conducting another symphony.

I also laughed.  A LOT.  Like when you're in the front row at church and you get the giggles and you're trying really hard not to laugh but you can't pull it together.  And believe me, it's not easy to laugh with someone shoving a drill into your mouth. I kept thinking to myself, "What is so funny?" but I could not stop laughing. 

And then came the "dancing."  Seriously, I began doing "The Snake" as I lay there -- we're talking Janet Jackson, circa 1992.  Yes, I was reclined in the dentist's chair.  But that didn't seem to stop my body from getting down with its bad self.  Again, I kept thinking, "STOP IT!  You're acting crazy!" but there seemed to be a disconnect between what I was thinking and what I was doing. 

"You got served!!" I said to the dentist through my nitrous-oxide fog, and then just laughed and laughed as my mortified mind pleaded for my body to PULL. IT. TOGETHER.

I can only imagine the notes the doctor wrote in my chart. 

But the disconnect is present for me in my walk with God, too.  I so get the heart of Paul when he writes, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing" (Romans 7).

The disconnect rears its ugly head when our spirit and our flesh duke it out.  "Knock it off!  What are you doing?  You're being a fool!" our hearts cry out.  But the flesh overrides the longing of our hearts to glorify God.  

Can you relate?

Father God, we need the power of Your Holy Spirit--the incomparably great power for us who believe--to prevail when the disconnect exists.  We want to honor You, but the pull of our flesh is strong.  Unrelenting, even.  But right now we claim the promise that the same power used to raise Jesus from the dead is the very power that indwells us.  The very same power!  And when our flesh pulls toward foolishness, be faithful to provide a way out that we may stand up under the pull of our flesh.

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.

The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.

Matthew 26:41

  

NO DELUSIONS

"So are you going to try and have the baby naturally?" a male acquaintance asked me when I was pregnant.

Brother, please.

"Um, that would be a NO," I replied definitively.  "When I get to the hospital I will be telling them, 'I will be needing an epidural, please.  Oh, and by the way, my name is Thea Nelson.'"

I knew going in that I was going to need some serious medicinal help.  You see, I have the single-lowest pain tolerance on God's green earth.  Like, take-a-Tylenol-to-ease-the-pain-of-a-paper-cut kind of thing.  I literally had a conversation with Justin when I was nearing the birth of our first child about how I was worried that the epidural wouldn't work, the pain would be too severe, and I would give up the will to live. Really.  Simply put, I had no delusions that I could get through the process apart from some help.

Now that the picture of my wussiness is properly painted....

I am going into these last weeks leading up to GodBreathed in a similar way.  No, not fearing I'll give up the will to live or anything.  But just knowing what I will most certainly need to get through this.

I'm going to need God.  Really.  I'm fully surrendered to the notion that I am going to need Him to show up.  I'm going to need His strength.  I'm going to need Him to make a way for people to be there.  I am desperate for His mercies, His favor, His hand to be undeniable in every little part of this. 


I HAVE NO DELUSIONS THAT I CAN GET THROUGH THIS WITHOUT HIM.  And I knew that going into this.  I responded in obedience to what I believe He initiated, but that doesn't mean for one second that I can do anything apart from Him.

And I'm not even going to try.  Not even going to attempt a cotton-picking thing in my own strength.  I know there is just no way apart from Him making a way. 
 
Even when Daniel was summoned to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, he gave no pretense that he could do it on his own.  The king asked, "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?"  Daniel responded that not even the top magicians or diviners could do such a thing, "but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and HE has shown what will happen" (Daniel 2:26-27).  He made a way then.  He'll make a way now.

What are you facing that is requiring more than what you KNOW you have to give?  

What will it look like to fully resign yourself to the fact that you will need Him to come through for you if it's ever going to be what He intends?
    

If the LORD had not been on our side,

we would be swallowed alive,

engulfed, swept away, ensnared.  

Psalm 124  

COME BACK WHEN YOU'RE CLEAN

 Already-awkward 4th grade girl gets the most traumatic haircut of her life.  And no, it wasn't because I walked out of there with an atrocious amount of bangs (even for the 80's).

I was sitting in the chair as the stylist snipped away. At one point I'd noticed she had suddenly stopped, and after a long pause I heard her say, "Sick!"

Startled, I looked up into the mirror to see horror and disgust written all over the stylist's face.

She turned and called loudly to my dad sitting over in the waiting area, "You need to get here out of here. She has lice."

(Thanks for the discretion there. Although I'm sure there was someone in upstate New York who didn't quite hear you.)

She yanked the apron off me, and forced me to do a walk of shame  from the chair to my dad while people eyed me nervously. After all, everyone in the place had heard her announcement.

It was a nightmare for an already-self-conscious 8-year old.  I felt humiliated.  Unclean.

Since I was mid-haircut when she discovered the lice, we had to go to the store with my unintentionally asymmetrical hairdo to buy a head lice kit, go home, do the treatment, and THEN return that same day to have the other half of my hair cut.

I plainly understood one thing that day--I was not to return until I was clean.

But that was just one day, one unfortunate incident.  Can you imagine how those with leprosy must feel, being constantly and publicly avoided and declared "unclean" -- the unending rejection and looks of disdain? I experienced a day of being declared unclean.  Theirs is an agonizing lifetime of it!

But Jesus.  Jesus bent to touch the ones afflicted.  Met the gaze of those suffering.  Dared to touch the unclean...and then make them clean.

"Come back when you're clean" never exited the mouth of Jesus.  No prerequisite of cleaning up our act before we run to Him. Jesus welcomes the revolting, bidding them come to receive what He freely gives. In our ugliness we are rescued from the dirty depths and pulled from the miry pits. We are received in our filthiest state, loved deeply...and made clean.  

But God demonstrates His love for us in this:

While we were STILL SINNERS, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

THE "LEMONADE" STAND

Are you sure you know what you're getting?

 I was driving down our street one scorching day and saw a familiar-looking makeshift stand being manned by an ambitious looking 8-year old.  "25 CENTS" read the colorful sign taped to the table.  

I pulled over, handed over my shiny quarter, and the happy young lady handed me a cup of the cold stuff.

Notice I didn't actually say it was lemonade.  But then again, neither did she.  I just assumed it would be.

And I assumed incorrectly.

I got back into my car and took a sip.  Let's just say it wasn't quite as *lemony* as I was expecting.  It tasted like, well, nothing.

That's because it was water.  Just good old, run of the mill tap water that had been chilled in a glass pitcher. 

3 ounces of water in exchange for my 25 cents.  Not exactly what I was expecting.  I mean, no, the girl hadn't ever told me I would be getting lemonade.  It wasn't like the sign said that's what was for sale.  I just made some very wrong assumptions about what I was going to get out of this exchange.

At that point I chalked it up to making a little girl's day by stopping by her cool (albeit kind of misleading) "water stand."  That was certainly worth a quarter.  

But I feel like there have been other times in my life when I have made some pretty stupid exchanges because of what I thought I would get out of the deal.  I think we've all made trades or even allowed lines to blur because of what we believed we would gain from the exchange.  

It's why so many high school girls give themselves away in exchange for the love they hope they'll gain.  They allow lines to blur because they believe it will cement the relationship. Of course, anyone who has actually walked this road knows that more often than not, it leads to the disintegration of the relationship.  And the girl is left holding a cup of loneliness and rejection.

It's why so many married men and women let their eyes wander over to what isn't theirs.   They believe there is something else, something more, something better than what exists at home.  But when their feet begin to walk where their eyes have first gone, they're eventually left holding a cup full of the devastation of their homes and families.   I doubt anyone would make that exchange if they could first get a glimpse of what they would actually get in the trade.  

As surely as I believe there is a God who loves us, I believe there is one whose sole intent is to deceive us--to get us to make these trades by having us believe we'll get something worth it in exchange for the cost we will pay.  

And it's nothing new.  Esau literally traded his birthright as the firstborn son FOR A BOWL OF SOUP.  And while I can think that's a pretty stupid trade, he's not alone in his foolishness.  You and I can be pretty motivated by our own thirsts and hungers.  But when we bow to them, we often end up with little more than an empty bowl, or a cup of disappointment.  
 
Father, help us!  The exchanges we are willing to make are just plain foolish sometimes.  Protect us when we are tempted to trade valuable things for what we think we will gain.  Flood our minds with wisdom and insight, and make us wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  In Your Son's name, Amen. 

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Isaiah 55:2

FIGHT FOR THE FRUIT

 So...how shall I say this...I do not have docile children.  
I have a "spirited son" and a "determined daughter."

As a teacher I've gotten to know a lot of personalities and I always singled out the super-compliant, mild-mannered ones and said, "I hope I have a son just like him" or "I hope my little girl is just like her."

It didn't go that way.  

Because mixed in with the joy and fun of raising up these two little ones has been a heck of a lot of hustle.  Battles.  Prayers.  Redirections.  Even tears (mine, y'all). 

One day about a year ago I found myself worn. the. heck. out.  Because to know me well means to know I am very long-term minded when it comes to my children, even praying often for their future spouses and for their children and grandchildren.  My descendants, beginning with Trev and Liley, are prayed up, and I want them marinating in truth.  So if I was doing something I believed really mattered, then why wasn't I seeing much evidence that what I was doing mattered at all?  I found myself crying out to God for some encouragement.  And I heard the words,

"You're going to have to fight for the fruit."

Fight for the fruit.  Those words have stayed with me this past year and have given me so much encouragement--but also preparation for the road that awaits.  Because what this word told me was:

1. I've got a fight ahead.  This is a battle and I need to be on my knees on behalf of my children.  I need to arm them with the Word of God and declare who they are in Christ and who God is in each of their lives. Because every bit as much as there is a God who fashioned my son and daughter in His likeness, there is one who seeks harm and an end for this legacy, and we battle against the one who seeks to steal, kill and destroy.  You can bet that's a battle I am going to fight!

2.  There will be fruit.  Hallelujah, there WILL be fruit!  Fruit from the conversations about consideration.  Fruit from all those Bible stories read.  Fruit from the warnings and words of blessing.  Fruit from ALL those 3am prayers I have spoken over my children as they sleep.  Fruit sprouted from lives steeped in truth!

I am blessed to have that precious, spirited boy and that steadfast, determined little girl.  God made them with great intention and purpose, and He will undoubtedly use their passion and tenacity for His glory.  They are worth the fight, because we will YET see the fruit that is to come from their God-established lives.

But you know what?  I'm seeing some of that fruit even now.   

 Train up a child in the way he should go,

and when he is old he will not depart from it.  

PROVERBS 22:6

Lifting up those who too are fighting for the fruit!

STUCK...

"My finger's stuck in the drain, Mommy," Liley called.

Ah, the first clue our Sunday night wasn't going to go as planned.

We tried helping our 4 year-old
pull her finger out, but no luck.  Justin had to unscrew the drain from the shower floor.  

We kept trying various tricks, including trying to actually cut the drain off her finger.  When that didn't work, her brother wrapped a "God will be with you" bracelet around her wrist, I scooped her up with the drain still attached to her hand, and we headed for the ER.  

Thankfully, they got us in quickly (Apparently when you have something hanging unnaturally off your body, you get bumped up to "Priority") and multiple doctors worked to get that thing off her finger, which by this time was becoming increasingly swollen and purple.  

Finally, finally, they got it off--just in time, they said.  We sat there for about a half hour while they iced her hand down and tried to ease the pain with an orange popsicle.  

Eventually, Liley's smile began to return (probably about the time the heavy duty dose of Tylenol kicked in).  But her finger looked like a miniature version of the Michelin man perched atop her hand!  Her poor little finger bears the marks of being somewhere it shouldn't have been. 

When we got home late that night, Justin made a comment that really struck me:

"I think I could have gotten her finger out if I had gotten to it before it began to swell."

All day today I've been thinking about "swollen" scenarios--Moments in our lives when we begin to cross a line or go somewhere we're not meant to go.  And in those initial moments, it's really not that difficult to get out--as long as we do so quickly.

But when we linger, when we camp out a little too long, it's like a swelling takes place in our hearts.  And the more swollen our hearts become in those places, the harder it is to extricate ourselves from them.

I know.  Because there have been times when I've gotten myself into circumstances with red flags waving everywhere, and I quickly backed out.  But I've also failed to flee at times and found it pretty tough to back out, because a swelling had already taken place in my heart.

Father, I feel You speaking on this one, perhaps not only to me.  If we are in situations in which our heart will eventually swell, leaving us just plain STUCK, please give us strength to back out quickly.  Give us grace to flee before a wrong place becomes a place we can't get out of.  And for those STUCK, strengthen them to turn to You for the help they'll need to get out.    

You redeem my life from the pit 

and crown me with love and compassion.

Psalm 103:5