Crammed, Cluttered, and Crowded

While sitting this afternoon in the parking lot about to pull out of my coffee run, I observed a car in front of me that was literally filled to capacity in both the back and passenger seats with what appeared to be belongings from home being moved.  The lamp shade was smashed against the front window.  The boxes were being crushed in the back.  Bags and bags were filling any open space (at least from where I was able to see).  The scene was overwhelming.  And I sat and wondered in that brief moment, as the Lord impressed upon my heart, what do I carry around that clutters my life? What past failures do I allow to crowd my present?  What baggage that I should have surrendered to Christ still crams my heart and mind today?

And I said to the person next to me, how is there space for anything else?  Anything new?  Anything fresh?  As Scripture promises, "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23).  If our lives are so full of yesterday's baggage and mistakes, of yesterday's hurts and sins, then how do we have room to embrace the newness of His mercy today?!  The car drove off carrying all of the heavy load being moved from one place to the next, and I was grateful of the reminder that in the faithfulness of the Lord, He has taken my sin from me and cast it as far as the east is from the west.  Now I move on in the freedom of Christ...still aware of the past, but not bound by it in my present.  He has poured out His steadfast love to ensure that my heart would be His home.  And that the clutter of sin would be trumped with the washing and renewal of His Word.

Friend, let the baggage go.  Christ can handle it.  Then embrace His mercy.  Embrace His love.  Perhaps even better, feel His mercy and love embrace you.  Pray for Him to clean up your heart, so that it is fresh and ready for what today holds.

4Hisglory.

"Daddy," he cried...

2:40 a.m.  I throw the covers back and quickly orient myself to what's going on.  My family has been sick.  Stomach bug sick.  Vomiting.  And other gross things if you catch my drift.  Well, at this point, my oldest son was the only one still in need of fully recovering - my wife and middle son were for the most part on their way back to wellness.  Nevertheless, I was sleeping on the couch to be in the middle of the house to hear who would need help - the boys in one side and my better half in the other.  

So, there it was.  The sound of my oldest yelling, "DADDY! DADDY!"  Rubbing my eyes, I pull myself off the couch and dart to the guest bathroom, where I see my five-year old son hunched over the toilet.  I move behind him to sit on the side of the tub, as I had already done  probably six times so far this night, and I rub his back as that horrific sound of his stomach entrails entering the toilet.  Poor thing.  Helpless.  A victim to the sickly condition of his body. Exhausted.  Weary.  I wipe his mouth, hug him tight, and feel the weight of his body go limp as the utter nature of his fatigue and sleepless state take hold.

I carry him into the living room and make a bed for him on the love seat, tuck him in and kiss him on the forehead.  I know it won't be long until he is awakened again for another bathroom run, followed by the cry of "Daddy!" once more.

As he lay there, the Spirit of God pricked my heart and whispered to me as I sat in the darkness of my living room...

Well isn't that convenient...

Driving home, I have passed a landmark for my neighborhood that I have looked at and have  observed probably hundreds of times.  Each time I get the same sense inside, and each time it brings about the same response as well.  What has such power over my actions and focus?

A solar-powered radar post that is installed about a 1/4 of a block into the neighborhood.  Monitoring speed to ensure that drivers are going 30 mph or slower.

When speeds hit 31 or above, the sign begins to flash with an insulting, "In case you don't know it already, sir, you are driving over the speed limit," flash.  Like I don't already know I am breaking the law.  What adds intensity to this seemingly ordinary situation is that police tend to also sit behind bushes nearby and watch the radar.  No need for them to use their radar guns, the post reads speeds for them.  

So, needless to say, most of the time when I drive into the neighborhood and venture even remotely near the path of the radar beam, I am already driving obediently.  No flashing numbers for me.  

What a motivation to obey the law.  What a motivation to do what is right (even if every part of my flesh wants to break the speed barrier of 30 mph!).  

And so I pose a thought...what would be our rate of breaking God's laws if we had a solar-powered radar post that warned us when we were venturing too near the line of unholy living.  Too near the line of breaking His command.  Too near the line of the way of the world.  Imagine...posts put up in our homes that would let us know when we were too close to not loving like we should...or not cleaning our rooms and disobeying our parents...or not putting others first and cleaning up after ourselves...etc.  Or maybe in our workplaces...a radar post that would flash at the brink of gossip or lying.