How Did You Get Here

I was out of town the past couple of days and I had to miss my youth service. As I've done in the past, I asked one of my youth that is considering heading to Bible college to take a shot at filling in for me. He spoke on 2 Timothy 4:7 which reads, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” He ended his message by telling this story.

Imagine you are at the marriage supper of the Lamb with all the saints of God. Across from you is a girl that appears about five years old. People are talking and laughing and just enjoying themselves. As the dinner progresses, you and the girl begin talking. You ask her how she came to be here. She opens up and begins her story.

Resist the Doughnut

I have decided to coin a phrase of which I'm sure will be used to teach, edify, and encourage long after my time on earth is through. It basically states this.

Resisting the doughnut is harder when you're standing in the doughnut shop.

I make no claims of originality as this thought surely as been echoed somewhere in my life, but it's still a good thought for us to ponder. As Christians, we are called to resist temptation. We are even told in the Bible that every temptation can be overcome. No temptation is all powerful. Yet, sometimes popular opinion leads us to believe that some temptations are irresistible. That we are in fact powerless to resist them.

In many instances, I think the problem lies in the fact that we start resisting the temptation far too late. Jump back to doughnut shop as an illustration. If we're trying to be healthy and avoid foods like doughnuts, it's foolish to place ourselves in a doughnut shop. We can deceive ourselves all we want with thoughts of "I'm just looking" or "I simply like the smell", but you know as well as I do that we're going to wind up walking out with doughnuts. The resisting must begin before you are ever near that shop.

Personally, as I am on a diet, a doughnut may sound good, but when I keep myself far away from doughnut shops I find it a lot easier to resist them. I make the conscience decision not only to resist the doughnut, but I also keep myself away from places where it would be so easy to buy one.

Now I obviously don't think doughnuts are sinful, but I know you can make the cognitive leap to apply what I'm writing about. I think the mature action of believers is not only to resist temptation, but to also be smart enough to avoid places and situations where the threshold for giving into temptation is greatly lowered. Everyone is tempted by different things, and with that in mind, everyone needs to figure out what boundaries can be set up to assist in them in their fight.

There will always be unexpected situations of temptation that we will have to fight, but many could be much more easily overcome just by prayerfully examining and planning ahead.

The Good Samaritan

Sadly, there are days when my actions fall in line with the Levite and Priest. I'm more concerned with my tasks and duties to bother myself to stop and assist another.

Thankfully, there are days when my actions fall in line with the Samaritan. I stop, I care, I act, I sacrifice, and I give.

Then, there are days where I feel more like the man that has been robbed, beaten up, and left for dead.

I'm trying to live out the second one, but sometimes it sure feels more like the third.

The Power of Scent

Lately, every time I take a shower I find my mind wandering back to my time in Kenya. It happened enough times that I consciously took note of it. I wondered why for awhile, and then it slowly dawned on me that the body wash I was using was the one that I took with me on that trip. In an effort to clean out a cupboard, I've been using up old shower gels. Normally I just use a bar of soap, but bottles are handy for traveling. At least they're handy until they get too low to last for an entire trip.

It really amazes me how a scent can bring back vivid memories. The second I open the bottle my mind is flooded with scenes from Eldoret and Nairobi. Suddenly I can taste the food again and see the incredible night skies. I remember how driving down the road is one long game of chicken and being served a cup of tea after I finished preaching. For a brief moment I relive sleeping tangled up in mosquito nets, walking through the crowds at the street bash, and even being interviewed on radio.

All this from a simple scent. The only hard part about this is that I don't like the scent of the body wash. It was a bottle that I got free and since it was full I took it on the trip. So my mornings are a mix up between a smell I don't particularly like and the amazing memories it invokes.