“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” – Isaiah 1:18

Can your children do something that would make you stop loving them? I can not fathom what that act would be. It would have to be outside the scope of any of my worst imaginations. That being said, I know I will love my son for all of my life.

         Understanding that now that I am a parent makes me wonder why I have every questioned God’s love for me. The human race has done evil and wicked things and He still loves us. He made the choice to before the foundations of the world. He still wants to bring us into a good relationship with Him.

There was a time when Our boy was less than a year old that we had put him in his crib to play so we could get some stuff down around the house. He was a generally agreeable kind of little guy and we could have him play like that for a while and he would play a happily without much problem. We had been for about half an hour or so when I went in to check on him. I couldn’t believe what I saw.

There was…poop…smeared all over the bed, the sheets, and worse of all, all over a smiling little boy. I thank God that the boy had his pacifier in his mouth because there was poop smeared on the handle of it as well. He hadn’t gotten it in his mouth, whew! Gross only begins to explain the situation.

         The best I can figure, we had reached into his diaper and had pulled out the bad stuff by the fistful. It amazes me that he did all of that and he didn’t fuss. Marixa and I gagged, but he didn’t fuss. He didn’t cry. He didn’t really know anything was wrong until we found him in it.

         Has God every found you that way? Or course He has. The bible states that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. We were all lost in sin. Sin is dirty. Sin is nasty. Sin is the spiritual equivalent of poop. The beginning line of the old hymn Love Lifted Me describes it well, “I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore…”

         Let that sink in for a minute (no pun intended). I was sinking deep in sin, far from the shore. Sin is the spiritual equivalent of poop. I was sinking deep in the smelliest, dirties, most foul stuff. God lifted me out, and cleaned me up.

I took the lil guy and cleaned him up. Marixa went after the bed and the sheets and any other surface that the stuff had touched. We cleaned him up. We dressed him in a fresh diaper. We put fresh clothes on him. I may have sprayed cologne on him…ok I didn’t do that, but I think I wanted to. Though it was really gross, we loved him enough to lift him out.

         Our sin separates us from God because God is holy and without sin. This presented God with a problem. We were dirty and lost in our sins. He loves us and wants us to be with him. He found us sitting in spiritual poop. He wanted to make us clean. He had to find a way for that to happen. His solution? He took our sin upon Himself so we could be made clean. So we could be made righteous. So we could be made holy. God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that through him we might be the righteousness of God.

I am glad to say that we have not found Big boy in such a state since. I don’t think we ever left him in his crib again after that to give him the chance! I said it earlier and I will say it again, I can’t believe he didn’t fuss about it then. It also does me some good to know that he did not choose to get that way on purpose. He was just being curious and it got messy.

         Sometimes we don’t intend to get into situations where we get covered with the bad stuff. Unfortunately we are surrounded by it and it gets on us if we are not careful. The good news is that God can and will clean us up every time we ask. And we should ask often, because being close to him is the goal.

I am happy to say that the boy discovered that poop is really something that he does not like. (Whoever would have thought that would have been something to say you are happy about? Having kiddos changes things for the good!) I will illustrate with this story.

Once we dog sat for some good friends of ours. Their dog, who I lovingly refer to as the Big Yellow, was a beautiful Labrador retriever. She was a very good dog. She was also a big dog. At the time we had a dachshund and a basset hound. Big Yellow was bigger than both of them together, times 2.

When they dropped her off she was in the back yard doing what dogs do. We had gone out and came back and Marixa wanted to take big boy out into the back yard to play. You can probably see where this is going. He played for a while and it got to be time to come in for the evening. I called after him and he ran towards me fussing. This is not a normal thing for him. He never liked coming in, but this time he was upset. He looked like he had been playing in the dirt, which I knew he had, but I couldn’t figure out what was bothering him so bad.

         I picked him up and carried him in and he fussed all the more. I took him back to the bathroom to get him washed up and then I discovered the problem. He had stepped in it. It was stuck in between his toes. It wasn’t dirt up and down his arms. He had tried to get it off of his foot, but he had smeared it all the worse. He couldn’t get clean without help. And make no mistake, he wanted help. He knew he had stepped in it and he wanted out of it.

When I step into something sinful, I want out. I don’t want to clutter up my life with things that are going to separate me from God. I don’t want the icky stuff stuck between my toes causing me discomfort. Just like my boy looked to me to get the stuff off of his feet, I look to God to cleanse me and make me new.

Truth be told, I wanted to get that stuff of him probably more than he wanted to get it off of himself, and he wanted it off pretty bad. As his dad, I don’t want him to get into the smelly stuff. He is much older now and is closer to when he will have to make decisions for himself and if he steps in it, he will have to make the decision to get clean. As a dad I want that for him. I want him to choose to be clean. We are long past the point of being able to clean him up against his will.

As we are covered in our sins, God is desperate for us to be clean. He provided a way for that to happen. If we will let him, he will clean us up. But, we have to want it. We have to want and accept the gift he gives us.

Who knew you could tell the gospel story through stories about poop?

You ever feel like this? Life is moving fast. There is a ton of stuff to do. The stress is piling up because people are depending on you. If you don’t come through, stuff just might fall apart. I know I am not the only one.

All that to say this. I am thankful for the stress. It means I have a job that allows me to provide for my family. It means I have worked hard and gained responsibilities. Yes. People are counting on me. That is how it is supposed to be. It means that I have important work that I need to do. I know I am not the only one.

I am stressed, but thankful. I hope you are too.

“What in the #@$& is going on here?”

Jennifer looked up just as a hand was coming down across her face. She stumbled back and did her best to get away. Off the side of the bed and through the doorway she went as she heard the sound of the gun go off. Her lover was dead.

Naked and alone, she ran quickly down the hall and to the front door.

“Come back here #@$@ you.”

She could hear him closing in behind her. She ran through the front yard and across the street. The neighbors would help. She prayed they would.

He came out the front door just as she made it onto the neighbor’s porch. Their door was open and he could see that she was slipping inside. Gun aimed he took his shot. With satisfaction he watched as she slumped into the neighbors arms. He had hit his target as she was taken out of his sight.

“The cops will be here soon,” he thought to himself.

With that Timothy Vargas was not seen again.

As with many song lyrics that I post here, I wrote this several years ago. I hope you enjoy.

Verse 1

The heavens declare Your glory, the works of Your hand. Your wonder and Your majesty we struggle to comprehend. Your ways are not our ways and we are humbled to know that Your Spirit is with us everywhere that we go.

Chorus:

You are our God, may Your name be lifted up. All of our days will never be enough to express our gratitude and love to You our Lord, our God.

Verse 2

It is hard to describe the sacrifice You made when You stepped out of heaven to come to our aid. You did for us what we were unable to do. Where our sins demanded justice Your mercy cam through.

Chorus:

You are our God, may Your name be lifted up. All of our days will never be enough to express our gratitude and love to You our Lord, our God.

Tag:

We sing to You our praise, for it is You that we love. For all of our days, we can never get enough.

Chorus:

You are our God, may Your name be lifted up. All of our days will never be enough to express our gratitude and love to You our Lord, our God.

You remember that scene from Remember the Titans don’t you? It is the semi final game. Petey is making excuses about why he can’t cover his man like he should. For the entire movie Coach Yoast has gone easy on him, but no more. He confronts Petey in front of the team. He says, “If you want to act like a star you have to give me a star effort.” Petey whimps out and another player is brought in to play in his place. A less talented player named Allen who gets the job done because he gives the effort required.

Petey comes back to the coach before the next game and tells him he is ready to play for the championship. Coach Yoast tells him he is going to sit on the bench and cheer for the team and he will have a chance to play the next year. It is only after the less talented player give Petey his spot that Petey has a chance to get back in the game and finally give a star effort. The Titans win the championship. They wouldn’t have if Petey hadn’t learned his lesson and been given another chance.

I see a lot of Petey in myself. I know there are things that I am talented at. I know that I have the potential to be really good in a few areas. I even act like it sometimes, but have I really given a star effort to go along with the star act? Don’t get me wrong, I have worked hard on many things and been successful, but there are areas of my life that I have been slacking. One of the glaring spots where I don’t put in as much effort as I should? Public speaking.

If you have seen me speak, you might wonder what I am talking about. I have been in Toastmasters for 8 years. I achieved my Distinguished Toastmasters award. I have given over 200 presentations in that time. How can it be that I am not putting in the effort? Let me explain.

I am one of those people. You know the ones I am talking about right? Those weird people who have always felt comfortable in front of a room. From as far back as 2nd grade, I remember being in front of large groups and not being that bothered by it. Sure, it was strange, but having the room stare at me was always kind of cool.

For many people, that is the thing they have to get over. Talking in front of people is one of the most fear inducing things known to man. That is why they join Toastmasters. They had a problem they needed to address and are able to get through it. It is always an honor to see folks do this too. It is a serious achievement.

At this point, what would be a serious achievement for me? Knowing that I had put all of my heart, soul, and practice into a presentation and figuring out what my real potential is. Maybe I am close to it now. I have a feeling I am not. Either way, I want to give that star effort and forget about the star act.

I have a contest that I am participating in next Saturday. This is my self nudge to get it done. I may even record it and post it here. We will see what applying maximum effort will do.