'Toonville

The last couple days seem like I've been in a really bad cartoon. Sunday was okay, but I kept dropping things and colliding with stuff at church. I was pretty wiped out so I just listened as folks talked after the service. I could feel these replies bubble up, but I squashed them down because I wasn't sure my mouth and brain were working together. To top it all off, I've been hyper-sensitive to criticism. I'm having trouble dodging or warding off those comments that come from people who have no real agenda ... just the things said at the wrong place and the wrong time. They start sticking to my soul and it takes a long time to dislodge them.

1 Kings 13:33 (NASB) "After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from among all the people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places."

This is not the most encouraging of passages in the Bible, but it points out a human condition that has plagued us through the ages. We don't learn from our mistakes. Today, people declare that if God would only "show" Himself that they would change. The biblical record shows that even when God does show up ... humanity brushes it aside. The only real change comes with repentance and a surrender of our heart, mind, and will to Jesus Christ. And that ... is so hard to do when we live in a culture that screams at us that we are capable and masters of our own fate.

1 Kings 13-14