Sometimes you can wake up and find yourself in a place that you never thought you’d be….how in the world did I wind up here?

A young man found himself in prison…a dalliance with drugs led to an addiction, led to stealing and eventually a prison sentence. He didn’t start out ever thinking he would wind up in this “hell hole”. He mentioned the story of  a fellow inmate who had “gone out to have a fun night, drank too much, got into a car, and had an accident in which someone died. He went out looking to have a good time, but wound up with a 10 year prison sentence. “How in the world did I end up here?” 

A similar thing can happen to us. Maybe the result won’t be as dramatic as in the life of this young man, but it may be as significant and as important. Often big changes happen “between our ears and in our heart”…our thinking can radically change over the years, and we may not even remember how it happened. On the outside, we may be a Christian, a respectable businessman, making good money, admired by my peers….but on the inside we may be losing our faith, our marriage may be falling apart, perhaps addictions are rotting our soul. And as this happens a greater phenomena is happening… our heart can become hardened. 

C.S. Lewis talks about this process. “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

Wow, this is a pretty serious BLOG…maybe a bit too gloomy. Well, I think the truth is what sets us free. A good self analysis is really important. Where do I find myself today. What are my values today…what’s important to me? What road am I traveling… where is it leading? Holy Spirit help me to see.

A  pretty common error says,  “I can choose my decisions but I don’t have to accept the consequences of those decisions.” I can choose to not study, but I will still get an “A”….I can choose to eat Big Macs and fries, but I still will be healthy and not get fat…I can choose to disobey the natural law, the 10 commandments, but my life will still go well. While we may seemingly get away with those decisions for awhile, they will eventually come back to haunt us. “The wages of sin is death”. (Romans 6:23) 

Let’s end with some hopeful news. The last part of Romans 6:23 says while “the wages of sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” No matter where we find ourselves… even if it’s a place where poor decisions have brought us ….  in Christ Jesus we can begin anew and land in a great place…a place of peace and joy and contentment, and love. Just cry out, “Jesus help me, I’m sorry for my poor decisions, for my sin, for being stupid…help me Lord… save me Lord.” He will help us. He loves us and wants us to be happy. 

And by the way, my young friend turned his life around, is out of prison, married with a family, following the Lord. The Lord is always there waiting for us… waiting to help us.