Our cat Bailey is one year short of 20.  She is an old cat.  She lives exclusively in our basement because she is afraid of the dog.  She chose to live in the basement and so we have tried to make it as comfortable as possible for her.  Other than missing a little sunlight, I think she enjoys basement living; it is like an underground penthouse.

Anyway, the other day I did some calculation on how much kitty litter we have purchased over the last, nearly two decades.  In that time we have purchased over TWO TONS of litter.  That my friends is a lot of c%#@.  Can you imagine if we never scooped the box?

Sometimes people live their whole life without “scooping out the box.”  We are poisoned by negative events and painful memories.  Yet Jesus came to redeem every area of our lives.  So let me query,  ”What are you allowing to contaminate your life?”  What is loitering in your soul that needs immediate and permanent eviction?  Go ahead and begin scooping.

Yesterday as I drove up to a stop sign, I lowered my window and slipped a middle-aged woman holding a cardboard sign a twenty dollar bill.   She was 1 of 4 cardboard sign holders I saw as I drove my son to soccer practice and my daughter to the church. I had a One and a Five, but decided to give the larger amount.

Like you, I wondered if I should give anything to anyone because who could really tell if they were legit or just panhandling.  All four signs I read yesterday said they were desperate and needed help; adding on the bottom a “God Bless You”, which I don’t know if they meant that for everyone or just those people willing to help them.

But God has blessed us and so every once in a while when I feel anxious about money, I give some money away.  Yes, we tithe to the church and support a few missionaries, but sometimes I get a little worried about how much money I have, so I give some away.  However, I am not really giving it away because it was not mine to begin with.  And I am not really being generous because I keep way more than I give away and how can I give what is not really mine?

In 1 Chronicles 29:14 King David who collected an abundance of money and supplies in order to build the temple writes: But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.

I encourage you to think about David’s words today.  Are you holding on too tightly to what doesn’t really belong to you anyways?

Below you will find an excerpt from a blog written by a Father of a young lady (early 20’s) who in the last 2 years has spent more time in the hospital–at times near death–then time outside the hospital.  In fact, in her life she has spent countless days in the hospital. Karis used to attend our church.  I urge you to take a few minutes to read Karis’ perspective on God in the midst of all her difficulties.

I spent the morning today (Sunday) with Karis, in between the various interventions that had to be done.  We had a precious time talking about Ephesians 5.1 ­ “Be imitators of God, as His beloved children.”  Two challenging paradigms!  Having God as our standard, our rule of conduct, the measure of our thoughts.  Oh, Lord!  And to do that as a child who imitates his Daddy.  With that simplicity, joy, abandon, wonder and absolute confidence that his Dad or Mom is the most incredible person who exists.  Karis understands that much better than I do.

At that point I (David) understood better what Jesus meant when he said “Unless you become like little children, you won’t be able to enter the Kingdom of heaven.”  May I grow in my ability to be more childlike!

Short is hip.  When ever I drive anywhere I am always thinking about a shortcut.  At Wal-mart I look for the shortest checkout lane.  I microwave popcorn and I eat instant oatmeal to shorten the cooking process.  When I approach a stop light I get in the lane with the shortest line of cars.  Heck, I even learned recently that you can shorten the link to this blog so you can post it to the mandatory shortness of Twitter posts.  Short is everywhere.

We like short.  Short makes us feel like we can accomplish more in less time.  But short can also be deceptive.  Short might take less time but it does not always yield the results we want.

Short workouts don’t build muscle mass (no matter what the infomercials tell us).  Short walks don’t create cardiovascular health.  Short nights of sleep break us down physically and emotionally.  Short amounts of time in the Bible results in plateaued followers of Jesus.  Short amounts of time spent doing anything usually doesn’t result in much satisfaction.  Some things, like relationships, Christ-likeness, excellence in sport, or being a great parent just take time and there are no shortcuts.

Short might be in but it is not always satisfactory.

The other day my only option for a cup of coffee (decaf) was a vending machine in the back of a library right next to where they display the books that are for sale.  I fumbled in my pocket for .55 cents and bought a cup that was dispensed into the kind of paper cup that burns your fingers when you touch it.  The library was kind enough to offer insulated sleeves, but they were too big and my cup would have slipped right through my hands and onto the floor ruining the books they had for sale.

As you might imagine, the cup of coffee tasted like you would imagine a cup of .55 cent coffee to taste.  Bad.  Yet I noticed that the more sips I took the less I noticed the rancid taste, in fact, it started to taste okay and I finished it except for a few swallows that got cold.

As I thought about that, I think sin is a lot like vending machine coffee.  At first we feel convicted by the awful things we do (or don’t do) and the “taste” of sin is rancid.  But after awhile we get used to it and it even becomes enjoyable.  Those images, those thoughts, the extra money in your wallet, the pride, the self-gratification all feels good.  The Bible describes a person who is no longer bothered or convicted by sin as being hard-hearted.  So let me ask,  what sin in your life have you gotten used to?