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I have an awful combination. First of all, I sweat a lot. Second, I am a baseball catcher. When you wear the equipment of the catcher (the tools of the trade) on a hot, humid July day, you produce sweat - lots of it. On a typical game, under these conditions, I will lose five or six pounds. Which is why my car always smells like a locker room.

I can spray a whole can of aerosol Fabreeze in there and it still smells. I bought one of those scent things that hangs from your rear view mirror and it was used up about five minutes into its journey. Deb's car on the other hand still smells new even though it is several years older. You see, she is not a sweater and she is not a catcher.

Seems like a strange introduction to my blog, but half the battle to the journey of the sinner is the realization that they are odorous in the sight of an Almighty God. We are currently studying in the Sermon on the Mount at church (Matthew 5-7). The first part of the sermon is the Beatitudes. Beatitudes literally mean "happy". But they sure don't sound happy.

• Blessed are the poor in spirit
• Blessed are those who mourn
• Blessed are the gentle
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
• Blessed are the merciful
• Blessed are the pure in heart
• Blessed are the peacemakers
• Blessed are those who have been persecuted

The first four are self-assessment. They in essence say, I am a stinker. It is the one who completes the self-assessment and says that I need a holy and righteous God to remove the contamination of my stinkiness. That is the meaning of what the prophet Isaiah writes "though our sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow"(1:18). I need to come clean before God. To God, my stinkiness problem, when acknowledged in faith plus trust in Christ, is not only neutral but even sweet smelling. I still have the new car smell so to speak. 

I bring this up because our culture wants to constantly say we are all right and we can make our own way. Saying I am ok enough times does not make me ok.  This is not a healthy self-image. I am bound to disappoint myself no matter how many self-help books I might read. Don't get me wrong - we all have fascinating potential and I am an avid reader of authors like the late Stephen Covey. But my self-image must start with the flaws that I have. The amazing things can happen with a flawed sweaty guy.

Heed the Signals

One of my favorite bike routes takes me up Route 82 to the Summit Bike and Hike Trail. You can then take that south where it connects to the Portage Bike Trail or north where it connects to the Cuyahoga Bike and Hike trail. Route 82 is quite busy and the speed limit along that road is 45 miles an hour. The trail actually crosses Route 82. There is a crossing signal that you can initiate as a walker or cyclist which issues flashing lights to the traffic. However, I have learned a long time ago that at best 1 in 3 people will actually stop for the flashing lights to let the people cross. Some probably don't know they are supposed to stop, some may not care and proceed anyway, and then there is the group that actually lets people cross.

I was reminded that God issues warning signals throughout the Scriptures. It is not good for us to violate those signals. They are there for our own good. Like the crossing signals however, we can be ignorant of them (not know they are really there and for our own good), we can choose to ignore them (in which case, beware because they are there for a reason) or we can obey them. I find in my own life that I have to have a willingness and even a yearning to obey the signals. I have to trust that they are there for my good. I have to trust that they are there for me to be everything God wants me to be. And then I have to take the step of obedience.

It is not enough to desire to obey the signals. I am sure some who pass through probably think they should but they don't. Maybe they are in a hurry. But intent simply is not good enough. We must desire AND actually take the step of obedience. Our life depends on it.

Trying to Do Better

I love ESPN's Pardon the Interruption (PTI).  Because it is on in the afternoon I hardly ever get to watch it, but I listen to it via podcast. Tony Kornheiser always closes the show with "we'll try to do better then next time" and Michael Wilbon always closes with "same time tomorrow knuckleheads".  Because I have nothing better to do, I captured a week of show closes for your listening pleasure.


Our repentance to God must often seem like this. It is hollow almost comical. "I'll try and do better the next time Lord" knowing full well I will stumble again. Often it happens with our closest relationships. If I belch at home (usually after something heavily carbonated), I might say I'm sorry, but really I am quite proud of my ability to belch loudly.

The good news is we have a God who loves to forgive repentant sinners. My sin breaks God's heart and he so wants to restore me. He will forgive and restore countless times, endless numbers of times. But there is a caution flag. There was and is a cost to this forgiveness. Jesus took my sins to the cross so my sin should grieve me more in the cost of it than the fear of penalty. The writer to the Hebrews says "If we go on sinning willfully, there is no longer a sacrifice" (13:26) and "we are trampling underfoot the blood of the covenant" (13:29).

My sin should make me weep for what it cost God far more than what it can cost me. It cost God everything. It should make my repentance genuine and not hollow. I need to trust God to move me away from sin in true repentance. I can no longer just "try to do better the next time".

Watch Out - Danger Ahead!

The movie ended and we were exiting the theater. Something is amiss.

• People can't exit through the lobby - it is closed off
• Some people appear to not want to leave the theater
• Two police officers with unmuzzled police dog are on our left as we exit the theater
• 10+ police cars lining drive on both sides
• 4-6 police officers in front of main entrance talking to a group of kids and taking notes
• Another group of police officers by the street telling people to leave
• WAY too many young people, most of them guys, milling around
• Raised voices
• Palpable feeling of unrest

These are the clues that my wife told me I missed as we exited the Valley View Cinema on Friday night. Apparently there was a fight occurring just before our movie finished around 9:00. Read about it HERE. I was busy jabbering about how poor the movie was (The Hobbit - Part 3) and how shallow the character Legolas was and how Peter Jackson should have quit with Lord of the Rings....  I noticed kids congregating near the entrance but missed almost all of the clues that told me that things weren't normal. It was only when Debsue gave a gentle tug on my waistband of my pants indicating subtly to me that she was a little scared that I took my focus off of my individual tunnel and noticed the potential danger in front of me.

That little illustration reminded me of the dangers of tunnel vision when it comes to spiritual battles. Sin is "crouching at your door and its desire is to have you" (Gen. 4:7). Do you know that every day is a battle for your soul? Every day there are clues surrounding us that we live in a fallen world; that there is danger surrounding us. We are in serious warfare with an adversary that wants our soul.

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 2 Cor. 10:3-4

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

Alertness is what is required. Don't be like me and be caught unaware. The good news is that if you know Christ, the war has already been one. But even though the war is won, the enemy still fights battles. Naivete and passivity leave us exposed. Be aware - be on the alert!

The Chocolate Island

I recently attended a conference in Pittsburgh where they had a "chocolate island". They might as well have moved crack in front of an addict. If that wasn't enough, the lead delicacy was chocolate covered pretzels. Now I did not move my chair and stand there just piling the food into my waiting mouth. I was much more subtle than that. I would walk around the exhibits, then purposely meander over to the chocolate island and sample a few more. Then I would walk around a little more and repeat said process. This occurred throughout the day.

It was not hard to imagine that by the end of the day I was not feeling all that great. It did not seem to me that I overindulged. I dealt with the temptation in bite-sized increments, but over time it wore down my immune system. At the end of the day, I had a two hour drive home and I was very concerned about falling asleep at the wheel. I had to pull off of the road and take a nap. Such were the repercussions of my "sugar high" which came crashing down. I don't think I felt very well for several days afterwords.

Such is the nature of sinful habits. They are very insidious. They creep up on you and gain a foothold. Before you know about it, they completely envelop your mind to where there is nothing else to think about. I think that is precisely what James meant when he said "but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. (James 1:14-16). 

It used to surprise me when alcoholics would say that they haven't had a drink in XX years. What harm could one drink do? Answer, a lot. A friend and co-worker does not eat processed sweets at all. Why? Because he knows as he says that he cannot eat just one sweet - he will eat a whole lot of them. Now for me, sweets are a problem but there are many more habits that wreak havoc with my mind and pull me away from Christ. Believe me when I say that the enemy knows your weakness and what your "chocolate island" is.

The answer is not out of our own will to combat the chocolate islands of life. It requires a supernatural filling of God's Holy Spirit. That is why after a verse like James has, it says "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow" (James 1:17). Or when Paul says "Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom. 12:2). Or "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your heart to God (Col. 3:16). For every hurdle, there is a spiritual answer.

God provides the answer to our chocolate islands and it involves transformation, not our willpower. Our willpower will get us to a smaller sample size, but will not eradicate the problem. God wants us to come to him and he will supernaturally enable us to not avoid the temptation but overcome it.

Oh S__T!

We own a 13 year old dog named Maxwell who has to be one of the greatest dogs of all time. He is obedient, smart, sensitive, and fun. As he is getting up there in age, I dread the day we have to put him down. I have had a lot of good dogs and he has to be the best. Max does not do a lot wrong.



One day Deb saw something on the kitchen floor and went to pick it up thinking it probably was a piece of food. The reaction and horror set in then when she realized that it was poop. Her reaction in a loud voice was OH SHIT! I had to use the exact word in this family friendly blog because no other word could say it in this case. She quickly through the poop where it belonged and washed her hands as fast as she could. Me - I had to avoid the process of snickering. Our dog rarely poops in the house so this was unexpected, an anomaly. 

My dad once owned a dog Xena which was completely incontinent. That dog routinely pooped on the carpet. When we visited them, you really had to watch where you were stepping. My dad would rise early in the morning searching for poop to pick up. It was so routine that on occasion we would catch him picking up the new found poop with his bare hands.

Sin should horrify us just like the reaction Deb had. Horror should be quick and confession should immediately follow. But too often we let in become a routine part of our lives like the situation my dad was in. Crap has so pervaded our lives that it has become routine. If it is routine, then it becomes part of us so easily. While God has promised to forgive us of sin (1 John 1:9), sin routinely confessed becomes besetting sin. That is, the impact of confession is like the routine of crap pick up. It does not restore us to the place and standing we are in Christ.

So what? What is the impact? A life that is unfulfilled, a fellowship that is broken with God and others, a lack of joy, a slavery to sin. You cannot make sin routine and expect that God will use your life to the fullest. Let sin horrify you and break your heart. Let God wash over your sin completely. Let God transform you to what you truly are in Jesus Christ.

Small But Painful

I had an infected toe this past week. Actually, it wasn't just an infected toe. At the risk of grossing you out, it was a really bad case of athlete's foot. The crack in between the toes felt like it infected the whole toe. It hurt almost as much as when I fractured my ankle many years ago. One little sore toe impacted my whole ability to walk.

Isn't that just like sin? Sin can crowd out our whole relationship with God. God forgives us unconditionally, but sin does have an impact. If sin did not have an impact, then much of the New Testament epistles, much of the first half of Romans, etc. would not exist. It is possible to "quench the Holy Spirit" (1 Thess 5:19). Our attitude towards sin can greatly affect our relationship with God. The closer a person is to God, the more their sin bothers them. So-called little sins can be deadly if left untreated. They can beget big sins if we are not careful.

To treat the toe, I had to directly address the sore spot or the infection. I had to render it inoperative. I think that is what Jesus was referring to when he said to cut your eye out if it causes you to sin (Matt 5:29, 6:23). Harsh language because the localized infection affects the whole body.