The road to destruction is paved with good intentions...

I was back at the Salvage Yard tonight. It was great to be back to see the church made up of people that I call "family". That being the case, in addition to my biological family, there are lots of people. Bryan Keen recently got into a bicycle accident and hurt his left arm. Many of us prayed over him and we all hope he gets better soon. May it heal swiftly, Bryan!

Mark spoke about Genesis 16 but more poignant was the focus he directed toward this verse:

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Proverbs 14:12 (ESV)

He was relating something about it to Sarai and Hagar, but man, that Proverb hit me. If I'm honest with myself, I've depended too much on my own understanding. In the past, I've always ran across verses like this and thought to myself, "Wow, I'm sure glad I'm not THAT kind of person!" But, interestingly enough, after all these eight or so years of following the Lord, I'm learning that the Bible isn't to show us who we aren't, but who we are and why we need to stop sinning and run to Jesus. As Mark put it, it's a daily thing...a moment by moment thing...do we allow for our flesh to make decisions for us, or allow God to direct us with his Holy Spirit?

I'm a guy who's full of good intentions. I have some great ideas. Are they always from God? No! For someone like me, it's sometimes difficult to be wired to feel everything. You could say I'm very emotional. Being this way can have its downsides, but if used in the right way, it can be very instrumental in God's hands. It's important to confront these feelings, intentions or ideas when they come up. Perhaps we can test them with a question like, "Okay, is this great idea, good intention or strong feeling a product of my sinful, self-seeking flesh or will it edify the church and lift up Christ?"

Then, of course, that's where prayer always must come in. I think this leads into that well known verse:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 (ESV)

Where do I put my trust? I feel like it's often misplaced upon a path that I feel is one I need to have control over. Then I get this whole idea that God somehow is somewhere watching me or helping me by tagging alongside me, but kind of just there. He sadly becomes treated like he's second class.



Our relationship with God becomes a back seat situation where it's like putting a London black taxi driver (if you drive a black taxi, you are the best of the best drivers) into the back seat. We then have the audacity to think we can navigate through all the roads to our destination by ourselves only to find out we're dead wrong.

Now that I think of it, I would love to sit next to Jesus as he drove my 2003 Chevy Cavalier manual (stick) car... ah, enough of the car parallels already! I'm glad I don't have to "parallel park" this blog... oh, my hammy humor is just ridiculous, isn't it? =)

Craig