Don't Settle for the Snake Oil

I heard a story the other day apparently from the book The Prayer of Jabez, part 2 (don't know the official title). Anyway, the paraphrased version is something like this: a married pastor sees a pretty girl at the airport and decides it's best if he avoids her. While trying various methods to avoid this beautiful woman, she repeatedly seems to "push" herself on him. He finally wears down and begins to walk up to a hotel room with this woman. As he opens the door, he remembers a "convenant handshake" he had given to an accountability group of some sort to remain morally pure. He finds the courage and strength to tell this woman to leave and he locks himself in his room the rest of the night.

Many things were going through my head as this story was told. It sounded as if this man was somehow being preyed upon by this woman and he was doing everything he could to avoid her and yet she was just to powerful. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but let's just say he really was being preyed upon. To me, the point isn't so much that he had this "convenant handshake" to remind him to stay pure - as it seemed to be presented. There's nothing wrong with something like this, but I think something is missing from the story if you rely on a mystical handshake to stay pure. I think it's important to go deeper than that. Like, what was it about his character and his heart that made him have to avoid the woman? Too many times I've relied on the mystical handshake to protect me from the "devil"... and too many times I've found myself wondering why the handshake didn't work. Lately, I've come to realize there's some pretty ugly stuff in my heart - more than I am and have ever been aware. And no matter how sacred I may intend this handshake to be, it doesn't touch the darkness in my heart. That sounds bad, and at times it is. But it's also good. It's good when I bring it honestly before God. It's good when I can admit to God that my own desires and plans are more important than God's deisres and plans for me. It's also good when I can honestly tell God I want Him to change my heart...because I don't know how. There are no instant cures to a heart condition. It's a long, hard, arduous journey...at least it is for me.

I Drive the General Lee

We have an intersection here that is more like a large bump in the road. It's a pretty busy intersection, so it's rare to pass through without having to slow down or stop. On the rare occassion I get to pass through without interference, my silver SUV becomes the General Lee...I fly through the intersection....a Dixieland horn trumpets...I wave my left hand out the window and I shout YAAAAHOOOO!!!!! in a most impressive Southern accent. For a moment...I'm a lawless rebel!!! It's the only time Bo and Luke ever come to mind...except when I get the urge to say Roscoe Pecoe Train over and over. I just think it sounds funny.