But I didn't mean to do that?!




            When I was in middle school I spent a couple of weeks at Camp Patmos.  It’s a fun Christian Summer camp on Kelley’s Island in Lake Erie.  http://www.camppatmos.com/  I have very fond and funny memories from my time there.  From the time my friend and I got stranded on a sailboat with a lady who didn’t know how to swim in the middle of the lake, to the yearly shaving cream fights.  Yup, I love that place. 

            As a rule there is chapel two or three times a day, I think it’s two but I don’t really remember, it’s filled with great songs and messages.  One year I can remember waiting for chapel to begin and a bunch of camp friends were sitting around talking.  One girl I’d met that year named Jill was standing up in the circle.  I don’t know why I did this but I looked at her ready to sit down in a chair and thought it would be funny to pull it out from under her.  Honestly I didn’t think she’d fall for it (literally).  I thought she’d turn around before she sat down, see I’d done that and she’d laugh.  But that’s not what happened.  She sat down like a ton of coal like a trust exercise gone horrible wrong and fell on the floor with a smack!  The kids around us laughed.  She turned twelve shades of red, and I felt horrible.  I felt lower than dirt, and I wanted to cry.  I seriously hope she never ended up in counseling because of me.  She just didn’t understand I really hadn’t meant to embarrass her.  I really did think that she’d catch me and laugh.

            When you go through life things like this happen.  Maybe you were on the giving end?  Maybe you were on the receiving end?  No amount of apologies can make up for the mistakes you’ve made.  Words in these situations have very little meaning. 

            There is only one thing that can make up and wash away our mistakes.  That’s the blood of Jesus. 

1 John 1:7  (ESV) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
            That means though we can’t go back in time and erase our bad choices, when God sees us He doesn’t see our mistakes.  When we plead the blood of Jesus, God sees the good stuff.  He sees his child.
            Though many like to preach that “Time is the healer of all wounds.” That really is a lie.  It’s not.  Time can ease the sharp pains only if you let it, but it doesn’t erase what happened.  The only eraser is the blood of Jesus.  Remember that today as you go on in life.  Plead the blood of the situations and your past.  Be free from condemnation and move forward.  If you’ve done this, God doesn’t see your past.  So then why should you?
            Remember God has awesome plans for your life.  Get excited.

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