Stay tuned...

The thoughts are scattered.. I just gotta get them together.. it's gonna be good!

hahahaha! (evil laugh, but not really)

Band-aids Suck!

I've been thinking about this for a few days, but this morning I took some time to myself and realized this.

 I say this because they are a quick fix. The real issue is still there.Lets just say a kid falls down and rips his leg open, his mom's immediate response is to clean it up and put a band-aid on it. At first glance you look at this and you think that the mother did a very admirable thing, but did she?

Maybe the mom should have let the kid cry..

Maybe she should let him clean it up himself..

or maybe...

just maybe...

She should have examined the wound and dug in deeper, because what she missed by putting on the band-aid "the quick fix" is the small peeble that could have led to an infection...

Now of course this is a hypothetical situation there was no kid harmed in the telling of this story, but I think it is a true story.. its a story of my heart...

In my life I am quick to run to band-aids, because lets face it they are easier to get to.. If there is a problem then I stop an action or replace a bad action with a good action, but what's the point?! That is only a quick fix and doesn't address the real problem. What I have found honestly, is that the problem is just manifested in another way. So I want to go on a hunt for the band-aids in my life, I want  God to  RIP them off and expose the issues that are deep within. Instead of wearing band-aids as a quick fix I want to allow the Great Physician to bring healing, so I won't run to the band-aids.

Still chewing on what that means..

Confession

I'm so confused by this word, and not in the sense of not being and able to define it. I know what it means.. well solely by itself. Every time I see this word it always leads me to actions, but I am quickly halted because it sparks in me the need to define the action. If you know me, ( which you should if you are reading this) I am completely analytical.

Questions arise like:
- What should this look like?
-Who should you confess things to?
- How often do you confess?

Those are just a few stumbling blocks along the road. I have been reading " Life Together" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and he brings up some great points about living within community and the act of confession.  He says, " A man who confesses his sins in the presence of a brother knows that he is no longer alone with himself; experiences the presence of God in the reality of the other person." Don't get me wrong, our first confession is to humbly bow at the feet of  Christ, but in community we must confess to our brother or sister in the hope that they will walk along side us.

So where does that leave us.. I guess more specifically where does that leave me.. I guess I could say that I have completely changed my mindset, and am ready to practice this spiritual discipline, but thats not the case all the time. I think in my life pride starts to show up and it tells me I am suppose to look a certain way, and of course that look goes against what I  presently look like, so the confusion and frustration sets in.

Break..

On the other side of confession is the freedom that it produces. In Bonhoeffer's " Cost of Discipleship" He says sin boldly, ( not without regard for grace) but in the sense that we fiercely approach our Lord because He is willing and able to handle our problems. There is freedom in knowing that we are all a mess and we can't help ourselves, and that the only one who can is Jesus. We confess to our brother in hopes that he would partner with us in confessing the ugliness of our hearts in light of the goodness of God. Oh man, to speak of my sin in order that the goodness of my Saviour would shine through! I want to walk in that, and it starts today..