{"id":25856,"date":"2019-06-11T03:30:46","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T10:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=25856"},"modified":"2019-06-06T13:46:14","modified_gmt":"2019-06-06T20:46:14","slug":"june-11-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2019\/06\/11\/june-11-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"June 11, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cBy yourself you\u2019re unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three-strand rope isn\u2019t easily snapped.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Ecclesiastes 4:12 The Message Bible<\/p>\n

Ditch Living<\/strong><\/h2>\n

At church the other day, a sister in the Lord remarked that she hadn\u2019t seen me lately. I told her, yes; a lot had been going on\u2014company, husband out of town, our dog dying, and extra stuff. In other words\u2014life happened.<\/p>\n

Then, out of my mouth popped, \u201cI fell in a ditch.\u201d Huh? What I think I heard the sister say in reply was, \u201cAnd you stayed there?\u201d Now that\u2019s a profound observation.<\/p>\n

Dastardly ditches; the outlook is always the same\u2014despair, lack of hope, with a delicious side of self-pity. I\u2019ve realized, the question isn\u2019t always how to avoid the ditch, but rather, what am I going to do once I\u2019m there? Ditches eventually show up in all of our lives.<\/p>\n

Have I conquered \u201cditch living\u201d and how to escape the mire? I sincerely doubt it, but one question to ask is, why am I here? Is there unconfessed sin in my life? Unforgiveness? Is it a scheme of the enemy?<\/p>\n

The enemy of our souls loves to isolate us; he can then carry on his incessant lying unchecked. Some of us tend to internalize and try to go it alone. We think, no one understands, and who wants to hear all this bellyaching blabber anyway?<\/p>\n

Well, Jesus for one! We know this in our \u201cknower.\u201d Sometimes we can barely remember our name, let alone that Jesus is in the abyss too. Like the disciples of Jesus\u2019 day on the storm-tossed sea, we cry, \u201cMaster, do You not care that we are perishing?\u201d (Mark 4:38), as if Jesus is asleep on a fluffy, little pillow (my paraphrase!), and it truly might not feel\u00a0<\/em>like He cares. It\u2019s a teachable moment, when Jesus asks, \u201cWhy are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?\u201d Ouch.<\/p>\n

Reading and applying the Word of God is the answer, of course, yet there have been times I couldn\u2019t even pick it up. Quoting Scripture is an excellent plan, but there have been intense times of warfare in my life where I couldn\u2019t even put two words together in my head. Yes, a deep gorge\u00a0<\/em>is going to take \u201cbackup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remember that game show where one of the options was, \u201cPHONE A FRIEND\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0 Well, if you\u2019re in the ditch, NOW is the time to use that option. And if the ditch is so deep we\u2019re starting to see China on the other side, call for a third\u00a0<\/em>backup. Like Ecclesiastes says, \u201cA three-strand rope isn\u2019t easily snapped\u201d\u2014it just may be what\u2019s needed to haul us up and out.<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Jesus, these are desperate times for many. How I thank You for the body of Christ whom You have gifted to see, to encourage, to help pull us out of darkness. Help us when we are weak to remember 2 Corinthians 10:4: \u2018For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.\u2019 Amen!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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