July 13, 2010

Today's reading: Jeremiah 7, 8, 9; Psalm 13, 43, 73, 103, 133; Proverbs 13

Jeremiah 7:3,"Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place."

There was a time in my life that I was going down the wrong path. I remember leaving a Christian school and starting a public junior high school (now called middle school today). The transition was not an easy one for me at all. I was in shock I think. It has been so long ago that I don't remember exactly how I felt. I am glad of that too.

I, unfortunately, have a real love for knives and I collect them. I got caught with a pretty good sized knife in school. I remember going to the principal's office and he took it away from me. My mom had to come to school and pick me up. Then we both had to set in the principal's office and endure his scolding. He would not believe that I had no ill intentions for this knife. I had gotten it from a classmate the evening before and I took it to school to show a friend.

This was just another step in the downward spiral that took me places that I did not want to go. There was a day when I heeded the counsel of our verse for today. There was a day when I ended up drawing a line in the sand and saying, "Enough is enough." Unfortunately, I was pretty low by then. Oh, I was still saved; but, I was not acting like it very often.

I am thankful for the counsel of this verse to, "Amend your ways". I think we all need to stop and do some soul searching and see if maybe we need to "Amend your ways" or not. I have a sneaking suspicion that we might all need to go just a little different direction.

So, how are you doing?