Update #171 - Sin Transfer

“So therefore, we also having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, having put off every impediment and the easily entangling sin, let us be running with patient endurance the contest having been set before us…” Hebrews 12:1

Beethoven, Beulah Lodge, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa; more specifically, Beulah Lodge, Pinelands. It is a lovely spot - the staff is friendly, accommodations luxurious, the setting, peaceful. I found myself with a few hours off and journeyed my way to the courtyard just down from my room. Poolside, the sun warmed my face while worship music flooded my ears.

The sun painted more and more freckles across my face and arms. Fully relaxed, fuzzy minded, and half-awake I noticed a small kitty in the corner. He too was enjoying the radiant heat from the sun baked bricks.

I clicked my tongue a few times and lazily he partially parted one eye to assess what interloper invaded his nap schedule. He didn’t move – so I did.

Music pumping through my ears I stepped over to his siesta surface and stooped down – “hello there kitty” I whispered as I offered my hand. A tentative whiff was enthusiastically followed by a feline initiated whisker rub against my proffered palm. He felt like silk.

A tiny little grey and white thing (less than eight pounds), with yellow eyes and a docile personality, rolled, stretched, arched, barred his belly and purred, and purred, and purred. He happily followed me back to my chair and flopped himself upon my feet; turning his head almost 180 degrees to look at me. “Oh, we aren’t finished?” I said through a smile, and continued the feline rubdown.

Eventually he tired of the attention and rolled himself just out of arm’s reach; right paw cleaning his face (kitty equivalent to spa-time post full-body massage).

I watched him for a while; my freckles slowly gaining greater purchase. Then I glanced at my “massage hand” – it was nearly black with dirt and grime. He may have felt like silk, but what a filthy fabric! “You need a bath!” I said to him. In response he closed his eyes, stretched out on the bricks and pointed his back to the heat source in the sky.

When the sun hid its face behind a palm and the shadows slid across the pool I wandered back to my room. In the bathroom I soaped up and scrubbed my hands, rinsing all the dirt, grime, filth, and dust off my skin. It circled the drain and flowed away. My nails were another matter – out came the nail file to jettison the dark crescents lining my nail beds. “That was one grimy kitty” I thought to myself, “but he didn’t look that dirty.”

Then it hit me. A lot of sin is like the dirt on the kitty – hidden, concealed, veiled, unknown until you brush up against it; leaving a mark on your skin, your clothes, your person and you have to take a bath (repent) to get rid of it. Hang out with the sin on a day to day basis and eventually you get so used to the grime, dirt, dust and filth you never see the need to cleanse yourself from it.

The little kitty didn’t know he was dirty – he is always like that; only I knew the difference. Now, I could choose to take my life into my own hands and bathe the kitty but the problem wouldn’t be solved. He would still be a stray, still sleep, live and eat outside – and mooch off of all the surrounding neighbors – and be filthy again within twenty-four hours.

To make a change, I would have to “adopt” him, love him, feed him, tend to him and eventually he would spend more time sunning himself in his strategically placed window bed than on the sunbaked bricks having his fur waffle in the wind.

So often we are around people who rub us the wrong way, leaving nasty marks in need of erasing; we offer suggestions, “help”, and solutions, but aren’t really in for long haul change. We want to see the graffiti artist change, but don’t oft walk the road or put in the time to make it happen. Honestly, I don’t have the patience, or bandwidth, to deal with all the marker proffering people in my world. God has given me a few to “love into a new way of life”, but the others I choose to forgive, bless, and walk away from.

Who are the markers in your life? Who are those covering you in graffiti during your visit? Do you have a marker in your hand? What situations, circumstances, people cause you to leave indelible ink on others? Why?

Updates:

Travel – home for a few days then off to LA (1 day), Seattle (4 days), Egypt (1 week) and Indonesia (1 week)! Whew!

Work – Training is rolling along and almost finished. We have a LEMON Leadership Forum this Wednesday in Saratoga and a webinar on Monday, followed by an all-day training on Saturday. TBW went smoothly and besides having tons and tons and tons of rain and soaked participants it went incredibly well!

Personal – I found a car! I fly to LA this weekend to pick it up and drive it home! Hee Hee – I’ll post a picture of it on a future update. Thank you Pete for driving it cross-country for me!

Requests:

Travel – We are all home for about a week then I leave for a wedding in Seattle and Brett and Lyn leave for Canada (LEMON engagement) later in April. This is a rare time indeed!

Personal – I am overwhelmed with the goodness of God toward me. The car is an over the top gift from him. It makes me giggle and laugh just to think of it. I have been looking for names and I am 90% sure she will be named “Poppy”; which means “fantastic extravagance” – a good descriptor I think!

Work – What is important to God’s heart? What does he want me to do? What is necessary to advance his Kingdom? What does he find important? How do I prioritize all the piles on my desk to reflect his answers?