Edges are scary places

As a runner, I know I have to be careful when the ground I'm running on changes. I don't especially like the shoulder but it is a little softer and easier on the body. Transitioning from the concrete to the shoulder can be tricky because you can easily fall off the edge. Do that and you might have a twisted ankle, knee or something else horrible.

Thoughts churn through my mind while running and the other day, the following popped in there:

• I need to be careful when I move over for cars. I could fall off the pavement and get really hurt. It might take a long time to recover.

• Whoa. Life is like that, isn't it?

• The razor sharp line Noel talked about...this is like that, except I can't run on the line. I have to pick one or the other: the road or the shoulder. But that's the line. If I run too far into the road, I could be roadkill. If I run too far off the shoulder, the roadkill could eat me.

I thought about some friends of mine who seem to be falling off their road. They are going too far into the land of temptation. Dare I say this but...I remember when I was caught in my sin cycle a couple of years ago. I would do the sin thinking, "I'll just repent right afterwards." Do Christians abuse their forgiveness? Do we sometimes take advantage of what Christ did for us? "I'll do this sin now because I'm already covered."

I'm pretty charged up about Christians acting like a bunch of asses right now (that statement might just make me a hypocrite). I prayed the other day for us as a whole. Yes, we need to be in the world but people need to see something different in us! Why do we continue to gossip? Why are we getting drunk? Doing drugs? Curse like it is part of our everyday language? Have sex? Stay up late acting like a fool? Cutting people off in traffic? Demanding our own way? How is any of this different than a pre-Christian??

They need to see a difference in us to ask us about it. We can screw up, I get that but why aren't some of us changing? The other day, I asked Joey if people hear the same messages I do at Riverview. A week later, he asked me the same question. It isn't that he and I are perfect but the Holy Spirit is so alive with us...it puts the brakes on or points out our sin soon afterward.

When you become a Christian, you shed your reputation and become a new creation...to God. But to everyone else, you are still the same person. Now, however, you are carrying Christ's reputation with you. After some time, people see that light and ask you about it. But you can't carry the reputation of Christ inside of you, go out and get drunk without feeling like something is wrong. The other day, I caught myself gossiping. I caught myself? No, the Holy Spirit pointed it out to me. I had to repent. The next time I want to gossip, I'll feel that stopping signal. I can ignore it or listen.

Are you feeling me out there? Am I being too harsh? Please understand I'm not ragging on people who have a problem. They know they do...I hope. But the ones who are falling off the road, or falling off the edge, they are walking too close to it and flirting with too much danger. I know because I've fallen, as we all have. I challenge all of us to truly listen to the Spirit instead of silencing it.