Taco Bell and Sinning.

A couple of weeks ago I had a craving for Taco Bell. For the life of me I can't figure out why. But it happens every once in a while. I'll get an urge to partake in a soft taco. Let me describe my Taco Bell experience for you.

I drive to the Taco Bell that is closest to my office. I walk in and see a good number of people sitting there eating lunch. There are also a good number of people working. The problem is that no one was happy. It was like some weird fast food purgatory.

I get in line and order my food which is 3 soft tacos. I get chicken instead of beef. Everyone tells me that the beef is grade D. I'm not sure if it is. I just know I prefer to eat chicken instead. The problem is that it cost $3 extra for chicken. I dig into my food. Remember this is the food that I was craving, that I was longing for...and it was just ok.

You ever crave something and when you eat it's the most blissful thing you've ever done? As you put it in your mouth the heavens open up and you hear an Angelic choir. It is the best thing ever!! Have you ever had that feeling?

Well this was not it. It was standard. It was boring. It was not exciting.  So i did what anyone would do. I put taco sauce on it. That should make it better. And it did for a little bit. It satisfied my for the time being.

Fast forward two hours in my office. My stomach is starting to murmur its protest against me. All of a sudden a sharp pain starts stabbing me in my stomach. It was bad. I spent a good chunk of the evening in the bathroom trying to recover. I paid extra for this??

I find that sinning is a lot like eating at Taco Bell. I mean it seems like such a good idea before you do it. Perhaps you get a craving or desire that comes up. Then you ease into sin.  You think, it can't be that bad. You think this will satisfy you. And sometimes it does. but a lot of times it doesn't. And there we are. Stuck with our sin that no longer satisfies us. The problem is that just like chicken tacos, sin costs us more than we bargained for. It costs us our closeness from God. Sin pulls us away from God. It keeps us away from God and it keeps us from living the abundant life that God promised us through Jesus. Sometimes we have to sit in the bathroom of life trying to recover from our sinful choices.

In the end we are much worse off than we were before. What seemed to be a good idea has ultimately let us down. What seemed to satisfy has actually caused a void that leaves us more hungry. Here's to hope that I learn my lesson about Taco Bell and sin?

Are there any restaurants that make you feel this way?

The Real Me vs. The Fake Me

So I know that there are two of you. There is the real you..... and there is the you that you let others see. I'm on to you. It's ok. I'm that way too. We are all. But why? Why is it that we pretend to be someone else?....

This all started while I was reading a news article online about a singer who had collapsed on stage. This singer is in a band that I used to like a while back and so it caught my interest. I read the article and scanned down to where people can comment on the news. BIG MISTAKE.


It's interesting because the two places that I see two sides of people is online and at church.

In this article the comments went on and on about how the singer wasn't any good anyways and that his collapse probably had to do with the fact that he was a terrible musician... Honestly this frustrated me because I feel like the singer was fairly talented. I wanted to write something mean to respond to those comments. I wanted to show them up. I wanted to belittle them and make them look stupid. I wanted to be....just like them.

The internet allows us to be whoever we want. I can say mean things and rip you to shreds because I will never have to face you. As I was sitting and thinking through the the things I could write, a thought hit me. If this guy was standing next to the singer, would he call him a "no talent hack"? No. In fact, he most likely would stand there quietly and wait for the singer to leave before insulting him.

There are two of each of us. It's sinful nature at it's worst. Paul says in the book of Romans that he struggles with this. He says that he does everything that he DOESN'T want to do and he doesn't do everything that he wishes he would do. He is torn between his two natures.

You and I are the same way. Everyone struggles with this. It is a part of our very being.

Paul goes on to ask, "who can save me from this?" He goes on to say that it is through Jesus that we are saved.

My prayer for you today is that you will understand that we are all this way. We all have two natures that are always fighting each other. I pray that you understand what Christ did for us and that it will help you through times when your more hateful nature begins to come through.

And I pray that God will guide us away from the sinful side of our lives so that our lives can reflect His love. That's my prayer today.