OUT OF THE BOX

Psalm 31: 9-10, Ps 38:1-5.    "Because of my iniquity…because of my foolishness"   David acknowledged his sin and accepted responsibility for the disciplinary consequences of ignoring God's word. If you have never accepted responsibility for any of the relational conflicts in your life, if you have never apologized for anything or asked anyone for forgiveness, I will have to assume you are self-righteous, arrogant person and you have never really seen yourself.   David knew his adversaries were accusing him falsely, but he did not pretend to be innocent and allow God to be blamed or charged with injustice for the troubles he faced.     How many times have we gotten what we deserved while letting God be blamed for allowing the "sweet thing" to suffer?  If a man's secret sin causes him to fail and lose everything, while he "goes down" blaming Satan and people, others will look at him and say, "How could God let this happen to such a good

THE CAT AT THE DOOR When I was just a kid we had a yard cat that should have been out hunting mice, but instead, was always sitting at the screen door meowing and whining plaintively, “begging” for someone to let him in the house. “Meow, meow, meow!” he cried. Translated into English this means, “Let me in. Feed me, pet me, help me, comfort me, make me happy. I want to go inside where it is comfortable and safe. I don’t want to face the world outside.” My Dad hated for a cat to sit at the door begging like that. So he pushed the door open, and shoved the startled cat out onto the carport. As he walked past he said, “When I get back, I am going to haul you off to the shopping center.” He fully intended to get rid of the cat. THE FIGHT About an hour later, I heard a commotion beside the corn barn at the edge of our back yard. I turned my head in time to see about 15 or 20 squawking chickens flapping their wings, jumping in the air, and scurrying in every direction to flee the water hole