Be Alert!

I was running my garbage disposal last night as I cleaned up the supper dishes. Something was obviously stuck in the disposal, so I turned it off and reached down into the disposal to feel around for the lost item. Just as I reached down into the disposal, I heard a noise, felt instant pain, and shrieked at the top of my lungs. Rapidly I pulled my hand from the drain. My daughters, who were nearby, couldn't decide if I was just playing around or really in pain. I wrapped my hand in a towel and began to assess the damage. There was blood, but upon further inspection we realized my finger was not harmed too badly. The nail had been split but the cut wasn't through the finger!

What had happened? My grandson, who's 22 months, had flipped the switch back on after he'd seen me flip it off. I had not noticed him watching. Luckily the switch is broken and you have to hold it to keep the disposal running. The blessing is that when I screamed, he let go of the switch and the disposal stopped! Poor baby! He may need trauma counseling from all that drama!

The reason I tell you this story is because I believe God is in everything and has lessons for us all the time. As I drove to Bible Study after 'the incident', I began thinking about how quickly my brain responded to get my hand out of danger. This whole incident took only seconds. I was thinking about how quickly Brody let go of the switch when he heard my danger cry (or grandma drama cry). And friends, I thought about how dangerous sin is to us. How it longs to tear us up and leave us too wounded to recover. How out of now where it appears and leaves us reeling- wondering what just happened.

We have to be on alert! We must be armored in the word of God. Sin is lurking, and we can't just hang out at its doorsteps. We must know God's truth so that when the temptations come we are alert and can hear the Spirit's call to 'get out of there NOW!'

The funny thing about this is that I text the girls as I was writing this blog and said it's hard to type with a wounded finger. But assured them I was fine because God had a lesson for me. The response from Erica was this... "Satan's quick, Sometimes he gets ya, Just gotta realize and get out of it!"  Exactly what God had spoken to my heart! Friends there is no time for idleness!

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 

1 Peter 5:8