I am my own worst probem.

  The worlds oldest question, who's in control?  Is it me?  Is it God?  These questions I will try to answer in this blog.  
  We live in a competitive world:  sports, finance, religions, and oh, yes,  the Church.   In our area,  there are  two NFL teams that have a lot of fans: the Vikings and the Packers.  (I won't say which one I prefer.) On Sunday all eyes are glued on the game.  It's sad but I watch the other team to see if they will fail.  How many times do we see a person from another church in our service, and say wonder whats the matter over there. My wife was told of the failure of another brother.  We were sad to hear this and the first thing that came to mind,  pray.
  Was it gambling, or some other trap that was set by the enemy? It doesn't matter what happened.  Another wounded Christian, lost every thing, home, business, respect of the community.  A good time to ask, who's in control?
   Most would think that I'm talking about the brother.  Not so.  I'm talking about the only one that I can do something about,  myself. Do we as the body of Christ react, or respond, to our wounded?  It's so easy to chime in with the one gossiping, and make the wound bigger, reacting.  Its not as easy to pray for the wounded; that would be taking the correct action.  I have failed often.  I know what this brother is feeling: the sleepless nights, the failure to my wife, my family, and associates, my church.  Then it got so bad that taking my own life seemed like the best answer.  All that and still a Christian?  Yes. If I had not had the Lord in these times I would have taken my life.  It's sad that we have more compassion for a wounded animal then for another human.  Is it because we feel the animal is helpless?  When we realize that WE are helpless,  it changes our compassion for others.
  Sin is something that we live around every day of our lives.   It's a presence in this world as sure as air, sun, and all the elements.  I hate sin and what it does robs:  kills, cheats, and destroys, yet we contend with it continually.  We can choose who's in control in our lives, but we can't make the choice for anyone else.  And even though we know the right choice is allowing the Lord to control our thoughts, words and actions, that choice will be tested--even by other Christians.
  On my Grandparents marriage license was this Scripture: " And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served who were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Ammorites, in whose land you dwell:  but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."  JOSHUA 24:15(KJV)  No matter what the situation  there is always a way to serve the Lord.