In my high school years, my friends and I had a nose for mischievous antics. Boredom was usually the underlying factor that led to creative plots of destruction. One night we decided to go and write on a classmate’s car with window chalk. This young lady had not done anything in particular to deserve these actions but that did not bother us. We were bored.

So, we wrote mean and borderline inappropriate things on her car…because it was funny. And when we got away with it, we came back and did it a second time….and then a third time. However, by the third visit they were ready for us.

Motion detectors clued them into our presence by her car and out of the house came a boyfriend, an angry father, a dog, and maybe a police helicopter—or at least it felt that way. My friends and I took off towards the getaway vehicle and barely escaped. That night we had an adrenaline-filled laugh about our close encounter. It was not until a police officer showed up to my parent’s door the next day that I realized I probably did something really wrong.

Now a lot of things have changed in my life since then—namely the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, but I think there are still times when we can be so indifferent to the sin in our lives that we turn away from a yearning for God. Lust, greed, self-centeredness, idolatry, and the list goes on.

What are the places that we need to be honest with ourselves? The good news is that in repentance there is forgiveness and redemption. May we pray for perspective and boldness on the road to healing!

“Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
 Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Psalm 51:10-12 

Rev. John Wayne McMann is the Associate Pastor at Kingwood United Methodist Church outside of Houston, Texas. If you are in the Kingwood area, John and the rest of the staff would love to have your stop by for a visit.

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