"Sleeping in the Trash"

Sunday afternoon I was taking some trash to the dumpster. I opened the lid, tossed in the trash and then I jumped and ran! I was expecting to find trash in the trash, not two eyes starring back at me followed by a mean sounding "hiss." I am not too big of a man to admit that I about wet myself...it scarred me half to death.

Of course, God never lets me have moments like those by myself. Two other men were walking by just as I was startled. They got a good laugh and the brave one looked in the trash, poked around and said, "Its just a raccoon sleeping. You know they sleep during the day." I could think of a lot better places to sleep, but apparently the raccoon was quite comfortable in the trash.

I can't really judge the animal for its sleeping arrangements because I too have too many times found myself comfortable enough with trash to sleep in it. We can get so good at denial, justification and rationalization that pretty soon we make ourselves feel good enough with trash that we sleep in it. The sin that use to bother us now doesn't even make us flinch. The unethical business practices are just business as usual. The unhealthy relationship has gone on so long that as far as we know and our kids know that its just normal family life. We spend so much time blaming others for our problems that we are convinced that our problem is everybody else's problem to fix. We treat our bad habits as though they are an unchangeable part of our DNA. Bottom line, we might as well crawl in the dumpster and sleep with the raccoon because we are sleeping in the trash.

Scarier than finding a raccoon in the dumpster is finding ourselves reaching the point where we are so out of tune with the Spirit of God that we are OK with making a bed in trash. Friends, God has better for you and me than trash. The Bible says, "Godly sorrow leads to repentance that leads to life."

If you wake up In the trash today or any day, don't roll over and hit snooze. Get up. Let Godly sorrow fill you in such a good way that you are ready to turn away from the trash to more fully receive all that Christ has for you and you'll be amazed at how much better you sleep!