In the Zone

Prior the 1960s, when a death row inmate entered a prison, guards often shouted "Dead Man Walking" as they paraded him toward his cell. There are various reasons why this might have been done, but the point it communicated was clear.  In the eyes of the law, the death row inmate was dead already.  Barring a pardon, the only way he or she was leaving the prison was in a coffin. In Ephesians 2, Paul writes that at one time, we were all dead men and women wa lking.  At one time, in the eyes of the law, we were doomed to death and an eternity apart from God.  Our sinful nature dictated our punishment.  We were dead already. Yet, because God loved us, he gave us a pardon.  It came in the form of his son, Jesus, who took our punishment.  We were pardoned at the cost of his life.  Our freedom came with a very heavy price for God.  It was the only way justice could be served. As such, we are resurrected beings.  We were spiritually dead...

The dirtiest job I ever had was when I worked at Jiffy Lube. Don't get me wrong.  It was a good job.  I got paid decent enough and it worked great with my college class schedule.  I even learned a few things about cars, which says quite a lot about someone who knows almost nothing about auto repair. However, truth be told, I wasn't very good at it.  I could change oil just fine, but beyond that, I was downright dangerous to cars.  I once fried my wife's (then girlfriend) electrical system in her car when I tried to install headlights.  Another time, I lowered the lift onto the catch pan, which put the lift out of commission and seriously hampered business for a week.  When I talked to customers, I didn't know enough about cars to give them any confidence in buying our "extra" services.  Amazingly, they kept me on despite my ineptitude at the job.  I think the managers trusted me to be honest and it was good having a "college boy" ar...

As a society, we don't like to wait. We have fast food restaurants, quick service coffee bistros and even drive-thru wedding chapels.  Billboards for hospitals advertise short emergency room waiting and some even have digital timers to tell you how quick to expect service. People began e-mailing because regular mail took to long.  Cell phone conversations gave way to instantaneous text messages.  Disney invented the Fast Pass program so you could avoid waiting in long lines for rides. We hate to wait. So when God asks us to wait, it's difficult. That's where Mary and Martha found themselves facing the imminent death of their brother, Lazarus.  As he grew sicker and sicker, they sent a messenger to get Jesus.  "Come quickly.  Lazarus is dying." Mary and Martha were sure Jesus would rush over and heal him. Except Jesus didn't. Lazarus died without Jesus ever walking into town.  Jesus didn't come while Lazarus was dying.  He wasn't ...

When I was a kid, we had a dog chained up in the backyard. Now, like most dogs, he loved to chase after cars.  Since he was on a chain, he never got too close, but that didn't stop him from running back and forth after each car that drove past our house.  And trust me, we lived on a very busy road. One day while I was in the backyard petting him, a flow of traffic zoomed by.  He ran off barking and his chain caught my leg, tripping me to my knees.  Another car roared by going the opposite way, and he followed suit.  Then another car zipped by going the other way.  Similar pattern.  In the process, the chain wrapped around my throat.  When the next car whizzed by, I began to be strangled. So far, that is the scariest moment of my life.  My life literally passed before my eyes (as brief as it was) while I used my remaining breath to beg my little brother for help.  Assistance did arrive (otherwise I wouldn't be typing this po...