God, Satan, & Me

Satan came in the middle of the night, when the cancer-pain was at its worst.

"How's it going?" he asked.

"Same same."

"Hard to die a failure, eh?"

"Yeah, well..."

Satan's a liar, but the most effective lies are 99% true.

My life is a litany of failure, failure mainly due to the sins of pride and avarice.

I failed Barb. I didn't hear, or listen to, the things she neeed from our marriage. I'm darned lucky she's the forgiving sort. I was on a bender, chasing projects and plans, and left her in the background.

I saved a lot of unwanted dogs, but never really got to know most of them. They're loved, they're cared for (and they tend to live a few years longer than most...16 and 17-year-olds are the norm), but I only got to know, really, a few. I was chasing other things at the same time. I let them slide. I wanted to write books, race cars, and build aeroplanes and speedboats, for Pete's sake. What screwed-up priorities.

And I failed myself; most of my high-flown plans got nowhere, because, like the Bible dude who tried to build a tower without checking his resources, I couldn't finish them.

Then God showed up. "He's right, you know," saith the Lord.

"Say WHAT?"

"You failed at the things you planned, and you faile due to your sin. That's flat."

I was silent. Having these dudes in agreement, I was in big trouble.

"However..." And then God continued speaking, and Satan silded himself out the door.

God's didn't say it's all right, that He'll fix everything.

He didn't offer Double for my Trouble, or to turn my setbacks into setups for greater things.

He didn't say that my purposes will be fulfilled.

He did say that His purposes are fulfilled. Always.

He did say, "Your sins are forgiven."

And He said that if I accept that forgiveness, I am His, and He is mine, that His purpose for me is my salvation through Him.

Satan came at midnight,

an urbane, well-spoke man,

and said, “Do I have this right,

you failed in every plan?

You failed your dogs and lovely wife,

you failed at writing’s purpose;

broken dreams now line your life,

and I guess that means you’re worthless.”

And God said, “Boy, that is all true,

but I know something deeper;

what your sin has done to you,

no matter, you’re a keeper,

for however bad you've been livin’,

it’s over now, and you’re forgiven.”

The most appropriate music I could find was The Weight, performed by The Band. If the video doesn't appear, click here.

I do try to answer each comment in a timely fashion, but with Internet providers really stretched, I have only about half of the access I once did. Please bear with me!

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.