So You Had a Bad Day

I remember this one day when it was cold a snowing and our snow blower would not start.  I am doing all of the things that I would normally do to coax it into starting and a few that I don't normally do, but nothing was working.  I was getting very frustrated.

At one point along the way, I checked to make sure that there was oil in it.  And there was, but the cap on the oil reservoir would  not go back on.  So then I had two problems.  I could not cap the oil reservoir and I could not get the thing started and my temper was starting to build.  After some fiddling, I finally got the cap sort of back on the reservoir and after much struggle, the snow blower started.  My only problem was that oil cap.  I knew that it wasn't on right, and I needed to get it all the way on.  As I started to tighten the cap, it came off spraying oil with it.  The oil was all over my face and hair and clothing and to stop the spraying, I had to turn off the snow blower.   

I wish that I could tell you that at that moment I felt the warm embrace of the Holy Spirit, that I knew that it was all part of God's plan that I was thinking "Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul." I wish that I could say that, but I cannot.  My temper went into full blown boil over.  I am glad that no one was around to see me, but it wasn't pretty.  When I went into the house to fetch some rags to clean up the oil, my loving wife asked what was wrong, and I was still too angry to speak.  It took me some time to calm down.  I eventually got the oil cap back on, the snowblower started and the snow cleared.  All and all, not my finest hour.

They say that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how we respond.  Some days, the things that happen are bad and our response is even worse.  Every day is not our finest.  I have had those days and assume that you have too.  We say the wrong thing, we do the wrong thing, we get upset over things that aren't that big of a deal.  We can handle relationships poorly.  Say things that we don't mean just to hurt someone or be spiteful or petty or short tempered.

For most of us those days are a rarity.  Most of us meet the challenges of our day with the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit.  With the grace of God we do our best to let God's love shine through us, but we all have those days.

Which is why we need redemption.  Jesus lived a life without the bad days.  There surely were days that were better than others, but he never had the situations where he wished he would have done that.  Jesus had no regrets and went to die so that the grace of God could be delivered to the world.

Although he never had those days, he died so that I can be forgiven when I do.  And so can you.

Watch this video from Pastor Chris.

Jesus was the one, the only one who did not need redemption.  And so He became the sacrifice for us all.