By Josie Siler

I’ve been on an epic quest to kill my enemy. I never pictured myself a murderer, but if I’m honest, all I want is for my enemy to die. I want him dead and out of my life forever.

Are you shocked? You won’t be once you hear my story.

It all started a couple nights ago. I was lying in bed, sound asleep, minding my own business. That’s when I heard it. A scratching sound perked my ears and awoke me from my much coveted slumber. In my sleep induced stupor my brain couldn’t quite process what it was hearing.

In a moment it all because terribly clear. The scampering of tiny little toenails running across my hardwood floor shot straight to my brain as I bolted up in bed.

My hand shook as I reached for the switch on the small yellow lamp perched precariously on my nightstand. Could it be? My eyes quickly skimmed the room looking for the evidence I didn’t want to see.

Just as I was about to turn my light off and convince myself the noises were just in my head, I saw a shadow on the other side of the door. This shadow, it moved.

In the middle of my plea to God asking for deliverance a head peaked under the door, quickly followed by the sweep of a tail and the sound of little feet.

A rodent! My fears were confirmed.

I jumped out of bed, grabbed a garbage can to drop on his fat little head, and began to hunt my enemy. After searching the house I came up empty.

Convinced the mouse turned and ran because he saw my light, I proceeded to get a fitful night’s sleep under the glow of my bedside lamp.

Since that night I’ve been on a hunt to find and kill the evil rodent. To date the rodent is winning. I’ve decided it’s a shrew. Shrews are smarter than mice and whatever is in my house is smart. It’s tricky, evil, and enjoys messing with me.

I’m not afraid anymore; I’m angry. 

1 Peter 5:8 tells us to “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (NLT).” If my shrew were a lion he would be much easier to find and to fight.

We all know to be on the lookout for the devil, the roaring lion who wants to devour us. However, I firmly believe that sometimes the devil works more like a rodent than a lion.

When we don’t fall for his overt attacks and temptations, he switches tactics. He subtly tries to destroy us. He messes with us just enough that we’re distracted, off our game.

It’s like how the rodent in my house distracts me. The thought of him is always in the back of my mind. I added eight traps upstairs to the four already in my basement. After I found my lip gloss moved from the box on the end of my counter to the bottom of my sink I added eight more traps to my kitchen. And I got mad. When I woke up to find a trap set off, but no rodent, I got really mad.

In a similar way, when we realize that the devil is toying with us, our fear turns to anger. How dare he? How dare he indeed! We are children of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Satan was defeated at the cross. He holds no power over us except what we allow him to wield.

My rodent may mess with me, but in the end, I will win. He will die and I will be at peace.

The devil will mess with us. He just will; there’s no escaping it. However, we don’t have to live in fear of him. He has already been defeated and one day He will be thrown into the pit, never to bother us again.

When we see the atrocities happening in our world, it’s easy to be fearful. It’s easy to give the devil more credit than he deserves. It’s easy to forget that God has already won the war.

We need to remember that God can take the most horrendous of situations and create something good. He can shine the light of His love into the darkest of circumstances, allowing His glory to heal our brokenness.

Our hearts break at pain we see in the world, even as we fight our own battles. We’re prepared to be on the lookout for the prowling lion, but we must also be prepared to do battle with a small rodent. A lion can devour you with a few bites, but those rodents can devour you as well – nibble by tiny nibble.

How do we do battle against the lion and the rodent? 1 Peter 5:9 gives us the answer. “Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.”

We should also put on the armor found in Ephesians 6 to protect ourselves against the enemy. Always remember that you don’t fight alone. Let’s commit to pray for each another because together we’re stronger. We can be confident of victory in each battle because the Lord is on our side and He has already won the war. 

By Kathy Sebright

“I just don’t feel like going, that’s why,” I snapped angrily.  My husband raised his eyebrows and then silently walked away. I sighed out loud. 

Really, what was he thinking? Just because it was Christmas didn’t mean we had something to celebrate. Our life was far from a cause for celebration: a sick child, bills we could no longer pay, and a marriage buckling under the stress of this life.  I was exhausted. Hospitals, specialists, medications, more and more testing were all piling on top of work, kids, and a household to take care of. 

Life wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. This is not what we had in mind when we welcomed our child into this world. We were going to live happily ever after.  Now I would be content in just feeling like we were living. More often than not, we are barely surviving. 

I watched my husband load the kids into the car and drive away. Another Christmas party, another chance for fake holiday cheer. No thanks. I looked at the nativity set on the coffee table and a pang of guilt hit my heart. I know why we celebrated Christmas. I was not without faith. I did believe in God, but surely He had abandoned our family long ago and left us high and dry. 

What was the purpose for our suffering? What is the purpose in watching our son suffer? Where was God when they handed down that first diagnosis, just one of many? Did God see my soul crumble and the very life drain out of me when they told us this could kill our little boy? Did He see the bills piling up? What about our shaky marriage? At a time when we needed each other the most, everything fell apart. Was God watching all of that too? No amount of prayer made any difference, our lives kept spiraling out of control.  Nope, God didn’t live here and I, for one, would not be celebrating.

The house was dark and quiet. So quiet, I could hear the snow falling. The lights on the outside of the house shone in from the thin curtains. I tried to enjoy the unusual quiet, but I couldn’t. I turned on the radio for background noise; it was pre-set to the local Christian station. Our life weighed heavily on my mind. The events from this last year blurred together. It was the worst year our family had ever seen; a year that dragged us deep into the trenches and then left us there to rot. 

I slowly drifted off to sleep.  I must have been dreaming because I abruptly saw myself in church, sitting alone in a large auditorium. I made up the entire congregation; there was no one else. The room was eerily lit by candlelight.  I sat and waited purposefully, but for what, I wasn’t sure. Suddenly the room changed. A faint whisper filled the room. “God did not abandon you my child.” A surge of anger coursed through my veins as I tried to object. “God understands your suffering my child.” “No He doesn’t,” I wanted to yell, but my voice wouldn’t work. “God has been with you all along my child.” How? When? Where? A million questions I wanted to ask, a million ways to disprove it that I couldn’t vocalize. “You are not alone my child.” My anger died down and gave way to a pain so raw I couldn’t speak as tears threatened to fall. “Do not be afraid my child.” I smiled bitterly; I was frozen in fear – fear of the future, that there may not be a future for our son, or that we were missing something that could make a difference in our son’s life. So just where was God? Where was the God who sees, hears, and knows everything? Why wasn’t He seeing and hearing me? “God was listening my child. He was right there all along; the same place He was when His son suffered, when His son died for you.” A lump formed in my throat. Full of foolishness and pride, I had no rebuttal, no way to ration my way out. I was unable to speak once again. “God has great plans for you my child and great plans for your child; have hope.”  The words cut straight through to my dark, angry heart. Tears I had been holding back not just in this strange moment but for months now, spilled over as I felt a sliver of hope make its way in. 

A car door slammed and jolted me awake. What was that? A dream? God himself? Bits and pieces of the radio talk program I overheard while half-asleep? Did it really even matter? I understood now. My husband and the kids came bounding in. My tear stained face seemed to startle my husband. He held out his hand and I took it as more tears fell. There was hope in my heart, however small, but it was there. Hope for our marriage, for our family, for our son, and for better days ahead. Most importantly, I let in the possibility that there is a purpose in our pain and we are becoming great witnesses of God’s faith and love. It was Christmas. We did have something to celebrate, many things actually, starting with our family. We don’t know what the future will bring, but we know that God is with us, even when we don’t feel it. We know that there is a purpose in what is happening. We know there is always a reason to hope.

May your Christmas be filled with hope, love, and joy, even amongst the suffering. 

By Josie Siler

“Event” – What do you think of when you hear that word? Does it fill you with excitement and joy or fear and dread? For a chronically ill person or their caretaker, this one word alone can unleash a flood of emotions. It does for me anyway. It seems that whenever there is an event coming up, there is an inward battle that must be fought.

I have been sick since birth. More times than not, that sickness brought to a screeching halt my plans for fun. I missed many events growing up. Everything from birthday parties to field trips to vacations. And it made me angry. According to my parents, when my brother got sick, he would sleep and then be better. When I got sick, I would stomp my little feet in anger and frustration.

Now that I’m all grown up, sickness is still interfering with my plans. It still makes me angry. I may even stomp my feet in protest from time to time. However, what I have come to realize is that plans change. There are going to be times when we can't do what we've been eagerly anticipating doing, when we can't go where we've been excitedly preparing to go.

When those times come, and they will come, how will we react? Will we throw ourselves a pity party, be grumps, and feel angry for weeks? Will we think to ourselves, "Oh well, it wasn't meant to be!" and move on? I'm guessing most of us will fall somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. What I am learning, and what I want you to know, is that it is okay to feel sad. It is okay to cry, to be upset, and to mourn what was lost. God knows that there is a battle raging within us. It is in these moments we need to be honest with God.

I had the opportunity to do that last week. For several years, I’ve been attending a Labor Day Family Camp with people from my church and other churches. It’s a fantastic time of relaxation, encouragement, and corporate worship. Last year I was too sick to go. I didn’t even plan on going. This year, however, I thought I could go. I have been planning on going for the past year. I was excited. And I was sick. I’m going through a pretty rough patch right now and the battle began to rage within me.

I knew if I could just get to camp I would be blessed and encouraged. However, I feared being sick at camp. The “what ifs” were running wild through my mind. I didn’t want to not go to camp out of fear of the “what ifs” – but I also didn’t want to be stupid and go when I knew my body couldn’t handle it. I struggled for days. Should I stay or should I go? I just didn’t know. I started to feel better just before camp, which made the decision even more difficult. In the end, it came down to the fact that I didn’t have time to get ready to go. And if I am honest with myself, I didn’t have the energy either.

So I stayed home. And I felt at peace with that. Yes, I was sad and upset to miss yet another event that I had been looking forward to, but I was also relieved I stayed home because I would have been miserable at camp. I still don’t feel well, but I know that God is with me and that He is good.

When event after event is ruined, it’s easy to let this become an area of fear in our lives. We wonder if we will ever be “normal” and able to plan something and follow through. Every time we say yes to something, we wonder if we will have to cancel. It can be scary to make plans. We don’t want to let others down…again. We don’t want to let ourselves down again either. 

Instead of living our lives in fear, let’s begin living our lives in the grace and mercy of our Lord. It is there that we will find freedom. As we bring our feelings to God and cry on His shoulder, He will remind us of how much He loves us. He will fill us with joy and hope for a better tomorrow.

Psalm 37:23-24 (ESV) reminds us that “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.” We will fall and we will fail, but we will not be cast headlong. The Lord is holding us up. The Lord is establishing our steps.

Do you trust God with your life? Do you trust God with the things you’re looking forward to? Do you trust Him with the things that have been taken away? It’s time to have a serious conversation with your Lord. Go to Him. He's waiting for you, and He loves you.

© September 2, 2014

By Erin Elizabeth Austin

This is the first verse and chorus of an old contemporary Christian song by Pam Thum. Five years ago, this became my personal anthem. I had been through so much suffering, with no end in sight, and I was struggling with it all. I couldn’t help but wonder if the God I had believed in since I was a child was really who I thought He was. I couldn’t understand why I was sick, why I had to deal with a constant barrage of huge problems. It felt like I was in a battle holding a puny plastic weapon with no place to hide while I was continually being pelted by real arrows, bullets, and grenades. Was God really a good God? Did He even see me and what was happening? Did He care?

I’m not going to lie. After I was forced to leave my job and move back in with my parents because my body was shutting down, I got angry at God. For a moment, I may have even hated Him. There was nothing to indicate He cared about what was happening to me. If He saw me and all my problems, why didn’t He intervene? Why didn’t He stop it? And at that moment, as I let myself truly feel the depth of the pain, hurt, and anger I was in, I picked up my Bible, my most prized possession, and I walked over to the trash can ready to throw it and my Christian faith in the garbage. Yet, I stopped myself. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. So for the first time in my life, I stopped pretending I was okay – that I had the perfect faith and trust in God. I became real with God. I told Him exactly how I felt about my life, my sickness, my problems, the people who had walked away because they couldn’t deal with my illness, and Him; I told God what I thought about Him. And I’ll tell you a secret – I didn’t get struck by lightning!

Somewhere along the way, the majority of Christians have adopted the notion that we can’t be completely honest with God, that we have to put up a façade with Him and other Christians. But the crazy thing is He already knows what we think and how we feel. Yet because we try to pretend we fully trust Him, we hurt ourselves. God can handle our lack of faith, our doubt, our questions, our anger. He’s a big God; He can handle the truth. The problem comes when we refuse to be honest with ourselves and Him. He cannot help us if we don’t let Him. It took me awhile to understand this, but I got angry at God for not intervening in my life, yet I spent years telling Him I didn’t need Him. Don’t get me wrong – I went to church every week, read my Bible every day, said the Sinner’s Prayer as a child, but every day I lived my life for myself. I may have said and done all the right things, but I did what I wanted without consulting with God. I spent my money the way I deemed fit. I used my free time to do what I wanted. I dealt with my problems on my own. I didn’t need God, that is until my life came to a screeching halt.

Since that time, I've learned the truth of the song by Pam Thum. Life is hard, but God is good. I want to encourage you in whatever challenges you’re facing right now. God does see you. He knows what you’re going through, and He cares. Don’t pretend with Him like you’re okay. Be honest about everything. Ask Him to help you see things through His eyes. Your problems may never go away, but you will be able to handle whatever life throws your way because God will be there with you, holding your hand, and helping you through the storm. Yes, life is hard, but God is good.

“But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.” ~ Psalm 3:3

© November 13, 2013

By Erin Elizabeth Austin

There’s a new man in my life. Well, maybe the word “man” is a bit misleading considering he’s only three-weeks old. My sister just had a little boy, bringing the grand total of nephews I have to three. Although my newest nephew is only a mere three-weeks old, he has stolen my heart. I've spent as much time as I possibly can at my sister’s over these last few weeks, and I've noticed something: Babies have absolute faith in their parents. They feel safe and secure and don’t have a care in the world. They don't lay in their cribs worrying about where their next meal will come from. They trust their parents completely.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Of course babies trust their parents! They’re supposed to!” And while I understand this, I can’t help but wonder why adults don’t trust God in the same way. Stop and think about it. Although we are adults and we like to think we’re self-sufficient, we’re really not. Our Daddy God is the One who takes care of our needs. He provides the money, food, clothing, and place to live, and He does it because He loves us. He wants to take care of us. Yet far too often, we get angry at Him when things go wrong. We blame Him for our problems, when He’s the One to whom we should be running.

I became very aware of this while holding my nephew the other day. He’s having a hard time with acid reflux. Although he’s able to eat, lately it’s been causing him pain. Yet he hasn’t gotten angry at his parents. He hasn’t refused to be held or tried to get away from them because he blames them for his problems. On the contrary, he’s found comfort and peace in his parents’ arms. His acid reflux hasn’t gone away yet, but he knows that he is loved, safe, and secure when in their arms.

I’ve always been open about the time in my life when I wasn’t quite as trusting with God. I blamed Him for my sickness and decided I wanted nothing to do with Him, but this only hurt me even more. I was running from the only One who could give me true and lasting comfort. It took a while (and by that I mean years) for me to realize that the very One I was running from was the One I needed to be running to. Even after I returned to God, my trust in Him was tenuous at best. As much as I hate to admit this, God had to show me He was trustworthy. Although I was in the wrong, He had to help me see the truth of His love. I’m so thankful God didn’t give up on me, even though He had the right.

It’s easy to blame God when things go wrong in our lives. We often need someone to blame for our problems, and God is an easy target. However, we shouldn’t blame God for anything. He is the only One who always loves us, never fails us, never turns against us, and never leaves us. God IS trustworthy.

He loves you, sickness and all. Don’t run away from Him. You’re only hurting yourself. I have been sick long enough to say I’ve tried to be self-sufficient, I’ve tried living without God, and I’ve dealt with my sickness by trusting God. The only thing that works is turning to God. Like my nephew has learned, the problems won’t necessarily go away, but there is a comfort only God can give. Whatever you’re going through, turn to God. Find the comfort only He can give. And if you’re angry at God or blame Him for your problems, it’s time to be honest with Him. He already knows how you feel, but healing can’t happen until you stop hiding from the truth – the truth of what you’re going through, the truth of what you’re feeling, and the truth about God in all of this.

It’s time to learn from the wisdom of a newborn. Cry out to your Daddy God and find comfort in His loving arms. You won’t be sorry!

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. And so we should not be like cringing, fearful slaves, but we should behave like God’s very own children, adopted into the bosom of His family, and calling to Him, ‘Daddy, Father.’  For His Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we really are God’s children. And since we are His children, we will share His treasures—for all God gives to His Son Jesus is now ours too. But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering.  Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later.” ~ Romans 8:14-18 (TLB)

© September 19, 2013

By Erin Elizabeth Austin

For over a year, I have had the privilege of studying the fruits of the Spirit. I admit that when I first began, I didn't think there was too much to learn. In my mind, I knew what love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control were and how they relate to God. How complicated could it possibly be to write a book about these things? Yet the more I have studied these character traits of God, the more I have realized just how naive I have been when it comes to the things of God.

I began studying the fruits of the Spirit in conjunction with a book I am currently writing. The idea is that for those living with a chronic illness, it's much harder to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit because often, we don't feel like God loves us. We don't feel like He's been faithful or good to us, so why should we be faithful and loving to Him?

These are questions often asked by believers who are suffering. They are questions which need to be answered because if we don't believe God cares about us, then it's incredibly difficult to have a good relationship with Him.

As I began my research, I was shocked at how little I really knew about the fruits of the Spirit. The English translation is greatly lacking when it comes to describing what God said in the original text. God has a lot to say when it comes to trials and suffering, and those of us suffering with a chronic illness need to hear what He has to say.

There have been many surprises for me along this journey, and one of the first came when I discovered the original Greek word for trials. The word is peirasmois and it comes from the Greek word peirates. Look familiar? If it doesn't, cross out the first e in the word peirates. See it now? It's where we get the word pirates.

I have to admit, I found this fascinating. Anyone dealing with a chronic illness knows that it has stolen a lot from them. Illnesses steal our health, our independence, our money, and our peace of mind. I've met some who have allowed their illness to steal their dreams, their families, and their happiness.

I think we can all agree that the word pirate is a pretty accurate description for a chronic illness, and for a person who doesn't have a personal relationship with Christ, there is little hope. But I've discovered verse after verse which says if we have a relationship with God, then we don't have to allow the pirate in our lives steal our treasure. Because of God, we can actually steal from the pirate. We can get joy and peace, despite having the presence of a pirate in our lives. We can know God's love, faithfulness, and goodness in a way we didn't know was possible. We can be so close in our relationship with God that the presence of a pirate no longer scares us. But it's our choice.

We determine if we allow our sickness to rob us blind. Every day we are alive, we have the choice to decide if we will become bitter, angry people or if we will live every day rejoicing because we serve an amazing God.

I don't know about you, but I want to be the one with the treasure at the end of the day. What about you?

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way...Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life." ~ James 1:2-4, 12 (The Message)

© May 2, 2012

By Kathy Sebright

The truth is I don’t know what it is like to be sick.  I am 30 years old and have been in good health most of my life. I am a distance runner who regularly puts more mileage on her shoes in a week than on her car. I don’t take any medications, I don’t have any specialists, I don’t undergo surgeries or procedures, and I don’t have a medical history.  So why am I even talking to you? What on earth can we possibly have in common? 

I have been down in the pit, you know the one. Down so deep, I couldn’t be reached, reasoned with, or comforted. The pit is empty and hopeless, full of only fear and uncertainty. There is only lateral movement allowed in the pit, never up and never forward. You are stuck there in this dark limbo until you choose to climb out. When I hit the bottom of that pit, in true Kathy Sebright fashion, I crossed my arms and refused to let anyone help me out.  To call me stubborn is a laughable understatement. It is true ten thousand times over. Why shouldn’t I just stay in the pit?

By Erin Elizabeth Austin

I have a confession to make. There is a statement that almost all Christians make which I absolutely cannot stand! It drives me bonkers, and I have to bite my tongue every time I hear someone say it. The statement? “God will never give you more than you can handle.”

Have you ever heard anyone say that? I would love to know who came up with this saying because it isn’t true. I know what you’re thinking.“It’s a Bible verse. Of course it’s true!”  While I do agree that everything in the Bible is true, I don’t agree that this statement is in the Bible. I’ve actually searched Scripture for years to find this so-called verse, but it doesn’t exist. It stems from a verse found in 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

For years I heard people constantly tell me God wouldn’t give me more than I can handle, and that statement haunted me.  I was going through so many difficult things, and it was all too much for me to handle. One of the main reasons why I thought God was a liar stemmed from this saying. Having three illnesses was too much to handle. Having ever increasing medical debt was too much to handle. Having to quit my job, move in with my parents, and apply for disability was too much to handle. Having friends who couldn’t cope with my sickness was too much to handle. Dealing with constant agonizing pain was too much to handle. Thinking I would die before I turned twenty-five was too much to handle. So many bad things happened all at once, and I was left wondering, questioning, doubting in a benevolent God. Either He lied about not giving us more than we can handle or He was choosing to not intervene in my situation, which made Him a cruel, lying dictator. Either way, my problems showed God didn’t care about me, or so I thought. Thankfully, I realized the truth about God before I completely turned my back on Him and walked away. As I studied the Bible, I began to see an important truth. 

We’re going to experience things in our lives that are too much to handle. It’s a fact of life. We live in a fallen world, which means people sin, bodies get sick, and loved ones die. BUT we are not alone! God is always with us. My favorite passage in Scripture is Isaiah 43:1-4. It says, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the Lord your God…You are precious in my sight. You are honored and I love you….”

The secret to “handling” problems comes from turning to God and relying on His strength. He is walking with us through every trial and heartache, but we have to accept the grace and strength He offers us. It is only when we lean on God and gain strength and power through our relationship with Him that we’ll be able to handle the storms of this life.

Whatever you’re going through today, I urge you to lean on God. If you’re dealing with more than you can handle, cry out to God and cling to Him. Let Him be your strength and comfort. I can’t promise that your situation will immediately improve, but I can promise that when you grab hold of God when your life is shattered, He will carry you through this time of pain and hardship. He will fill your mind with peace and your heart with comfort. You may be dealing with more than you can handle, but it’s never too much for God to handle. Let Him handle your situation for you.

“Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.” ~ Deuteronomy 31:6

© June 5, 2013   

By Beth Pensinger

My knuckles are white I’m gripping the steering wheel so hard, and it makes the tiny red cuts on my winter-chafed hands appear even brighter. I squeeze my car into a parking spot and use the rearview mirror to double check my puffy eyes. They’ve cleared up enough, I guess. Since I’m thirty minutes early to the dinner meeting, they’ve got time. But I’m consumed with thoughts of my situation, so the tears pool, then spill all over again.

From my vantage point, I can see the front door to the classy restaurant. It wasn’t my first choice. He picked it when I said we needed to talk. The sheer refinement of the building’s exterior makes me feel underdressed. There’s no way I’m stepping across the threshold until He shows up. Briefly, I wonder what He’ll arrive in. Does God get chauffeured in a limo? Or is He more of a drive-it-yourself kind of God? Maybe He likes a Jeep Wrangler with the top down. Though it is cold outside. Does cold affect Him?

By Josie Siler

If you grew up with a brother or sister you know they can get on your nerves. In fact, once they find out that something bothers you, they will keep doing it until you practically blow a gasket. I have an older brother. We get along well now, but I feel bad for what we put our parents through as kids, especially our mom. We fought more often than not, and once he got bigger than me, I was toast. I vividly recall one time when my brother was trying to get in my room. I don’t think it was for any particular reason except that he knew I didn’t want him in there. On this particular occasion I wasn’t fast enough slamming and locking my door. My brother got his foot in there and kept pushing. Once he got his foot in, I knew things weren’t going to go well for me. The further he was able to get the door open the angrier I became. I wasn’t strong enough to stop him and I didn’t know what to do. So I bit him. That’s right; I clamped my teeth down on his shoulder like a bulldog on a bull. Unbeknownst to either of us, my braces had become attached to his shirt. When he yanked his shoulder out of my mouth my braces went with it. I still remember the sound of the “pop,” “pop,” “pop, pop, pop” as they came off of my teeth one by one. I remember that moment in slow motion, though I’m sure it happened quite quickly.

In my anger toward my brother I sinned. I did something I knew was wrong in order to hurt someone I love. Did you know that not all anger is sin? It’s true. Jesus got very angry with the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice inside the Temple in Jerusalem. “He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and He stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace (Mark 11:15b-16, NLT).” In all of this, Jesus did not sin.