Matchbox racetracks...

This morning I'm sitting in my two littliest boys bedroom reading while they are playing.  We do this every morning because they are very early risers and I am not disciplined enough to make it out of bed before they do.  SHAMEFUL I know.  Same thing every morning.  I get my coffee and my bible and sit down in the floor while they play with their matchbox cars.

 At some point EVERY morning they get bored with the perfect hotwheels cars and try something new AND potentially destructive...  this is the point when they find every car in their room that doesn't belong on the tracks and force them down the tracks.  How many times have I heard Dad say "don't put the big cars on their they don't belong.  You're gonna break the tracks... and I'm not gonna get you another."  This is a very real threat for our 3 year old.  His whole life is racing.  I can remember the first time I saw him line up his cars in perfect lines to have races, he was 1.   His FAVORITE movie of all time is Cars.  He would sit on the couch and watch the Nascar races and Monster Truck racing all day everyday if we would let him.  This boy has racing in his blood.  

This track is really cool.  Dad got it for him for Christmas.  An 8 ft long track with 6 lanes and a finish line at the end that tells which lane won the race.  Dad had it all right Caleb LOVED it.  He dreamed about this track since he saw it at Target on his Daddy date in early November.  He KNEW that was what He was getting for Christmas.  We couldn't wrap it until the night before because he knew the size of the box.  Caleb begged for this most special thing...  but he still takes a chance everyday to do what is not supposed to be done on it and break it.  ONLY hotwheels fit on the tracks.  Only hotwheels fit through the finish line.  It doesn't matter they still put all the big cars on there and force them down the tracks and they end up hitting the finish line when they can't go through. 

As I was watching this for the 1000 time God used this image to drive home something He had been trying to show me for the last 2 weeks.  God gave us a Life that only works His way.  He gave us the Instruction Manuel for His creation and it ONLY works the way He designed.  On this track of life IF you do things they way He designed them you can have a full life, a healthy body, and it can be very enjoyable...  BUT, if we do not do things His way we end up potentially destroying our lives.  WHY because we have vengeful God who doesn't want us to have fun????  As Paul said...  GOD FORBID.  In fact we have a loving Creator who KNOWS what is best for us.  We have a designer who made things to work in such harmony that if you do things His way you will be blessed with all the good He intended for us. 

The problem though is we are SO MUCH like our fore parents Adam and Eve.  God placed them in Perfection and gave them their choice of all the trees of the garden, except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and they chose to do the one thing he said not to do... and we have been doing it ever since.   Take the descedents of Noah.  After the flood God said "Go and spread out and replenish the earth."  What did they do stayed together and build a tower so they could make a name for themselves.  Take us...  We have the Book and all the blessing of obedience and what do we do?  Throw it out for our own wisdom, which the Bible says "there is a  way that seems right to man, but the end leads to death."  WHY?  We want to be our own God.  I see this in everyone of my children from the time they are able to express emotion...  they WANT to be God.   They do no want to be told what to do.  They want to do it their way at the expense of everything they could lose.  

That's why I am so thankful that God in HIS kindness toward us sent Jesus Christ His son to redeem us from ourselves.  I pray that God would conform my will and transform my mind so that I would DO THINGS HIS WAY.  He has been showing me all this great stuff about healthly living and eating.  His plan for our good and what do I do???  I CRAVE and LONG for the very things that are going to potentially destroy me.   Please Lord CHANGE ME and help me DESIRE YOU.  I PRAY that Jesus Christ would be my EVERYTHING.  MY EXCEEDING GREAT REWARD...  Help me Father not trade all the good benefits of obedience to your ways for the curses of doing things my way...

God's Word is the Instruction Manuel of life...  You can find wisdom for health, marraige, raising kids, finances and relationships with built in rewards for obedience.  Why would we want to do things our way?  It never works.  The big cars don't fit on the tracks!!!