ANOTHER EMBARRASSING MOMENT

If you follow my blog or read my books, then you know me pretty well because I’ve opened up about a lot of really personal things and even some embarrassing things that have happened to me over the years. This one though is one that you probably wouldn’t expect anyone to share. In fact, I never thought I’d ever share it, outside my family, but today, I decided I would.

I was eight years old, and we were on a school field trip to Tishomingo State Park. We were going mainly to see “The Swinging Bridge” but there was so much more to do there. We had all kinds of fun that day. After we ate lunch, we went on a hike. That was the last activity for the day, then we would get back on the bus and head back to the school.

After we had hiked for a good while, I had a rumbling in my stomach. I knew exactly what that meant, and you probably do, too. Only, you probably don’t know that I was never good at holding it in when it was ready to come out. I knew there was no way I could ever make it back to the bathroom in time, so I fell back to the end of the line as quickly as I could without being noticed. Then, as soon as I saw the last kid go out of sight, I ducked into the bushes to take care of business, but it was too late. I cleaned myself up as well as I could, but I wasn’t sure it was good enough. When there was nothing else I could do, I ran to catch up with the rest of my class.

We finally made it back to the bus and headed back toward the school. I sat by myself and hoped that no one would find out about my accident. I was hoping I could hide it until I got home. As I was thinking about this, I remembered something Jesus said in Matthew 23:25-28.

Matthew 23:25-28 
25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but the inside is full of extortion and selfishness.
26 You blind Pharisees. First, clean the inside of the cup and plate so the outside of them will be clean also.
27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which truly appear beautiful on the outside, but inside they are full of dead people’s bones, and every uncleanness.
28 In the same way, you also appear holy to others outwardly, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and sin.

Just like the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day, we too may try to hide what’s going on inside of us by our outward appearance. We may put on fancy clothes, fix our hair, or just try to hide what’s inside with a big smile. People may be fooled, but God is not. He knows exactly what’s going on inside of us. He knows just what’s on our minds. He knows what we’ve done and said, and even what we’ve thought. We can’t hide anything from God. So why try?

We may as well be honest and open with God. There’s no need to be any other way with him. When we’re sad, we need to tell him. When we’re angry, we need to tell him. When we’re disappointed we need to tell him. When we sin, we need to go ahead and confess and ask for his forgiveness quickly and get our relationship with him back on track. We need to be as open, and honest with others as we possibly can. We don’t want to be hypocrites. We don’t need to pretend that we’re something we’re not. We don’t need to try and pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. Honesty really is the best policy.

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YOU THINK IT'S IN THE BIBLE BUT IT'S NOT

I’ve always found it frustrating when people miss-quote the Bible, but it's even worse when people “quote the Bible” and what they are quoting isn’t even in the Bible. I've always tried not to be critical when letting them know their quote isn’t there, but I was thinking, “They must not read the Bible much at all.”

The Bible is a big book and I’m sure not many people can quote the entire thing word for word, no matter how often they read it. I know I sure can’t, but I’ve made it a goal of mine to read it every day and study it as often as I can, so I think I know it better than some, but certainly not as well as others.

That being said, something interesting happened to me a few years ago. I was writing an article for my blog and was planning to end it with a certain “Bible quote” that I’ve heard all my life. But, I was surprised when I couldn’t find the scripture I was looking for. I was sure it was there, but where? Maybe I wasn’t quoting it exactly right. I searched for it using e-sword, my favorite Bible study program on my computer but still couldn’t find it. Then I searched for it on the internet and soon found the quote, but it wasn’t from the Bible at all. The quote is said to be from a preacher who lived in the 1500s named John Bradford.

“There, but for the grace of God, go I” — John Bradford

I guess we know what we know, and we don’t know, what we don’t know. That may sound confusing or it may seem oversimplified. There’s a song that says, “Them that don’t know, don’t know they don’t know.” We know what we know, and the things we don’t know, we have no idea that we don’t know them. People are people and that fact will never change. “After all, we’re only human.” No matter who we are, we forget things we once knew, and we don’t always remember everything correctly.

For a while now, I’ve been planning to write an article about things people think are in the Bible but are not. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I have a list I’ve been collecting, and I was planning to put them all in one article but, I think I’ll tackle some of them separately. Since I’ve joined the ranks of people who have thought something was in the Bible that wasn’t, maybe I can write the articles without being too critical, or judgmental.  

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My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6