ASLEEP ON THE JOB

If you’ve been following my blog or read my books, you know I’m not one of those Christians who pretend they’ve never done anything wrong. We all have a past, and at some point, we've all said and done things that God has told us not to. The Bible says we've all sinned (Romans 3:23) and none of us are righteous (Romans 3:10-12). We like to think we're good on some level, but without Jesus, we're nothing. Ronnie Freeman sings a song that says, “The only thing that’s good in me is Jesus.” That's a profound statement, and no matter what we like to think about ourselves, it's a very true statement.

God tells us in Hebrews 8:12, that after we come to Jesus and have been forgiven for our sins, he doesn't remember them anymore. That doesn't mean that God loses his memory. He says the same thing in Isaiah 43:25. It simply means that he doesn't hold our past against us.

Satan, on the other hand, does hold our past against us. He uses our past in any way he can, to hurt us, and keep us from moving forward. God forgives us, but he can use our past to bless others, both by their learning from our experiences and by us using what we learn to help them. People can come to trust and believe in God when they see what he's done in our lives, the way he has changed us, and the things he's brought us through. That’s one reason why I tell people about my past. I want others to know they're not alone in their struggles and that there is hope in Jesus.

Everything that has happened in my past hasn't always been bad. I've had many good things happen to me, lots of funny things, and I've had a lot of good, clean, fun times with my family and friends throughout my whole life. I guess I write more about the negative things because I want to share the lessons I learned from them, but I want to find better ways to share more of my positive experiences.

As I said before, I left home when I was sixteen years old, and for about three years I did whatever I wanted to. I did whatever I thought was fun and entertaining. I certainly wasn't living a moral, or healthy lifestyle. I was very unhappy. I wanted to do better so I made several changes. One of them was that I started going to church again.

That’s when I met Jesus and gave my life to him. He gave me a new job that I really loved, with an awesome supervisor who was a godly man. It's amazing how God can change a person's life if we just allow him to. Many of us are so self-destructive that we get in the way of God's blessings. We want what we want and often refuse to even consider doing what God wants us to do. Jesus said if we will first seek his kingdom and his righteousness, then he'll give us all that we need. I started seeing that in my life as I submitted my will to my heavenly Father, and the joy in my heart was unbelievable.

I was still young, and I still liked to go out and have fun, only now it was all good, clean fun with some of my younger cousins and other young people from the church. I was really enjoying my life for the first time in years. We had services several nights each week. We had Sunday services, prayer meetings, prayer service, youth night, and choir practice. Many times we would go out to eat before or after church. We would take somebody home or just ride around the town.

My new job was farther away than what I was used to, so I had to get up pretty early to get to work on time. Some days I would be really tired by lunchtime. I was reading the Bible every chance I got, so that's what I would do while I ate lunch if I didn’t fall asleep. One day, I was so tired that all I wanted to do was sleep during lunch. I had an hour, so I set the alarm on my watch, went into the sample room, and lay down on the sofa. As soon as I closed my eyes, I was out.

When lunch was over and I hadn't returned to the line, my supervisor and the floater started looking for me. When they found me, I was still in a deep sleep. They thought it would be funny to wake me up by screaming and beating on something. When I actually woke up, I was standing in the corner of the room holding my chest, and they were both laughing so hard they could barely breathe. As startling as it was at first, I'm glad they did it that way, rather than yelling and cursing, or firing me like some supervisors might have done. We all had a good laugh and went back to work. Thanks, Bobby and Al. I miss you guys.

Memories are funny things. They have the power to change our mood in a variety of ways. Some memories can make us sad, some can make us angry, and some can make us smile, laugh, and bring us all kinds of joy. We should try our best to keep the good memories on top of the pile. They can help us to be happier as we realize how blessed we really are.

Related Topic: Once Saved, Always Saved

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MEMORIES OF DAYS GONE BY

Long ago and far away, there lived a family of five. A Mom and a Dad, two boys and a girl, and of course, a cat, and two dogs. We can’t forget them. It seems like only yesterday, but it has actually been quite a few years.

One day, one of our kids asked if they could do something later, and either my wife or I, said, “We’ll see.” Our youngest son, who might have been three, asked the question, “What does WILSIE mean?” Our oldest son spoke up, and said, “It means, No.” My wife and I had a good laugh, and once in a while over the years that funny memory will come up, and our whole family has a good laugh.

Another time, our youngest was around six years old. He had a lot of energy, and he talked all the time. Even in his sleep. One day he was talking, talking, and talking. I finally asked him, “Can you not be quiet for five minutes? You never stop talking.” Well, that hurt his feelings, and he said something like, “I’m just gonna stop talking. Nobody wants to hear me talk, I’m not saying another word as long as I live.”

Not even a minute later, just out of the blue, he said, “Is Michael Jackson a woman?” That’s another memory that has brought our family laughter time and time again over the years.

When our daughter was about five, she gave us another good memory to laugh about for years. We were in the car, and she was writing. She said, “Daddy, how do you spell one?” I said, “O.N.E.” She said, “No, the other won.” I said, “oh, W.O.N. With frustration in her voice she said, “No, Won; like you won down the woad.”

I laugh every time I think of those times. Those were the good ole days. Our kids are all grown now, and we continue to make new memories, but I’ll always cherish those memories of our family when we were all a lot younger. We’ve had some struggles but we’ve had a lot of good times, too. God has been so good to us. I praise him every day for all his blessings. He’s brought us a long way from that little three-room shack, with no running water, where we first started out.

I hope we can always look back and remember good times. I hope we can continue to make good memories and always have new things to laugh about. Life is short, and we never know when it will end for one of us, so make good memories while you can. Some day that may be all you have left of the ones you love.

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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