Here's Pastor
Dave McDowell's weekly devotional that he sends out to members of his church.
Dave is my brother and serves as the Music Minister at Stewartstown UMC in
PA.
It is said,
good things are worth waiting
for.
But what if they arrive a day
early?
Anyone who knows
me
knows that March 17 for
me,
is Christmas, the
sequel.
Oh yes,
I do have a bit of Irish blood in
me,
but it's not so much about
bloodlines
as it is about
sugar.
I am not a big fan of fast food
restaurants,
I rarely visit them.
But once a year, I make my
pilgrimage
to a certain fast food
establishment
that offers a frothy mint dairy
delight.
Never mind that these cups of
creamed confection
are available to the masses
starting on Feb 1.
Oh no.
With all due respect
to those who imbibe
early,
I do not decorate my tree on
Thanksgiving.
Firecrackers are for July 4th, New
Years Eve ,
and openings of Olympic ceremonies
only,
and birthday gifts are opened on
Oct 11.
Do I even need to discuss
Christmas presents?
It's not that I am not
tempted.....
Rarely a day goes by
that
I don't drive past one of those
restaurants.
I have found that at the first
site of those arches during the month of March,
I am able to keep driving
by.
if I think about tsunamis,
nuclear war,
or feline
leukemia.
Pass a billboard that is exploding
in shamrock green?
I look the other
way.
See a friend who is importing mint
cream through a straw
faster than oil through the
Alaskan pipeline?
I move to the other side of the
street.
One of those television
commercials comes on?
Nothing says no for me more than
the almighty mute button.
One
shake,
one
day,
once a
year.
On March
16th,
I was traveling
upstate.
My schedule only allowed me an
early breakfast.
By early
afternoon,
I was
hungry.
Traveling through upstate rural
Pennsylvania
can be hazardous to your
hunger.
You can go long stretches without
seeing restaurant signs.
It was almost 4pm and I still
hadn't found a restaurant.
I was
famished.
I finally was able to get off the
back roads
and reach the
highway.
Two exits
later,
finally, a restaurant
sign.
Was there a waffle house off the
exit......no
a
diner.......no
a
steakhouse?
No,
staring me down from 100
yards,
was the arches,
and nothing
else.
I gulped and turned onto the exit
ramp.
If the way to a man's heart is
through his stomach,
then I was being
wooed.
If I was an innocent
sailor,
then my boat was headed straight
towards the sirens.
If I was
Samson,
I was headed straight into
Delilah's hair cuttery.
I murmured my mantra over and
over....
One
shake,
one
day,
once a
year.
I walked in the den of
lions.
The lions were
roaring....
It's just one day
early.
No one will ever
know.
They are better than
ever.........
I walked up to
Satan
who was conveniently
disguised
as an 18 year old
cashier.
How may I help you today?
she said
Translated......
What forbidden fruit may I
offer you today?
Her name tag said
Heather,
but I knew fully well that her
name was really Eve,
and Adam had just come up to the
counter.
I breathed in
deeply,
uttered my mantra one more
time
and said,
I'd like a #2 meal
super sized.
Recognizing that I was clinging
onto my faith
like a child clinging to mommy's
leg in a room full of strangers,
Eve came at me one last time with
both claws....
Would you like a Shamrock
Shake to go with your meal?
Unless this restaurant has
recently gone with a gargoyle motif,
I'm pretty sure I saw demons
hanging from the dessert menu.
There is that moment of
truth,
that moment where the world goes
quiet
and all you hear is your head
arguing....
that moment where you know there
is a fork in the road,
and you know once you make your
decision,
there is no turning
back.
It is said that character is what
you do,
when no one else sees
you.
Digging down
deep
for my last ounce of character I
said,
No thank
you.
Translated.....
Get behind me
Satan.
As I walked past
play land,
children demons hissed at
me.
As I stepped up to the
exit,
I proclaimed the mantra once
more....
One
shake,
one
day,
once a
year.
None of us resists temptation all
of the time.
If we did, we would have no need
for Jesus.
.
Will power
helps,
but what we need most of
all
is to invite the Holy
Spirit
to reign in us each and every
day.
.
As
Christians,
we understand that God dwells in
us through the Holy Spirit.
But we also have free
will,
and so people of faith need to
daily
ask the Spirit to reign over our
fleshly impulses.
.
It's not easy to
do,
but the results are far more
rewarding
than the immediate
gratification
of the latest
temptation.
.
When we realize that God is with
us,
dwelling within
us,
we find we can do what we need to
do.
It is in fact, when we admit that
we can't do right on our own,
that God's power is revealed in
us.
.
Don't wait for your Eve or Satan
to pounce,
Start the day with the
invite.....
Lord, as You live in
me,
steer me to follow your
ways,
and I will receive Your
strength to do what is right.
.
You might be surprised what God
accomplishes in you.
.
As for me and God,
As for me and God,
8am breakfast at the arches on
March 17th
was
spectacular.
.
My grace is sufficient for
you,
for power is perfected in
weakness.
Most gladly,
therefore,
I will rather boast about my
weaknesses,
that the power of Christ may dwell in
me.
2
Corinthians 12:9
.
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