As anyone who has known me longer than 5 minutes can tell you, I was born with a medical condition known as "Hyperactive Klutz Disorder" (hereinafter known as "HKD"). The symptoms are obvious -- I can walk into, fall over, and get entangled in anything and everything that can cause me to say "ow!" It started at about age 4, when I fell off the porch into a rosebush. Then I fell out of a moving swing in an attempt to fly. Then I ran over my baby brother with my bicycle. The list is endless -- tripping over dog leashes (and dogs), and garden hoses, falling into trash bags, and out of lawn chairs. Once I even fell into an open grave. If people were to follow me around with video cameras, they would probably get rich on the America's Funniest Home Video Show.
Apparently this HKD is not exclusive to humans, because I recently became aware of an allegedly true story of a hapless female humpback whale (whom I will name Wanda) who got entangled in massive amounts of fishing lines near the Golden Gate Bridge. If not for the rescuers who cut her loose, she would have died in these snares. Once freed, she swam in joyous circles and personally thanked each rescuer with gentle nudges. It's my opinion, based on personal experience, that all Wanda's friends are now pointing their fins and laughing at her, and she'll never live it down.
The thing that struck me immediately is that, as an unbeliever, I was just as entangled in my sins as Wanda was in her snares. Just as Wanda would have died in her snares, so I was dead in my sin. As a believer, when I finally realized that Christ had once and for all freed me from my sins, I was as joyous and thankful as Wanda. I know that Christ is my Advocate. He doesn't point His finger and laugh, or condemn, because there is no condemnation in Him. And I know that as long as I walk by the Spirit, He will keep me from repeated wanderings into dangerous waters.
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