So just the other day I managed to scrape our immaculate 33 year old VW camper van (re-sprayed 18 months ago) down the driver\u2019s side, pulling off the rear wheel arch in the process. The van came off worse in the contest with the rear bumper (or in fact solid steel tube) of a large 4 x 4 truck thing. Entirely my fault, I completely misjudged the distances. But that is not what I want to write about. As I jumped out of the van after this incident to assess the damage (not a scratch on the 4 x 4) I twisted awkwardly and set off a recurring weak muscle injury in my back. And that hurt. In fact, as I write it\u2019s still hurting, so I am typing this kneeling on the deck as that is the most comfortable position I have found so far \u2026. <\/p>\n
It made me think back to when I damaged this particular muscle the first time (I have two recurring muscle problems in my back \u2026 the other one was done when I attempted to carry my wife up the stairs at a weekend conference \u2026). Store ship was always an evolution that many tried to get out of. A major store ship was a \u2018clear lower deck\u2019, which meant of course that everyone had to take part \u2026 unless you had a really good excuse. And by \u2018eck there were always some great excuses. You could always guarantee that about 10 minutes in the phone calls would start coming in for (it has been said) mainly Chief Petty Officers. These were normally from an oppo on another ship and it was \u2018essential\u2019 that they had to go off the ship for a couple of hours. Anyway, we were storing HMS Southampton ready to go to the Falklands for 6 month and the POs mess were bringing on the beer. Barrels and barrels of CSB (Courage Special Brew). It was a long way through the ship to the stowage in the void spaces up fwd, and it had been a long day. Some of the guys were carrying two barrels, one in each arm, while I was sensibly carrying only one. In our wish to get this whole thing done and dusted quickly I made the mistake of attempting two, and it was then that this muscle went. And it\u2019s that muscle that went when I jumped out of the van. After pranging it. <\/p>\n
In the prayer that Jesus taught us (we call it \u2018The Lord\u2019s prayer\u2019), there is a line that says: <\/p>\n
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. Matthew Chapter 6 verse 13. <\/p>\n
Temptation is one of those things that keeps coming back, sometimes it\u2019s your own fault when you put yourself in a position or place where you know you have a weakness (like if you have a problem with alcohol it\u2019s probably not best to go down the pub). But often temptation creeps up on you, and for no real reason that you can pin down, before you know it you end up falling into whatever trap it is. Or sometimes you just don\u2019t think, it\u2019s not a conscious thing but you end up in the position of being tempted \u2026 My back muscle is a bit like that, if I carry too much heavy stuff the odds are its gonna go, so I don\u2019t carry too much heavy stuff. But like this time, I just didn\u2019t think about what I was doing, and it went. But the thing is that being tempted itself is not actually wrong. It\u2019s when we get tempted to do something and actually do it that the snags start. Whatever it is, maybe the kids are driving you mad and the temptation is to hit them rather than just send them to the naughty stair or whatever \u2026 it\u2019s your response to that temptation that is important… or shall I have another beer and drive home \u2026 you get the idea. And you will keep getting tempted in the areas that you are weakest in \u2026 <\/p>\n
My back is weak in this particular spot, and there is nothing I can do about that, but I can take steps to ensure that I don\u2019t do anything stupid to aggravate it. Even now all these years after that store ship and decision to carry two barrels of CSB, I will do something un-intentionally that sets it off.<\/p>\n
But the Bible also says that God will forgive us when we get stuff wrong, so if we do fall to a temptation (it\u2019s called \u2018sin\u2019 in the Bible) and do something stupid there is a way back \u2026 all we have to do is \u2018repent\u2019 (ie turn away from what we have done), and because of what Jesus has done for us that forgiveness is guaranteed\u2026 so if you have acted upon some kind of temptation and done something you regret, take this amazing verse on board \u2026 <\/p>\n
If we claim that we\u2019re free of sin, we\u2019re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins\u2014make a clean breast of them\u2014he won\u2019t let us down; he\u2019ll be true to himself. He\u2019ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we\u2019ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God\u2014make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. 1 John Chapter 1 verses 8 \u2013 10. <\/p>\n
So, I will be taking extra care of the back from here on in \u2026 and of course getting the van back to its former glory. <\/p>\n
Until next time \u2026 <\/p>\n
Image Credit: Nicole Mason<\/p>\n