Profound and Sometimes Preposterous Ponderings of Pete

Rom 3:“There is no one righteous, not even one; 11there is no one who understands;     there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away,     they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good,     not even one.” 13 “Their throats are open graves;     their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” 14     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16     ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know.” 18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

There are so many songs and poems and Christian literature about being in storms.  About leaning on God when things are hard.  About finding God's peace when life let's you down. Etc. Etc.  Great songs, great poems, great writings.  Most of these works deal with circumstances that were created outside of your control.  They speak of how God knows what is going on and while we cannot see it, He is in control.  Let me make this perfectly clear, that is absolutely true.   One thing, that I find lacking in all these is dealing with those times when you were in control.  When you are the cause of the storm.  When you dug the pit around yourself.  When you stood at the edge of the abyss, looked down into it, and jumped in. When you filled the cess pool in which you decided to swim and bathe. When you knew better, even heard God's spirit warning you, and made the wrong choice. Almost everyone is familiar with Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer.  It is wonderful and has been

Eph 6: 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The full armor of God.  Many of us know this well quo