my careless contagion

The story of the woman with the alabaster box has been preached around the world in every country, just as Jesus said it would. It is a very important depiction of a believer's relationship with Jesus, as I will try to reveal. It is a special story I hope to do justice. Below is the excerpt from Luke (Luke 7:36-50), though it is found in each of the gospel accounts. It appears there are two similar, separate accounts of two different women. One involves Mary , brother of Lazarus. She is named. This woman is not named, though she is designated a sinner (aren't we all?). This particular account occurred about a year before Jesus was crucified. It could be she knew Jesus would die for her sins. We don't know. What we do know is she knew Jesus was the Savior. She was genuinely repentant and full of love for Jesus. But, there is more to the story. Let's begin. *** 36  And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's ...

Psalm 32 sounds an awful lot like Psalm 51. They are considered companion chapters, as they deal with the same thing and were most likely written at about the same time. Psalm 32, however, shows us what happens after David progressed through the awful reality of Psalm 51. Psalm 32 is about forgiveness.  I own a study Bible from the 1970s. It's old, and it looks it. It's just one of a few Bibles I own. I would say it's mid-pack in the looks department. No matter, because I want to talk about what it says inside. First of all, go ahead and read the psalm here . You can see there is a familiar progression, with David saying this is a "teaching moment," so to speak. But where Psalm 51 dwells on the raw reality of David's awful predicament, Psalm 32 is a reminder of God's forgiveness. David screwed up bigger than at any other time in his life. I mean, this was a massive series of mistakes he was caught up in. If he had not admitted his sins to Nathan the ...

  My heart has been drawn to this verse for many weeks now. I've read it countless times and prayed it for myself and all those with me in this pit of contrition. For those who don't know the story, here follows a mild retelling ( or the whole story is here ).  King David got in trouble with a woman named Bathsheba. She belonged to someone else. His name was Uriah. David slept with Bathsheba and she became pregnant. David then tried to get Uriah to sleep with his wife and take the child under his care. Uriah refused to go home to his wife while his countrymen were at war. Plan B was to take Uriah out to a hotspot in the war and pull back, leaving him to be killed. This worked. Nathan the prophet came to David to tell him a story. It was the story of a poor man who had one sheep he loved very much. And also there was a rich man who had many sheep and much livestock. But the rich man wanted the other man's sheep so he took the one sheep from the poor man. The story in...

I'm so tired of being tired. I just want it all to end. If there's no Great Beginning and no Great Perhaps, then that's alright. I just need to lay down and not get up again. This is me walking away.  Nothing makes sense anymore; I've only tried to do what's best, what's right. I never said I was perfect. I'm sorry for my mistakes and missteps; if I could walk them back I would. I've led a pretty decent life, and it's okay to let it go. So, this is me letting go. When we broke, I broke too, and that's not like me. I don't break like this, not over a girl. But you're not just an ordinary girl. You're the girl I want. If I had done one good thing for you, maybe it would be okay. I couldn't help but ruin a beautiful thing. I couldn't help but ruin you. This is me saying I'm sorry. I'd take the pain from your eyes if I could. I'd take the pieces of your heart and mend them, even if it took me a thous...