Slip n Slide

When was the last time you ran at full speed toward a sheet of plastic covered with water?

We got to play on a slip n slide just this past week at camp.  My first trip wasn't very successful, cuz' I wasn't wet yet.  I flopped on my belly and just stuck to the slide.

I quickly asked myself, "Are you hurt?"

"No, just having a little trouble breathing," I answered, "but I definitely don't want to show that; I just need to get up and try it again."

My next trip was quite a bit better.  Ran fast...kicked my legs out in time...slid on my bottom off the end of the slide and made it out onto the grass about four feet.  Almost as good as Skyler...well, not quite.

Only one problem...when you make it all the way to the grass you get mud and grass stuck to yourself in places that you couldn't believe!

And I got to thinking...that there are many slippery places in life.  You know... places where if you step on the "wet plastic" with both feet you are going to fall.  These places are things we allow ourselves to watch that are not good for us: wrong TV programs, wrong video games, wrong internet sites.  They are slip n slides.  There are slip n slides with wrong conversations: times when we talk badly about someone else or listen to lies or gossip or times we complain.  Slip n slides also come in the form of wrong acts like fighting or disobedience to parents or teachers.

Many of these slides end in something called sin.  Its sort of like getting covered with mud and grass you can't get off.  The only way to be rid of sin is to ask Jesus to forgive it through the gift of His death on the cross.  He died to take our punishment for sin!

When we stand on Him and His gift of love for us, we are not trying to stand on a slip n slide (which is almost impossible).  No, the Bible says standing on Him is like standing on a rock.  Listen to this from Psalm 62:2: "He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken."

No slipping...No sliding!  No mud...No grass!  Solid Rock!

"On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand" (or slip n slide)!

Proud of you,
Pastor John