You'll Shoot Your EYE OUT.....and God will STILL forgive you!

Did you ever have a "red Ryder BB Gun?" I'm not asking if you actually owned a BB gun, but I'm asking if you ever had that ONE Christmas present you wanted more than anything else in the world? My family growing up had a tradition of watching "The Christmas Story" every year on Christmas eve. In that movie the main character, Ralphie, spends every waking moment of every day pursing that BB Gun. He does everything in his power to convince his parents to buy it, and finally even ASKS Santa for one. But of course, everyone tells him the same thing- "You'll SHOOT your eye out!." Here is my FAVORITE scene....especially Santa's boot....haha

If you never seen the movie, I'm about to ruin it so skip to the next paragraph- IF you have- you know what happens next. Ralphie DOES get the BB Gun for Christmas. He races outside to play with it. The first shot he takes ricochets back and hits him in the glasses. He then proceeds to stomp on his glasses- PULVERIZED! What EVERYONE told him would happen.....did.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar predicament? Despite the best advice from the people around you, you STILL move forward with a decision that you know in your heart might be bad one or a dangerous one?

We have all been guilty of something like this at one point or another. Why? Because we are sinful people! Sometimes our decision making gets blurred my our own selfishness and sinfulness.

One person in the Bible who fought this was Jacob from the Old Testament. Jacob was a twin with his brother Esau. The problem though with Jacob is he was the 2nd born. By custom or tradition then, Esau, the oldest son, would receive his parent's inheritance. Jacob would get basically nothing. WELL- Jacob tricked Esau, not once, but TWICE to steal his brother's inheritance! Jacob then ended up needing to flee his family and his brother in fear of his life. ALL because Jacob was completely focused on the material things he would receive. (Full Jacob and Esau Story Here- worth the read)

Jacob almost threw away his relationship with his twin brother over material things. Ralphie almost shot his eye out because he wanted a BB gun so bad but wasn't smart enough to NOT shoot at an aluminum sign. We all make sinful mistakes, we are human.

The important thing I wanted to focus on today is how we respond to life AFTER our mistakes. Even when we do something wrong, we are no further away from God then when we started. That's my favorite thing about God- God is always RIGHT there. God has already forgiven us for that mistake.

So don't dwell on your bad moments, your "I almost shot my own eye out moments." Remember you are a forgiven child of God. Move forward knowing YOU are forgiven and share that forgiveness with others.