Let God do the cleanup

5:04 p.m. Today's project was to check, with great anticipation, the long-awaited drying up of the leak in front of our house. Our landscaper had pulled out the 20+ year-old spider plants whose roots were heavily

and solidly entrenched, and a very good plumbing company sent three men here yesterday to dig down, pull away more roots, only to discover that a pipe fitting had "exploded!" That was why  water leaked whenever I turned on the lawn-watering stations or used the hose on the walkway plants. They advised not to flip the water switch back on for 24 hours to let the glue set. It was with great relief that I watched the lead man rinse down the mud that had gotten all over the small patio, and gave them their check. "Thank You, Lord, for sending me the professional help I needed!" was the thought in my mind as I went about my evening tasks. (I also watched a "Touched by An Angel" rerun and a Bible story movie on the life of Queen Esther, by the book of the same name).  As I took out garbage late in the evening, I noticed that the water wasn't advancing, hallelujah, so things were off to a good start!

This morning, I kept hearing predictions of windy conditions here, so I was joyful, despite the nuisance I generally consider the hot Santa Ana winds to be! Anything to dry the mud and lower the standing water would be fine with me. No more than a mild breeze here and there came up, but the sidewalk seemed to be a tad drier. Proverbs 10:28 says,

The hope of the righteous shall be gladness. 

Off I went for a very active day with my business, with a new team member wanting to ask a few final questions, banking. After handing out an eyeshadow sample to a Starbucks barista, sending a marketing email, and eating only the turkey and the Swiss cheese out of a sandwich, I took care of my 85-yer-old father's weekly grocery shopping in Redlands, about 40 miles round trip. We spent an hour or so visiting before and after I picked up his short list of items, brought his dumpster up from the street and did a little cleaning. My younger sister is going to pick Daddy up to join us for Easter dinner at my house Sunday.

Expecting a much drier scene when I returned at 4 p.m., I was sorely disappointed (see picture above taken less than an hour ago). No good, no good! So I called the company and they'll have someone over here in the morning. I was thinking to myself, "How much water is down there? Am I sitting on top of a well?!"

This season when we remember Jesus' death on the cross to save the world from our sins, and His resurrection 3 days later to give us eternal life, reminds me that no matter how I tried to dig, dig, dig, work, work, work, then rinse off and clean up my act, I could never have saved myself. As it is in the front of my house, my sin would be like muddy standing water, not about to go away naturally.  And no wonder! My--and your--natural self was born a sinner, and no cleanup efforts of my own could save my soul. And no family member or friend's efforts could lift away that muddy sin for me. Psalm 49:7-9 says of those who trust in their own strength and accomplishments,

None of them can by any means 
  redeem his brother,
Nor give to God a ransom for 
  him--
For the redemption of their souls 
  is costly,
And it shall cease forever--
That he should continue to live
  eternally,
And not see the Pit.

Is there a remedy? Jesus told us in Mark 10:45 that He came to pay the price for the sin of mankind:

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." 

Have you asked Jesus to forgive and take away your sins and give you eternal life? If not, please pray to Him to ask Him to save you.No fancy wording--just ask.

Celebrate Easter with billions of other brothers and sisters in Christ this year!