Mud and Mire

Part my morning prayer this morning was Psalm 40, but what specifically caught my attention was verse 2

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

This caught my attention for a couple of reasons, mainly the phase mud and mire.

Partly because it corresponded with my daily devotional by Max Lucado, he used the phrase muck and mire, he was talking about how Jesus spent 33 years in the muck and mire, experience everything we experience. He went on to say we don't like to think of Jesus this way, we would rather think of the majestic, perfect Jesus. However, that Jesus is not easily related to, that Jesus is not reachable, we can relate to the man, we can follow his example

The other reason takes a bit more explanation. One of the things our church Men's group does is BBQ chickens once a month and then sell a complete dinner (chicken with 2 sides) to the congregation. One of my roles in that is to prepare the beans each month. Which means making several batches of beans. As I do this in a crock pot, it basically takes all week. Well this week I went out and bought a second crock pot. I had been planning to anyway, it is different in that it comes with 3 different size bowls 2, 4 and 6 quart capacity. ideally if I am making a dessert I can use the 2 quart, meal for the family the 4 quart, and meal for a bigger group or beans for BBQ the 6 quart. The other part of this story that is important... if I am going to cook something overnight in the crock pot I have to do it outside, otherwise the smell gives my lovely bride dreams about food and keeps her awake :-)

So this morning it is still dark outside as I begin my morning prayer. The phrase mud and mire jumps out at me, I continue my prayer, the sun starts to come up, I realize the patio table, where the two crock pots should be is empty, no that's not it, it is empty but is is also very clean and the extension cords that should be plugged into the crock pots are running through the glass... ah that's what's missing the glass!!!! Well it seems the table we have had for 7 years has finally stress out, and on the patio is a nice pile of mud and mire. Beans, glass from the table, glass from the crock pot etc.

The best part is I didn't get upset instead, God pulled me from the mud and mire and placed me on a rock and gave me a safe place to stand. instead of getting upset and ruining my day, I continued my morning prayer. Had I not been doing morning prayer, but rather been starting my day less God focused I am pretty sure I would have stayed in the mud and mire.

okay time to clean up the mess before it becomes a slime pit, good thing it's trash day :-)

Peace