“But you, dear friends, continue to build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.” Jude 20

It was 7:55am and I had already blown it. Like watching David Banner transform into ‘The Hulk,’ I KNEW what was happening, yet was helpless to stop it. Since it was easier to just go with and let it out, rather than try to control it, I morphed into a crazier man than usual. And hated myself for the transference. The clock now said 7:56 am!

I had an appointment at 8am. The place was on a busy road I had been on MANY times before, so ASSUMED I could easily find it. Upon realizing that I had failed in my assumption and was wrong, I did the next most logical thing and stopped to put the address into Google Maps. It was then I SHOULD have gotten some relief by realizing that there are more stupid people out there than ME! As Google took me even FURTHER away from my destination, I started to yell and bang the steering wheel! I was glad my clothes didn’t rip!

When I got to my appointment I was 15 minutes late! Which is TOTALLY unacceptable for me. In my frame of mind I knew I HAD to calm down before I went in. Not wanting to be seen as a Hulk out of place, I prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to get ME back. It took a minute but I knew He had already started the process.

I heard it well said years ago that I am a Heavenly Treasure in an Earthen vessel. That the process of complete and actual sanctification into a perfect being will never happen HERE! God is at work in me and slowly convicts and changes me into the image of His Son Jesus Christ. It’s not HIS failure, but an inherent problem with the material He has to work with. The process is universal and has no shortcut.

My selfish and sinful nature, called the flesh, is ALWAYS opposed to God. It takes a cooperation of my spirit with God’s Holy Spirit to conform myself into what God expects. It is ALWAYS up to ME to start the yielding, and it is ALWAYS HARD WORK! I HATE that I transfer into ‘The Hulk’ as frequently as I do. And anger is only ONE of my triggers! But the fact that I HATE that part of me is evidence that I really belong to God in the first place!

Being a work in progress means that I will always have a job! But it doesn’t mean that I am a hopeless case. There are LOTS of us out there! A point the receptionist must have assumed in the appointment process. When I apologized for my tardiness she said, “You weren’t REALLY due until 8:30. We just give everyone an earlier time to make sure they get here!” Feeling a hint of another transfer, I wondered if God doesn’t do the same thing!

Are YOU looking better every day?