Dirt

Dirt...can be ....dirty.

As if that isn't enough like Rob Bell in his NOOMA series..

Dirt can be painful, stuck in little cracks and crevices. It can be huge chunks of mud, or a fine mist of silt scattered everywhere. It can be old dirt or new dirt. Whatever kind of dirt it is, it's good when it's gone!

Before you give up on me and think I've fallen off my rocker, I can explain.

I am working in a new ministry at my church called Celebrate Recovery. Yes a recovery group.

It's not your typical, "Hi my name is Rocky and I am an alcoholic" recovery.

It encompasses all of life's hurts, hangups and habits and is based on the 8 Beatitudes Jesus addressed on the Sermon on the Mount. Including, but not exclusively for Alcohol.

For the last 2 months the 5 other leaders and myself have actually been going through the program ourselves. We each are living in (semi) victory over one thing or another. We are learning how to deal with OUR past hurts and our current struggles, so we can be prepared to lead others through when the program begins in August.

The Principle (beatitude) we are at right now is the purpose of this post. We are taking an exhaustive Personal Inventory. Looking back as far as we can remember and listing who has hurt us, the specific ways they hurt our lives. As painful as that can be at times, it is no where near the next step in the process.

Listing who WE have hurt and how. OUCH. DIRT. LOTS OF IT.

How humbling it is to reach way back, into every corner of my mind, dragging out all the dirt. Facing, often for the first time truthfully, the pain we have caused others, and often ourselves, by our decisions and actions. It sucks, having to admit who you are jealous of. Who you are holding a grudge against, or would like to seek revenge on. We may all be Christians but we are humans. Fallen ones for sure.

Some people like to accuse Christians of acting "perfect"," hypocritical", or "holier than thou", which some may be..like I said, the church is full of nothing but fallen human beings, we're all sinners. But this group (and honestly most of my church family) has dirt..LOTS of dirty, sticky garbage. We have each done some things that would make criminal blush.

The difference is, we are opening up about it, cleaning house so to speak. God is taking each of us room by room in our hearts and minds and cleaning it out from top to bottom.

And just like anytime you do that thorough of a cleaning, you find dirt.

Junk.

And it's all on the front lawn for everyone to see.

BUT Jesus is standing right there beside us. Arm around our shoulder. Telling us, " OK, it's out on the curb, I'll take it away, turn around. Leave it."

So I am dirty, dusty, sweaty and at times, ashamed. But this house cleaning partner of mine, is just as dirty. He has MY dirt all over him, and He's grinning from ear to ear, running back into the house and saying, "All right! Come on! We've got 42 more rooms to go through!"

Ugh, I hope I can keep up. I've never seen someone like to clean so much......

(for more information about Celebrate Recovery please visit http://www.celebraterecovery.com/)