Fighting Pringles and Dragons

Fighting is something I’m not very good at unless the counterpart is scared….it’s pretty much all mental. Some people in my past may think I’m purposely discrediting some of my epic alcohol induced squabbles of my former life, but really, I can honestly say I gave off the misconception of being able to fight only because I was always confident. In other words, I knew how to pick my battles…
All this, really is just silly reminiscing of the incredibly sorry past of my former life, not even worth looking back on unless I can somehow relate it to the current state of my spiritual life. So, I’m going to try to relate this as best as I can…..

I’m constantly losing my confidence, or shall I say, my faith, in winning battles against myself. The habits of my former life happen to include and not in any particular order, cussing, lying, smoking, drinking, choosing to watch Lakers over church, choosing to watch Dodgers over church, choosing to sleep over church, and choosing to sit and do nothing but eat Pringles over, you guessed it, church. (by the way, Kmart has 2 for 3 on all super stack Pringles, all flavors)


These habits, when you start kicking them, gradually start kicking back until you realize, oh shoot, I’m in a fight, and worse yet, I’m actually scared I can’t win.

Let’ start with cussing.


The two words I have learned to abstain myself from using, even outside of church, even when I’m by myself catching a ball game and even when I kick it with some friends enjoying an ice cold beverage or two, and I’m sure some of you guys use it and hear it all the time. It’s f**k and s*it. I’ve slipped in my mind, but I’ve been pretty good in not cussing out loud, in retrospect, before Jesus AKA KCBC, my sentences either started with a cuss word or ended with it, or both. Cussing was never a big deal to me and it probably isn’t even considered much to fuss(or do a blog post) about nowadays as I’ve noticed working professionals say shhhhit to each other quite often. I even made the mistake of taking some high school youth at our church to a PG-13 movie thinking it would be safe from these two words, I was sorely or to describe it more accurately, “uncomfortably” mistaken. Remember when you were a teenager, sitting in your living room watching Saved by the Bell and for some reason your mom or dad sits next to you, and at that exact moment Zack and Kelly share a kiss that seems to last waay too long. Not to mention, the kiss scenes between the “high school” kids was so much more than a simple smooch on the lips. Yea, it’s a very awkward feeling watching people make out on the TV with a parent sitting next to you, at least in my household it was. Anyways, so what’s the big deal? Well, it’s a big deal for me because, cussing just lends a hand to the flesh of my past to manifest into other behavior that’s detrimental in my continuous uphill journey towards the path of righteousness, and for those who don’t know, this path indeed does exist, it’s narrow and there are fire breathing dragons all around trying to consume you or knock you off this path. It really is quite difficult to cross without getting burned from time to time, but as long as you put your faith and reliance on God, you won’t get knocked off. As I’m typing, I realize that the order and what exactly these habits are is quite irrelevant and insignificant. The bigger picture here is understanding the pervasive, persistent, addictive, infectious nature of what we all fight against; sin. In hindsight, I’m sure the Mickeys I had couple of nights ago, could’ve easily been set aside with a prayer and a heart reliant on God. Did I pray? Nope. The fact that ESPN actually shows you the replay of the game didn’t help either. In fact, from the moment I left church that night, I knew I was going to go home and watch the game before going to sleep, and this is where the small pebble of rock that I slip on becomes a millstone that wraps itself around my neck, dragging me towards the edge until I fall off. Thinking about watching an important sports event, automatically leads to thinking about having a beer for me, and having a beer leads to thinking about having a cigarette, and having a cigarette leads me to having another one, and so on and so on. (please do note, I did say “thinking about”, not I actually had/have..) It’s way more difficult to walk on a narrow path with a millstone around your neck when you have dragons(satan) sneezing fire(presenting temptations) on your face. Worse yet, knowingly subjecting myself to this is what’s even more troubling. Asinine. Crazy. Dull. Call it what you want, but this is why we need God in our lives, and faith in this God that doesn’t waver at the slightest bit of temptation is the only way to continue your journey without being consumed by the “dragons.” My faith wavers, but I know my hope will never change. So, let’s just start and end with cussing, because you can start with any sin or bad habits, either way, at the end of the day, whatever temptation or sins you commit, you either have forgiveness or you don’t. We all know what this means. I am so FN glad I have forgiveness. Thank you Jesus, and if you don’t or are unsure of this forgiveness, than I suggest you start finding out how to obtain it. (Retreat 6/30)

God Bless.

PS Only God Can Judge Me :)

Brother Jimmy

Song of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbGgA2lIDjc