Wet Cement

If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.

1 John 1:8-9 NLT

I was out this beautiful morning walking our dog, when I noticed the road was marked off by traffic cones, and a small backhoe was parked at the corner. I happened to be walking on the sidewalk, which is unusual as I tend to walk on the road. (Must be a left over habit from growing up a country girl; no sidewalks out there.) As I approached the corner I was listening to the praise music on my i-pod, while letting the dog and my feet carry me down the sidewalk. I noticed a metal bar over the sidewalk, stepped over it and began to sink- in wet cement. A man on a cell phone was trying to warn me, but I had been too engrossed in the song that was playing. I removed my ear phones and apologized. He didn't seem too upset.

After quickly jumping back out of the cement and dragging the dog along, I returned to walking down the road instead. I noticed several areas where a crew had recently smoothed cement over the other sections of the sidewalk at the end of each home’s driveway. As I walked closer to a crew at the end of the street, I debated whether or not to confess my blunder to them. As I approached them, I decided to tell them in hopes that it might not be too late for them to smooth over the evidence of our walk into the cement. They thanked me for telling them, and assured me that people usually do not tell them and it makes their work more difficult. I was glad I confessed.

This little morning adventure caused me to question how many times I had noticed the danger signs of a sinful choice, but just ignored them and walked right on into the sin anyway. Thanks be to God that he also is delighted to see our repentance (like jumping out of the wet cement), and to hear our quick confession so he can cleanse us or smooth out the mess we’ve created. Also I thought about what would have happened if I hadn’t told the men that I messed up. The evidence of my error would be set in the concrete, and the work to repair it would take longer. What an incentive to confess to God immediately when we realize we’ve stepped astray.