Pressed but not Crushed

A series of non-stop interruptions rule my life lately.

Matters ranging from important to trivial suck the time from my day faster than Superman's speeding bullet. Faster than the speed of light. Faster than me slurping down a chocolate shake. Almost.

Disruptions that can't be ignored, like dog vomit...and worse...on the carpet. And they're not even our dogs.

photo courtesy artur84 at freedigitalphotos.net

Note: My folks call it "doggie doo-doo."  
But when it comes to my rugs it's definitely a "doggie don't-don't."

But as I knelt to perform a Lysol Carpet Baptismal Service, ancient words came to mind. The writer and his colleagues daily faced danger and possible death for sharing their beliefs. Paul wrote:

  ^"...since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up...
 

  ...We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord...

 
  We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.  

photo courtesy of Stuart Miles@freedigitalphotos.net

•  We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. 

•   We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 

•  We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. 

• 

photo courtesy of Naypong at freedigitalphotos.net

• We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.

  Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus...

^...as God's grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. That is why we never give up. 

  For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. 

Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." 
                                                                                                   2 Corinthians 4:1-18

 That puts my puking pups into perspective!

photo courtesy of federico stevanin at freedigitalphotos.net

 3 Questions:

• What hindrances trip up your day? 
• How do you get past them? 
• Would a chocolate shake help?