If you’re from the “old school,” you know about getting a switching. It was a thing you deserved, however minor the infraction, and the worse part was when mom or dad made you go cut your own switch.

Of course you knew not to cut some small, limber branch off the tree in the back yard…you’d just have to go back for a better one, that would sting your legs and backside when put to use.

And you know…many, many people, from teen-agers to adults, are still cutting their own switches. They’re doing things that will leave mental and physical welps on their minds and bodies, just because as teen-agers, they thought it was cool to smoke and drink and do drugs and do things like the one I call the “silent spoiler;” gambling.

All of them lead down a path that can take away health, family, jobs, life savings, and reputation, while leaving a person with little more than regrets. I recently saw a man riding in a motorized wheelchair, guiding with one hand and with a cigarette in the other…the item that probably put him there.

We all have our shortcomings, so it’s not our place to judge, but one can’t help but wish that person had taken a different route.

But it’s not too late to change for the better, even if life seems short. Christ loves the worst sinner as much as he loves the life-long Christian, and is ready to forgive all in a moment, if you’ll just tell Him you’re ready to straighten up. He may not take away the results of your bad choice of lifestyles of the past…the Bible itself reminds that we reap what we sow, but He’ll accept you as a brand new, spanking clean soul as of this moment. Talk to Him about it.

37BT Bill Thornton October 7, 2007