THE HIGH GROUND OF SINKING SAND

I recall the old story about the husband and wife going and a trip and they ended up traveling into an unfamiliar area. Eventually the wife asked the husband if he knew where they were.

He finally broke down and admitted they were hopelessly lost. Then as if it somehow improved things he added, "But we are making good time."

I think the basic issue for me in that story is the idea that it is so easy to find oneself taking the "high ground" of sinking sand. By that I mean to end up rationalizing one's behavior or the situation rather than care about the real truth.

This last few weeks have been amazing. We have been wading through the maze of trying to get the right financing for our home.

I've ended up dealing with more than one company and it has amazed me how much misinformation and other side roads I've ended up taking all because people were so caught up in what they thought was the high ground of the situation.

Now for me the high ground came down to simple thing. I needed a loan I could afford. That was my priority. All I wanted was for the loan person to give me the basics. Which is essentially what kind of loan they could make me and when could they make it. Naturally essential to all of this was the need for them to tell me only about a loan that was approved. I didn't need details about loans I couldn't get.

And I felt I had explained that on more than one occasion. But it didn't apparently translate that way in their thinking.

For instead of them only telling me about the actual loan that was approved and ready to give me they ended up vague and sometimes telling me what they hoped would be the case. Eventually, I did finally get to the crossroads of going passed the maybes and the we can do this "if" to the real we can do this. But in the process it sure has been frustrating.

And while I go through the final phases of this process, ever hoping that I don't have to repeat it again, I am reminded of how on a different level that the Lord tries to keep us from spending too much time on such high ground. It is so easy at times, especially on a spiritual level to not be able to see the forest for the trees.

In spiritual terms I think the easiest thing to miss out on is the kernel of truth regarding grace. It is that God accepts us as we are. Which means we don't have to be good or perfect to please him.

But I can't think of the times when somebody has for one reason or another decided that they had to be good in order to be a Christian or saved. So they spend the whole time avoid admitting some sin in order to not worry about the guilt. In other words they have taken the higher ground of sinking sinful sand and have missed out on the fact that our sin is forgiven so we don't need to lie about him. Hopefully, we do sink to far with such delusions.