Day 25 of Unemployment

Yes, its been 25 days since I had a job. If you want to keep up, you need only count the days since February 29. The unemployment office is no help. They will be deciding over the next 25 days whether or not I am entitled to receive unemployment. The good news is that the time off work gives me additional hours to dedicate to grad school and my other writing endeavors.

God bless Starbucks. As you see above, they allowed me my very own pot of French-pressed Arabian Mocha Sinani (my favorite blend) for the price of one cup! The problem is that this happened at about 8 tonight, and I have to be up at 5 a.m. tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm currently wired.

I want to share what I was working on tonight, as I believe it hits on a place where all of us find ourselves:

I believe that the power of Christ is more powerful than the power of the mind. But I cannot deny my past: when I convince myself that I am about to sin and there is nothing I can do about it, I always fall to temptation. How can I recognize that Christ is bigger than my sin and still fall? Why am I unable to escape such a vicious cycle? I empathize with Paul, who had this to say about such matters:

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”
“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

I have read these words many times over. How true they ring each time. My sin is not the real me. It is not the correct representation of my identity, as I am a new creation in Christ and not a slave to my sinful nature. It can, however, disrupt my progress. Just as sin separates lost souls from their Creator, it also interrupts the communication of sons and daughters with their Father.

But recognize that an interruption is not an eraser.

Hoping this encourages someone who finds themselves stuck in that vicious cycle. Remember friend, you are not your sin.