today we had the block party at Collegeville. it was so awesome, and a great opportunity to pour God's love into some kids' lives. I got REALLY sunburned tho, and right now I'm pretty miserable.

so I got to thinking earlier. about how much a suburn can be applied to our spiritual life. see, we go out into the world thinking "Ok, I'm ready to go. I'm kinda [spiritually] pale, but it's overcast, i won't need sunscreen. besides, I don't burn, I tan. and tans are cool." (translation: I'm going into the world, I'm not very mature spiritually, but it doesn't look that bad out there. I won't need protection. anyway, even if i do get a little influence, it won't hurt me. I'll just look cooler to others.) then we get out there and after a little while, we realize we're getting influenced by the world. we're like, "well, it's not that bad. it'll just hurt me a little, but I'll forget it eventually." then other people start pointing it out to us... "whoa, you're really giving into the influence of the world lately. i'm getting kinda worried about you! maybe you should go seek after God and put on some spiritual 'sunscreen'." and we respond "oh no, I'll be ok. really, i don't get influenced that easily, it just appears that way. that's how I am, i'm just outgoing." then we start hurting, and we think "well, maybe I should at least get out of this situation for a little while till I'm sure I'm ok." and once we get under the "shade" of God's righteous covering, we realize how influenced we really were. and we begin to hurt. to burn, and chill, and burn again. it's miserable. and we want to complain to someone, but then it would just make it even worse. so God brings out his aloe vera, his peace and love and mercy and grace and righteousness and pours it over our souls, and soothes the hurt. and when we start hurting again, he pours it over us again, until we're healed. granted, we're never the same once we've been influenced by or experienced these wordly things. But God forgives us and eases our conscience, helps us to get through it and in the end, still be a whole person. and though God would rather not see us go through the pain of that spiritual sunburn, sometimes we make ourselves go through it without knowing it. and once we get in the middle of it, there's no stopping it. but God always brings good out of the situation and finds a lesson to teach us- even if it's something as simple as "trust me, you ALWAYS need sunscreen."