The "Bathtub"

"All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."  Acts 10:43

      On a recent night in Pittsburgh, I was at work helping to drain the "bathtub".  The "bathtub" is a section of the Parkway East that floods almost every year when the Monongahela River floods as the winter snow begins to melt.  It got me wondering.  Why do we spend millions to build highways in areas that we know are going to flood.  And once we have built them why are we surprised and upset that we must pump them out each time they flood.  And why don't we take proactive action to resolve the problem before it happens again. Couldn't we just put in some type of automatic pump that would begin to work as soon as the water begins to rise.
     I wonder if God ever feels like that about us.   He created man without sin, but He gave us free will.  Adam and Eve exercised their free will, and from that point on we have been sinful by nature.  God provided for us a proactive solution when He sent His Son to die for our sins so that our sins would be atoned for and so that we could live in His forgiveness.  And yet so many of us don't take advantage of that solution.  All we need to do is believe and we can be the children of the King, and our sins will be forgiven.  Why don't more people just accept the solution.   We will still sin, because we are human, and yet we will have forgiveness.
     I think it all boils down to being able to accept responsibility.  The city and state leaders do not want to accept responsibility for taking care of the flooding problem.  It would cost them money.  How much easier it is to send folks out to deal with it each time it happens so they (the politicians) can get kudo's for clearing the roadway.  And as for us.  I think that most people just aren't willing to accept responsibility for the sin in their lives.  That would require change.  Most folks are all about "me".  After all this is the "Me Generation".  To accept responsibility would require one to make changes and most people do really resist change.  
     Someone once told me that it's hard to tell a teenager who is making a hundred dollars a day selling crack on the corner that he would be much better off if he took a job at McDonalds making six dollars an hour.   That is where we as a nation are right now.   People see only the immediate benefit, but don't look at the bigger picture.  God sees it all.  He "knows the plans that He has for us".   We only see the here and now. It's got to make you wonder....
     Dear Lord, please help my friends and I to remember that we only see the "here and now" and that You do see the bigger picture.  Please help us to accept responsibility for the wrongs that we do. And help us to be part of the real solution.  Thank You for sending Your Son to be the role model that we can follow.   Thanks for always being there...