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I didn’t expect to find parking, so I decided my best opportunity would be Broadway, across from the public lot, in front of the little yellow building that will forever be for me Inga & Lena’s Mexican restaurant where they held a surprise party for my fortieth birthday. I got the spot nearest the driveway into the old visitor center lot. Perfect.
It was a nice day and there were fewer people about than I had expected. I only encountered two other souls as I made my way from Broadway through the ally next to Joy & Co., then across the street and down the ally next to the News-Herald building and through the Dairy Queen parking lot. From there it was across another street to a small opening along the back of the Harbor Inn along a new chain link fence to the opening in another cement and wood rail barrier to Java Moose, my destination from the moment I left my office that morning. I heard a Quad Shot Moose Mocha with Cold Press, extra hot, half sweet praline with whipped cream calling my name. (That’s not what I got but its what motivated the trek from my office to the Moose!)
The coffee was awesome, as usual, but what was especially monumental was the mountain of gravel that now bordered the coffee shop parking lot, and the monstrous hole from which it had apparently come. Highway 61 had been replaced by a crater! One component of the Highway 61 restructuring is the decontamination by removal and replacement of underground gravel polluted by years of oil, gas, and other hydrocarbon seepage from the surface. I don’t know if you got to see it, but that was one BIG hole! Apparently, it takes a lot of effort and expense to remove pollutants that threaten our quality of life.
Funny thing, though, if I may say so. We’ll go to great lengths to remove the pollutants from underground gravel, the corruption from the highest levels of government, the filth from our favorite jeans, but when it comes to removing the guilt and shame that tarnishes our own hearts, we turn away in disbelief and fear. What’s that all about?
The Bible says the human heart is wicked and inclined toward evil continually. Not a very pretty picture, this is true, but the Bible also records God saying, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness . . . and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone [that cold, hard, unfeeling heart that resists God’s love and grace and is bound in selfishness] . . . and will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you . . .
It also tells us, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Seems we have two choices. We can pretend there is no polluting sin in our lives. We can pave over our guilt and shame before God with personal platitudes and failing philosophies and drive away ignoring the compromised quality of life that results from failing to deal with the real issues. Or, we can take God at his word, trust him about his promises, confess our sin and accept his forgiveness, a new heart, and a new life. He will do all that for us when we simply present ourselves to him in faith. How much easier can it be?
When you look at that big hole in the ground between Java Moose and the 1st & 2nd Thrift Store, think about these things. If we work to rid ourselves of corruption and pollution in other parts of our lives, why not in our hearts as well? God is ready when you are.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. Pastor Dale McIntire has served as pastor of the Cornerstone Community Church in Grand Marais since April of 1995.
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