Mixing mud with strawberries doesn't make a healthy smoothie.

So you've been driving down this road for hours. You're running low on fuel and there doesn't seem to be a town anywhere. It's hot and the air conditioning doesn't feel like it's even working. The only reason your not cursing and throwing a major fit is the fact that your grandpa had told you that the road you were going to be driving on was long and dusty and you remember him saying, "Just when you think that you will never see a town or people again you will drive right through a small town and you can refuel" Trouble is, Gramps forgot to mention that you would be thirstier then a camel who swallowed a 13 sponges and a bag full of sand.

You are getting VERY impatient. 'This better be worth it.' You think. Your grandpa talked about some property, that this dying rich guy had given to him. They had been best friends. This had happened two months ago and you weren't even sure if gramps had ever seen the place before he died. The property, that you inherited from him, was supposed to be like paradise with a thousand green acres, a huge gorgeous log home, and a beautiful river ending in a waterfall that toppled over, making a rainbow over a crisp clear lake. Was this some huge hoax? I mean, how likely is it that you would actually get a place like that... for free. You are driving over a thousand miles to claim some property that had passed through two old men. 'I hope this place really does exist.' You say to yourself.

Finally, off in the distance, there is a sign of life. There's a small town ahead of you and they appear to be having some sort of downtown festival. You see two stands offering drinks. One is giving clear spring water away and the other is selling some kind of pink drink by the looks of the picture on the sign. After finding the nearest available parking spot, you head toward the water stand but a young lady in a yellow apron and her assistant yell to you across the street. "Hey, come get you a strawberry smoothie. We puree the biggest, juiciest strawberries we can find and blend it with the most exciting liquid, that will explode your taste buds and it instantly quenches your thirst.

Well, that sounds pretty awesome, to you, so you change directions and walk up to the smoothie stand. As you order you're smoothie some things seem a little off. Like, the fact that now you're up close, the lady making your drink looks weak and sickly and her eyes look sunken in. In fact the people on this side of the street are all tired looking, and unhappy. 'Wonder what their problem is?' You think. As the girl hands you your drink, you notice how amazing the scent of strawberries is. You also notice that the drink is more brown then pink. Not at all like one in the picture. "Why is it kinda brown?" you ask. "Oh, Chocolate" she says, grinning. "Intensifies the flavor and makes it better" Well, sounds pretty good, so you let your thirst take over and you gulp the drink down just as fast as you can.

Walking back to your car you realize you feel SICK. That smoothie had a good taste at first but the after-taste was like MUD! It's gritty in the back of your throat. You feel thirstier then before. You want water more then ever but you distrust the water stand now and you don't feel like this smoothie is going to stay down much longer. Just as you reach out to open the door of your car it starts, unexpectedly, and you barely have time to realize that the lady’s assistant is speeding away with your car!

You go over to yell at the smoothie lady but she ignores you. So you spend hours wondering around trying to find a police station. You walk till you fall over. There's a dying man next to you and he whispers "there's mud in the smoothie and whatever microbes are in the mud are killing all who drink it. We weren't meant to eat mud... Mud is bad for you even if it is mixed with strawberries."

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I made up this crazy story because so many people around me have a life story that is like this:

The road you traveled is like life. Sometimes it gets long and uncomfortable with no end in sight.

As for the beautiful, free paradise. Everyone has an inheritance that they must claim as their own. (Eternal life in heaven.)

Grandpa represents the promise that we have of what can be ours someday.

The town is like the times we have to stop to make choices in life.

The clear water is what we need. It is often clear what we should do but because of what sin has done in our heart we don't trust that Gods way for us is best.

The strawberry mud smoothie looks really great to us. Just like sin it is usually mixed with something good and promises to fulfill our desires. If we believe the lie we will have to live with the miserable consequences.

The sickly people are every person around us that has given their life over to sinful ways. We see that sin is making them miserable but we ignore that fact and go on and give in to the same sins that are tearing apart their lives.

The stolen car is what happens when we listen to the devil and fall for what's exciting and what we think looks good but isn't clean. He gives us something that is going to tear us apart and he uses that sin as a distraction to take everything he can from us.

The dieing man is those around you who have been there and done that, who warn you of what to stay away from. Don't wait till you've already messed up and made your life miserable before you listen.

Sin is deadly to your joy, your life and your soul. Even when you mix it with a little bit of good. Don't play around with it run from things that will pull you down. Pray every day that God will help you clean even the small sins out of your life and run toward Him and his best for you. Run toward God's best for you and flee from what is not!!!

James 4:7
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.