There are things we avoid because we don’t like them. Sometimes we are reminded of why we don’t like them. 

There are certain things I try to avoid in life. Eating select vegetables and watching sappy movies immediately come to mind. 

Sometimes just saying no is enough. But there are times when you have to go out of your way to avoid what you don’t like. When confronted with an afternoon of shopping at an outlet mall for instance, you might have to fake a bad knee to get out of it. 

There are other times you can’t avoid the things you don’t like; you just have to face them. For instance, going to the dentist. It’s not on anyone’s favourites list, but you have to go at least once or twice a year.

One thing I’ve consistently avoided at the dentist is having freezing. It’s not like I have perfect teeth; in fact I have a mouth full of fillings. But there are two reasons why I avoid freezing. 

First, I don’t like needles. I go to great lengths to avoid getting a needle if I can. Second, I hate freezing for the way it makes my face feel. I have, therefore, avoided any freezing at the dentist. 

I can’t remember the last time I had freezing. Well, actually I can because I had freezing this week.

I had to have a back molar pulled. It had had a crown on it, but the root cracked. I finally agreed to get it taken out and get an implant put in. 

My dentist said right off the bat that he would need to freeze me for the extraction. I didn’t question him. I figured it would be rather painful.

So I got all frozen up. I mean the whole side of my face, from just below my eye, felt numb. Oh and my tongue – for hours it was a useless piece of flappy muscle. I really don’t like the feeling.

And freezing stays with you for a while. I had a dinner meeting that night and I was still frozen. The worst part of it was that I couldn’t tell if I had food on my face. I had to ask the guys I was with if my face had leftovers on it.

It’s not a good scenario when you’re talking away and people are staring at you. They are actually likely staring at the drool that has started out of the corner of your mouth and is making a slow descent down to the bottom of your chin. 

But when you’re frozen you have no clue! You merrily go about your business while they just stare at you. It’s like they’ve placed bets on how long it will take to drip off your chin. No one wants to tell you in case you wipe it away and then all bets are off.

Fortunately for me, I was not drooling uncontrollably and by midway through my meeting the freezing wore off.

I finally stopped sounding like Marlon Brando in the Godfather.

Here’s the thing: You can avoid dealing with the sin in your life. You can pretend that it’s no big deal. You can rationalize it. Or you can claim everyone else does it. But there will come a time when you have to face Jesus with it. You can’t get out of it. So it is far better to deal with your sin now and confess it before Him than it is to wait until He confronts you with it. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What thing do you really try to avoid? Leave your questions and comments below.

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