Wow, time gets away so quickly! It doesn't seem long at all since my last post but as I look at the date it has been a couple of months. January and February seem to be the hibernation months as they are the grayest, rainiest and coldest of our year. I guess that goes for writing as well. :-)

One of the first things I remember noticing about moving to Arkansas was the dead skunks. We moved to Lavaca in February 12 years ago. There were dead skunks everywhere. After inquiring about this strange phenomenon, I found out that this is skunk mating season and they were on the move. I am still not really sure that was true but it made since as there was strong evidence everywhere. Nothing has changed in that world in 12 years! Once again there are dead, stinky skunks in the middle of the road. Sure, go ahead and sing it...I know you want to. Anyway.....

As I was driving to the office this morning I noticed the pungent distinct odor of a skunk. Just up in front of me was a buzzard enjoying skunk road kill for breakfast. My first thought was that buzzard is living dangerously eating in the middle of the road like that. And then I thought, how does he stand the smell?! Then it dawned on me, he can't smell or then again maybe he has just gotten use to it. I thought, how awful to get so use to something so horrific as skunk scent that you accept it as normal.

And then I thought we are a lot like the buzzard. We live in the stinky world of sin everyday. We live in the stink so much that we get use to it and accept much of it as normal. I think the word the experts use for this is desensitized. There are many social issues in our world like abortion and homosexuality, just to name a couple, that many have grown accustomed to and even accepted because of popular opinions and political correctness.

However, the Christ follower should be attentive to such stink and not be desensitized to truth because of the culture in which we live. I like the way "The Message" translation puts Romans 12:1-2. It says, "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

The best way to be and remain holy in today's culture is to know truth and walk with God intimately each day. If we don't...we could very easily end up beside the buzzard eating the stinky road kill of life.