(We opened with the song, "For All You've Done" by Chris Tomlin.)

"It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose His temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, He embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on His own, with no help from us! Then He picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah." Ephesians 2:1-6 The Message

I like the word “mire”. It is very descriptive. Deep, soft mud, an area of swampy land. Can you imagine it? It’s the kind of mud that sucks your boot off when you walk in it.

On the farm I was raised on, the fields sometimes were quite muddy. I remember having my boots being “grabbed” by the mud. I don’t remember ever getting stuck in the mud or covered with mud, though.

No one purposely gets themselves stuck in a mud hole. When we find animals that have gotten themselves stuck, we feel sorry for them. Stupid animals. When people do similar things, we think they are not very bright.

I know several songs with the lyrics—“miry clay.” When I hear that, I imagine being trapped, covered with mud and not able to get out of the mud pit.

I don’t think of myself as particularly stupid but I seem to be good at getting myself mired in mud holes of a different kind. I guess that’s why I like the word, I can identify with it.

My mud holes have been the “miry clay” of relationships.

Relationships can be the most pleasant things. They’re meant to be wonderful! After all, we are created to be in relationship—God, three in one, made humans in his image, male and female! And relationships can be the most miserable thing. Once in particular, I remember thinking how miserable I felt. I had invested myself in this relationship. But the interesting person was not as nice as I thought. The promise of a deep and rich relationship was not met. How did I get here? Why had it turned out so badly?

I made a choice. “I let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell me how to live.” I chose to follow what I felt like doing, when I felt like doing it.

I was following everyone else. At first, it doesn’t seem bad—no instant death or blindness, pain, etc. But then things get bad and I wonder why. Like the dumb animal, I have stumbled into a mud hole and can’t see how to get out.

Well, while I was crying about my miserable life, I saw an image. It was Jesus, standing behind me with His arms outstretched. He was beckoning me, letting me know that if I just turned around, He would help me. He rescued me from the miry clay.

What would you do if you were stuck some place like that and you couldn’t get out by yourself? How would you feel about someone who pulled you out?

When rescued—what is the natural reaction to rescuer? Saved from the rubble, saved from the burning building. How do people react? With THANKSGIVING!

"My Savior, Redeemer! Lifted me from the miry clay. Almighty forever, I will never be the same! Jesus came from the everlasting!" with an incredible love, He embraced us.

             "Hallelujah! For all You’ve done!"

              Jesus beckons you, too. "By grace you have been saved through faith—it is a gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast." Eph. 2:8, 9