Hurt

All…have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. (Rom. 3:23 CEV)

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8 NKJV)

"[I]f you do not listen to me or obey my commands, and if you break my covenant by rejecting my laws and treating my regulations with contempt, I will punish you... (Leviticus 26:14-16 NLT)

My back yard bordered our neighbor's back yard when I was growing up.  The neighborhood kids all liked playing in our combined back yards because they were big enough to play whiffle ball, football (nerf style), and any other active game (at least for grade-school sized players).

Toward the back of our yard, close to my parents' detached garage, was a grassy area in the neighbor's yard with a hill that was about 4 feet tall.  It was the perfect place for all of us to play "king of the hill."  We would all try to "take over" the hill and push all our "subjects" down below.  Being one of the youngest (and scrawniest) players I never held the title of "king."

One time when we were playing the game, I was pushed down the hill (which was sort of the point) and found myself with a sharp pain in my hand where it hit the ground trying to break my fall.  I picked my hand up to find a small tree limb sticking out of the heal of my hand where it had embedded itself.  Pain...blood...cleaning the wound...more pain.  I still remember the whole incident.  I still have the scar to this day.

It's one thing to say we should all stay away from the edge of the "potholes" in life.  Our reality, though, is a different story, isn't it?  You've fallen.  So have I.  We've ended up at the bottom of the "pothole" that we were warned against.  And it hurts.  It doesn't matter how we got there.  We can try to blame someone else, but we know where we could have turned back and avoided it all together.  Now it just hurts...and we want it to be all better.  That's the result of sin.