I love Trash Day. You put the garbage on the curb the night before or early in the morning, leave for a while, and “poof” it all disappears. I put everything I don’t want or need any more out there. Our trash guys are awesome!! Whatever you put on the curb, they throw into the truck. I’ve put toilets, old TV’s, bed frames, Trampoline, concrete blocks, fish tanks, and anything else that will fit on the curb. When they heave it all into the back of that truck, the fun begins. When I can, especially if I’ve put something interesting on the curb, I sit upstairs and watch the action.

A few weeks back I put an old box TV on the curb. You know the ones that weigh a gazillion pounds. As I was getting ready for the day, I heard the trash truck coming (you can hear it a mile away). I went upstairs with a cup of coffee, sit down, and waited for the action to begin. They backed up to the curb and began chunking all my trash into the metal pit. Because the TV was so heavy, they both grabbed a side and heaved it into the back. Now it was time to pull the lever. Yep, the lever that controls the powerful hydraulic crusher thingy! (I’d like to run that hydraulic crusher thingy just one time. Wouldn’t you?) It began to move up and reach out to gather all of the trash together, kind of like a mother hen uses her wings to gather her chicks, except the powerful crusher thingy has no love and compassion for what is in its grasp. It comes down with brute force and power crushing everything under its metal wing. The TV exploded under the force of the mighty crusher thingy! It…was…AWESOME!

Yessir! I love trash day. It’s there when you leave for the day and GONE when you get back! And occasionally when I get a chance, I get to watch the powerful crusher thingy too.

One morning I took before & after pictures. It was the morning I left the TV and a bed frame on the curb. Our trash & the neighbors were overflowing. They even had an old plastic drawer thingy on the curb (I’m enjoying saying thingy today). It was there all there one minute and gone the next.

I have never ran after the trash guys as they were pulling away to get something back I needed. Once it’s gone, I’m not going to run after it! I don’t need it anymore…that’s why I put it on the curb. There have been times when I forgot to put the trash out. The trash may pile up for another week because I forgot, but never because I wanted it back. By the way, I hate it when I forget. Those are bad weeks for the Carroll home because we have a lot of trash. 

Trash day is a great picture of what has happened to our sins. Jesus Christ crushed sin and death for us. He took away all our sins as God placed the sins of all mankind on Him and conquered sin & death through Christ.  The Bible says….

“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” II Corinthians 5:21

“For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17

Jesus took the sin\trash in our lives and paid the price once for all. That’s what God asked Him to do, and He did it! It was God’s desire for us to be made Holy and Right in His sight. Jesus made that  possible for us.
“For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.” Hebrews 10:10

That’s what we now celebrate Passover weekend. We remember with love and gratitude the sacrifice Jesus made on Friday, by shedding His blood & laying down his life to pay the penalty for all our sins, and then we rejoice on Sunday that He didn’t stay in the grave! He was victorious!  Jesus crushed\defeated sin and death for us! All of our sins, failures, mistakes, & issues were paid for and taken away at the cross, so that we could walk in freedom, victory, faithfulness, obedience, and gratitude as we serve Him daily here on earth. 

“Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love. Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!” (Micah 7:18-19)

God, through Jesus Christ, did exactly what He said He would do.

So here is the question I’m asking myself today. Why do I keep chasing what was already crushed? Why do I live as though I’m still bound to what has already been taken away? No person, except for those people on the show hoarders (Lord deliver them), would ever run after the trash truck and ask for all their junk back! It’s gone! All we have to do is believe and receive it. Jesus made a way for all of us to come into God’s presence, through Him, to find the answers to our questions and to clear away the confusion in our lives. We don’t have to live in sin. We don’t have to live in confusion. We CAN know and understand God’s will for our lives. When Jesus died on Calvary, and the Father raised Him from the dead, A WAY was made for us to be in God’s presence here on earth and ultimately for all eternity. That’s why Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)  

What do we need to put it on the curb today! As I was writing this, I had a situation come up that I have to let go of & allow God to clear the confusion for me right now. Together, we can all put our junk on the curb. Now picture the big Crusher Thingy reaching out to gather it all up and watch it disappear and drive away. We are now free to receive the amazing love, forgiveness, and grace extended to us through Jesus Christ. It has already been done, we just have to receive it. I know it’s hard for us to understand that, but it’s true. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” that’s what He was talking about. All you and I have to do is receive what has already been done for us. We don’t have to live in fear and doubt. We can have clarity and peace. We have to sort through some of the trash along the way to understand and find closure, but ultimately we simply receive what Jesus won for us. We can have the life He promised us. An abundant life! As we abandon all of our wants and desires on the curb, and choose to LOVE HIM above all else. When we do that, He says we can be free of the junk in our lives and He will provide all we need.

I love taking my kids to school in the morning. I have been doing that for 14 years. That’s crazy to even think about. 14 years!! Wow!

Every morning has been different. Some mornings I’ve been stressed or worried. Some mornings there has been a Spirit of joy, hope, and laughter. Some mornings there were moments of anger and frustration. That 15 – 20 minute window with all 4 of our children has been a chance to pray over them, experience the feelings and emotions of life together (both theirs and mine), and grow together. Those drives have always been a moment to focus on the “now” of life, as we prepare to move into the day before us as well as tomorrow.   

This morning after I dropped our youngest son off at his Middle School, I reflected on those thoughts as I drove home. About what is and has been over the last 14 years. I thought through the conversations, moments, and the gift of time I have been given. I thought about how grateful I am for my wife and our children. I love them, and I was thanking my Heavenly Father for the many blessings I have been given. I was open, looking, and listening to what God was speaking to me.

As those thoughts filled my mind, I was driving down a road I traveled MANY times before on these mornings with the kids. A little cut-through-road where for years nothing but Texas sized fields, open space, and groves of trees stood. A couple of houses, with pasture land that is home to a few horses and small gardens, are along the way, but you can tell that nothing else has occupied the land on this little ¾ of a mile stretch of bumpy road. But today things looked different. I saw differently. My vision wasn’t clouded by stress, worry, fear, anger, doubt, or anything else that would keep me from seeing what had changed. Things were transforming along this little stretch of road.

As our city continues to grow rapidly, builders have begun the process to put in a very large & modern outdoor shopping center, a huge intersection & bridge, and new roads that will go around the city. It’s the next step to transform areas where only fields, trees, horses, and gardens have existed for centuries, to a place of explosive growth and development around the Dallas Metroplex. The fields are shaping into roads, and black fence outlines an area where one day buildings & concrete will replace the open fields. The trees have been cleared away, and where vision used to be obstructed you can see for miles into the distance. Sight is no longer obstructed by the way things used to be, as dozers and trucks move away what was to give a clear line of sight to something more.

I pulled over onto the side of the road, got out of my car, and took this picture. I sensed the Lord saying, “The things you see now are only a shadow of what is to come. One day this field, and how things used to be, will be replaced with stores, environments, and an atmosphere for the people of this city to experience things they have had to drive miles to find. Things that are far away today will be in their back yard very soon. This piece of land will yield a new era of convenience for the people of this city. Many will drive by every day and never understand or recognize the process this land is going through to become what it will be. Day by day the construction will take place for years. Roads will appear. Buildings will seemingly pop up. And one day in the future, People will just drive up and enjoy what will be, never understanding what had to happen years before to make it all possible.”

When I got home I read Leviticus 16:1-2. It says, “After the death of Aaron's two sons - they died when they came before God with strange fire - God spoke to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron not to enter into the Holy of Holies, barging inside the curtain that's before the Atonement-Cover on the Chest whenever he feels like it, lest he die, because I am present in the Cloud over the Atonement-Cover.”

Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, had brought “strange fire” before the Lord. God had given strict instructions on how things should be done before they came into His presence. If they did any of the steps wrong or became careless in their approach to coming into His presence, they died on the spot. That’s what happened to Aaron’s sons, and God wanted to make sure that He was clear. Why? God is Holy. Only the people He appointed could come into His presence, and they could only enter into His presence after they had done exactly what He said they should do. Read the rest of Leviticus 16 to see what God told Moses to tell Aaron to do before entering God’s presence. In fact, take some time to read about, study, and understand all the sacrifices and requirements found in Exodus & Leviticus. They are lengthy. They are detailed. But they were so important. Because coming before and being accepted by God was serious. It required sacrifice. It was a detailed process to make a person acceptable to be received by God and to come before Him, so that the rest of the people could be accepted and live. This process was a shadow of what was to come. One day these sacrifices would stop. One day this lengthy process would be replaced. One day a Savior would come to the rescue. He would clear away the trees. He would replace what was, with something far better. He would make access to a Holy God possible for everyone through Him. That day of salvation has come for us today through Jesus, and now we can go confidently into God's presence through Him!

Jesus came and fulfilled every thing that God required. He came and cleared away what was to bring a BETTER WAY! Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the Father a part from me.” (John 14:6) Jesus paid the price. He endured & took God’s wrath for the sin of all mankind, and gave His life as the once and for all payment for all our sins. He conquered sin & death. What we couldn’t do for ourselves, He did for us. The people of God used to have to rely on Aaron to get everything exactly right, so that he could go before God for them over & over again, but now because of Jesus we can go into God’s presence based on what He did for us once and for all time. Through Him we now have access to God's presence every moment of every day. But do we really understand the price He paid to make it all possible?

What used to be impossible is now possible. What used to be distant is now close. Can you see it? Do you realize it? Have you received it? Or has this amazing gift & truth been blocked by trees in fields of religion, complacency, apathy, guilt, shame, unforgiveness, anger, doubt, addiction, fear, loss, depression, failure, hopelessness, worry, performance, jealousy, greed, etc… Jesus came and transformed the landscape! He’s near us. We simply have to open our eyes, listen, ask, & receive. Then our hearts will be filled with love, hope, gratitude, and thankfulness as we glorify the name of Jesus today and forever because of His great love and sacrifice for us.

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it." (John 3:16)

"This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life." (I John 5:12)

We have to open our eyes to see what was, so that we can believe what is  available today. Ever said, “Can you believe how things have changed?” Well they have in the most important way! Through faith in Jesus and receiving the forgiveness He attained for us, we can go before our Heavenly Father in confidence knowing that ALL things are possible!

Check out what it says in Hebrews 10 right now.  Read the whole chapter. You’ll be so grateful for how Jesus removed athe trees and changed the landscape to make possible what we can have today! Here’s a taste…

“So, friends, we can now - without hesitation - walk right up to God, into "the Holy Place." Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The "curtain" into God's presence is his body. So let's do it - full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:19-22