the poison vine

so poison ivy is from hell.  i don't think anyone will challenge me all that much on that one.  i have poison ivy.  it's from hell.

it's got me thinking...poison ivy is exactly like sin...sin is exactly like poison ivy, except that one you have from birth, and the other you pick up along the way...occasionally...more often that you want.

no, seriously.  poison ivy is just like sin.  let's talk about it...i think this because of what i've experienced that last week.  every time i can't stop itching, or wake up in the middle of the night itching, or want to stop bleeding because i'm itching, i think about how much this feels like my sin pattern.

you know...you stay out of sin for a while and then you step in it, or stumble upon it, or have to go get a disc-golf disc out of the poison ivy filled forestry that is camden park, or you see it and intentionally rub it all over your face...then shortly after you feel the itch, the desire to act.  you think about it for a second, thinking 'it's just an itch, i know i was near poison ivy, but this probably won't do anything.'  then the next day, or sooner, you see the results of your itching.  a small little blistery like rash on some part of your epidermis that reminds you of a cold sore, and you remember the first itch.  you remember thinking you had been in poison ivy so you probably shouldn't itch it, but you did itch it and now...now you're screwed.

did you know that the oil that causes the rash can get on your clothing or coat, or shoes, and if you don't wash it off...with something the equivalent of rubbing alcohol, it can stay active, able to cause a rash, for 1-5 years.  that's ridiculous!  it's from hell.  it's like sin.

so now you have a rash.  it itches...you don't want to scratch it except for the momentary relief and rush of endorphins to that area of your skin promised to you by the little devil of a voice in the back of your mind.  and scratching something that itches, in some sick, pathetic way, feels good.  it's weird.  if i scratch my arm that is disease free, nothing.  if i scratch my rash infested forearm, euphoria.  it's like sin...it's from hell.

there is almost always some kind of temporary fix associated with sin.  i know...i get my fix fairly regularly and it is always temporary, and it just like poison ivy.

getting rid of the poison ivy is now the mission of your life.  yet that mission is often thwarted and held up by the itching, which at some moments you do, without even being aware that you're doing it...like when you wife wakes you up in the middle of the night because you are scratching a part of you body so loudly that it woke her up, but you had no idea.

you can't just go into the forest and obliterate all the poison ivy.  you could get some of it, but there is always some hiding where you didn't think to look.  that's how you got it in the first place, unless you're one that wipes it on your face, which, metaphorically speaking, i have done.  so how do you get rid of it...you really can only get rid of the rash, and avoid the poison vine.  and getting rid of the rash isn't all that easy because it involves discipline on our part.  don't scratch it.  don't scratch it...i said no, but the devil in my head is saying yes...but don't. 

and just so you don't think i'm making all this, poison ivy is just like sin stuff...the bible says something about it...check it out.

some would say, i can't stay away from the poison vine because of this that or the other...and i can see that...i say that too...so in that case it isn't just about staying away from it, but recognizing it...having a friend who knows and sees and can point it out.  for me, it's disc golfing with a friend that knows what poison ivy looks like and where it is, so when i throw my disc into the woods and have to go in and get it, they can help me not get caught up in the ivy.

i hate poison ivy, but the way i scratch it sometimes, you would think i wanted it there...i think some of you can relate.

Comments

[Gene]

Dude,

You're like a poison ivy magnet. Didn't you have it a couple of years ago?

Great analogy with sin!