So, for those of you that have seen my memo's and those that know me, I'm in a state of flux/confusion about my job situation. I'm 98% sure that I'm going back to the job I left 8 months ago, but in the interim (i.e., a written confirmation of that fact!) I am still going on interviews. I have one tomorrow morning, so I needed my suit cleaned.

I went this morning to the dry cleaners with my suit. Yeah, I used to have more than one, but changing a tire in dress pants results in me having a really nice sport coat now instead of a suit :)

I took it in and I knew I had had a mis-hap with some food in that suit, and that there was 'a spot or two' on it.

Boy, when you start looking for the spot you were talking about, it's amazing how many more stains you find when the professional cleaner is looking too. More than you'd care to admit!

You think (in the case of the pants): "Am I an adult? Did I set a steak in my lap and roll it down my legs? How did these get so dirty? These are supposed to be DRESS pants, not coveralls!"

Well, it's maybe a straightforward analogy, but how often do we think of ourselves as a nice suit or dress, aware that through day-to-day 'wear and tear' there will be some stains, marks, or 'spots'? We accept them and continue on. We might judge ourselves against those with more apparent stains, and say 'we're not so dirty'.

But when you go to the cleaner - the PROFESSIONAL spot remover, how much more apparent, and UGLY those spots are?

I don't know if the dry cleaner will be able to clean up some of those spots, but I do know that Jesus' blood will cleanse all the stains from me and leave me cleaner than new.

Now, if I had gone on this interview without visiting the cleaners, I might have been able to hide the ugliness of those spots with a well-placed folder or buttoning up my jacket in front, but when we meet the Lord, we had better have gone to Christ and asked to be cleansed, because 'almost clean' isn't gonna cut it!