I remember a particular guy from my high school days. He was pretty good sized and seemed to be eating every time I saw him. Do you suppose there was some connection there?

We worked at the one and only supermarket in our small town. Occasionally a bag of cookies, fig bars, candy, etc. would “accidentally” develop a hole. I put “accidentally” in quotation marks because I wasn’t there when the hole developed, but have my own opinion. I can state that a lot more holes developed during his shifts than any other times!

One day our boss made a comment after this boy had made the round trip to Harry’s Drive-In on break: “Hey, he thinks he’s having a well-balanced meal if he’s got a hamburger in each hand!” (grin)

I recently drove to northern Georgia to be with our daughter. She teaches high school, so I had some free time during part of the day. There is a lovely park not too far from her home, so, as often is my wont, I took up temporary residence at a picnic table.

This park has a jogging/walking track as well as all kinds of neat, safe playground equipment for the kids. The swimming pool was empty, but it wasn’t the right time of the year for swimming on the Georgia/Tennessee border, believe me!

After reading for a while, I noticed an elderly gentleman walking so fast around the track that he was nearly running. I thought I recognized him from a previous trip. Sure ‘nuff. He came over to my table, did some deep knee bends and stretches, and reminded me of a previous conversation we’d had in order to prove that we’d met before. Turns out, he’s nearly 80 years old.

I commented on his muscular build and athletic prowess. He thanked me for the compliments. I really didn’t anticipate the next words out of his mouth. He said, “Well, I have to work hard every day to stay in shape. You see, I love my beer and peanuts and can’t have them if I don’t come over here and work out!” He was grinning and chuckling as he jogged on over to his pickup.

After he left, I couldn’t get back to reading for a while. I kept thinking about my conversations with this man. I’ve been writing “Inside Out” up here long enough to suspect that there was a piece hidden in this experience.

1. We must never think we’ve “heard or seen it all” because we haven’t!

2. The term “balance” can be pretty subjective!

The disturbing truth I see peeking through this story, is how this “balancing” pops up in people’s lives. In fact, there are probably some folks who will read this piece who think they’re bound for Heaven simply because they’re good balancers. They figure that as long as the “good works” side of God’s scales is piled at least slightly higher than the “sinful deeds” side, they’ll surely be roundly and widely welcomed inside the pearly gates. NOT!

The Scriptures tell us that salvation is by GRACE alone. If we try to add one more thing, especially something stemming from our works, to our salvation, we’re simply trying to balance the scales. We can’t do that! There is nothing we can add to God’s plan of salvation.

Is balancing never important? Well, of course it is. We all have to learn to balance the various and often competing interests in our lives. Where do we rank God, spouse, family, church, job, friends, hobbies, etc. on our priority list? How do we actually balance the real, genuine forces in our lives that push and pull, competing for our time and attention?

We can learn how to balance the factors in our Christian life. However, the important first step is to forget about balancing sins and good deeds when applying for admittance to the Family of God. We must throw ourselves entirely on His mercy and trust our eternal spirits to His finished work of salvation and His work completely.

As usual, PapaJ’s E-mail box is happily awaiting your response to this piece. I’ll definitely get back to you! Also, as usual, I’d appreciate it if you would pass this URL along to your friends and family. Thanks!

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