Gò0dNews for Everyone
On The Edge
F
by Monica Gambrell
rom my earliest memories, I have always slept on the
ourselves, yet we persist in inching our toes over the line in
very edge of the bed. It has never mattered which
the sand. We like to see how far we can push the envelope
side as long as I am right on the edge. Maybe it’s
and still walk in the light. Shame on us.
because it was easier to slip my arms and feet out from under the blankets—I don’t know. At any rate, this had never presented itself to be a problem until April of 2008. I was in the middle of a deep sleep when suddenly, I found myself on the floor. Somewhat angered by the splitting pain in my head, I felt to see if anything was broken. I had rarely
James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Revelation 3:16: “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Acts 24:16: “So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.”
experienced pain so severe. Somehow, I had landed headfirst on my floor. Now, I have to be honest here: my mattress is roughly 36” from the floor, and my floors are covered in vinyl, so we’re talking about a really hard fall. My head had a fleshy “ridge” from brow to crown for days, my elbow, hip, and top of my hand were bruised badly, and my left knee was bloodied (never fully recovered from that). It was a little comical, if I do say so myself, to see my husband bolt out of bed in our blackened room to stumble around blindly attempting to turn on the light. And even then, he couldn’t find me immediately! I was not laughing, though. As I recall, it was more of a screeching howl. I remained a good half hour in the restroom trying to regain some measure of decorum before
1 Thessalonians 5:23: “May God himself, the God of
I went back to bed—this time not so close to the edge. A
peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole
couple of minutes later, my husband was awakened again—
spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our
this time because I was laughing uncontrollably. I told him
Lord Jesus Christ.”
that I couldn’t help feeling that if God was trying to take my
As long as we live, we will fight the battle against the
mind off of my continually troublesome shoulder by making
world, the flesh, and the devil. May we strive to be holy
everything else hurt, then I got the message. He didn’t think
as He is holy. Maybe your life (save one or two areas) is
that was the message. Truthfully, I didn’t either. The point
dedicated wholly to the Lord. That’s not enough. That’s
is, we sometimes live too close to the edge. Clear lines are
living on the edge. He gave His all for you; now you must
drawn. It is written in God’s Word how we are to conduct
give your all for Him.
28 // May 2021
