Log Book

I learned to drive when I was fourteen.  My dad insisted that I keep up the mileage log, which he kept in the glove box.  I had to write down the date, gallons that I put in, subtract the last fill-up mileage from the current mileage to get the miles driven, and then divide the gallons into the miles driven to get the miles per gallon.  Complicated.  When I got my first car and drove off to college, I kept up the log faithfully … for two months until I realized that my dad wasn’t there, and I didn’t have to keep up the log.  The first fill-up that I didn’t write down, I felt guilty.  But soon, I felt freedom.  Wahoo!  No more calculations!  I now realize that my dad was just obsessive/compulsive.  He liked to write everything down.  And, although I have a tendency to be obsessive/compulsive, I try to fight the urge.  I intentionally unstraighten things.  But it’s hard.  I still have to make my bed each morning (not a bad thing).  Keeping rules is not a bad thing, unless you try to keep rules in order to get into heaven.  And that just won’t work.  You see, we get to heaven only by the merit of Jesus Christ.  Paul said in Titus 3:5, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his (Jesus) mercy he (Jesus) saved us …”  We don’t get to heaven by doing good things; we get to heaven by what Jesus has already done.  Hey, it’s by grace alone, through faith alone, to God alone be the glory!