Lie-o-meter  

Renewing the mind is a little like refinishing furniture. It is a two-stage process. It involves taking off the old and replacing it with the new. The old is the lies you have learned to tell or were taught by those around you; it is the attitudes and ideas that have become a part of your thinking but do not reflect reality. The new is the truth. To renew your mind is to involve yourself in the process of allowing God to bring to the surface the lies you have mistakenly accepted and replace them with truth. To the degree that you do this, your behaviour will be transformed.  Charles Stanley

I determined this weekend that I have a built in Lie-o-meter.  Right about now you are asking “what is that”.   

Last week I had an allergic reaction to something.  I haven’t figured out exactly what it was but for the past four days I woke up each day looking like I went 8 rounds with a prize fighter.  My eyes almost swelled closed and various shades of bloodshot. 

What does this have to do with a Lie-o-meter?  Well I decided to go to a local emergency clinic to make sure my eyesight wasn’t likely to be affected and that I wasn't contagious. 

I get to my appointment and am in with the doctor.  He first tells me he doesn’t like the way my eyes are presenting.  About now I’m thinking I wish there were more doctors who spoke plain English.  Something like this.  “Your eyes look really bad and I’m not sure what it is?”  I ask him if I am contagious.  He says no but he isn’t sure what is wrong.  So he then tells me he doesn’t have the proper equipment to check my eyes so he is going to send me to an ophthalmologist.  So I tell him I really need to get back to work. Then he says, “Oh you don’t need to go back to work, you’re contagious.” 

My lie-o-meter started going off faintly.  He just told me I am not contagious now I am but he doesn’t know what is wrong so he is going to send me to someone else.  So if I am contagious why did he not use gloves when he checked my eyes.  He then proceeds to tell me he sent someone to this particular ophthalmologist last week and this particular doctor saved the guys cornea.  My lie-o-meter is ringing louder.  Something just doesn’t sound right with this situation.  So he tells me he is going to call the ophthalmologist personally and get me an appointment within an hour on the same day.  Lie-o-meter lights are going off.

So I am thinking this doctor is a doctor so he might know what he is doing.  So he schedules an appointment for me at 1:00pm the same day.  My lie-o-meter is still ringing but I take the information and go back to the office to wait for my appointment.  I get to the doctor's office and my lie-o-meter is steadily getting louder.  I was early so they give me paperwork to fill out and as I am sitting there my lie-o-meter is getting so loud I can’t think about anything but getting out of this doctor’s office. 

So I grab the paperwork from the clipboard, walk to the window and tell the receptionist that I am canceling my appointment and I walked out.  Something just wasn’t right about this whole situation.  I got the distinct impression that the original doctor was going to get something out of sending me to this particular ophthalmologist.

One thing I have learned is that the closer I get to God the more my lie-o-meter works.  I think it is because I am listening more closely for His signals that something is wrong.  I believe that God wants to protect us but we have to use the tools he gives us to analyze the things around us so that we can determine when someone is lying or telling the truth.  He also gives us the Holy Spirit living in us to use as a tool to protect us.   The thing is we have to spend time with God to determine when it is God speaking.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, thank you for protecting me.  There are times when I will get a feeling that something isn’t right. I have learned that at those times if I tune in to that feeling, most of the time my feeling is right.  If I take the truth and compare it to what the Bible tells me, I can come up with the right answer with Your help and the resources You give me.       

Scripture:  “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.  John 14:25-28