CDPunt(igam) Writes

A pack a day for as long as she could remember. Joe’s mom had smoked a pack a day every day. She loved smoking, the flavor, the burn as she took a drag, the feel of lighting up after a good meal or with a cold drink. She always had a pack of cigarettes on hand and was ready to light one up at the drop of a hat. And she probably would have continued to smoke a pack a day the rest of her life. Until she found out that Joe had asthma. When the doctor told her, she threw away all the cigarettes she had in the house, every lighter, tossed out every ashtray. She was done and hasn’t had one since. If you asked her, she’d tell you it was the easiest thing she ever did. It was easy because she could see how it gave life where death had been lurking.

This short story is based on Mark 9:38-50

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward. “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where “ ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ Everyone will be salted with fire. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

NIV: New International Version