Life outdoors for a young boy is filled with adventure and enjoyment. Even as infants, both of our boys (Knox and Eli) seemed to always be more content when we brought them outside. I can remember both crying uncontrollably for mysterious reasons until we simply just walked outside on the back porch. It worked to calm them down nearly every time. Sending everyone outside remains a go to tactic for us when breaking up fights and calming chaos that ensues inside. The wildness of nature and God’s creation seem to calm the soul a bit. The dirtiest, wildest, most unsafe, and remote parts of our yard seem to draw Eli and Knox in the most.  Many nights, the shower floor turns black as those tiny feet step inside.

During our extra-long bedtime routine one evening, my wife, Erin, noticed something on top of Eli’s head while combing his hair. As she parted the hair around the area, she spotted a giant tick making a home right in his scalp. She yelled for me across the house to come and meet Eli’s new little blood sucking friend! Eli had not noticed at all, and it was only upon close examination that we even found it. I ran back across the house and grabbed some tweezers so I could extract the nasty little parasite from his head. The tick held on for dear life, but we were able to remove and kill him.

The event almost slipped my mind until later that week when I was listening to The Morning Cruise on the Joy FM radio station. One of the three hosts, Bill Martin, was discussing setting aside time for a prayer retreat. Bill set aside three hours on a Saturday afternoon one weekend for some guided prayer. This time gave him peace and clarity as well as forcing him to do business with his heart and sin. He was not aware that there was anything sinful that ne needed to confess but during the uninterrupted time of silence, God showed Bill that he had some priorities out of line (some subtle, unnoticed sin). Bill worked it out through prayer and turned towards Jesus. He said, “I wonder what my life will look like as I repent. I’ll probably experience more freedom.” That small consuming behavior may have gone unaddressed and become something more down the road. I was immediately reminded about that sinful tick that was consuming some life out of my unknowing two-year-old.

• That tick could have gone unnoticed and unaddressed if Erin had not slowed down the night to brush Eli’s teeth and comb his hair. Much like the tick, unrepented and unnoticed sin can suck the life out of you and rob your freedom in the Lord. Set aside time to get quiet and ask the Lord if you have a tick causing subtle harm in your life. Search my heart, Lord. Examples: Am I harboring anger towards someone? Am I putting God first in all aspects of my life?
• Get the right tools to remove it. You cannot just scratch off a tick or grab it with your hands. You need help from something more exact and precise (tweezers in Eli’s case, focused prayer in the matter of our spiritual lives). We cannot defeat our sin alone, only Jesus has the tools to empower us to repent. Like the tick, sin has a way of trying to hang on for dear life.
• Kill it. Ticks come back with vengeance unless you know how to destroy them. Traditional parasite killing methods like flushing them down a toilet, crushing them in your hand or throwing them outside does no good and could make your issue worse. Google all the ways to kill a tick if you are interested on how long to drown them in rubbing alcohol. (I hope you’re not too creeped out yet!) The bottom line is sin can be killed only through the power and grace of Jesus, not traditional methods offered by the world. You can’t fix your sin by simply being more positive. You can’t exercise your sin away. You can’t run away from it or ignore. You get the point.
• Regularly check yourself. Knox and Eli are going to be outside a lot. They love being outside and it’s great for them. We know that we need to give them a good thorough check before they get a bath at night. If we are going to live in this world and be effective for the kingdom, we need check ourselves as well. Maybe your new prayer could go something like this….

Lord, check me for ticks.

Just fishing with my daddy,

Ryan