I started writing this a few days ago, but or some reason, I was unable to complete it because this website wouldn't come up for me- It's because I accidentally put a comma in the web address link where there should be a period! DOH!

Anyway....

We have raccoons living under our house. Raccoons are cute, and sound very nice with their twittering calls. I didn't mind them being here when I first found out about them.....

• Baby Raccoon Calling for Mom (wav)- A baby raccoon cries and calls for its mother.
• A Group of Baby Raccoons (wav) - The sounds of a group of baby raccoons.
• Happy Raccoon (wav) - Happy raccoons make happy sounds like these.
• Cooing Raccoon (wav) - A cooing raccoon.
• Distressed Raccoon (wav) - Raccoons make these sounds when they are in distress.

I figured, what will it hurt?- they can live here underneath us and no one will need to know they are there. The calls turned into noises in my ears. They scared the kids. The dog started whining and howling at the vents in our floor. I had to go through some red tape to get someone to come out and trap them. They caught one on Monday night.We continued to hear the squeaky sounds- they had babies. But Momma has not been caught yet-( they cry fior a few minutes and then abruptly stop every few hours during the day and night) so that must have been Daddy. Our cats have flea allergies and now the fleas are coming back...

When I walked in the door the other day, I could SMELL them.... I wonder if I will ever get rid of the stink....

and I thought it was so cool to have them here at first.

How many times do we invite unsavory guests into our hearts and homes and churches, thinking that they don't matter? Our prideful thoughts, gossip, entertaining deceitfullness, using insults thinking we are clever, and forgetting to forgive our brothers and sisters.....

There are holes in our armor when we act unrighteously, tell lies, fight with others in the Body, forget that our salvation doesn't come from our good deeds, leave our Bibles to collect dust, choose to put our faith in ourselves, and tell all about the great sale at that store, but never say a word about how our Savior splurged and got us all tickets to Heaven.

We think these are little things... but they can be dangerous to our hearts, families and churches, damaging our witness for Christ.

Sins can be attractive, and seem harmless- if they weren't we wouldn't do them!

How did our raccoons get in? There was a hole in the skirting of our manufactured home, and it was unprotected, like a hole in the armor of God, some facet of the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation, sword of the Spirit, shoes of the Gospel of peace, or shield of fath was not intact.

The sins can multiply like our raccoons did.

Our families can become insecure, just because one sin, not dealt with opens up the door to more.

One day, without even knowing it has happened, you might notice that your attitude stinks!

Other people may notice it too......

Letting the little things in leaves you open to attack.

We should have called for help earlier..... Lesson in godly relationships!

Call someone to help you who has experience in a discipling relationship!

Sometimes, sins won't go away, simply because the sinner who harbors them doesn't want to cut off all access( as in the case of addiction). But once the culprit is discoved, the access must be denied in order to be rid of the resident completely.