Red juice and white carpet 

When I was in high school, I got a large glass of red juice and sat on the couch at my home.

(You can probably guess where the story is going…)

I wasn’t paying attention…

and spilled the entire glass of bright red juice.

All over our white carpet.

My parents weren’t home, and I panicked.

It was like a scene from a movie where I was frantically running around.

I tried everything I could to wipe it up in every way possible.

Sure, I got some of it up.

But that stain wasn’t going anywhere.

There was always going to be a reddish pinkish spot on the carpet.

My mom walked in the door, and I was ready to face my fate.

I sheepishly showed her what had happened.

To my surprise, she laughed.

What?!

She said:

“We are actually replacing the carpet with hardwood and the installers are coming in three days. Don’t worry about it!”

The relief washed over me as I realized that I wasn’t going to have a permanent reminder of my one silly mistake.

Within just a few days, there was no trace of the stain.

In its place was beautiful new hardwood.

This little experience of good timing gave me a small taste of how Jesus can make the sins and stains on our hearts disappear.

“These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:14)

The righteous are not the people who had unblemished white robes all along.

The righteous are the people who had great tribulations, who made mistakes, who turned away from God, but then chose to use Jesus Christ’s atoning power to be cleansed into an even better state.

It should be impossible to get a blood-red stain out of white robes.

But Jesus did the impossible so that we could wash the stains, heartache, and pain out as often as we need.

Every little evidence of red can be replaced with the purest white.

It’s all because of, and through, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black