Junk e-mail? E-Junk? What do we call it? I log onto my computer to 63 new messages! Well, it says 63, but 59 are “bulk” mail. Junk mail.

At least Yahoo is polite enough to gather the junk in a pile for me. I left AOL because they didn't. I'd spend 25 minutes hitting delete, delete, delete all the diet plans, free offers and various other smut. Yahoo is easy. I press delete once to evaporate all this morning's E-Crud.

4 pieces of real, er, cyber mail.

I log on. But wait, 2 of the remaining are actually junk that snuck through.

And the other 2 pieces are Forwards from a friend. I ask myself, "Is that really a friend?" You know, a friend who sends you a Chain Letter. ("If you don't forward this you are cursed".....thanks, buddy!)
No real mail this morning.

It struck me, this morning, that is how our minds are. Mine is, is yours? I get 63 pieces of mail every morning and most of it is junk.

The junk mail in my mind is varied and colorful. Past experiences and deep regrets. Lies the world tells me. Lies I believe about myself. More regrets. Busyness and loneliness. Attacks from self and attacks from the enemy (some call the enemy Satan but I call him Stan), and just plain…how can I put this….JUNK.

I have to sort through that mail every morning and there’s no clever Yahoo program to do that. I have had to learn to embrace the truth, which is like a shredder that cuts through all the Junk Mail Lies.

Here’s a good one to play as you wake.

“His mercies are new every morning.” That means we get a Do-Over, a Start Again, a It’s a Brand New Day After All. Every day. So don’t carry your yesterday’s junk into day’s new day. I love that one.

“Take every thought captive for Christ.” That’s a powerful junk shredder. I gather up all the junk, as much as I can gather, and hand it to Him. I say, “Lord, take this junk and destroy it, in Your name and by Your power.” He pulverizes most of it, instantenously, just because I asked and just because He can and because, of course, He loves me.

But, as in my cyber mailbox, there are a few pieces left. These are the pieces I am left to address, to handle, to consider for myself. Maybe they are forwards from a friend. In the Christian world we sometimes call them Prayer Requests.

One of my Forwards, in my mind today, is a prayer for a friend who is desperate for a baby. She’s newly pregnant, again, yet there have been losses. I pray for her.

Another Forward is for the mom of a friend. The mom has terminal cancer, but she's doing okay. She's secure in her eternal life. My friend struggles with a pervasive feeling that This-Life-is-All-There-Is. I keep that piece of mail. I’ve had it in my pocket for years now.

Maybe after we sort it all out, all the junk and requests and funny jokes, this is truly all that’s meant to remain. Prayer. Just plain old thoughtful, carry it with you, ponder it in your heart, lift it up to the Lord, prayer.

What mail did you get today? What junk are you carrying around? I encourage you in Jesus’ name to sort it out and give most of it to Him. Only carry what He asks you to keep.

Because here’s the truth. The mail comes again tomorrow.