Last week, I went to visit my son. He is greatly improving in so many ways, though he remains in a wheelchair.  
I have been encouraged by so many who have told me that they continue to pray for him. It is a good thing to know that people care, but an even better thing to know that God hears those prayers.
While gone, I did not have access to email, so I was surprised upon returning home to read one asking me if I was going to write an article for last Saturday. In fact, both of my avid readers (my wife and mother-in-law) asked me why I did not have a column in the paper.
Here’s the thing: I was certain that I had written for the week. I had no doubt that I had emailed an article for last Saturday, so my first thought was that someone else had made a mistake.
And once again, I was wrong! I had taken the time to write three articles for October, and even had made a note to that effect on my calendar in my office. And yet I managed to ignore my note, and I missed the deadline by two days.  
I so would like to tell you that this was the only mistake I made last month. But it would be a bold-faced lie to do so.  
The fact is that the man I see in the mirror every morning is far more prone to mistakes than I would like. Time after time, I forget things that are important. It is imperative that I write things down in order to remember them, but even that does not work all of the time.
But here is the news that is even worse. It is not simply that I fail to remember, or that I make mistakes. The plain and simple fact is this: There are times when I willfully choose to do something that I know to be wrong. Again, it pains me to say that; I don’t like to admit to my own sinfulness.  
And yet, that admission is the first step to forgiveness and peace with God. We live in a day when so many do not want to admit to sin. They acknowledge an occasional mistake, but sin? That seems too harsh.
But the Bible is clear, and our experience confirms this fact. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). That includes you. It includes me. It includes every man, woman, boy and girl alive. We all have fallen short of God’s standard, and we need his help.  
There is good news! God has offered forgiveness to those who will receive it. Jesus gave his life that we might be forgiven. He is the answer to our greatest problem.
Have you trusted him? I pray that you will.