When I was a young man, long before I recognized the person of Jesus Christ, I tried to use Christ as a genie in a bottle.    A tn example was when I was driving the large John Deere tractors and got stuck.

I would be stuck because I hadn't paid attention.  We would start the years crops as early as possible so it turn they could be harvested before the winter's snow hit the northern plains.  There would be low spots that were still filled  with the winter run-off, an d my dad would warn me every morning to keep clear of those areas.

Ofcourse, I would get  on the tractor, forget anything about dad,  get too closeto the water and the huge tractor would become stuck.  Panic would gripe me since I know I was in trouble if Dad had to bring another tractor to pull me out.  I would try every trick with the track to get traction and at the same time start negotations with God for Him to get me out.

The negotations went something like this.  "God, get me out of this mess and I'll serve you forever and pray every night."   And if I was lucky one of my tricks would break the tractor free and the day would go one. I was lucky I thought because I found a way out.   Oh, my pleas to God were long forgotten and any thought of He'd helped put aside.
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I'm much older now, and have known His grace for decades.  I do pray every night and I do serve Him.   However, I must admit when I still get stuck, I am much more apt to turn to Him than when there are going great.  Then when I'm freed, I don't always give Christ the thanks he deserves.  I feel like I'd freed myself, and then do something dumb and get stuck again.  Why, sometimes, because the times were good and I forgot His instructions and got too close to trouble.

He is with us through the good and the bad, and I pray I keep Him in my sight in the good as much as the bad. 

Has this ever happen to you?