No, not one.

When a man he serves the Lord, it makes his life worthwhile.
It don’t matter ’bout his position, it don’t matter ’bout his lifestyle.
Talk about perfection, I ain’t never seen none
And there ain’t no man righteous, no not one.

-Bob Dylan, Ain’t No Man Righteous (No Not One)

I’ve come to the realization that my health problems have more to do with stress than any medical condition, as it seems whenever things pile up on me, I get nailed with something. Two weeks ago, it was a horrible flu. This week, it was a series of migraines that somehow turned into a bout of strep throat (can’t figure that out at all), leaving me seriously behind in my schoolwork, such that I’m more than a little frightened. It’s possible that God is chastising me for being the procrastinator that I am, and I’m sure that’s a part of it. Moreover, perhaps he’s laying me low so that I am forced to depend on His help. It drives me nuts that I’m so obtuse, and require that kind of correction on a regular basis. You’d think that after being dragged kicking & screaming out of atheism into God’s presence, and pursuing fairly comprehensive theological studies on my own, at least I would be convinced of the necessity of depending wholly on God in all things.

As Paul and Bob point out, there’s no one righteous. No, not one. That includes yours truly. I can intellectually know a lot about God, and yet still completely miss the point – which I do with some degree of frequency. Whatchya gonna do, eh? You can either shrug your shoulders and keep walking the same road of sorrows, or you can throw yourself at the feet of the King and cry out for mercy and pardon. I’m pretty adept at the former, but healing only comes through the latter. Walking that rocky road has left my feet calloused and sore. I think I’ll spend some time on my knees, instead.