What we think is what we are. Our actions and our words all flow from the thoughts that we have. There have been many times where people say something, and then say, “I should not have said that, I did not mean it,” when they realize they have been mean. The problem is not in what they said. It is in what they thought. The words could not have come out if they did not originate in the mind. Our mind is the starting point, so it is important to control what we think. With that in mind, the question that we need to ask ourselves is this: what am I thinking? Read the rest of this entry »

Today is Mother’s Day. It is a day in which everyone takes a special notice of mothers around the country. It is an important event. Mothers need to be recognized and appreciated for all that they do. It is said that families are the building blocks of societies. When the family unit starts to falter, so does the society. One of the primary building blocks of the family is Mom. Her role to the family is critical, and without her, a family struggles. Read the rest of this entry »

Our society is one of instant gratification. I get impatient when my meals take over a minute to cook in the microwave. Thirty second commercials are much too long, causing most people to flip channels to avoid a couple of minutes of possible boredom. Credit cards allow us to buy things right now without having earned the money yet. We need to lose more than five pounds a week in a diet in order to do it. Basically, we want everything we want, and we want it right now. Read the rest of this entry »

Here the Psalmist tells us that in God’s presence we find the fullness of joy. Most of our lives are spent searching for joy, for fulfillment. People go to all manner of lengths to find joy. Some people become work-a-holics. Others bounce from relationship to relationship, hoping to find joy in a significant other. Another group pursues money. Fame, clout or social status are of the utmost importance to some people. And finally, some people search for their joy in fulfilling the desires of the flesh. They hope through indulgence they find joy. Read the rest of this entry »

At one time in my life, I tried an all liquid diet. On this diet the only food you consumed throughout the day is three drinks. These shakes give you high nutritional value with few calories. In essence you are fasting with liquid vitamins. They say that the first three or four days of the diet are the worst, as your body gets used to not having food. After that it becomes much easier. I use the phrase “they say” because I cannot speak from experience. After day two I succumbed to the overwhelming desire to eat. It was here that I understood the concept of hunger. My mouth was constantly salivating. My mind kept drifting towards visions of Mexican food. I craved it, and I felt the effects all through my body. Read the rest of this entry »

There once was a girl who owned a computer. For whatever reason, her computer was not working properly. She was concerned that she had a virus. Rather than take it to a specialist to fix it, she decided that she would handle it herself. In order to fix the problem, she started randomly deleting files that she didn’t recognize as important. This was very dangerous, because a lot of the files with weird names are the ones that are most important to the computer. This was obviously a bad idea. But she thought it was the most effective way to get rid of a virus. Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine two married couples. In the first marriage, they have recently created a device that will earn them millions. They live in a large three story estate. They have maids who help keep it clean. The front yard is kept by many gardeners, being too large for just one to handle. They even have hired a cook, who each evening makes them the best food one could find. Lobster and Steak are regular occurrences. No food is off limits. They can afford anything they desire. The second marriage is barely able to get by. They work regular jobs and struggle to keep up with rent on a one bedroom apartment. They alternate at night between rice and beans and spaghetti, because those are all they can afford. Which couple would you rather be a part of? Which house would you prefer to visit? Read the rest of this entry »

Watching the wicked man can sometimes be hard. In this particular instance it is the man of violence. A great example of this would be King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel. He wanted a field that was near him, yet the man was not willing to sell. Rather than moving on, he sulked. His wife had the field owner killed on false charges, and offered the field to Ahab. Ahab gladly received this field bought with blood. Ahab was able to receive this field without having to buy anything. All it took was the application of violence (1 Kings 21:1-16). Read the rest of this entry »

Paul talks here about one of the fundamental aspects of love. It is important for us as Christians to deeply care about those around us. We may be tempted to keep our distance from others. We want to let them deal with their own problems. Instead we focus on ourselves and what we are dealing with. Yet for the Christian, we need to be interconnected. We need to be of the same mind, especially with others from the church. And that requires for us to know what is going on in their life. We cannot keep this command if we do not know when they are rejoicing or weeping. Read the rest of this entry »

A friend of mine from Brazil and I were going to Wal-Mart. Walking through the parking lot, we came to the section in front of the store with the crossing lines. I confidently strode forward, even though a car was coming. She hesitated, but seeing that the car had indeed stopped, she went ahead and followed my lead. “You Americans are crazy. If you did that in Brazil, you would have died. They don’t slow down,” she said. I quickly replied about having the right of way. “The right of way doesn’t do you much good if they run you over.” Read the rest of this entry »