Basic Truths | Finding God in Everyday Life

  I’ve been on a few trail rides over the years. On each of them, our guide led the way and we followed along the path he traveled. We would never have considered leading the way ourselves and leaving our guide behind to follow after us.   Joshua led the Israelites to attack the great city of Jericho after God told him, “I have delivered Jericho into your hands” (Josh 6:2). The Israelites won a great victory when God caused the walls of the city to collapse. Joshua then decided that they should attack the little town of Ai next, but he never asked God about it. The Israelites were defeated and Joshua had to humbly approach God to find out why He was not with them in the battle. Once Joshua found out the problem and corrected it, the Israelites were able to be successful again.   Jesus sent His Spirit to be with us when He ascended to heaven. The Spirit is our guide in leading us along the best path for our lives. We are told, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in s...

  I love to hear the voices of my wife and daughter and family. My wife and I have been married over 30 years and I still enjoy hearing her call to me. Our daughter is an adult now and I’m happy to hear her voice when she comes through the front door for a visit. There will always be a special place in my heart thinking back to the little girl who shouted excitedly, “Daddy’s home! Daddy’s home!”,   when I came in from work.   I love my family and I know that they love me and so I know that whatever they say to me will be said from a spirit of love, even those things that are mundane or even difficult.   We know that God loves us with a love that is greater than we can even imagine. You would think, then, that we would always be eager to hear the sound of His voice, but that isn’t always the case. We may worry that He is going to confront us with our sins and failings or tell us to do something that we don’t want to do. The fact is - God does that sometimes, b...

  We visited China in 2015. While we were there, we rode what was at the time the world’s fastest train. It reached a maximum speed of 250 miles per hour during our ride.   At that speed, the nearby scenery goes by so fast that everything is just a blur.   The pace of modern society seems to be increasing exponentially. We are surrounded by so many inputs and have so many activities that our lives go by in just a blur. The pace of life can be so frenetic that it robs us of our peace. This can be a major problem because we find God in times of peace. It is hard to hear Him speak to us over the noise of all our activity.   Jesus visited the home of Mary and Martha. Martha was busy with all the preparations while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to Him. Martha complained to Jesus, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”   Jesus replied, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things,...

    It’s funny how certain things stick in your memory. I vividly remember going on a day hike with some friends of mine at a local state forest almost 50 years ago. We were trudging through the forest for awhile and some in our group not accustomed to hiking were starting to lose their enthusiasm, especially as we started to make a strenuous uphill climb. We finally broke out into the sunshine as we reached the crest of one of the smaller hills. We enjoyed the view and we could see our eventual destination, the tallest hill in the area. From then on, all discouragement vanished and enthusiasm returned even though the climb became more difficult. We looked forward to making it to the top and, when we arrived, we soaked in the spectacular scenery which made the climb worthwhile.   Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him to go up to the top of a mountain to pray. While they were there, He was transfigured and the ...