Basic Truths | Finding God in Everyday Life

We just got back from traveling overseas. There was a 7 hour time difference and I had a fair amount of jet lag, especially coming back home. It can be disorienting when your eyes are telling you it’s one time of day and your stomach and the rest of your body are telling you that it’s a different time.   We can find ourselves in the same situation spiritually. Sometimes our minds and hearts are not in agreement on a decision or problem. At other times, our minds and hearts may be telling us one thing but somewhere deep inside we keep hearing a voice that is telling us something else. When this happens, we may begin to feel a little disoriented and unsure what to do.   We should first see whether that voice is coming from God through His Spirit living in us or if it is just our past experiences or emotions that are bothering us for some reason. We begin in prayer, asking the Spirit to guide us and help us see our situation more clearly. We can seek the trusted counsel of fa...

  I got a flashlight out of the drawer a little while ago. We hardly ever use it anymore because we can just use the flashlight in our phones. The flashlight didn’t work so I opened it up and found that the batteries had corroded.   Jesus tells us, “You are the light of the world…neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16). If we are bringing God’s light to those around us, we can always be recharged. If we keep the light to ourselves, we can over time become “corroded” and no longer useful.   Being a witness for God is not something a Christian gets extra bonus points for. It is a responsibility, part of the work that God has for us to do on this earth.   First and foremost, we should witness to those around us by the way we go about...

  We had quite an adventure in the backyard this week. I was letting our cat Shadow out the back door one morning when I noticed a bird walking around in the yard. I assumed the bird would fly away when Shadow came out but it just kept walking and eventually huddled up pitifully against the back fence. I ran outside and picked Shadow up before he got to the bird and carried him unhappily back inside. I got online to get some idea of what to do. Meanwhile, the bird walked across the yard, hopped up on to one of the patio chairs and stared at me through the patio door. I went outside and was able to get beak-to-nose without the little bird flinching. I came back inside and was still looking for an answer when an adult blue jay came and fed the bird on the chair. Mystery solved – it was a fledgling blue jay! It takes them a few days to learn how to fly. I watched it make some tentative horizontal flights from one chair to another. Eventually, it was able to make its way out of the y...

  Several years ago, I applied for and was offered a position. It was my dream job, the thing that I had always wanted to do. Shortly before I was to start, the offer was withdrawn. I was both shocked and heartbroken. It seemed like God was giving me my heart’s desire, only to have it taken away in an instant. I had already quit my previous job so continuing with that was not an option. I went to work at an inner-city clinic, a job which was difficult but fulfilling. This led to my finding a position with a Christian clinic providing care to people who had nowhere else to go for care, where I worked until I retired. This turned out to be my “dream job” despite the difficulties and obstacles in trying to provide medical care in recent years.   Jesus told us that we don’t need to say a lot of words when we pray because “…your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt 6:8). He sometimes answers our prayers in ways that don’t seem right to us at first, only to find ou...