Basic Truths | Finding God in Everyday Life

  I’ve been sneezing lately. I don’t usually have allergies, perhaps it’s the cat shedding. I’m hearing “God Bless You” a lot. There is debate over its origin as a response to sneezing. Some say it goes back to the Middle Ages when the plague was active, with one of the symptoms being sneezing. Anyone who sneezed could have the plague and thereby be very much in need of God’s help.   I read something online yesterday from a lady who didn’t want people to say “God Bless You” to her because she didn’t believe in God. Myself, I like it when people say it to me and I like to say it to others. I try to say it meaningfully and not just as a reflex action. It may bother some people, but it’s my very tiny way of witnessing to others.   God told Aaron that He wanted him, as the Israelites’ High Priest, to pronounce this blessing on the people, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you a...

  We had a row of crape myrtle trees against our back fence for many years. We decided to have them removed three years ago. The gentleman who did the work warned us that, despite his best efforts, we were likely to see shoots popping up in the yard for years to come because crape myrtles have extensive root systems that persist even when the tree is cut down. He was right! We have dozens of shoots in the yard. I’ve been trying to eradicate them but they are resistant to all treatments. Very frustrating.   We may have particular areas in our lives that we’re not very happy about, where we are falling short. We need to deal with them as soon as possible, because the longer we wait, the more their roots become established and harder to get rid of.     How we root out sin and bad behavior in our lives is more complicated than what we can deal with in a few words. However, we can start with some basic principles that should be adhered to in order to make progress...

  I lived and died for baseball when I was a little kid. As an adult, I had to settle for playing softball, which I enjoyed as well. An important part of being a good hitter or pitcher is to be able to focus on what you need to do in the moment.   There’s a phrase that’s used, “Win the next pitch”. It means that you should concentrate on what is right before you, not worrying about the last pitch or at-bat or looking ahead to the rest of the game, being less concerned with the outcome than in being ready to do your best in the task at hand.   “Win the next pitch” has a spiritual application as well. We should concentrate on being our best selves today , making an effort to win today’s battles, overcoming whatever obstacles we face in these 24 hours. We can’t look back at how we have come up short in the past. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” (Isaiah 43:18). We also can’t allow ourselves to feel overwhelmed by what may lie ahead. Jesus tells us, “Do...

We just got back from a cruise, the first one we’d taken in many years. We had a few patches of rough weather when we were on the ship but we were blessed with good conditions when we were onshore. When the wind and waves came up, our ship began to rock. It was worse the closer you were to the front or back of the ship and the higher up you were. I read that looking out at the horizon helped with seasickness but I never felt bad enough to have to do it.   Our lives can be rough, with lots of gut-churning ups and downs. If we don’t want to be tossed around by the events of the day, we need to stay close to God, because He is (or should be) the center of our lives. The further we get away from Him, the more unsteady we will be. We also should get in the habit of “looking out at the horizon” when times are tough, meaning that we should try to look beyond the troubles of the day to see that God has been with us, is with us, and will always be with us. He will lead us out of whatever di...