Inspirations

                                   As I was driving home today, I passed a person walking on the side of the    road.  Since it was cold, and snowy, I thought I should stop and offer the person a ride.  As I drove on by, I was irritated with myself for not stopping.  I could have and should have but I didn't. Why?  I was scared! Maybe that wouldn't bother you, but I'm willing to bet there are things that make you afraid.  It may be snakes or spiders that send the ticker into  overdrive.  Or maybe it's your job and finances that keep you up at night when you should be resting.  Then again perhaps it's relationships that consume your thoughts and energy.  As followers of God, we know that we are told not to be afraid.  Yet we often are afraid despite everything we know.   As I was driving away from a misse...

 Panic alarms.   I love them! When you are in a large parking lot and you can not find your car or remember where you parked, you can push this tiny little button on your key fob  and your car will sound the alarm letting you know where you parked. Today I asked a guy walking into Walmart what he was fixing  and I thought he said he was fixing the panic button.  I saw the humor in the answer he gave and laughed way too hard. As I reflected on the humorous situation, I was reminded that I do have a panic button. So do you. When we get scared, or can't find our way out of situations, we can respond in fear, anger, or temper-tantrums or in some other manner that the world would respond or we can respond by going to God with our problems. I am thankful that God is my panic alarm. When I am afraid, I can trust the one who has gone on ahead to make the way for me.

There is a ton of rhetoric floating around about fear.  It reminds everyone not to fear.   We hear and probably have said some of these  “don’t fear,”  “Fear is like sitting in a rocking chair, it gives you something to do,  but it doesn’t get you anywhere.”   “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.”    “Fear is a liar.”   Ironically, I have come to the realization that for many it is just words.   We say, “Fear no one,” but we fail to speak because some will be offended.   So, we hold our tongue in fear.    We are free,  but our children can’t go to school in safety  because of the increase in school violence.   Consequently, they live in fear.   Parents and teachers held hostage,  at the mercy of the children, they are to mentor and teach.   They wring their hands...

I love amusement parks!  Every summer I take one day and go to a local amusement park.  We always have a memorable time.  When I was young, I absolutely loved the thrill rides.  As I got older, I didn't ride them as much as I did.  Why?  Well the main reason was fear. I may get hurt, or “gasp” die.   Over the past few years, God has been showing me that my fear is ridiculous.  So I faced my fears and began to ride the thrill rides again.  There has been one ride called the exscream that I've held out on riding. I couldn't make myself ride it.  It was too “scary”; I still had too much fear.  This past summer, when I went to the amusement park, I decided to bite the fear monster.  As I watched the ride, I could see that it was pretty simple; it lifts you in the air and lets you fall, but it always slows you down before you get to the ground.  So I decided that it was pretty safe, after all I knew how it ended.  A...

This morning as I poured my coffee, I looked out the window, and there was a leaf swinging in the wind.   It wasn't attached to a tree like most leaves; instead, it was dangling by a thin piece of string.  As I watched the leaf being blown about by the wind; yet being held in place by a piece of string, if you call it that, I was reminded of the times in my life I feel a little bit like that leaf.  I feel like I am barely holding on, I’m being tossed to and fro by the winds of this life and at any moment it’ll all come crashing down around me.  Then I was reminded that the “string" holding me is the God of the universe.  He’ not just a knot at the end for me to hold; no, he’s the very string holding ME when life closes in. The very same one who has been holding the stars in place for four thousand years or more is the one holding me.  If he can hold the universe in place, he can certainly hold me without a problem.  So even if it seems like I’ll b...

I spent some time yesterday booking hotel rooms for a trip we are planning.  I have done this before, so I’m not completely new to the process, and I usually get through the process without complications; until yesterday.  Somehow, as I was booking the rooms, I did not check over the information as thoroughly as I should have checked.  Later, I was informed that the arrival date was wrong.  Oops!  Not a huge problem, I just have to call and change the date.  When I called to change the date, I found that I had also chosen the smoking section of the hotel.  OOPS!  This apparently cannot be corrected; now I’m stuck.  I also found that the insurance I thought I paid when I booked the rooms did not go through. This means that if we have to cancel we get nothing back.  OOPS!  This time, I failed miserably.   Who among us has not had at least one time when we fail?  We think we are doing well, and then we realize that, f...