Driving Distractions

By Gillis Killam –

Recently province laws were put in place to prevent driving while distracted. A sign on the highway says, “Distracted Driving Law In Effect.” We are not to drive our cars while talking on a cell phone, texting, etc. However, we see people everyday talking on their cell phones, and even texting while driving. Surveys have been taken showing that these distractions are major causes of traffic accidents and often fatalities. In 2011 alone, over 3,000 people were killed in distracted driving crashes.

There are many things that take our attention on our journey of life. Sometimes the results cause spiritual and even physical disasters. Solomon warned his son about being distracted by things that would ultimately destroy him. Over and over again he said, “pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words” (Proverbs 4:20 NIV).

“Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble” (Proverbs 4:10-12 NIV).

We can be distracted by the desire to be rich, by discontentment, inappropriate sexual desires, and pride; as well as people who would lure us to the wrong path of life leading to entrapment and destruction. (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

King David was distracted by Bathsheba and committed adultery. The consequences for him were far reaching, affecting the lives of many, including the generations to come in a negative way.

The Apostle Paul said, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2 NIV).

And Proverbs says, “Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil” (Proverbs 4:25-27 NIV).

Prayer: Guide me O God, as I journey home; help me not to be distracted by things that will cause me to be side-tracked from Your will.

I’m too Busy!

By Gillis Killam –

Over and over I have heard the excuse, “I’m too busy!” In fact, I have used it myself at times when I didn’t want to attend to something. I think there is a tendency to say “I’m too busy” and feel justified using that as an excuse. It is like saying, “I have a right to be really busy” even when there is something or someone that needs attention; our family for instance. In have read about incidents where people were even too busy to help someone who was dying.

Some people are “too busy”; but this can be an excuse to not be involved with what God desires: helping a needy person, teaching a class, going to prayer meeting and Bible study. This is a very destructive pattern because there is an ulterior motive driving us to prove we are very important. We may feel insecure, and this becomes a way to prove our own significance.

I remember a very busy man who carried many responsibilities in his pastoral ministry as well as outside the pastorate; yet he never seemed to be in a hurry. He had time to stop and talk to a neighbor on the street, when others would have passed by; he had time for his family and the needs of his congregation. I worked closely with him and never once did I hear him say, “I’m too busy.” Yet he accomplished so much in his lifetime. I realized that he took time with the Lord and lived close to God, listening for His voice to guide him in all his decisions.

We don’t increase time by neglecting our time spent with the Lord in prayer & meditation. The Psalmist exclaimed this importance when he said:

“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies” (Psalms 119:97-98 NIV).

Prayer: Oh God, thank you for the Bible –the everlasting resource of Your Word.

Questions

By Cheri Cowell –

In the 1940’s, a popular parlor game became a wildly successful radio quiz program. If you’ve ever played 20 Questions, you know how much fun this word game can be. The “questioners” ask the “answerer” yes or no questions with the goal of discerning the subject the answerer has in mind. Although a fun game to play, asking questions is serious business; so serious, in fact, that it is one of the primary tools God uses in communicating with us. From the beginning, God set about asking questions, not because He needed answers, but because we need to ponder our answers.

Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit, and were hiding from God in the garden. They’d clothed themselves in fig leaves, and were hiding in the bushes. God had walked with them in this garden and now they hid from Him there. But God knew where they were and what they’d done. He wasn’t asking because He needed to know, He was asking because they needed to own up to their sin. God is asking of you and me the same question so we might own up to the real state of our own souls. What fig leaves are you hiding behind? What bushes are you using to shield your true heart from the searching eyes of God? God isn’t asking the question because He doesn’t know; God is asking the question so we will ponder the answer.

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3: 8-9 NIV).

PRAYER: God, I hear your searching question. I invite You to remove the fig leaves and lift the branches from my hiding place. Help me to answer honestly the question You are asking so I might be honest about my own need for Your saving grace.

Perfect in Weakness

By Carol McClain –

We thought my mother never took a whole piece of chicken because she preferred the bones. After we ate, we’d pass the remains of our meal for her to enjoy. Years later, she revealed that while she loved to gnaw on bones, what her family didn’t eat was actually her meal.

As a child born during the Great Depression, my mother’s parents inadvertently fed into her insecurities. She wanted to go to college and major in art, but they wanted her provided for and convinced her to marry instead. Thus at eighteen she married, by nineteen she had her first child. As a housewife, my mother never believed in herself, only in living for her husband and her subsequent six children.

She knew her husband to be more intelligent than she, so she relied on him to earn a living and make decision. She would cook, clean and be a wife.

Life was hard. Both became dependent on alcohol until illness waylaid my father. My mother found herself at thirty-three working low wage jobs to supplement his income. However, with his illness, she worried he might die and feared for her family’s fate.

She had no faith in her talent or her intelligence, but fear drove her to school. She graduated from a community college as a physical therapy assistant.

She continued to drink, worked her jobs, tended her children, enrolled in a four-year college to become a full-fledged physical therapist. It looked as if she conquered all, but God had one more thing to show her—and, at last, she hit rock bottom.
She recognized the toll her drinking took on her family, so she joined AA. There they taught her to believe in a higher power, which eventually enabled her to understand the saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Through faith, her self-esteem grew. She opened her own practice and the family flourished at last. Her trials taught us how to live responsibly, how to trust in Jesus Christ, how to work for our goals. But most important, we learned the power of weakness.

My mother never took credit for the succor she gave others. She understands she made the decision to fight for a better life, and the rest was in God’s hands. My mother proved to us the scripture that, “‘…(God’s) power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Cor. 12.9).

My mother still loves to gnaw the meat off bones, but nowadays it’s from T-bone steaks shared with a family that both recognizes and emulates her strength.

Becoming Mary

By Diane Mayfield –

I’d like to think I conquered the Martha in me and have become more like her sister Mary. That’s what I get for thinking. Jesus, in His gentle way, showed me not to think too highly of myself lest I fall.

I recently planned my extended family’s second annual Burton Family Christmas in July. I created a schedule of events on Friday night and Saturday, hoping it was clear to all that the gathering did not start until 6:00 Friday night. That would give me plenty of time to cover all the details and be ready for the crowd. Hoping to circumvent a seed of bitterness creeping in if I was left to do all the work, everyone had meal assignments and clean up duty.

The schedule of events for Saturday included pool time and boating. Built into the plan was a break for me on the boat, so I would have a moment to relax and interact with everyone. Just so no one would forget that they had duties and responsibilities in this family event, I posted the assignments on the refrigerator door in brightly colored magnets that matched my color scheme.

Everyone did indeed have a blast, me included. They complimented me on the flow of the event, the decorations and all the planning. By the laughter and lingering conversations at the table Saturday night, it seemed the celebration was a success.

It was Sunday at 11:00 when Martha appeared in my head. I’d planned on everyone leaving by Sunday morning, noon at the latest. I wrote in an e-mail that nothing officially was scheduled for Sunday, hoping that would communicate, “the inn was closed.”

Oops. Someone didn’t read between the lines. They decided to stay and swim one more time. Then, instead of packing up and going before they left for lunch, they asked if they could come back after lunch, have dessert and then leave.

What do I say in that situation? I had a plan that I was working towards and it was about to be challenged. I politely said “sure.” And then I griped and griped as I worked to organize my house, pick up toys, clean out the refrigerator, empty the dishwasher and start the sheets and towels.

It never occurred to me to go to Jesus and listen to His words and ask for His help in stretching my capacity. I was being asked to give in a way that I had not planned on giving.

I could just hear Jesus saying, “Diane, Diane, why do you worry about getting all this done today and your life back to normal? Can’t you enjoy these people a little longer than you planned? What is really important here?”

No one who asked to change the plan knew of my inner struggle, but the One who matters most did. The good news is that His gentle revelation humbled me. I was reminded that becoming Mary isn’t just about sitting at His feet in the morning because it works for me. It’s about measuring priorities and choosing those that count for eternity. Obviously Martha is still living and breathing in me. I haven’t become Mary yet, but I’m listening.

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