Moving forward through time is really all we have. Face front; eyes forward. Footsteps in the present to the future beyond.
Many thoughts audition to guide those footsteps. The common, worn and failed ideas of the past need not apply. They are the silt, the sand and the mud to the prospector looking for gold.
Why settle? Because you’re in a hurry, and being at a standstill is no fun?
But going backward even less.
So, don't blink when your resolve is tested! Don't settle for fools Read more [...]The Shepherd of Your Thoughts
Moving forward through time is really all we have. Face front; eyes forward. Footsteps in the present to the future beyond.
Many thoughts audition to guide those footsteps. The common, worn and failed ideas of the past need not apply. They are the silt, the sand and the mud to the prospector looking for gold.
Why settle? Because you’re in a hurry, and being at a standstill is no fun?
But going backward even less.
So, don't blink when your resolve is tested! Don't settle for fools Read more [...]
There has to be a personal God. My heart tells me so. My mind tells me so.
But first it was my heart that knew. My mind had to catch up.
My heart is thankful it did, because the heart that knows God is in trouble without support of the mind.
Yet the mind that knows God without support of the heart resides in a cadaver. Although the role of each is entirely different, both are designed to compliment and strengthen the other.
Before the "Age of Reason" the heart's faith was perhaps 
58 percent of those who call themselves Christians don’t believe in the resurrection of Christ. They don’t believe He rose from the dead.
As Paul puts it, the resurrection is the cornerstone of our worldview. If Christ didn’t rise from the dead we’re all still in our sins and Christians are the sorriest people on the planet.
Why do we allow ourselves to be bamboozled by Satan’s deceptions? Why would we accept his explanations without thinking?
Why do we sometimes indiscriminately soak-in 
“Each square in the concrete sidewalk is a step. Well, for grownups it is, but for me -two steps. How many steps from school to home? I lose count. Each time I try. I can’t do it. No matter how hard I try. There’s always something that gets in the way and the whole plan collapses. A dog, a honk, a runaway shopping cart, the crossing guard. I’ve stopped trying. It doesn’t matter anyway. I used to think it only matters if I think it matters, but then I discovered it wasn’t just me -it really 
Gratitude.
The reason for the season.
Thanksgiving.
A time for thankfulness and no regrets.
A time to understand that where I am, and where I've been to get there, is part of God’s plan for me.
A time to be astonished that my circumstances are unique in all of history, and creation itself.
A time to celebrate there is a purpose and significance to my life, because I'm part of God’s plan.
A time to clearly see that no one else has received a better slice of that plan.
Because a portion 
Life is crazy busy. It's hard to keep up with so much going on. Many things are going right, but those going wrong set back progress with those going right!
It often seems as if there were a malevolent intelligence behind the setbacks, because it's just not natural for so many things to go wrong in succession from so many multiple angles of attack. If they happened by chance they would be scattered and random, yet instead they often appear focused on a particular target.
Now how can that 
Giving an Answer is a command.
Yet it usually feels like a privilege and a joy -not a command.
It’s everyone’s job, yet I usually don’t see it as a job because I love speaking with people about the reasons for the hope that I have.
It’s my passion!
Most of the time...
I do encounter resistance. External resistance yes, but also internal resistance.
There is always something “more important” and “more urgent” and “more pressing” and “more realistic” that should take 
Reason and hope.
Is our hope a result of reason or is our hope without reason?
Hope without reason isn’t really hope – it’s hopelessness.
You see, hope and reason go together, because hope without reason is invalid, and reason without hope is cynicism and despair.
Reason is a function of the mind whereas hope is a function of the heart. Neither is meant to stand alone. No one is made of just one or the other, and no worldview can stand upon only one.
That’s why Peter said “Always be 
Am I the only one who gets frustrated by the uncooperative physical universe?
The continual appearance of obstacles in my path that block me from getting things done is never ending and appears to gain virulence in direct proportion to the urgency of the task.
I can see why people give up. It's easy to go down that path. Yet, hopelessness isn't the right response to the never ending difficulties of life.
Wouldn't the right response be born of perspective? Of course I'm speaking of the right 
The days fly by in rapid succession. A flurry. A blur. Beyond my grasp, yet I reach out to grab hold...
The morning sun brings cheer to the vineyards and trees that shuffle past my view my drive south, and turns up the blue light in the sky.
The nighttime darkness is chased and flees from the sun's magnificent smile. The world awakens and goes about its business entrenched in routines like ants, unaware of the majestic timepiece in which they toil.
I can't catch up with or retrieve time lost,