I am going to take a couple month break from my blog. I am getting a bit burned out writing it and find myself constantly struggling with writer’s blank. In the past I have had way more stuff rolling around in my brain than I could write. I have enjoyed writing my blog very much, but of late it is becoming a bit of a drag. I look forward to getting my creative juices back, and writing some more.

I lost my cell phone yesterday. I think that is the first time in my life I have lost my phone. Patty loses hers every day, well, at least twice a week. I lecture her continuously, “Have a particular place or places you set it down, and don’t, under any circumstances, set it down any place else. If you travel, the first thing you do is establish that dedicated place for your phone; if you do that, you will never lose your phone.” She obviously has not followed my counsel. Well, yesterday I set my phone on the arm of my recliner, which is one of my dedicated places, but when Roscoe, my dog, jumped up on my lap, he knocked the phone off the arm of my chair without me noticing, and it went down and got caught between the arm and the cushion of my chair. I began backtracking every place I had been the previous couple of hours, checking where I typically put my phone. When I went into our room to check, there Patty had it in her hand, having guessed that it would be somewhere around the last place I used it, which was my chair. I said, “Thank you!” and she said, “You know, if you would put your phone in the same place every time, you wouldn’t lose it.” I can’t wait until the next time she loses hers!

Jesus told a story about a lady who lost a coin. She searches the whole house until she finally finds it, and she gets all excited, telling all her friends she has found her lost coin. There are lost people all around us, and Jesus expects that we will put in at least as much effort to reach them with the gospel as we put into finding a lost cell phone.

We live in a time when many people are declaring what is just and right, yet many of these opinions differ widely. As I hear and read many declarations about what is right, I can’t help but think of Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” As I read and listen to different people, I have a basic rule that I follow: if the person who is expressing his view about life, government, energy, economics, taxes, drugs, and immigrants isn’t a follower of Jesus and devoted to His Word, I don’t believe him or put any stock in what he is saying. Many who claim to be followers of Jesus obviously don’t have a lot of wisdom and are influenced more by the world than the Bible, so I don’t value their message much either. The devil is very real and very powerful and has trapped many people into believing his lies. 2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” The sad thing is that when a person is led astray from following Jesus, they sincerely think they are right, but they are not. In my goals for this year, I have committed to reading 12 chapters a day in the Bible and to reviewing and meditating on 100 verses I have memorized each day. A key reason is that I want to have the wisdom of Christ, so I know what is right and what is wrong. Hebrews 5:13-14 “For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” If you are not in the habit of reading the Bible daily, you are very susceptible to being deceived by the kingdom of darkness. That ought to make you nervous. I am not the source or the judge of what is right and wrong; God is.