Trust in the Lord with all your heart… He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
As I stood on the observation deck of the Miraflores Lock, I was amazed at the volume of cargo that passes through the Panama Canal. Stretched out in the Pacific as far as I could see were dozens of ships, each holding hundreds of containers.
I watched as ships entered the locks before being lifted fifty-four feet. Once in the lock there is but a couple of feet on each side and at each end. The ships don’t enter on their own power, but rather at each end on each side a steel rope is dropped to a small engine and attached. The small engines are referred to as “mules” and together they pull the ship into the lock. Each runs on a railroad track held down by spikes.
A typical ship fully loaded transiting the canal weighs up to 220,000 tons, so you can imagine the strength needed for the pull and the importance of the spikes that hold the tracks in place.
In my office I have an old spike from the original Panama Canal Railway. I keep it there to remind me how important it is to keep my tracks on the right path.
There is a parallel with living our life. Each day there are powers, strong powers, that attempt to pull us off of the path God intends up to be on. Proverbs (3:5-6) gives us a simple formula…. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. So, as you begin each day and put your feet on the floor, imagine you are on the path for the day, knowing there are many forces prepared to pull you off track. Know that it is God’s Word that holds you on course.
What holds your tracks down?
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SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES
SEX SINCE THE SIXTIES:
Tragically, our culture is rejecting God’s intention for sex more than ever before. Adultery is celebrated in popular television shows, music, and movies. Sex before marriage and cohabitation are assumed. Abortion is viewed as birth control. Pornography is at epidemic levels. Not to mention the escalation and promotion of LGBTQ ideology beginning with our children.
This culture-wide normalization of immorality is working:
• 69 percent of Americans say sex between an unmarried man and woman is morally acceptable, up 16 points since 2002.
• 42 percent believe sex between teenagers is morally acceptable.
• 43 percent say pornography is morally acceptable.
• 19 percent view polygamy as morally acceptable (up from 5 percent in 2006).
• A record 47 percent of Americans think abortion is morally acceptable.
• 70 percent support same-sex marriage.
Now let’s ask Dr. Phil’s question: “How’s that working for us?”
Since the sexual revolution began in the 1960s:
• The youth suicide rate is the highest it has been since the government began collecting such data in 1960.
• The percentage of children born out of wedlock has escalated from 8 percent in 1962 to 40 percent today. The odds that children in single-parent homes will live in poverty are high.
• Studies show that as many as half of all divorces involve one party using pornography. Even for those who stay married, pornography sabotages their ability to enjoy normal sexual relations.
• More than 62 million babies have been killed by abortion since Roe v. Wade. Abortion is the leading cause of death in America, surpassing heart disease, cancer, and all other cause.
Jim Denison
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Work is hectic. Schedules are hectic. The kids are hectic… almost all of life can be very hectic. Your home shouldn’t be.
Your home should be the antidote to stress. It ought to be a place of rest, respite, and relaxation.
Home is a place of rest and peace and acceptance so we can live our best lives out in the world making the biggest difference that we possibly can. That is why having a calm and rejuvenating home is so important.
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QUOTES YOU CAN USE
Some people come into your life as blessings. Other people come into your life as lessons. MOTHER TERESA
There is a destiny which makes us brothers; none goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own. EDWIN MARKHAM
If we become stronger thru adversity, why do we fight so hard to avoid it? I guess that’s what it means to be human. Dwight Short
I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor. HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.”
SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES
If you submit to Him, you will gradually begin to see the shape God is forming in you. Dan Shock
Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.”
MARCUS AURELIUS
A stranger is someone we have not taken the time to meet and get to know; a friend is a former stranger that we somehow met and got to know them despite the fact that we now know they have foibles just like we do. Dwight Short
May we think of freedom not as the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to do what is right. Peter Marshall
When things aren’t adding up in your life, start subtracting.” —Anonymous
Successful people are simply those with successful habits. BRIAN TRACY