Traveling Through the Fog

Sometimes as we go through life on our personal Odysseys, things become clouded, like thick fog covering the road when driving. This condition tends to cause stress regardless of how hard we try to prevent it. Unfortunately, the more we focus on the "fog" the more distracted we become until we reach the point that we completely miss and no longer enjoy the scenery we are going through. Life (and work) should be enjoyed, the journey truly counts.

When life starts to become clouded consider some of the following thing that might help you keep focused on enjoying the journey. (1) Look for the beauty in each moment and day. (2) Stay attentive to the little surprises you my come across. (3) Find others traveling the same way you are, who are enjoying the journey and travel with them. Trips are always more enjoyable in the company of friends.

The best thing we can possibly do at this point in our Odysseys it to keep our focus on the one who has planned and prepared the journey we are on. Trusting God and focusing on Him always brings to light the beauty and joy that surrounds us each step of the way. "We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete." Hebrews 12:2

Keep enjoying the Odyssey

Waiting on the Lord

All throughout the Scripture we are encouraged to “wait on the Lord”. We are promised that when we do this we will receive strength, wisdom, comfort, help and much more.


But what does it mean to actually “wait on the Lord”? What are we to wait for? And once we have received the reward of waiting, what do we do next? I believe that Lamentations 3:25-26 provides us some of the answers we need. Here the Scripture says, “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” The key things we should be waiting on the Lord for are:

• Hope that is rooted in God’s goodness. Can we actually says that we walk into each day with full of hope because of the reality of God’s goodness. The best way to ensure that we do this is to remember all the good that God has provided in the past…and this takes time. However, when we have invested the time in remembering these good things we can face any situation knowing the hope that springs from knowing the fullness of God’s goodness. This actually leads us to the second thing we should be waiting for.
• The ultimate demonstration of God’s goodness in found in the act of salvation. Yet here, salvation is not only referring to the state of our soul, God wants to be the source of salvation—deliverance, recovery, and rescue for every situation we face. If we wait until we understand the goodness of God in a fresh way in each situation we will be able to face each day with a renewed energy and confidence. An energy and confidence that come from God alone.

  
May we all learn to once again wait on the Lord until His goodness floods every part of what we say and do so much that He is all people see and hear.

Behold the Power of the Mouth

I was reading the Bible and came across Proverbs 10:11 which says, "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence overtakes the mouth of the wicked."

Behold the power of the mouth! Well, it's not really the power of the mouth, but the character of the person behind it. You see, who we truly are will be heard in how we speak…and how we speak is evaluated by it's effect on others. Our character is shown in how our words change the lives of those around us.

When we are in right standing with God (righteous), then those we meet will be encouraged, inspired, enabled and revived. Or as this verse put it, they will receive life from what we say.

Now, on the other hand, if we are not in right standing with God, our speech will have the opposite result on people. The listeners will be frustrated, spiteful, ambivalent, and angry…which isn't much of a life.

So… what kind of person are you? Righteous or wicked – the way your words change others will tell you.