Faith

Just don't know where I am or where I'm supposed to be…or if this is where I'm supposed to be.For some reason, that thought crossed my mind this morning and I almost burst out laughing. How many times have we been someplace that we know is not where we wanted to be or had not planned on going (reaching)? Then to come to realize that we had wandered from the direction we wanted to go. It happens to me almost every day. Sit down at the desk to "do" my Bible reading, and next thing I know, 10 emails have gone by, with links to sales or jokes, or that require replies. Before I know it, a half hour has passed and other things NEED to get done. Oops! There goes the Bible time – oh well – tomorrow will get here soon enough. Whether it's the kids, dog, cat, wife, birds, neighbor – there are things that get our attention and take us away from where we were going.

Then, the tendency is to worry about what we did not get done or where we are not (now that's a sentence). Amazing how God gets His message to us in ways we least expect. The "lost" thought came to me as I set down for my reading. Then after the reading, when I started working my way through my emails, there was the "Devotional From Dr. Gil" on Proverbs 12:25. It talks about how anxiety effects our lives. Gil says "The key to fixing anxiety is action. Do what you can do and leave the rest to God and others."

Now that would help me get "unlost" and back on track. Just in case you want to check out Dr. Gil, you can go to Devotions By Dr. Gil

Not the one on my head, but the cap for a highlighter. Was reading my Bible, and had one of those dual-purpose pens. Pen on one end and highlighter on the other. Pen just happens to be white. Used to have a whole bunch of them from an un-named company that makes phone stuff. Came in every training package that you got in the mail.

At any rate, laid the cap down, and when I was done highlighting some things, started looking for the cap. Here I was looking for a white cap on white paper, with almost no shadows. To cap it off, my glasses were off (easier to read without those "inviso" lenses). Now, it was not only white on white, but blurry white on white.

Patted down the bible, thinking it was in the folds, but not so. Finally picked up the bible and decided to put my glasses on. The glasses helped, for there it was, laying just right on that white book cover.

I guess this goes with what John is talking about in 1 John 1, where he says we need to "walk in the light". Got to thinking about there being "darkness" in "light". Don't think so… My photographic experiences say that there are shades of gray as long as there is light. It is only when there is no light that there is darkness.

Try it sometime in the dark wherever you are. You eyes will adjust, and only in the absence of any light will there be real "dark". Yea, I know our eyes (and minds) play tricks on us in the dark, but even a little light adds some form and substance to what's around us.

Finally got my main email Inbox down to less than 50 emails (not filed). Generally tend to read my emails, but leave them in my Inbox while I decide what to do with them. Well, they got up to more than 250, and it was bothering me (about time). The "keepers" went to their multiple places of storage and the "read and done" ones went to the trash.This may seem elementary to most of you – your beautiful, clean Inbox has two or three messages in it. I'm working toward that day when I can just smash through the emails and either forward or reply "right now". Some of mine are like the "A, B, C" piles that they say managers should use. The "A's" get taken care of right now, etc. There are some emails that are newsletters that will get "read when I have time". Eventually they get read.

So, I finally saw (notice the past tense) the light in my Inbox, only to look in Thunderbird this morning, and find it's back up to 95 with 40 unread! Argggggh! (that was comic sound, like "Oh, no!")

Checking out another source of light in First John (again). Love to read these three letters near the end of the New Testament. John starts out (in chapter one) like he is going to write a Reader's Digest version of his gospel, but takes another direction. Here, he starts out stating that what he says is because of what he saw and heard. It's not a case here of what you or I believe, but what he witnessed. "Believe it or not."Then he starts talking about the "Light" and the fact that there is "no darkness in Him." I remember one time down in some cave on a tour and they turned out the lights. Nothing at all like turning the lights out at home – it was dark. Once you have a sense of how dark dark really is, you can better understand what just a little light can do for you.Maybe people back then had a better understanding of "dark" because they did not have street lights, and barnyard lights. There may have been some glow from the embers in the fireplace, but not much else. The dark, without moonlight was a foreboding place. Well, as John says, "if we walk in the Light…" Things would be different – much different.