Saturday morning, as I strapped on my gear for the St. Jude Half Marathon in the hotel I had to make sure I had everything. I had the usual: tennis shoes, socks, shorts, shirt, headphones, and a hat. But I wasn’t real sure this year what the weather was going to do so I decided to pack a backpack to carry with me as I ran. I had a rain jacket and rain pants because I didn’t really want to get soaked. I packed a thicker hoodie because weather was dropping. In the case that it got too cold I went ahead and packed some sweat pants into the backpack. Then I got to thinking, “What if I get lost out there and end up stranded on the streets of Memphis for a night or two.” So I went ahead and packed enough food for a few days and shoved them to the bottom of the bag.

Well, we have made int through another Thanksgiving holiday season. The turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and all the casseroles are behind us. Black Friday has come and gone. The Iron Bowl has been played. Now to work off all the junk we have eaten and shake off the laziness that comes with the long holiday. Thanksgiving is finally in the rearview.

It is the time of year that I remember that I usually got threatened with the thought that Santa Claus was watching. For a kid that didn’t get many toys through the year growing up, this was quite the deterrent for bad behavior for at least a couple of months out of the year. I wanted to make sure that December 25 would bring some much coveted toys that I had spotted, circled, and page marked in the JC Penny catalog. I knew what I ultimately wanted the most, and so, at least on occasion, I could avoid getting in the kind of trouble that might threaten that outcome. The rumor was that Santa could see everything so that gave a little extra push to do the right thing all the time.

Imogene Gray: Mrs Imogene is 104 and has lost her sight. She spends most of her days in the bed at a nursing home. In the past couple of weeks, I have had the opportunity to visit with her. As some of us were leaving a visit the other day, she told one of the people in our group how she had been discussing the Bible with someone and how she believed they were nearing the decision to be baptized into Christ. Many times in life we become to busy for where our own feet are! Ms. Imogene even at a point in life that is frustrating, and what most would call depressing sees it as an opportunity to impact people for Jesus! What is our excuse?

So what is the scariest thing to you? What the kind of movies or scenarios frighten you the most? Is it spiders? Clowns? Werewolves? Monsters? The list could go on I’m sure. Many people have their own phobias that are as varied from person to person as the costumes that will be worn by our kiddos at our Trunk-or-Treat.

“On the mount of the LORD there is vision.” exclaimed Abraham in Genesis 22:14 when God brought his attention to the ram caught in a thicket that would be Isaac’s replacement. The Hebrew writer gives us more insight into Abraham’s thoughts on the sacrifice to be offered. The writer states that Abraham believed God could have raised Isaac from the dead. He also adds that Abraham did indeed receive him back. He was lost but the ram was found to take his place.

There is a lot of noise in our lives. I’m not simply referring to the loud house that I live in with 5 kids, either. I’m talking about a lot of the things that we all hear each day. We have the news at our finger tips with smart phones. We are inundated with information that ranges from Taylor Swift dating Travis Kelce to the war in Ukraine. We have friends posting all sorts of information—much of it that we really don’t have to know but we get to learn anyway.

The author of Proverbs 27:5 tells us “Better is open rebuke than hidden love.” This Proverb reminds me of Jesus’ words in John 14. In John 14, Jesus is comforting his disciples about the upcoming arrest, illegal trial, and crucifixion that will ultimately lead to his resurrection and the redemption of mankind. Jesus states in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” He goes on to tell them that the Spirit of Truth will come and assist them in understanding and helping others to understand his requirements for his followers (John 14:16-17). Many of Jesus’ commands concerning behavior would stay the same or similar to the ones the Jews had kept for centuries.

In the last several years all three of my girls seemed to have fallen in love with volleyball. Volleyball has actually become one of my favorite sports to watch. If both teams are talented and have the right chemistry, the games can get intense and highly competitive. It is a game of momentum and a pretty high level of skill. To those who have never really paid attention it looks like just bumping the ball back and forth over a net, but to those who have spent time watching the right teams it is obvious that there is much more to it. There are those trained to bump or, at times, dig out, the hard hits of the other team. Others have practiced setting, or expertly lofting the ball into the perfect position for the third person, the hitter, to pound the ball to the other side in hopes that the other team cannot return it. When it is orchestrated perfectly it is an absolute thing of beauty: a work of art.

As I write this article I’m sitting at a tire garage. There are a few things you can always expect at a garage. Grease is abundant. Work tools and gadgets abound. And signs are everywhere. Some signs are printed and some are handwritten. I’ve read a few…and I’m sure they are all important messages…but there are so many that some of the messages get lost in the crowd. The signs are missed.