Walking The Walk

"A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed." ~Proverbs 15:13  It's easy sometimes to forget an important truth.  What happens in our hearts doesn't stay there. We have a profound impact on the world around us.  Like the outward rings from a stone dropped in a pond, we create waves that touch everyone and everything around us. This simple verse reminds us we have been designed with the remarkable ability to influence our surroundings through something as seemingly small as our attitude. Have you ever noticed how quickly a room changes when someone walks in beaming with joy? Or, on the other hand, how the atmosphere shifts when someone enters with a cloud of negativity hovering over them? This isn't coincidence – it's the principle from Proverbs 15:13 in action.  Our personality is visible and contagious. A cheerful face isn't just about putting on a smile-- it's the natural overflow of a heart filled with joy. ...

Pastor Todd's quiet spot . . .  "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you."  ~Job 42:5   I feel blessed that I have a couple very nice parks within a few minutes of my house, and I make good use of them.  I've written about it before, but I try each week to spend a morning in one of these quiet places, without a phone or a limit on how much time I spend there.  It gives me a chance to think without distraction.  It gives me a chance to read my Bible and pray without distraction.  Sometimes I'm there an hour or less, and sometimes I'm there all morning and into the afternoon.  Nature is a great way to get connected to God. We see examples of that in the Bible.   For instance, in the story of Job.  Job's powerful declaration reminds us that there's a profound difference between knowing about God and truly experiencing Him. Job 42:5 captures a pivotal moment of spiritual transformation - the moment whe...

Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant. ~Hebrews 7:22 Have you ever found yourself wondering if God is really there? If His promises truly apply to you? We all face moments when our faith feels shaky, when we wonder if our prayers are being heard, when God's presence feels distant. These spiritual doubts are not signs of failure but part of our human journey. I want to share a powerful truth from Hebrews that can anchor us when doubts arise.  If you take a close look at Hebrews 7:22, the word "guarantor" means someone who personally ensures a promise will be kept. In ancient times, a guarantor would stake their reputation, resources, even their life on fulfilling an obligation if the primary party couldn't.    The author of Hebrews is telling us something remarkable: Jesus himself stands as the personal guarantee of God's covenant with us. This isn't just a contract or a legal arrangement. This is Jesus saying, "I person...

 “your kingdom come, your will be done” ~Matthew 6:10 Have you ever noticed how the smallest decisions often have the biggest impact? Like that time you decided to take a different route home and met someone who changed your life? Or when you hit snooze one too many times and missed something important? Our lives are shaped not by the occasional mountain-moving choices, but by the seemingly insignificant decisions we make every single day. This is especially true when it comes to one of the most familiar prayers ever spoken: 'Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.' Matthew 6:10 sits right in the middle of the Lord's Prayer, a prayer so familiar that sometimes we recite it without truly considering what we're saying. "Your will be done"-- these four words represent one of the most powerful concepts in our faith journey. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray this way, He wasn't suggesting a mere religious formality. He was...

 "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning."   ~Mark Twain I republish this piece every so often. I wrote back in 2018.  It's a great way to look at those tasks on our list that we just don't want to do--especially on a Monday morning.  I still put things off from time to time, and every once in a while, to this day, you'll see three words written on my calendar.  Eat the frog! From 2018:  My daughter looked over my shoulder the other night and asked me why I'd drawn so many pictures of little green frogs in my bullet journal over the last few days.  I gave her this Mark Twain quote.  I ran across it earlier in the week, and I'd forgotten the wisdom of it.  She looked at me very puzzled after I recited it to her. "You know how I've asked you three times this week to clean up your room," I said to her. "Yeah," she said. "You still haven't done it.  You've been putting it off....

"Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end our lives."  ~Psalm 90:14 We've all had something go bad in the refrigerator when we've left it in there too long.  When we leave crackers out on the counter, it doesn't take very long for them to go stale.  I buy bananas every week, and it certainly doesn't take them very long to start turning brown.  Meat goes bad.  Milk sours.  Cheese will mold.  Fresh fruit doesn't stay fresh for very long.  And it's not just food!  See how far you get without refilling the gas tank on your car.  We constantly have to refill our provisions.   It's the same with our faith!  We need to constantly renew ourselves with fresh words from the Bible each day.  Fresh sources of joy.  Fresh expressions of gratitude and hope.  David Jeremiah once wrote that we can't live today on yesterday's joy.  We need to renew our faith each day by refilli...

"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails." ~Proverbs 19:21 I know many unhappy people in this world.  You know what nearly all of them have in common?  They put themselves first.  They are focused on their own needs.  Their own desires.  Their own wants.  Their career.  Their reputation.  The respect they feel is due to them. The pay they think they deserve. The car they want.  The list is endless, and because it is endless, so many people in this world are never content. They never get everything they think they are entitled to, because there is no end to what they want. Too many of us just don't understand why we're here. We don't understand we are custom built for a specific purpose. And the discontent we have in our lives isn't because we don't have our dream house--it's because we haven't found the thing we were put here to do.  Our true purpose! God didn't put us here to consume goods and...