Walking The Walk . . .

My pastor shared this video yesterday.  It may be the best thing you see this week!  Enjoy! ~TEC

I wrote about Quarantine Fatigue on Sunday--a lot of people seemed to like that one.  A few people contacted me asking me how I planned to go about that break from media. I've done this before, so I thought for "Self-Improvement Wednesday" I'd share a few tips from my breaks before. Taking a break from the media, and from social media isn't impossible at all.  It may sound scary, but I'm going to tell you something from my own personal experience. I've never regretted taking a break from social media--what I've regretted in the past is going back to it. Do Some Research How much time are you spending watching television and on social media? Most phones will tell you how much time you're online. It's an easy thing to do to keep track of how much time you're watching news on television also.  If you keep track for a couple days, I think you'll be shocked at how much time you're spending especially on social media platforms.  If I had

"The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble." ~Psalm 9:9 I had a very difficult time writing a piece this week.  I haven't been in a good place this week.  I'm a people person, and as I approach day 100 for this shelter in place, work from home, quarantine world I've found myself in it has started to take an emotional toll on me.  Then more bad news. I found out late in the week, that this working from home could extend well into the fall or even winter where I work--that would mean I may not even be half way through it yet.  The news hit me hard.  I miss people. I read a piece earlier in the week about the mental health costs of this crisis, and I'm beginning to understand that. People are meant to be together.  People were created to share their lives with others, to be social, and to be part of a community.  When that vanishes, it's a difficult adjustment for many of us to make.  But I have to look at this as an oppo

I used to work with a guy years ago.  Every Monday, he'd come in red-eyed and exhausted after a rough weekend and declare that this week was going to be different.  He was going to quit wasting his weekends drinking beer.  He was going to start exercising and get back in shape.  He was going to start a diet and lose that thirty pounds. He was going to go back to school and finish his degree and get a better job.  And he'd jump right in, too! By Wednesday, he was "rewarding himself" with a cheeseburger.  Thursday night he'd go out and have tacos at a local pub.  Friday, he'd be red-eyed and exhausted again, and saying that after this weekend, starting on Monday, things were going to be different.  That was twenty years ago.  I ran into him the other day.  Still 30 pounds overweight (more like forty or fifty now) and buying beer at the gas station.  We all know somebody like that, don't we?  We've probably made similar mistakes--it's pretty common ab

"So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." ~Isaiah 55:11 My youngest daughter had to face a very harsh reality this week.  She had her feelings hurt in a very mean way.  She was excluded from an event that she never should have been excluded from, for very dubious reasons. She was never told about the event, but after the event, it was splashed up on social media where the participants had to know she would see it, or my wife and I would see it and be upset that we were left out.  I think Valerie and I were as upset over it as she was. I knew I was going to write about this, but I've been struggling with how I was going to write about it.  I've been upset for several days.  It's not the first time, and we've accepted the fact it won't be the last time. It's been an ongoing struggle for many years. Valerie and

"For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." ~John 1:16 We were looking forward to getting back to a fairly routine Sunday schedule.  After church (we watched it instead of going of course), we got in the car and went to Champaign.  Finally, Illinois is beginning to loosen some of the COVID restrictions.  The restaurants are loosening up some, and our mall and local stores opened up on Friday--Valerie and Katie were anxious to go have a look and visit their favorite stores.  We expected a nice day out! We went through the drive thru at one of our favorite Sunday lunch spots, then parked and made use of their outside tables.  It was a beautiful day to eat outside!  Then we went to the mall.  There weren't many stores open, but enough to satisfy our need to be outside the house for awhile.  Valerie and Katie split off and hit all their favorite places--Old Navy, Kohl's, etc.  I hit my favorite place at the mall--Field & Stream. My book