Tag: discernment

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Christian Living

Circle Back

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Ever driven through a round-a-bout? I guess some traffic engineer thinks sending people in circles is more efficient than a stop light.

After he retired from teaching, my father ferried racing greyhounds to New England. One of his favorite stories involved being stuck in a traffic circle near Boston, pulling a 20 foot dog trailer! Here’s how he described it: “A bunch of people going in circles trying to make their turn by taking turns.”

Whose turn is it anyway?

I’m sure it’s in the driver’s manual, but in practice the round-a-bout has no hard and fast rules.

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Ah, the classic stop light; now here’s a simpler solution! Red means stop. Green means go. And yellow means wait (even if you’re late).😇

Yet when it comes to walking with God, the experience can feel more like a round-a-bout than a red light. It’s not a precise stop, go or wait; rather, it’s a keep-circling-until-it’s-your-turn reality.

Yes, there are places in the Bible where God gives specific “stop light” style guidance (Numbers chapter nine is a good one), but these aren’t the every day norm.


Picture all the Bible heroes whose lives didn’t travel in a straight line. Moses comes to mind. I mean, forty years on the back side of the desert?! Sounds like a round-a-bout thing. Or brave queen Esther. Her’s wasn’t a “stop light life;” she kept circling–waiting for the chance to make a big difference.

So if it seems like your life is on ⏸, maybe you’re not stuck at a red light after all. You’re just coming back around to make your turn.

There now. Feel better?


Here are a few of my favorite “Circle Back” scriptures. Please share one of yours!

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)


“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” Psalm 32:8 (NIV)


“He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.” Psalm 23:3b (NIV)

Categories
Christian Living vigilance

Birds of a Not So Feather

My wife and I love to watch the birds that come to our feeders. The playful chickadees and finches are our favorites. But the Brown-headed cowbirds, that eat far more than their share, are not.

Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash

These iridescent black birds with heads that look dipped in chocolate are also naughty in other ways. As brood parasites, they lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species. The host bird is often duped into incubating, feeding and nurturing a baby chick that isn’t even one of its own.

By Galawebdesign – Own work, CC BY 3.0,

The Devil (and his followers) like to play tricks like this too. As Paul warned the Corinthians, “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”– 2 Corinthians 11:14 (NIV)

There are plenty of religious, and irreligious “brood parasites” in our world today. These brown-headed (no, it’s not chocolate) bird brains love to infiltrate the “nests” of kinder species, where they lay their ungodly ideas. Like the host bird, we can be easily duped into nurturing these notions like they actually belong in our lives.

Spiritual “cowbirds” are also on the internet. I call them “blog” parasites. They visit the social media accounts of sincere believers, hoping to lay bogus eggs in their comment feeds. And taking the bait, which is what they want, means turning a part of your “nest” over to them.

Don’t fall for it!

There are places in the Bible where Satan is unmasked as an “accuser” (Revelation 12:10; Job 1:9-11; Zechariah 3:1), and as a “roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

It should be no surprise that his disciples follow suit.

“Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” — 1 Peter 5:9 (NIV)

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Christian Blog vigilance

The Spider on the Rim

Shuffling into the kitchen early one morning, bleary-eyed and half awake, I reached for my favorite cereal bowl. In went the Cheerios and milk, and I sat down for my daily devotional time.

Reading and eating is one of my favorite things. But today I was in for a shock. Two bites in I saw a spider on the rim. The rim of my cereal bowl, that is!

And it wasn’t any old spider. My right hand, the one I use to feed myself, had come very close to a brown recluse, or fiddle back–one of the most venomous spiders in North America. And my little milk drenched friend didn’t look happy.

Sorry, I don’t have a photo. I normally take a picture of everything I eat and post it on Instagram.

Not really, Tina.🥸

But, this particular morning, the spider frightened me and I dropped my phone (Which was in my other hand, of course).

My blogger buddy, BG O’Neal, shared a scripture this same day that made me think of my tiny eight legged interloper.

“Dead flies can make a whole bottle of perfume stink, and a little stupidity can cancel out the greatest wisdom.” Ecclesiastes 10:1 (GNT)

It only took one spider, who likely fell into the empty bowl in the cupboard, to ruin my whole breakfast. AND he totally creeped me out!

Isn’t this a picture of what happens in interpersonal relationships? We’re sitting on our tuffets, like Little Miss Muffet, when along comes a you know what 🕷 and ruins EVERYTHING. Whole companies and churches have been spoiled in this manner.

“See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” – Hebrews 12:15 (NIV)

I never used to look into a bowl before using it. But now, after the other day, I do it every time!

Prayer:

Heavenly Father. As I walk through this fallen world, among believers and non-believers, help me not to be a “spider on the rim.” In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash