Christian Devotionals and Scripture Applied to Everyday Life

What a great time we guys had a couple weeks ago as we followed John-Keith’s lead on our hiking and camping trip in West Virginia. John-Keith, Luke, Nathan, and I left the comforts of home on Thursday afternoon and traveled the 6-hour trip to Dolly Sods Wilderness. After arriving at the park at dusk, we donned all 60-75 pounds of each of our full packs and sought our first campsite. Thanks, John-Keith, for finding us something, even in the dark. This old guy was ready for some shut-eye!

This was a familiar verse to me growing up because it was put to a tune that I sang at camp when I was younger. Through the years the words have taken on more meaning. The lines of the psalm were written by the shepherd-king David as he was going through some difficult times.

Around Easter time, I decided to take our kids to the pet store to see all the cute bunnies and chicks. Before going I made them promise they would not even ask to bring any animals home. I should have made that promise myself because when I saw those cute little bunnies, I convinced myself that our albino rabbit Marshmallow needed a friend, and we came home with Marble, a cute floppy-eared black and white bunny!

The other day as I was coming in from the barn I saw a dead sparrow lying in the grass.  I do not know whether it fell from a tree or if Crystal, the cat, got it, but it made me think of this verse. Jesus was talking to His disciples, preparing them for a life of service.  He was sending them out into a hostile world to speak the truth, and He knew that they would not always be treated kindly. He did not want them to be afraid, so He reminded them that even the smallest sparrow does not fall to the ground without God's knowing and allowing it to happen.

When we are trying to follow God there are often times when we have no idea what to do. God's Word gives us principles about many different things, but often in a specific situation we may not know what our next action should be. Over the years I have come against different circumstances in which I have felt lacking in wisdom about how to proceed.

I am very tired today. I awakened in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep. It is the most frustrating feeling to lie awake thinking of all the things that need to be done and wondering how you will have the energy to carry on. As usual I fell back into a deep sleep just when it was almost time for the alarm to come on. Bummer! This kind of day happens to everyone once in a while, but unfortunately it seems to be a habit with me.