Recently, while having dinner with our son and his family, our 4 year old grandson, Noah, turned to my wife and said, “Grandma, you’ll never be lost because God is always with you!” Perhaps he had experienced being lost or learned a new truth.

Have you ever been lost? If you know and trust God, you’ll never be lost because God is always with you. Like Noah, you can experience God’s promises. “For he hath said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5). “And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).

Have you ever felt brain dead, burned out, stressed out, or just plain worn out? If not, stop reading, this article is not for you. But if you have experienced any of the aforementioned symptoms – you deserve a break today. A fast food restaurant tells you that “You deserve a break today!” But you need more than a quick and easy break. You need a regular, deep, quality break. You need a time of rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation.

Many Hispanic countries have wisely incorporated a daily break into their very culture. In hot climates, people take a siesta to rest and rejuvenate during the hottest time of the day.

Many people set goals for the New Year. As believers we should prayerfully set spiritual goals. To have powerful and effective goals one should know the heart and mind of the Lord. Before his ascension back to heaven, Jesus revealed his purpose and power for his followers – the church. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Jesus taught that it is imperative that every believer be a witness. He sent the Holy Spirit to fill and empower every believer. Ask yourself this New Year, “Am I a witness? What kind of witness am I?” Let’s consider how we can be a more effective witness.

Do you want to succeed and prosper in whatever you do? Only a fool doesn’t want to succeed in life. The Word of God provides us with the wisdom we need to succeed and be a winner. Jesus said when he was tempted by the devil, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). As you study and apply the inspired Word of God to your life you can be assured of success God’s way. (Joshua 1; II Timothy 2:15, 3:16)

As the pastor prayed at the conclusion of the Sunday morning service on October 21st, 2007, I received a vision of a Daytona 500 type car race. As the beautiful, colorful cars came around the track, I saw the official giving the checkered flag as each car crossed the finish line. The following are a few impressions that will perhaps encourage you.

1 – All the cars in the race were different colors but all were brilliant and beautiful. All of God’s children are unique, beautiful, and special to Him

Joshua waited with anticipation for his father to escort him downstairs to the birthday party planned in his honor. The big white house was full of happy guests and friends invited by his father. Laughter filled the house and the joyful noise of the celebration drifted upstairs to his room where Joshua waited to be escorted downstairs to the party at the appointed time.

Finally, with delight, he descended the long spiral staircase with his father. Then together they entered the vast living room. His beaming expression soon turned to one of shock, confusion, and dismay. All of the guests seemed to ignore his presence. His father tried to get their attention with his booming voice. But very few would listen or even look his way.

Israel was chosen and blessed by God. After coming into the Promised Land they decided they wanted a king like all the other nations had. They weren’t satisfied that God himself was their Sovereign protector and provider. He redeemed them from slavery and dwelt among them. They were actually rejecting God as their Sovereign Lord and Father.

God let them have a king to rule over them. He sent the prophet Samuel to anoint the one that He had chosen. Saul was not from a great or renown family but notice what God said about him, “This is the man the Lord has chosen as your king. No one in all of Israel is his equal!” (I Samuel 10:24 NLT)

Her big brown eyes could melt most hearts. Miki, our golden retriever stood looking at her leash and then back toward me. “Let’s go for a walk,” she said. While browsing through a Bible book store, I came across a magnet that had a picture of a golden retriever holding a leash in its mouth. The caption read, “Lead me, Lord.”

Ask yourself, “Who is leading me?” Does the world’s philosophy lead you? Does a person, your fleshly desires, or perhaps the enemy of your soul lead you? The mark of a truly victorious person is found in this sincere prayer – “Lord, lead me!”

They don’t produce television programs like they use to. Much of the early TV programming had moral themes inter-woven in each episode. But now Hollywood and our culture has lost its moral footing. As a child, one of my favorite heroes was the Lone Ranger. After righting wrongs and helping damsels in distress, the Lone Ranger would ride into the sunset on his white horse shouting, “Hi-ho Silver!” The rescued would be left standing and asking one another, “Who was that masked man?”

In a world bombarded with greed, terror, and destruction many are searching for an answer and asking, “Who is Jesus?” The Holy Scriptures reveals that God “masked” himself with humanity when he was born of a virgin named Mary. He was called Immanuel – God come in the flesh. (Luke 1:26-38; Matthew 1:23; John 1) Jesus came to bring redemption, mercy, grace, truth, and justice.

Who is Jesus to you? To some, Jesus is only a myth, or a mystical mantra to give them peace, or a magic wand to satisfy their wants. To some, Jesus was a good teacher or a prophet. Some refer to Him as “The Man Upstairs.” Sadly, to many, he is only a curse word. But who is Jesus to you?

The essence of Christianity is summed up in one mind-boggling sentence: Jesus Christ is God. (John 10:30) C.S. Lewis put it bluntly: “For Christ to have talked as He talked, lived as He lived, died as He died, He was either God or a raving lunatic.”

One has a lot of time to think and pray when you are sitting in the ER of a hospital. My mom has been sick and I found myself sitting with her in the ER waiting to see a doctor. I noticed a disabled and hearing impaired woman visiting with a doctor. Then out of the blue she asked him, “What’s your nickname?” Before he could answer he was called away and I never did find out the doc’s story. But the woman’s question got me thinking about nicknames.

When I was a boy I thought it was remarkable that many times total strangers knew my name. My parents gave me the nickname Buddy.

How are you welcoming Christmas this year? Some people would identify with the movie “The Grinch who Stole Christmas”, others perhaps with Ebenezer Scrooge of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Storekeepers anticipate the money Christmas generates. Party givers look forward to the merriment of the season. Many enjoy the music. Children revel in the sense of mystery and magic. Believers rejoice in the miracle and mercy of Christmas. Magnitudes of art, music, literature, movies, and kind, noble deeds have been inspired by Christmas. Yet, secular humanists and many others do not always welcome Christmas.

Victories don’t come without a battle. What battles are you fighting this New Year? Perhaps it’s the “battle of the bulge”. You’ve vowed to lose weight and live healthier – but it’s a battle. Some continue to battle life controlling or negative habits or sin in their lives. Many people battle increasing debt or mounting stress at work or at home. If you have battles to fight this New Year I have good news for you. You have an ally. There is one who has never lost a battle and he desires to stand with you if you will look to him. He is the Lord God – the Lord mighty in battle.

On a wonderful fall morning I sat on our backyard swing wondering where all the beautiful birds were. On the ground below our birdfeeders was a flock of sparrows joyously feeding in the grass. I’ve honestly never been too excited about sparrows. They seem so common, colorless, and, you know – ordinary. This particular morning God began to speak to me about the sparrows.

Jesus drew the attention of his disciples to the sparrows. “’Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father knowing. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

What do Meriwether and William, Stan and Oliver, Ben and Jerry, John and Charles, Priscilla and Aquila, Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuck have in common? They all learned that by partnering together, they could accomplish much more than they ever could by themselves.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us how to pray with world-changing power, and also gave us great truths about God. (Read Matthew 6:5-18). Consider the first words in the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father.” Why did Jesus not say, “My Father”? Most Americans have the mindset of me and my. We are more individualistically oriented. Jesus told us to pray “OUR” Father. As we understand and incorporate the power of “our” in prayer, we will experience amazing things. Consider these four power points of “OUR” in prayer.

I am on a quest for the perfect pillow. My philosophy is that the kind of pillow one uses determines, to a large degree, the quality of rest one has. So, I have been on a quest for the perfect pillow.

I have tried numerous pillows on my quest. I know how Goldilocks must have felt at the three bear’s home. “This one is too hard. This one is too soft! And this one is just right!” My wife likes a gigantic pillow about 18 inches thick. But it leaves me with a stiff neck. A “down” filled pillow feels good initially, but collapses in the middle before the night is done. I have tried a bone shaped pillow, a foam filled pillow, an air filled pillow, and a wedge shaped pillow. But my quest for the perfect pillow continues.

It was a rainy fall afternoon when we walked through fallen leaves up the hill of the cemetery to stand by the graves of my two teenage brothers and a cousin, the fallen victims of a young drunk driver. Standing in the cold rain with tears coursing down our cheeks, I was asked the question I’ve been asked a multitude of times by broken, hurting people – “How can I ever forgive the individuals who have perpetrated such horrible hurts?” Many are consumed by the resulting rage and pain of wrongs done to them but others choose not to be.

Two brothers running across America, as well as a young couple sitting on the steps of a subway station near the collapsed World Trade Center, all must face the question: “Where are you headed?”

A famous rock singer sang, “The world is a bad place, a very bad place to live. Oh, but I don’t want to die.”

Today we watch shattered children, the victims of war, groaning on the six o’clock news while we calmly eat our dinner. We hear people threaten one another and plot the bombing and massacre of innocent families. We suddenly realize that we Americans are also vulnerable along with the rest of the world. The enemy, the devil (John 10:10) is trying to rip apart our world of peace and freedom, leaving only a memory.

A young, single mother struggles to make ends meet. Two of her three children have severe medical problems. Nine year old, Evon is undergoing her second round of cancer treatments. Sometimes this mother feels so alone and tired, but she perseveres. What gives her the strength to carry on?

A young father grieves the death of his wife who died in the World Trade Center on the tragic day of September 11th. How can he go on without his beloved wife?

A young man runs for his life and hides in caves in the wilderness. The king has tried to kill him and has put out a “contract” on his life. How will God’s promises and plans ever be fulfilled in his life?

The tongue can produce terrible evil or tremendous good. The tongue can lash and libel or the tongue can liberate and express love. Recently two talk show hosts were fired because of their constant abusive tongue. Terrorists are fomenting mayhem and death through their rhetoric of hate. The Word of God tells us, “But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire and the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a world of wickedness corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself” (James 3:1-12 NLT).

Too many have traversed the minefield of trial marriages. Multitudes of couples have been deceived and scarred by the experience. Scores have shed bitter tears resulting from trial marriages.

In a program called, “True Love Waits,” thousands of teens have signed public pledges that they will practice sexual abstinence until marriage.

Rush Limbaugh sent a cameraman out on the streets to report the public’s response to the program. People were asked, “Do you think teens should practice sexual abstinence?”

What is the sense of suffering in the world? Young lives are snuffed out by a drunk driver, grieving family members stand by the grave of their loved one and ask the age old question – why? Crying children and a brokenhearted wife sit in the cold and confusion of the after math of a broken marriage and a shattered family.

From the fall of man in the Garden of Eden up to the present time through tears we still ask, “Why do bad things happen, even to good people?” Many have become estranged in their relationship with God because of this one issue. But instead of asking why bad things happen, we would do better to ask, “How should we respond to suffering?” How does God respond to tragedy and suffering?

He was the son of a well digger. If you have ever lived in an arid land, you know how vital water is. In the old west, range wars were fought over water rights. Man or livestock could not live or thrive without adequate water. Years ago, well diggers were revered men. My grandfather once hired a well digger. Those that I’ve met seemed to have a certain mystique. Isaac’s father was a well digger. He knew where to find precious water and bring it up to quench the thirst of the parched and weary.

Women especially value a big rock on their finger. There’s a song that says, “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” But I want to draw our attention to a rock greater than diamonds.

I’ll always remember the day that I took my granddaughter to the park to play on the swings. But instead of swinging, she sifted through the dirt and rocks until she found the treasure she was looking for. She ran over to me with her dusty outstretched hand. She said, “Here, Papa, this rock is for you just because I love you.” She then handed me a small heart-shaped rock that she had found. I still have that rock in a medicine bottle sitting on my dresser.

On a cool, beautiful morning, I recently walked a stretch of old Route 66. Very few vehicles passed me as I walked along this now mostly deserted roadbed. Route 66, which passed through the heartland of America, was one a well-traveled route for thousands who drove it, perhaps seeking job opportunities during the 1930’s, or after WWII seeking the paradise of vacation land in California. Its roadsides were once filled with thriving motels, diners, service stations, and tourist attractions.

With the coming of the modern airlines and the interstate super-highways, Route 66 began to be bypassed, neglected and abandoned. Now it is “the road less traveled.” Few travel now except maybe via nostalgic memories, or by history bluffs, or by hikers and bikers.