I said, “What a bummer!” as I was looking out on waves I could never ride. You see, I don’t get much surf time as the Lord has me living over an hour from the beach. So here I am on vacation within a very short walking distance of the beach looking at some great waves to ride … for someone else.
I’m relegated to surfing smaller waves on a longboard due to my lack of surf time and arthritis in one shoulder. What I was looking at was far from my surfing enjoyment conditions. Yeah, I could have gone out anyways. I’d only have gotten extremely exhausted from the paddle out and been greatly frustrated over not being able to ride any waves if I had. Why put myself through it?
This is part of what Jesus meant when He told us “to watch and pray so that you won’t enter temptation.” Why put yourself into situations that make it hard to listen to and follow Jesus and easier to take your drug of choice?
We must have long memories of both our defeats and our victories. We have to know when to both walk away to and walk forward freedom. Sometimes it’s simply not worth getting the water.
Set Free No“W”ww

I was sitting on a bench over looking the Pacific Ocean when all of a sudden about ten pelicans materialized directly above my head! I thought they were dive bombing me, when I realized they were just flying in formation. I could count their number and observe their tight knit formation, which was evenly space from one bird to the next all the way down the line.
This formation reminded me of the lesson I learned many years ago. Yeah, I know I’m getting older (I didn’t say, “Old!” lol), but I’m still learning fun useful facts. I know the first bird in the formation has the toughest job. It breaks the air causing it to flow around the remaining birds, allowing them to use less energy. When the lead bird gets tired, it simply goes to the end of the line letting another bird take the brunt of the work, which allows the entire team to fly further easier.
This formation also reminded me of why God put over 38 one another phrases in the New Testament. We’re supposed to walk this journey to become more like Jesus with other believers! Yes you can love Jesus on your own, but life-change and victory over your drugs of choice happen more rapidly if you walk with others.
Are you flying solo or in formation with others?
Set Free Noww“W”

“God let me down!” Did He? A friend and I were talking about this earlier in the week. Everyone, including prebelievers, have expectations of who God is and what He should do. Yet, if these expectations of God don’t line up with the truth, those expectations will never be met, leaving one disappointed in God, disillusioned with life, and defeated in terms of their drugs of choice.
Therefore, it is super critical for the believer who wants victory over their repeated sinful behaviors to know and understand who their God truly is. Jesus will always act consistently with who He is. And because He is love and is good, He will always do what is best for us.
Now, how He does what is best for us may look differently from how we expected it to. At that point, believers have a choice. Let God replace their misconceptions with the truths about Him; thereby letting Him change their life, which only grows their Jesus story. Or, they can run away from Him saying, “Been there. Done that. Didn’t work.” This only leads to either an unsatisfying life and/or white knuckle ride until they head home.
Hopefully, you’ll allow the Spirit change your thinking and life through revealing who your Daddy really is, which will give you the abundant life Jesus promised to those who believe in Him.
“S”et Free Nowww

Well, it’s happened twice since the year began. My website went down. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I have to say it’s been a mixed blessing though. I haven’t had to deal with any spam for a week! On the downside, the Lord hasn’t been able to minister to either you or me through the writing of this blog.
Me? Yup. These daily entries are often exactly what I need to hear to help me to stay focused on Jesus.
So yeah, it’s a bummer the site went down. Yet, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. We live in a fallen world where bad stuff happens. Websites are not accessible, money is tight, cars get broken into, household chores never seem to get done, etc. Our enemy doesn’t want to make our lives easier. Yet our great and awesome God can turn these attacks into victories as we stay focused on and walk in the presence of Jesus everyday everywhere using our biblical tools.
This is why the first tool is so important: I’m secure because I’m God’s child. Yeah, we all face challenges and bummer-like days. But we love a good God who can use those challenges to turn us into Christ’s image and those bummer days into blessings.
My friend, stay focused on Jesus today rather than on the bad. Oh yeah, thanks ahead of time for entering the battle through prayer to keep this site up and running all year long!
“S”et Free Nowww

I’m sorry to have to break this to you. There are no such thing as Zombies. I know. It’s hard to take … breathe … it’s going to be okay.
What in the world does this have to do with living with a biblical worldview? I heard the most interesting phrase the other day. “Leave the grave behind!”
If you’ve already dealt with something, leave it in the past. If you’ve forgiven someone, don’t keep bringing up the hurt. If a thought didn’t work for you yesterday, why think on it today? If Jesus killed something in you, stop digging it up. If saying a word or phrase brought only trouble before, leave it on the trash heap of useless word now.
There are no Zombies … unless we create them in our mind. It’s time to leave those dead and useless thoughts, words and actions in the grave. Remember. You will become what you dwell on. And what you dwell on only gets bigger. So dwell on specific life-changing and living truths found in the Living Word of God!
Set “Free” Nowww