Dangerous Emotions: Pride. Thanksgiving Is More Biblical Than Christmas. It’s Time to Ban These Toxic Chemicals from Our Food.

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Overcoming Dangerous Emotions: Pride

“The world doesn’t recognize pride as a problem, so how do we overcome something so sly and seemingly harmless?

It is easier to see pride in others than to recognize it in ourselves.      

One of the hardest things to recognize and confront in ourselves as Christians is our pride. For some of us, it has become a major part of our lives, sometimes without our even knowing.

The Bible warns time and time again against pride creeping into our lives. Perhaps the most well-known warning is in Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (emphasis added throughout).

Pride is different from the other emotions discussed in this series (with the possible exception of anger) because we don’t feel that anything is wrong with us. When overwhelmed with other emotions, we know for sure that something is wrong and we need to change. When overwhelmed with pride, we usually think that we are just fine, but it’s just that everyone else has to change.

How do we recognize pride, and how do we combat it once we know we have a problem?

Why is pride spiritually dangerous?

God expects Christians to be confident and strong in their beliefs and actions. However, the Bible is full of warnings against pride, which can manifest itself as undue confidence and strength in ourselves—not in God.

Pride can lead us to:

• Seek recognition to exalt ourselves.
• Treat others unfairly.
• Accept no responsibility for wrongdoing.
• Speak constantly without listening.
• Be only concerned with ourselves.

These are all actions that we know from the Bible are not Christlike. The apostle John warns, “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).

Notice 1 Peter 5:5: “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”

Pride makes it impossible to be clothed with humility. Christians cannot fool themselves into excusing their pride, since the Bible plainly says that God will resist the proud. Pride hinders our demonstration of the spiritual fruits of love and goodness, so our thinking must change.

Identify the cause of prideful thinking

Until we admit to ourselves that we have a problem, we will make no progress in overcoming pride. How do we know if we have a problem with pride?

Some possible questions to ask ourselves to find out and then identify the cause could be: “How often do I admit I was wrong?” “Why is it so hard for me to admit when I’m wrong?” “How often do I need to be seen or heard by others to feel good?” “Why do I want others to see or hear me?” “How many of my Facebook posts are directed toward me and my opinions?” “Why do I have to talk about myself and my opinions so much to others?” “How much do I brag about my accomplishments or do things so others will see me doing them?” “Why do I need others to validate me?”

Analyze and compare the prideful thinking to reality

When we start to really examine our thoughts, it is shocking how easily pride can be found. When we examine our motives honestly, we may find thoughts like: “That was my idea, but no one is giving me credit.” “I’ll just keep talking since everyone else here is so boring.” “I don’t need your help! I can do this on my own, thank you very much.” “I’m the man! Look at me, everybody!” “You are telling ME what to do? How dare you!”

Though we may never “say” these thoughts, in an honest evaluation we may find that we definitely think them or act on them.

We can justify and rationalize our prideful thoughts, but when we write them down and truly look at them, we will see they are so very shallow, arrogant, boastful, self-centered and jealous.

How do such prideful thoughts compare with reality?

1. Is it fair/rational to believe that we know everything about every subject ever discussed? Is it fair/rational to believe we have to constantly let everyone know what an “expert” we are?
2. Is it fair/rational to think that expressing our opinions about everything and dominating the conversation is a good thing? God tells us: “For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God” (Ecclesiastes 5:7). “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19).
3. Is it fair/rational to think that we are too good to need help from other people or too “whatever” to be associated with certain people or activities? Is it fair/rational to think that our talents, achievements or wealth in this life are solely through our own strength and excellence, rather than from God?

Replace the irrational with rational

The first place to start is to continually remind ourselves that God created us from dust. God remembers that we are dust, so we have to as well. Without going to the other extreme (self-degradation), we must always keep rational thoughts in our head about our limitations and our total reliance on God.

Our irrational desires of wanting more and more attention for ourselves must be replaced with godly desires of giving more attention to others. Instead of asking, “How can I make myself look good?” we can ask, “How can I build up others through recognizing and praising them for their good qualities, and sometimes through self-sacrifice for them?”

Satan wants us to think of ourselves only, while God wants us to have as much concern for others as we do for ourselves (Leviticus 19:18).

What if I’ve already lost control?

If we have a wonderfully clear moment in which we realize we are being prideful, we can immediately pray to God, thanking Him for showing us something that many people never see in themselves. We then can start backing away from the “me, me, me” mentality and move closer to the “love for others as much as we love the self” attitude, clearly demonstrated by Jesus Christ.

Satan wants us to continually believe we have no problem in the area of pride, but after we examine our thoughts and seek God’s help, we can move toward gaining control and overcoming pride.

This is the seventh in an eight part series on Overcoming Dangerous Emotions. To read part 6, see “Overcoming Depression.” To continue the series, see part 8 “The First Month.”

From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/change/blog/overcoming-pride/

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Three reasons why Thanksgiving is more biblical than Christmas:

“America just largely ignored its most biblical holiday: Thanksgiving.

Christmas shopping ad campaigns like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Green Tuesday—even Black Friday Month—dominated advertising and even news coverage at the end of November. But so little attention was given to Thanksgiving.

Some Christians denounce the commercializing of the religious meaning of Christmas, but sadly, they miss many vital points of truth

1. Jesus Christ did give thanks to God the Father.

When He fed the 4,000 and the 5,000 hungry men plus women and children, Jesus gave thanks and blessed the food (Matthew 15:30-39; John 6:1-14). At the end of His ministry He specifically thanked God for the unleavened bread and wine of the Passover ceremony that commemorated the sacrifice of His own life for our sins (Luke 22:14-23).

The principle of thanking God for all our physical and spiritual blessings and for life itself is woven throughout the Bible. As national holidays America’s and Canada’s Thanksgiving Days are based on honoring the blessings that God has given their people. ( Is Thanksgiving Rooted in a Biblical Festival? )

2. Jesus Christ did not command that His birthday be observed.

Part of developing Christianity decided to observe Christ’s day of birth, but "Christ-mass," as it came to be called, was not widely observed until A.D. 354! However, Jesus, His disciples and the apostles did not observe His birthday.

Instead of His day of birth, Christ commanded His followers to observe the day of His death—the Passover (1 Corinthians 11:26). Unfortunately, Christianity long ago rejected the Passover and substituted Easter—a day named after and honoring the pagan fertility goddess Ishtar. This is something that Jesus doesn’t approve of!  ( Easter: Masking a Biblical Truth )

3. Jesus Christ was not born on December 25.

Despite the popular idea, the shepherds did not stay out at night with their flocks in mid-winter. It got too cold for that during winter near Bethlehem! Also, the Christmas-observing part of Christianity had no clear idea when He was born, so they suggested dates from all over the calendar during the early centuries after Christ.

However, had they more carefully read the details in the Bible, those early church leaders could have found that although the exact day of His birth is not revealed, Jesus of Nazareth was born in the autumn—not in the winter. ( Biblical Evidence Shows Jesus Wasn't Born on December 25 )”         From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/blogs/thanksgiving-vs-christmas

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It’s Time to Ban These Toxic Chemicals from Our Food

November 6, 2023

“Phthalates, a type of chemical used in food packaging and production materials, can leach into food and drinks and cause serious harm to human health. For years, the FDA has illegally ignored Earthjustice’s petition to ban these chemicals. In 2021, we sued to force the FDA to decide on banning phthalates. Last year it declined to do so, so we need your help in telling the FDA to get these hormone-disrupting chemicals out of our food.

This case is part of Earthjustice’s broader fight to remove toxic, dangerous products from our daily lives.

Phthalates cause harm — and they’re everywhere.

• Phthalates leach from plastic wrapping into the foods they touch. They’re especially likely to leach into fatty foods like cheeses and meats. (Click here for a full list.)
• In 2017, for example, lab testing found phthalates in 10 varieties of macaroni and cheese powders.
• Even at low levels, phthalates can interfere with human hormones. Animal studies have linked phthalates to a host of serious health concerns, including birth defects, allergies and damage to the male genitals.
• Phthalates also harm the developing brain, leading to reduced IQ and attention and behavior disorders in children.
• Babies, young people, people of color in all age groups, and economically insecure people all face heightened risks of serious health problems from phthalate exposure.
• More than 75 percent of Americans have phthalates in their bodies, according to the CDC.

The FDA has delayed measures for regulating phthalates for years.

• Federal law prohibits the use of chemical additives in food unless the available scientific evidence demonstrates that they will not harm human health. This mandate also applies to chemicals used in food packaging and food-production materials if the chemicals are expected to migrate into food — as is the case with phthalates.
• Yet the FDA allows 30 different types of phthalates to be used in food packaging and processing equipment.
• In 2016, a coalition of advocacy groups petitioned FDA to ban phthalates as food additives.
• Alongside the petition, the FDA received an overwhelming response from nearly 200,000 people, all of whom strongly urged the agency to withdraw its approval for phthalates in food.
• Many commenters were concerned about the effects phthalates have on children — and rightly so. Others mentioned their battles with cancer and other diseases, and their desire to spare others similar pain.
• Despite a legal mandate to make a final decision within 180 days, FDA sat on the petition for years.

The FDA’s decision means phthalate contamination will continue.

• Advocates sued the FDA in federal court in December 2021, forcing the agency to finally make a decision.
• In May 2022, the FDA declined to ban phthalates in food packaging. At the same time, the agency acknowledged that its safety assessment for food-contact uses of phthalates is out of date and requested new information from the public.

Top scientists agree we already have all the data we need. Tell the FDA to get phthalates out of our food once and for all! 

Take phthalates out of our food”

?  See more at: https://earthjustice.org/brief/2023/its-time-to-ban-these-toxic-chemicals-from-our-food

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How to Parent a Teenager. You Can’t Give Too Much Love! Fighting the Ten Hallmarks of Cancer with Food.

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How to Parent a Teenager

”The years in which a young person transitions from childhood to adulthood can be challenging. How should we deal with our children during the teen years?

Teenagers.

Just mentioning the word can cause anxiety for some people. Perhaps it’s because of memories of their own trip through the teen years, or perhaps it reflects experiences with their own children during that stage.

For many, those years of not being a child—but not quite being an adult either—are years of uncertainty, insecurity, learning, pushing boundaries and sometimes outright rebellion.

While adolescence has probably always been a challenging transitional time, it was faced very differently in the past. As the world has changed, the teenage experience has changed.

A better understanding of what those changes are can help us and our children better navigate this developmentally important time.

Adolescents in centuries past

Throughout much of history, adolescents were workers. In fact, children as young as 7 years old were often brought into the workforce. In both towns and farms, children worked beside their parents, doing what was necessary to support the family. As the age of industrialization spread in the 18th and 19th centuries, children began working long hours in factories.

As the standard of living rose in the developed world, educational opportunities began to change. Families were able to survive without their children’s financial contributions, so adolescents often stayed in school longer. Young people could now spend leisure time with peers, and this growing sense of freedom affected the way average teens viewed themselves and the world.

And this brought profound changes to the family.

Evolution of the teenager

It may come as a surprise to some, but prior to World War II, the term teenager was rarely used. In fact, many trace the view of adolescence as a distinct developmental stage to this time period. This newly defined stage of life, combined with a greater level of family income, resulted in other societal changes.

One of those changes in the U.S. and much of the Western world was the availability of the automobile, which provided a degree of freedom and autonomy previously unheard of. Beginning in the 1950s, teenagers suddenly became trendsetters in music, fashion, film and dance.

It became the norm for teenagers to focus on experimentation rather than labor. Teens of the 1960s and 1970s were known for rebellious attitudes and a proclivity for risky behavior that included illegal drugs, abuse of alcohol and a high rate of sexual activity. Parents faced new challenges in helping their teenage children navigate the world and avoid destructive decisions.

But over the last 20 years, the behavior of the average teenager has changed. Recent studies by psychologists like Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University, have revealed profound changes in teenage behavior.

Parents, grandparents and guardians need to be certain they are modeling the kind of behavior they want to see from their teens! According to Dr. Twenge’s research, when compared with teenagers from past decades, 17- and 18-year-olds today are slightly less likely to have tried alcohol and drugs or to have had sex. They are also waiting longer to get a driver’s license or move out of their parents’ homes. On average, they are waiting longer to get married and to have children as well.

Commenting on these findings, the BBC article “Why Teenagers Aren’t What They Used to Be” states, “By many measures, adolescence now continues until around the age of 24 to 25” (Feb. 1, 2022).

What does the modern teen face?

According to studies, the rates of sexual activity and drug and alcohol use among teens have declined since the early 2000s. Smoking has declined by nearly 70 percent among teens. Of course, all of this is good news for teen and parents!

But does this mean modern teens are choosing to refrain from all risky behaviors? Not necessarily.

A slew of studies in recent years reveal teen behaviors have changed, but not always for the better. The reality is that today’s teens have the ability to be involved in activities that didn’t exist for previous generations. The digital age has dramatically changed the fabric of adolescence and is forcing parents to worry about new challenges.

While smoking has declined across all age groups, we can’t ignore the alternative that has appeared: the e-cigarette (commonly known as vaping). Between 2011 and 2019 the use of e-cigarettes among teens rose by 1,800 percent!

With the dramatic rise in vaping, the medical community is now reporting a similar rise in lung problems, heart disease, gum inflammation, and negative impacts on brain development directly tied to use of e-cigarettes.  

The more we learn, the clearer it is that e-cigarettes are not a healthy alternative to smoking.

The impact of smartphones on teens

According to an August 2019 Pew Research Center report, 95 percent of U.S. teenagers have access to a smartphone. These mobile electronic devices have single-handedly revolutionized teenage life. Social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and Snapchat—which didn’t exist a generation or two ago—now dominate the life and time of today’s teens.

The cell phone is so embedded in teenage life that an earlier (2018) Pew Research survey found 45 percent of teens say they’re online on a near constant basis!  A 2018 Common Sense Media survey found that 60 percent of teens said they would rather socialize with friends online instead of face to face.

The artificial world of social media has created a heightened obsession with beauty and glamour that the average teen feels unable to attain. This has been linked to increased feelings of discouragement and depression among teens. As a result, a Science Daily study connected the unrealistic images of life shown on social media with a rise in suicides among teenage girls.

Smartphones have also contributed to automobile accidents. Studies show that a texting driver is 20 times more likely to have an accident, and yet 35 percent of teen drivers report responding to text messages when they are behind the wheel!

Access to smartphones has also increased access to pornography. It’s not an overstatement to declare pornography one of the greatest pandemics of our time. The U.S. Department of Justice recently stated: “Never before in the history of telecommunications media in the United States has so much indecent (and obscene) material been so easily accessible by so many minors in so many American homes with so few restrictions.”

Other studies reveal that 93 percent of our sons and 62 percent of our daughters have been exposed to online pornography before the age of 18, with more than half of boys and nearly a third of girls having their first exposure before they’re 13. Over a third of teenage boys reported viewing pornographic videos “too many times to count.”

This issue recently came to the forefront when musician Billie Eilish acknowledged she had viewed explicit content starting at 11 years old and had been negatively affected by it. She described her brain being “destroyed” and suffering nightmares because of it.

Considering that the digital world is only expanding, and creating new challenges as it does so, it’s worth noting that it’s never been more important for parents and teens to be grounded in the eternal standards of God.Another new challenge associated with this is the rise of sexting, or “self porn.” Different studies show different statistics about teens who have sent nude images of themselves by text, email or app, but all of the estimates are alarming. Laws against child pornography seem to have a limited impact.

These are just some of the many challenges that teens face today.

How can a parent respond?

The world of a typical teenager suddenly seems far more complicated than in previous generations. So where does that leave parents and teens who desire to live a godly life? There are several important points for us to keep in mind.

1.  God’s standards don’t change. Parents must keep in mind that no matter where societal trends might go, the solid truth of the Bible never changes! God told the prophet Malachi, “For I am the LORD, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). And the book of Hebrews declares, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

What was sin in the past is still sin today. Our responsibility is to understand the principles our Creator gives us in Scripture and understand how to apply them to modern challenges. Though none of the challenges cited in this article are directly mentioned in the Bible, the core principles of moral purity that they break have always been there.

Considering that the digital world is only expanding, and creating new challenges as it does so, it’s worth noting that it’s never been more important for parents and teens to be grounded in the eternal standards of God.

2.  Stay connected with your children. God instructed Moses to tell the Israelites to teach their children about God’s ways “when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:7). This instruction must be a constant part of our relationship with our children. Proverbs 22:6 instructs parents to “train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” 

But when our own lives are flooded with so much to do that we can hardly find time to stop and catch our breath, how can we possibly keep up with what our children are doing? School and a wide range of social activities are only a few of the items on their plate. Is it possible for parents to keep up with all of that?

The number one key is open communication. 

It’s critical to be involved and informed about their lives, their friends, and where and what they do. Although our relationship with our children evolves over time, we must never forget we are first and foremost parents who have their best interests at heart.

If we want to provide counsel and guidance, we must know what they’re facing.

3. Set appropriate boundaries. Teenagers are almost adults, but not quite. So, they will continue to require rules and the motivation to follow them. You will naturally adjust your rules depending on the age and maturity of your teen, but it is essential to establish limits and curfews for them. There are also a wide variety of parental control apps for computers, tablets and smartphones. It would be wise to do research and eventually invest in a program that will set proper boundaries for your teen.

4. Pray for discernment and wisdom. James wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). Parents of teens know how much they need wisdom to properly guide and teach their children!

5. Set the right example. In addition to taking the important steps listed above, parents, grandparents and guardians need to be certain they are modeling the kind of behavior they want to see from their teens! We should ask ourselves if we are being honest, if we are trustworthy, if we are living by the moral standards we want our teens to hold. “Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t work with child-rearing, and it most certainly will not work with teenagers!

The teen years are something everyone must go through. The way society has viewed these years has changed over the centuries, and the influences teens face today are different from those past generations faced. But these years need not be so dreadful for teens and parents.

We all need to focus on the never-changing truths of God to form the foundation for our values and behaviors. There will be challenges, detours and difficult times, but parents can use the Bible as their guide to help their children navigate through their teenage years.”

From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/relationships/parenting/how-to-parent-a-teenager/?

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You Can’t Give Too Much Love!

“At one time or another most parents will hear warnings of “don’t spoil your child!” It’s helpful to know the real cause of spoiling—and it isn’t love!

Sometimes relatives or acquaintances express concern that parents are giving too much to their child. The feared result is a child who is demanding, pampered and self-centered and expects everyone to cater to his or her whims.

Spoiling happens!

We parents take such admonishments seriously. We’ve all seen spoiled kids, and we know they’re no fun to be around! As well, we realize that, for all they might rake in, spoiled children do not have happy lives.

Many followed the sad (and outrageous) case of Ethan Couch and his “affluenza” defense—that his family’s wealth was responsible for his poor choices that caused the deaths of four people when he drove drunk in 2013 at the age of 16. Couch was sentenced to 10 years of probation and mandatory treatment, which he violated in 2015.

Another case in point: Steven Miner II and his sister Kathryn Miner were raised in a $1.5 million home in a wealthy Chicago suburb. But it seems they didn’t feel they were treated well enough.

In 2009, when Steven was 21 and Kathryn was 18, they filed a lawsuit against their mother for the “emotional distress” they suffered as children from her alleged abuses, such as “failing to take her daughter to a car show, telling her then-7-year-old son to buckle his seat belt or she would contact police, ‘haggling’ over the amount to spend on party dresses and calling her daughter at midnight to ask that she return home from celebrating homecoming.”

A third example would be the sons of Eli, Israel’s high priest before the nation had its first human king. Reading the description of them in 1 Samuel 2, one can’t help but imagine that they were used to getting everything they asked for.

Eli’s timid rebuke had no effect on them at all (verses 23-25), and ultimately God gave this evaluation of Eli’s parenting: “You honor your sons more than Me” (verse 29).

Overindulged

So, yes, we parents should take care not to spoil our children. But what is spoiling caused by? Is it caused by too much time, attention or love?

Is it even possible for us parents to give our children too much time, attention or love?

Child development professionals have concluded that spoiling does come from overindulging, but it is overindulging in permissiveness, low standards and lack of restraint.  Child development professionals have concluded that spoiling does come from overindulging, but it is overindulging in permissiveness, low standards and lack of restraint. It comes from parents giving children material things and privileges as a substitute for their time, attention and love.

As Laurence Steinberg Ph.D., author of The Ten Basic Principles of Good Parenting, writes, “I can think of plenty of children who have suffered because their parents were too busy, too selfish, or too preoccupied to attend to their needs. But I’ve never met a child who was worse off because his parents loved him too much. It is simply not possible to spoil a child with love” (2004, p. 27).

Madeline Levine Ph.D., a clinical psychologist who works with teens in prosperous Marin County, California, has written a book outlining the danger affluence poses to families. Titled The Price of Privilege, the book’s subtitle says a lot: “How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids.”

Levine writes, “Study after study shows that teens want more, not less, time with their parents, yet parents regularly overestimate the amount of time they spend with their teenagers. … Nor a son grieve for gifts not received—except, perhaps, the gift of time and love.”

Let your children know every day that you love them, that they are special to you and that you appreciate them. There’s no danger of spoiling them with love.”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/relationships/parenting/you-cant-give-too-much-love/?

For more foundational principles about parenting, see “Helping Our Children Grow” and “Raising Children: The Early Years.”

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From me:  As I was deserted at age 4, I never knew what it was like to be loved by parents and I was sent from place to place until I got out on my own at age 15.  So unfortunately, I didn’t know how to show my children that I loved them.  I figured surely they knew that because I was working so hard trying to support them.  Love is something that should not be quiet, it needs to be told out loud!!   Thank the Lord for your parents and tell them you love them.

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Fighting the Ten Hallmarks of Cancer with Food

“The foundation of cancer prevention is plants, not pills

Transcript of YouTube: https://youtu.be/HcAN8BjPjuE

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

“The vast majority of cancer research is devoted to finding cures, rather than finding new ways to prevent disease.” And the results of these skewed priorities are plain to see: 2021 is the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s declaration of war on cancer, and the death tolls from the most common forms of cancer in the United States have continued unabated.

“We have been looking at the very nature of cancer in the wrong way.” Breast cancer doesn’t begin when a lump is first detected. All the common cancers like lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate (which account for the majority of deaths) have a long latency period—often 20 years or more. So, it’s not like you were healthy, and then one day you got cancer. You haven’t been healthy—you’ve had cancer growing in you for decades. Indeed, there’s a bizarre misperception that people are “healthy” until they have actual symptoms of invasive cancer. But “[t]he barn in which hay is smoldering before it bursts into flames is not a safe place.”

So, what does this professor of pharmacology recommend? Drugs, of course—chemoprevention: putting people on drugs to prevent cancer. Hey, the pharmaceutical industry spends huge amounts of money to promote chemoprevention of heart disease and strokes with statins and blood thinners. So, why shouldn’t people take drugs every day for the rest of their lives to protect against cancer? There has to be a better way.

What about using diet and nutrition to prevent and treat cancer? Okay, but what kind of cancer? There are more than 200 types of cancer. Ah, but they all share the same hallmarks. In a series of papers cited more than 40,000 times in the biomedical literature, ten hallmarks of cancer have been identified.

Increased sensitivity to growth factors; evading your body’s tumor suppressors; dodging your immune system; being able to grow forever; tumor promoting inflammation; the ability to invade and spread and hook up its own blood supply; the accumulation of DNA mutations; disarming the self-destruct mechanisms in place; and hijacking the cell’s metabolism. And yes, of course, there are classes of drugs to try to counter each one—chemotherapy agents designed to target each piece of the cancer puzzle.

Now ideally, there would be drugs able to target multiple hallmarks at the same time, but that’s not how drugs tend to work. And this is one of the major reasons why, in the context of cancer research, there are so many proponents of investigating plant foods, as they can deliver a cocktail of bioactive compounds—bioactive compounds that may target most, if not all, of the hallmarks of cancer. Here’s a sampling of compounds found in fruits and vegetables such as berries, greens, and broccoli, shown to be able to target each of the ten hallmarks of cancer––at least in a petri dish.

Moreover, they fit the characteristics of an ideal chemopreventive agent. If you were to design the perfect candidate, you’d want them to be selective for cancerous or precancerous cells while leaving normal cells alone, be side effect-free, target most types of cancers, be able to be consumed as a part of a daily diet, be conveniently available almost everywhere, and be relatively inexpensive to boot. And plants have all of these. No wonder those eating more plant-based tend to have lower cancer rates.

However, it should be understood that we’re not talking about taking supplements containing extracts or purified phytochemicals, but rather eating whole plant foods themselves; more of a food-system based approach to targeting the hallmarks of cancer.

Foods contain many thousands of substances that lead to vast numbers of possible interactions, yet much of nutritional science has long been directed towards the impact of single dietary components. Yes, this kind of ‘reductionist’ approach can reveal the role of individual nutrients or foods in the development of disease, but let’s think about what the optimal research strategy would be to study the effects of bioactive natural plant compounds on disease prevention. Instead of using isolated phytochemicals in the management of cancer, how about using whole foods, because sometimes the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts, a concept known as food synergy.

Check out this study. The simultaneous inhibition of a series of cancer stages in breast cancer cells using a phytochemical super-cocktail. Two breast cancer cell lines were treated with six different plant compounds individually, and then altogether, at the level you might find in your bloodstream after eating foods like broccoli, grapes, soybeans, and turmeric. And while the compounds were ineffective individually, in combination they significantly suppressed breast cancer cell proliferation by more than 80 percent, inhibited cancer cell migration and invasion, stopped the cancer cells in their tracks, and eventually killed them all off. The plant compounds did all this without having any deleterious effects on the normal noncancerous cells used as control.

No wonder the foundation of cancer prevention, based on an update of the most extensive report on diet and cancer ever published is not pills, but plants. Cut down on alcohol, soda, meat, and processed junk, and center your diet around whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans.”   From: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/fighting-the-ten-hallmarks-of-cancer-with-food/?

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Quit Picking Stupid Fights. Let This Mind Be in You. Sugar Industry Attempt to Manipulate the Science.

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Quit Picking Stupid Fights (and Start Showing Love Instead)

“Few things have highlighted our human tendency to be unkind or even cruel to those who disagree with us quite like the COVID-19 pandemic. How can we do better?

 In some ways, COVID transformed the world almost overnight.

In other ways, it just gave us a glimpse of some ugly truths that we’ve been sweeping under the rug for decades.

This isn’t an article about global supply chains or epidemic preparedness. It isn’t even really about COVID—that’s just the backdrop to a far more important issue.

This is an article, first and foremost, about how Christians ought to be treating each other.

Developing a foot-washing mind-set

Hours before His crucifixion, Jesus personally washed the feet of His disciples. That included the feet of Judas Iscariot, who Jesus knew would shortly betray Him to the Jewish authorities.

“Do you know what I have done to you?” He asked them. “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:12-15).

Every year, Christians gather together for the Passover and fulfill that instruction—washing each other’s feet as our Lord and Teacher did for His disciples nearly 2,000 years ago. (Read more in “Passover and Forgiveness.”)

A key component in this ceremony is the attitude behind the foot washing. To stoop down and wash the feet of another human being can be humbling. To trade places and allow that same human being to wash your feet is beyond humbling. The whole ceremony is a powerful reminder of our interconnectedness as fellow servants of Jesus Christ—and the importance of being willing to serve each other.

After the foot washing was over, Jesus told the disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (verses 34-35).

Love is our proof of discipleship

There are quite a few identifying marks of the people of God. He gives us the weekly Sabbath as “a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you” (Exodus 31:13).

The annual feasts and holy days (Leviticus 23) are a sign. Our belief in and dedication to spreading “the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 24:14) throughout the whole world is another.

But love, said Jesus, is the sign. The world will know us as disciples, followers and students of Jesus Christ, when they see us showing the same love that He showed.

How do you think we’ve been doing on that front?

How we failed the toilet paper test

COVID has been on the world scene for over two years now. Two years. In that time, what have you seen more of: Christlike love or resentment, bitterness and frustration?

More importantly, what have you shown more of?

I remember when we first started feeling the impact of COVID in my little corner of the United States. But it wasn’t the virus itself that caused the initial impact—it was people.

When we let our own thoughts and opinions get in the way, it gets harder and harder to love as Christ loved. When the shelter-in-place mandates started around the world, people panicked. They started stockpiling everything they thought they might need for the uncertain weeks ahead.

Including toilet paper.

The funny thing is, we were never really at risk for running out of toilet paper in the U.S. or most other countries. The supply chain for that particular commodity is strong—but people were buying it faster than it could be restocked. And so, on April 19, 2020, half the grocery stores in the U.S. found themselves sold out of toilet paper.

That’s not to say that everyone who bought toilet paper at the onset of the pandemic was wrong. But some turned acquiring as much toilet paper as possible into a mission and other shoppers into enemies. On the whole, it seems we were afraid that someone else might buy what we might someday need—so instead, we made sure to buy it first.

Is that what Christlike love looks like?

Plenty of hills to die on. The run on toilet paper wasn’t a Christian problem specifically. It was a human problem. But it did set the tone for things to come.

In the days and months that followed, quite a few of us became experts overnight. We were experts in epidemiology, experts in constitutional rights, experts in logistics, experts in economic theory, experts in legislation. My Facebook feed was flooded with people who were absolutely certain they knew The Right Thing to Do and were furious at the henchmen of The Other Side for spreading propaganda and rhetoric to the contrary.

It turned into a never-ending shouting match. Every news item, every CDC update, every governmental mandate became one more hill to die on. Masks. Social distancing. Self-treatment methods. Vaccines. Everyone had sources. Everyone had a reason why everyone else’s sources were wrong.

So many voices were shouting.

So many continue to shout.

So many of those voices belong to Christians.

COVID isn’t the real problem. I said earlier that this isn’t really an article about COVID. And it’s not. It’s an article about us. About Christians in progress. About how we choose to navigate things like COVID.

There are a lot of lessons to draw from this pandemic, but for me, the most visceral one is this:

When we let our own thoughts and opinions get in the way, it gets harder and harder to love as Christ loved.

And when we start viewing our thoughts and opinions as fact, it gets almost impossible.

The danger of losing focus

The early Church had a similar problem—because the early Church was made up of fallible human beings too. There was a debate over whether a Christian should eat meat that had been offered to idols, and even though “an idol is nothing in the world” (1 Corinthians 8:4), there were those whose “conscience, being weak, [was] defiled” (verse 7) by the act.

Paul told the Romans, “If your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died . . . For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

“Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food” (Romans 14:15, 17-20).

It is easy to get so entrenched in the ongoing debate over COVID that we become willing to “destroy with [our] food the one for whom Christ died.”

It is easy to forget that, as much as a worldwide pandemic affects every aspect of our lives, COVID is not the most important thing happening right now.

What matters is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not eating or drinking—not debates over vaccines and masks, not heated arguments over constitutional rights and governmental authority—“but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.”

Keys to pursuing peace

We don’t pursue peace by trying to force those around us to share our views on the latest update from the CDC or by vilifying and shouting down everyone who disagrees with us. We pursue peace by accepting that in a developing situation like a worldwide pandemic, no one but God has all the answers, and we make a conscious effort to not destroy the work of God for the sake of our personal opinions.

Please don’t misunderstand me—there are absolutely hills worth dying on. When God’s truth is challenged, when others try to lead us away from God’s explicit instructions, we are duty-bound to plant our feet and refuse to budge (compare Deuteronomy 13).

But when it’s something less than that—when it’s a difference of opinion that has no bearing on our entrance to the Kingdom of God, no matter how passionate our feelings—then “let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand” (Romans 14:3-4).

And again, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!” (Galatians 5:14-15).

Learning to love others the way Jesus Christ loved us is a mammoth, lifelong task. But we can’t pursue that goal by tearing down our brothers and sisters in the faith who disagree with us.

We pursue it by getting on our knees and washing their feet.”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/christian-living/christianity-in-progress/quit-fights-show-love/?

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Let This Mind Be in You

Philippians 2:3-5

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

The goal of Christian conversion and transformation is to become like Jesus Christ—to think like Him, to love others as He does, to have His mind in us.

Paul lists some of the changes that are necessary for a natural, selfish human mind to become like Jesus Christ’s mind. We must remove selfish ambitions and “empty pride,” replacing them with “lowliness of mind.”  “The Greek word suggests a deep sense of humility. Although the pagan writers used the word negatively, in effect to mean abjectness or groveling, Paul did not. What Paul was calling for was an honest evaluation of one’s own nature. Such an evaluation should always lead to glorification of Christ” (NKJV Study Bible, comment on Philippians 2:3).

Elsewhere Paul says it is not wise to compare ourselves with others (2 Corinthians 10:12). But when we do assess ourselves and do consider others, we should “be severe upon our own faults and charitable in our judgment of others” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary, comment on Philippians 2:1-11).”

For more about developing the mind of Jesus Christ, see “Christ in Us: How Does He Live in You?”  From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/blog/let-this-mind-be-in-you/?

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Sugar Industry Attempt to Manipulate the Science

Transcript of YouTube: https://youtu.be/TTYtuPPjSP8

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

“Corporations are legally required to maximise shareholder profits and therefore have to oppose public health policies that could threaten profits.” It’s just how the system is set up. “Unequivocal, longstanding evidence shows that to achieve this, diverse industries with products that can damage health have worked systematically to subvert the scientific process.”

Take the sugar industry, for example. Internal documents showed they were concerned that health food “faddists” were becoming “an active menace to the…industry.” Sugar was under attack, “and many of the poor unfortunate public swallow the misinformation broadcast by the propagandists.” What were books like Yudkin’s Pure, White and Deadly saying?   “All of the propaganda [is] to the effect that sugar is a non-essential food.” Gasp! No! How dare they say sugar is a non-essential food? Next, they’ll be saying it’s not really food at all. And, that was the sugar industry’s line: “sugar is a cheap safe food”—and this coming from the founder and chair of Harvard’s nutrition department, Fredrick Stare, long known as “Harvard’s sugar-pushing nutritionist.”

Not only did the sugar industry try to influence the direction of dental research, but heart disease research as well, paying Stare and colleagues to write this review to help downplay any risk from sugar. Now, to be fair, this was five years before we even realized triglycerides were also an independent risk factor beyond just cholesterol. The main reason attention stayed focused on saturated fat is not because of the might of the sugar industry; there was just not as much data to support it.

In fact, “the [even] more powerful meat and dairy industries” loved the anti-sugar message. Who do you think sponsored Yudkin? In fact, on like the first page of Pure, White and Deadly, he thanks all the food and drug companies that had provided him with such “constant generous support.”  Who paid for Yudkin’s speaking tour? The egg industry, of course—to try to take some heat off cholesterol.

Hegsted, one of the co-authors of the funded review, wasn’t exactly an industry cheerleader. He recommended people cut down on all the risky stuff: “less meat, less saturated fat, less cholesterol, [and] less sugar, less salt.” It wasn’t the sugar industry that got him fired for speaking truth to power; it was the beef industry.

The sugar industry was able to conceal its funding, because the New England Journal of Medicine didn’t require disclosure of conflicts of interest until 17 years later. These muckraking researchers suggest policymakers “should consider giving less weight to food industry-funded studies.” But why is the food industry funding studies at all? When it comes to the “corporate manipulation of research,” ultimately conflicts of interest don’t just need to be disclosed and “managed,” but ideally “eliminated.”

Things may not change until public health researchers start “refus[ing] to take money from the [junk food] industry,” period. “It worked for tobacco.” Many prestigious medical and public health institutions “have…instituted bans on tobacco industry funding.”

But wait; can’t scientists remain “objective [and] impartial” even in the face of all that cash? Apparently not, as “industry funded research” has been shown to be up to 88 times more likely to produce funder-favorable outcomes. What, do we think corporations are in the business of just handing out money for free?

The classic example is the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, who “accepted $1 million [grant] from Coca-Cola.” Before the grant, their official position was that “frequent consumption of [sugary beverages] can be a significant factor in the…initiation and progression of dental [cavities],” which—after the grant—changed to “scientific evidence is certainly not clear on the exact role that soft drinks play.” As CSPI’s Integrity in Science Project put it, “What a difference a million dollars makes!” From: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/flashback-friday-sugar-industry-attempt-to-manipulate-the-science/?

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Overcoming Dangerous Emotions: Pride. How to Have a Happy Marriage.

Overcoming Dangerous Emotions: Pride

“The world doesn’t recognize pride as a problem, so how do we overcome something so sly and seemingly harmless? Part 7 of the “Overcoming Dangerous Emotions” series.

It is easier to see pride in others than to recognize it in ourselves.

One of the hardest things to recognize and confront in ourselves as Christians is our pride. For some of us, it has become a major part of our lives, sometimes without our even knowing.

The Bible warns time and time again against pride creeping into our lives. Perhaps the most well-known warning is in Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (emphasis added throughout).

Pride is different from the other emotions discussed in this series (with the possible exception of anger) because we don’t feel that anything is wrong with us. When overwhelmed with other emotions, we know for sure that something is wrong and we need to change. When overwhelmed with pride, we usually think that we are just fine, but it’s just that everyone else has to change.

How do we recognize pride, and how do we combat it once we know we have a problem?

Why is pride spiritually dangerous?

God expects Christians to be confident and strong in their beliefs and actions. However, the Bible is full of warnings against pride, which can manifest itself as undue confidence and strength in ourselves—not in God.

Pride can lead us to:

• Seek recognition to exalt ourselves.
• Treat others unfairly.
• Accept no responsibility for wrongdoing.
• Speak constantly without listening.
• Be only concerned with ourselves.

These are all actions that we know from the Bible are not Christlike. The apostle John warns, “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).

Notice 1 Peter 5:5: “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”

Pride makes it impossible to be clothed with humility. Christians cannot fool themselves into excusing their pride, since the Bible plainly says that God will resist the proud. Pride hinders our demonstration of the spiritual fruits of love and goodness, so our thinking must change.

Identify the cause of prideful thinking

Until we admit to ourselves that we have a problem, we will make no progress in overcoming pride. How do we know if we have a problem with pride?

Some possible questions to ask ourselves to find out and then identify the cause could be: “How often do I admit I was wrong?” “Why is it so hard for me to admit when I’m wrong?” “How often do I need to be seen or heard by others to feel good?” “Why do I want others to see or hear me?” “How many of my Facebook posts are directed toward me and my opinions?” “Why do I have to talk about myself and my opinions so much to others?” “How much do I brag about my accomplishments or do things so others will see me doing them?” “Why do I need others to validate me?”

Analyze and compare the prideful thinking to reality

When we start to really examine our thoughts, it is shocking how easily pride can be found. When we examine our motives honestly, we may find thoughts like: “That was my idea, but no one is giving me credit.” “I’ll just keep talking since everyone else here is so boring.” “I don’t need your help! I can do this on my own, thank you very much.” “I’m the man! Look at me, everybody!” “YOU are telling ME what to do? How dare you!”

Though we may never “say” these thoughts, in an honest evaluation we may find that we definitely think them or act on them.

We can justify and rationalize our prideful thoughts, but when we write them down and truly look at them, we will see they are so very shallow, arrogant, boastful, self-centered and jealous.

How do such prideful thoughts compare with reality?

1. Is it fair/rational to believe that we know everything about every subject ever discussed? Is it fair/rational to believe we have to constantly let everyone know what an “expert” we are?
2. Is it fair/rational to think that expressing our opinions about everything and dominating the conversation is a good thing? God tells us: “For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God” (Ecclesiastes 5:7). “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19).
3. Is it fair/rational to think that we are too good to need help from other people or too “whatever” to be associated with certain people or activities? Is it fair/rational to think that our talents, achievements or wealth in this life are solely through our own strength and excellence, rather than from God?

Replace the irrational with rational

The first place to start is to continually remind ourselves that God created us from dust. God remembers that we are dust, so we have to as well. Without going to the other extreme (self-degradation), we must always keep rational thoughts in our head about our limitations and our total reliance on God.

Our irrational desires of wanting more and more attention for ourselves must be replaced with godly desires of giving more attention to others. Instead of asking, “How can I make myself look good?” we can ask, “How can I build up others through recognizing and praising them for their good qualities, and sometimes through self-sacrifice for them?”

Satan wants us to think of ourselves only, while God wants us to have as much concern for others as we do for ourselves (Leviticus 19:18).

What if I’ve already lost control?

If we have a wonderfully clear moment in which we realize we are being prideful, we can immediately pray to God, thanking Him for showing us something that many people never see in themselves. We then can start backing away from the “me, me, me” mentality and move closer to the “love for others as much as we love the self” attitude, clearly demonstrated by Jesus Christ.

Satan wants us to continually believe we have no problem in the area of pride, but after we examine our thoughts and seek God’s help, we can move toward gaining control and overcoming pride.

This is the seventh in an eight part series on Overcoming Dangerous Emotions. To read part 6, see “Overcoming Depression.” To continue the series, see part 8 “The First Month.” From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/change/blog/overcoming-pride/?

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How to Have a Happy Marriage

“Whether you are considering marriage or are already married, you likely have questions about how to deal with the challenges and build a happy marriage.

Over 200 years ago George Washington wrote a letter to a friend saying: “I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the foundation of happiness or misery.”

It seems the experience of all the intervening generations has not changed this assessment very much.

There are many differing ideas today about what marriage should be. But regardless of one’s approach, marriage always involves blending two different personalities, with unique experiences, biases and visions for the future, into one unit.

Having two people so intimately intertwined in each other’s lives is challenging by itself. But when the pressures of career, finances, children, aging parents and more are added to the mix, marriage can become a very challenging relationship!

With marriages today failing at an alarming rate, some might ask if there is any hope for the modern marriage! If you are contemplating marriage, are there things you should consider to give your future marriage the best chance of success? If you are married, but your marriage is struggling, can it be saved? If your marriage is solid, can it be improved and strengthened?

These topics and more are addressed in this section. It is our sincere desire to help strengthen marriages, and it is in that desire that we invite you to read and study the advice that is freely presented here.”  More at:  https://lifehopeandtruth.com/relationships/marriage/

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Words Have Meaning. Saunas and the Psalms. Update.

Words Have Meaning

Numbers 30:2 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

Matthew 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

“Keeping your word is important to God. The ability to speak, to make agreements, and to make things happen with words is one of the ways in which we were created in God’s image. He created through speech, and He relates to us by speech. When God spoke, the universe was. His interaction with us has primarily been through the spoken word and its fulfillment: the prophets, preachers, and most importantly, through the Word made flesh in the form of Jesus.

When we speak, like God, we make things happen. We create. We can change the universe by opening our mouths. “If you will say unto this mountain, ‘Be moved and cast into the sea,’ it shall be done.” Notice that Jesus did not say if we ask God to move the mountain. He said we can speak directly to the mountain, and it will obey. Our words have tangible effects on the world around us. Even if you speak without intent, there may be power in the mere sounds. The more significant your words, the more significant the consequences are sure to be.

If you say, “This country is going down the tubes,” that might only be your observation of what you see around you, but it isn’t necessarily true. By putting it into words in that manner, you reinforce a negative outlook in yourself and the people around you, causing you to behave as if the country is already lost. You are making a statement of faith that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Luke 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamore tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

Don’t say that America is doomed and leave it at that, especially not if you believe it to be true. Rather say, “America is doomed if we don’t repent and return to God and His Law.” You will accomplish three things by modifying your speech in this manner:

1. You will reinforce in yourself and those around you that there is a way out for America. If Nineveh could be saved, then so can America.
2. You will reinforce belief in the truth that America’s redemption will come only from God, and that He respects and rewards nations who obey Him.
3. Your words, spoken in faith, will have power to change reality.

Remember that your positive faith is in competition with the negative faith of millions of others, so it is important for all those who worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to speak in unity and in favor of repentance and obedience. We must not allow the voices of unbelievers to dictate our future.

In the end, it is possible that America’s demise is necessary in God’s overall plan. In that case, there is nothing we can do or say to prevent it. Like the national repentance of Israel under Josiah’s leadership, the most we could accomplish is a reprieve. That isn’t reason to give up hope, because we don’t know what the future holds. That generation or two of delay might mean the ultimate salvation of millions and the greater glory of God’s Kingdom.

Be careful what you say. Don’t speak hopeless negativity against yourself and your people. Let your words be full of encouragement and hope and repentance.

Words have meaning, frequently more meaning than we will ever know.”  From: http://www.americantorah.com/2014/07/19/words-have-meaning/

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Saunas and the Psalms

What do saunas have to do with a passage in the Psalms?

Transcript of YouTube: https://youtu.be/pqP1v0CS5d8

[Steve Myers] “Have you ever been in a sauna? I had an experience one time. I had never been in a sauna before, went in there, and it is overwhelming. I found out maybe I’m a little claustrophobic. Maybe that temperature and all the humidity in there was not for me. I was only in there a minute or so, and it’s, like, let me out. Open that door. And suddenly, oh, you can breathe again. And it was, like, this is fantastic. It was more fun getting out of the sauna than ever, for me, getting into it. Because I needed the breathing room. I just couldn’t take that pressure and that humidity.

And, you know, when you think about that, life is kinda like that at times. We may feel like we are in a compressed kind of a situation where humidity and stress of this world really weighs on us. And there’s an interesting passage that you could consider if you ever feel like this. It’s over in Psalm 4. Right at the very beginning. It kinda gives us this picture of this sauna of life, and how we can really get some breathing room. And it begins like this. It says, “Hear me when I call, oh God of my righteousness.” That’s where all righteousness is, with God. Then it goes on and says, “You have relieved me in my distress. Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.” And I kind of envision opening that sauna door and getting out of all of the stress and the challenges, of the weight that might weigh on us, and getting out into the open where we can breathe again.

And when we turn to God, that’s really what He’s telling us. That He relieves distress. He relieves the challenges and stress that can weigh on us. In fact, at the very end of this Psalm, it says, “I will both lie down in peace and sleep, for you alone, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety.” You want peace in your life? You want to have that relief that only God can give? Call out to Him. He will hear. That’s the great part. Hear me when I call, oh God. And He does hear. And He is a God that gives us breathing room.” From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-daily/saunas-and-the-psalms

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Update.

Still no church, so I watched sermons on the computer on the Sabbath. 

On the Monday I drove to Brenham (TX) and see if the drive there was more relaxing than the one to College Station.  It was a long hilly country road and as soon as you got to the brow of a hill, there lay a ribbon of more miles of country road ahead.  I thought I was never going to get there  Then I found out that the HEB and Walmart are way off on the opposite side of Brenham, so, of course, I got lost.  The lady at the Visitor’s Center marked my route on a map and I finally got outta there and home. 

I wish we had better stores here in Navasota.  It is mostly Victorian houses and antique stores so the town wants to stay quaint, and not commercial.  Even the Walmart is just a tiny little store, with no tires or groceries, not that I bought Walmart groceries anyway. There isn’t even a health food store.  For so many things you have to drive at least 20 miles to get to a big grocery store or big box store.

The organic vegetables that I had bought needed to be cooked, so I sautéed some on the stove, roasted some, made some in crockpots, and then froze most of them in Mason jars.  So now I am stocked up on cooked food, but then I usually am.

As I had decided to keep the window unit, I had to make space for it in my storage unit, so I took an old beat-up trunk that I was going to restore, to the mission here, and had a look-see in their thrift shop. I try to see what they have once a week anyway.  I am still looking for an armoire.

My oldest son, Peter, turned 63 on Friday.  Many Happy Returns, I remember that day 63 years ago very well.  Also on Friday, Cherry and I studied the church’s Bible Study for this week, even though there wasn’t going to be a service there the next day.  Then we went on a quick trip to this little Walmart. She wanted to get a book, and I needed to return some shorts that I had bought in Brenham.  Even though they were the same size, they were not made by the same manufacturer and didn’t measure the same as the ones that I had bought before.

Even though there wasn’t a service at the church, I went over there this morning anyway.  An elder and his wife are there every Sabbath morning to check the mail and receive any visitors, even if there is no church service.  The lady who usually sets up the Zoom Bible study wasn’t there, and we couldn’t get the sound to work on Zoom on their phone, so we had our own Bible study, which was very interesting.  Later a few more showed up to go to a park for a community program especially for the local kids.  It was good to be around these good folks.

The sermon was live on Facebook as usual, but we will have to watch it when we get home because we all had trouble hearing it on the elder’s phone today.