Facebook wants to know what I’m thinking.

So I’ll tell you.

I’m thinking about my family and friends who are sick or hurting or afraid or suffering and wishing I had the wherewithal to take away the pain and make everything better.

I’m thinking I’m tired of all the political / election back-and-forth and shenanigans.

I’m thinking it’s time for the hatred to end. I’m thinking it’s time we stop viewing each other by labels (black, white, liberal, conservative, etc.) and start seeing people are people.

I’m thinking that Depeche Mode song is now going to be stuck in my head for awhile.

I’m thinking this third wave of COVID is astoundingly awful and the ones who claim it’s fake news or believe the government doesn’t have the right to mandate public mask wearing need to wake up and comply or stay home.

I’m thinking cancer is far worse.

I’m thinking I wish Colts had played a bit better today.

But I’m also thinking I am grateful.

Grateful for so so so many friends and family, both near and far and the ability to reach out to them electronically.

Grateful that, while I can’t take away your pain, I can talk to the One Who can. (You can talk to Him too. Prayer is not exclusive.)

Mostly I’m grateful to GOD, for He has everything in His control, and I am sheltered under His mighty wings, as well all those who trust and follow Jesus.

I pray for you strength. I pray for you guidance. I pray for you hope and health and God’s wisdom and ever-growing faith. I pray you know the grace, mercy and love of Jesus through whatever you are facing.

God knew beforehand all this would happen. Jesus warned us that “in this world, you will have trouble.” But He followed that sobering news with a great promise: “Take heart for I have overcome the world”.

God knows everything. He’s not surprised by the election results. He’s not taken aback by the skyrocketing COVID numbers. He knows not only what’s happening and why, but how to see us through whatever troubles are vexing us.

Pray. Trust in Him. Rest in the LORD. Smile. Laugh. Live.

That’s what I’m thinking.

On August 19, 1971, Sammy Davis Jr. entered a Los Angeles recording studio to tape four songs for his upcoming album, Now! One song would never be released. The other three would appear on the new LP.

One of the remaining three songs was particularly disliked by Mr. Davis. He felt it was too cute. Davis complained bitterly to his manager, who wanted him to sing it. In the end, the 47-year-old Rat Pack crooner refused to record more than two takes, putting no real effort into singing the song he thought might end his career in show-biz.

And yet, despite all this, “The Candy Man” became Sammy Davis Jr’s only number one hit, earning him a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocalist. Not only that, it became his signature song, the title synonymous with the singer himself.

There are times in life when God asks us to do things we don’t like. Maybe it’s something as simple as speaking to someone we don’t care to be around. Perhaps He wants us to give up our dreams for His vision. Whatever it is, we will find ourselves blessed when we do.

Paul reminds us, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, ESV). As followers of Jesus, we are no longer our own, but the LORD’s – “bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20).

There is amazing freedom and blessing that comes from setting aside our own agendas and following God’s. His ways are far higher than ours. And when we begin to simply trust in the LORD and follow Him, we find the true meaning and purpose of our lives.