I was at church yesterday and was looking up the scripture that was being taught on. I have been doing this little thing in my bible for many years where I will write the date and the speaker’s name by the scripture that is being discussed.

Yesterday I began to look through those little notes that I had written in the margins of my bible. It was like walking back through time. There were notes in the margins from various preachers, pastors, teachers and conferences I have attended over the years. I was given the bible in 1987 by my mother and father in-law when I was ordained as a Deacon at our Baptist church. I was 29 years old at the time and the gift of that bible has remained with me all these years.

As I went through the dates, I began to remember where we were at physically at the time as well as where we were financially. The late eighties and early 90’s were a very difficult financial period in our lives because I had purchased some fast food restaurants as an investment and it did not go well. Long story short, except for the grace of God, we would have lost everything we had because of that investment. Therefore when I looked at those dates my bible I began to remember that period of my life.

The oldest entries in the bible were a series of red ink notes I had made probably 10 different times at 10 different scriptures. They were titled “The Secrets of Success.” The date was June 28, 1988 and I wrote those words from a cabin we had rented near Vogel State Park in the North Georgia Mountains. I have reread those notes countless times over the years because at the time they were written, they were like a life line to me in a very difficult time.

Sometimes it is easy to forget what God has done in our lives. Time moves on and the desperation you may have felt at the time has passed. I don’t necessarily believe it is a good thing to dwell on the past but I do believe it is helpful to go back and realize again how you got where you are today, how you got through difficult periods in your life and the grace that God covered you with years ago.

Going back sometimes helps you to go forward. KT

Aside from the obvious differences between men and women, there are some other noteworthy differences. Guys call their clothes, clothes. Ladies call their clothes, outfits. Guys can eat at the same restaurant several days in row and order the same meal each time and be perfectly happy doing so. Ladies not so much. Guys can and will wear the same shirt every day for a week and feel good about it whereas ladies feel the need to change it up every day. Guys like movies that involve sports, games or shooting. It’s just in our DNA.

I suppose this list could go on for several pages but one glaring difference I have noted has to deal with muscle cars.

In 2005 Elaine and I were at a large car show where I planned to buy and bring home a muscle car. I had a flatbed trailer behind my Tahoe and cash in an envelope. To say I was a real buyer is probably an understatement. I was locked and loaded. There were probably a 1,000 cars at the show and half of them could be bought if the price was right. At 9:30 when we got to the show, my beautiful bride told me, “take your time and don’t buy the first one you look at.” Roger that. I saw a red 1972 Chevelle Super Sport about 10 minutes into the hunt but knew I needed to follow my bride’s advice and keep looking. Long story short, we looked for about 6 hours and I bought that first red Chevelle. Ha

The funny part is that when I went back to the car to meet the owner, there were about five husbands and wives in the general area of the car. There was group of five ladies standing in front (literally) of the car I was about to start up and maybe purchase. I got into the car and started the engine and I am telling you, it loped, cammed, thumped and rumbled like a beast. The flow master exhaust on the Super Sport was deep, throttled and incredible. As I looked up at the five men standing around, they had all stopped and turned toward the car with their mouths open. When I looked at the five women standing in front of the car, they didn’t even notice or hear that the car had started up. They never even broke their conversation. The men were like little kids running in their underwear and the women did not even acknowledge anything had happened. I started laughing because at the time it was so funny to see firsthand one of the differences between men and women. The sound and beauty of a finely tuned automobile.

The world without women would be an awful place to live because the guys would all eat at Waffle House, wear the same shirt, only put the dishes in the washer when the cabinet was empty, watch only action movies and shave once a month. There would be no thank you notes, deep phone conversations, Christmas cards and no birthday cakes. If Adam didn’t have Eve, all the guys would still be living in a cave with no pictures on the wall, eating the same apples every day, ignoring phone calls and working our IPad in the dark. God definitely knew what we was doing. KT

There are people in our lives that say they want us to succeed while secretly wanting to see us fail. These people really want to see you fail even though they act like they only want the best for you. It is important to discern the real intent of these people and be very careful around them. They want to be close to you and know all that is going on in your life but secretly they are hoping and waiting for you to fail so they can say “I told you so.”

Does this ring true in your life? My guess is that it probably does for most all of us.

I have a friend from some years back like this. When he is around me, I could not ask for a more encouraging friend but in his eyes I see what he really desires. I was and am always very careful around him. It doesn’t mean he can’t be my friend anymore, it just means that I will not confide in him the important things in my life. When we are together I keep the conversation very summary and only discuss surface areas of my life.

You ask how you can tell. The answer is that the Holy Spirit that lives in you and me gives you the gift of discernment. The Holy Spirit is talking to you all the time but we may just not be tuned in. Have you ever been in a store or somewhere and you just felt something was off? You just got up and left? That is the spirit leading you.

I guess the point of the blog is to be careful who you let into your inner circle. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the discernment of those around you and then have the courage to act on it. Many times I have been around people in business meetings and conferences where I just excuse myself and walk away. Even in your church there are people like what I am talking about. There are ones you trust and then the ones where there is just that little something that makes you keep them at arm’s length. There is nothing wrong with this. Rather it is prudent to be aware of those around you. Some are friends and some are foes. It’s the foes that you want to be careful of. KT

I have an old 1988 Jeep Grand Wagoneer that is beautiful. I just love it. A few years ago I saw one on the road and thought to myself, wouldn’t I look good in one of those? Well, after that I had to find one and buy it.

This is the imaginary versus actual part of the story. What I discovered after buying it was that while it was good to look at, it was still just an old vehicle that needs to be fixed and or repaired often. The heater doesn’t work right, the air conditioning is as weak as a cat peeing on bush, and it rattles, drinks gas and wobbles when it drives. Other than that, it is a perfect SUV. Ha. My point is that the imaginary feeling and enjoyment of driving a classic vehicle versus the actual is not the same. It is simply not as fun as I imagined it would be.

The bigger point of this blog is that my silly Wagoneer story is like many areas of our lives. Just to throw out a couple of examples they would be, If I had him/her or if I didn’t have him/her, if I lived in that house, drove that car, had that job, looked like that, then I would be happy in life. This next statement is very important. More times than not, what you currently have is better than what you imagine you want.

So the next time you imagine you would be happier if (whatever), take a step back and really think about what it would be like if you did have it. Like with my old Jeep, if I had really thought it through before buying it, I would have realized that I really like heat, air conditioning, power steering, brakes, a radio that works and a vehicle I feel safe in and would drive my family in.

Think about what you imagine and then think about what you actually have and it is my guess that you will understand what I am talking about. KT