In our present world, where there once was one road with traditional moral standards, there now seems to be a plethora of options to take us off course. The world can discreetly take a standard and make it vague over a period of time, much like the sand concealing Arizona's plank road. On the other hand, God's ways do not change and are not vague. We can be sure of His path and the light that He shines on it.

Some obvious truths are found in the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:6-21) that God carved into stone for Moses. Those commands, simple as they are, still hold true for a Christian's way of life today. Thinking of stealing? Or lying? Or adultery? Think again. These truths are to set our feet on a rock-solid foundation so that we won't get lost, and to assure us, as travellers in this temporary life, of living a better life, not being stuck in the sands of sin.

Here are a couple of simple examples of such commands.

Are you unsure of the god you follow? Maybe there's another way to heaven? Not according to Jesus, Who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6 NKJV)

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27 NKJV) God has made us like Himself! In this verse, He repeated that fact so that it might sink in. Let's be the best of who He made us to be. Let's not get lost on pathways covered by the sands of this world, that we might be something less.

These are just some of the directives that God has given us. They are like the painted lines on a highway, there to keep us safe. They are given to improve our lives, not to press us down and burden us. God's plans are intended to prosper us and not to harm us.

Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (NKJV)

Let's stay true to God's way, even if it takes some digging to reveal His truths to us. Let's hide His Word in our hearts, that we might not sin against Him.

Prayer: Holy Father, Your Word is a light to our feet. As we read Scripture, may Your Holy Spirit speak Your truths to us. May we know Your ways, that we may live to bless You. In the power of Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

This time, the tow truck driver wanted to know how I knew that the tire was flat. "Was it squishy or something?" No, I knew that it was flat because there was a kindness involved. This time it was visiting a friend's mother-in-law in elder care.

At our age, we know what to expect from the world — certainly, nothing rewarding. As Christians though, kindness is in our blood. We will do it again and again and again, not because of a financial reward — it's going to cost to fix this flat tire. Going out of my way to make a person's day will cost me monetarily, but the reward is on the inside. Sharing our time with others is the perfect gift. The inside-heart benefits are a design from the Lord, His way of saying, "Good job!"

Every day, we walk with the possibility of death, the gift of the world.

Psalm 23:4a – Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. (KJV)

That is all that we need to know.

Prayer: Our Father, who is in heaven, holy is Your name. We have come to know You as a rewarder of our souls. You have broken the bondage of death, and we fear nothing. Thank You for Your grand design to reward our souls when the world so desperately tries to pull us down. Your name has blessed our lives. Amen.

Tuesday was a beautiful, blue-sky day, again, and the kayak lay out in the courtyard, its wheels tucked up under its keel, beckoning to be used. But I had a Bible story to prepare for the afternoon kids club at a local school. Yakking would have to wait.

Loading up my truck with Bibles and song sheets, memory verse tokens and attendance lists, permission slips and cookies, I passed the blue, ocean kayak quietly watching me. Our lesson that day was Jesus jumping into Peter's boat to talk to the crowds of people that constantly followed Him, listening to His explanation of His Father, God, and His love and forgiveness, characteristics not familiar to those Jewish and Gentile people of Galilee.

"You should take the boat."

No, the kids will climb on it; they will get sidetracked and not listen to the lesson. I'll think about it as I continue getting things ready. Then I sat down to really study the lesson till it was time to go.

Luke 5:1-5a – One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water's edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish." "Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing." (NLT)

Peter had just met Jesus not many days before. And not really knowing what this new friend was capable of, Peter obligingly did what Jesus suggested: "If you say so, I'll let the nets down again." We know that Peter caught the catch of a lifetime! He hollered at his friends to come help: the boats couldn't hold all this catch, and the nets were tearing!

Practicing the story a couple of times, I was ready to go. The kayak quietly watched me. If you say so, Lord, I will take the boat. How I was to use it and where I was to hide it until its place in the story, I didn't know, but if God said so, I would take the boat.

Arriving at the school late, I reasoned that if I had time, I would take it in. All things ready, the last prop to go in place was the kayak. I put it behind the stage curtains, still not knowing how to work it in.

All went well, and it came time for the story. I retold the situation that Jesus was in, and to demonstrate, I had the fifty kids crowd around me, pushing me onto the stage. But Jesus had an idea to escape the people: He jumped into Peter's boat! At that, I rolled out the plastic vessel. The kids giggled, oohed, and ahhed. How cool! It illustrated the lesson, just as God had planned!

Maybe the kids didn't fully grasp the lesson as I confessed that I hadn't wanted to bring the kayak there, but God did. I had to tell Him exactly what Peter had said when he thought that Jesus had a crazy idea. I may have prepared a lesson for fifty kids, but God made it a lesson for just one: me.

That lesson, as so many have, sank into my heart and increased my faith. That's just how our God works: teachers and pastors learn more from preparing their lessons than the students. That's one of the great benefits of being obedient to God's call on our talents.

Prayer: Father, You are creator of all. You include everyone, yet one person at a time can be dear to You in a special way. Reminded once again of Your sovereignty, direct our attention to Your love, like You did with those crowds of people. May we yearn to follow You as a crowd, or as a church, or as an individual, like Peter. Your love is for us all. Thank You for that awesome love. Amen.

"Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences but shouts to us in our pain. Pain is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." (C.S. Lewis)

My husband had a 200-pound object dropped on his foot recently. The pain was so wrenching that he felt nauseated and wanted something to wrap around his big toe, which demanded a significant amount of attention.

I lost a toenail years ago due to someone dropping a large can of beans on it. I wouldn't remember such a small incident except that it left a scar to prove its occurrence.

Pain documents a happening. Because of its severity, we remember events: the pain of childbirth, of losing a loved one, of making a mistake. Pain is our teacher. It is a gift from the world to respect situations lest they result in pain.

Without pain in our lives, we can drift off to sleep, spiritually speaking, with no particular reason to pay attention to God. Physical, mental, or spiritual anguish that no one intentionally seeks can be God's gift to us, for affliction and suffering can often drive us to God, asking, "Why?"

But the greatest gift of pain was received when Christ died on the cross for our sins. He knew that the pain would be so great that He prayed to His Father asking Him to remove this cup that He had been sent to the world for. The thought of being separated from the Father for our sins caused Jesus to sweat drops of blood in painful anguish.

Philippians 2:5-8 – Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! (NIV)

For us, the ultimate pain is to die to our old self and accept the gift of Christ's pain for our sins.

2 Corinthians 5:21 – God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (NIV)

It is the pain of the world that causes us to seek the comfort of Jesus, for the opposite of pain is peace. That is the reason that He was sent to us, the world, for He is our peace on earth.

Prayer: Father, may we take sweet refuge in You to lessen our pain till this world passes away. You give us a peace that surpasses all the pain that this world offers. Shall we ask for more pain that we may experience more peace? Make us only aware of Your great peace, shaken down, pressed tightly, overflowing. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Every day can be an adventure with the Lord, a "God day", even if we don't see it at the time. God always seems to give me a personal analogy when I give the Sunday School lesson for the kids at church.

My lesson was from the book of Joshua, chapters 1 through 6 — the story of Joshua leading the second generation of Israelites into the promised land, the land of milk and honey. The Israelites trusted in God, where their parents had not. They weren't sure how they were going to get to the promised land, but they knew that's where they were going. They headed towards the swollen Jordan River knowing that there would be no vessel to ferry them across. They camped around the scared-stiff city of Jericho, where people had heard what the God of Israel had done, and they weren't opening any gates in welcome.

Recently, we planned a two-day bicycle ride down the coast highway of California towards San Diego, with camping in the middle. It rained, so my friends backed out, leaving me to ride alone. I could have cancelled the ride, but I didn't. I told my husband to meet me at a certain location. So I set out, not really knowing my route, just going south. I don't have a smart phone, and my guide was just the bike lane that headed in the direction I was going.

But I wasn't alone; I soon met up with other riders, riders with numbers pinned to their bike jerseys. On an uphill climb, I had a chance to ask a rider what the event was and where they were headed. They were on a two-day ride also and going to the same destination that I had planned on reaching! Along their route, orange arrows pointed out the easiest way to the final point.

Like the Israelites, I didn't know how I was going to get to my destination, which was Mission Bay. But the Lord knew that this event was on the same weekend, with arrows to guide the way and Gatorade stations at which to refuel. I felt like Mary Poppins when her painted pony left the carousel and entered into a horse race!

It was a great weekend, but it wasn't until the Sunday morning when I was praying over my Sunday School lesson that I realized the significance of that two-day ride.

In our lives, we are given directions to follow His ways. Be kind. Love one another. Be honest. Have no other gods before us. Those are our directions in life. We are to follow them, and we are guaranteed an adventure. Israel followed the instructions God gave Joshua, and they marched across a dry Jordan River. They followed the obscure, weaponless directions to march around the fortified city of Jericho, and the victory was theirs!

We all have fortresses in our lives that we need to conquer. Let us follow the instructions, and we'll do just fine.

Deuteronomy 31:8 – The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. (NIV)

Be strong. Be courageous. Follow God's directions, and He will be with us, never to leave us or forsake us.

Prayer: Father God, leader of Israel and guide to believers everywhere, where can we go that You are not? You are in every part of our lives; show us Your amazing ways. Give us "God days" that You may be blessed. In the Name above all names, we ask. Amen.

It took much too long for October to get to November. Decorations of horror and death littered neighbourhood lawns, and automated electronic hands moved on the desktops of fellow workers when I passed, reminding me of unseemly things that were happening in my line of work. I assist, as a substitute, with special needs students in our school district. Every day is a different school and a different student.

The evils sown in October seemed to reap a harvest of angry kids who didn't particularly want my assistance. My days were not glorious, and while I do not take personally the barrage of verbal abuse these students are capable of, there is a weight to bear when such occurrences happen daily.

As it would be, my Sunday school students were in the same schools. For each high-maintenance autistic student, there were at least three Sunday school students to wrap a hug around me. They were so excited to see that I was at their school.

When October receded into November, and my students changed to a happier sort, I realized that God had carefully arranged each hug that came my way. I tell the huggers what an encouragement they are when they unashamedly acknowledge me amongst their peers and give me hugs — very big, tight, "it's-another-believer" type hugs.

We don't realize the power of our greetings as believers when we cross paths outside of our church grounds. The love of God is powerful, and He has purpose in our every step. Never think that our acknowledgement of another is in vain. God orchestrates. Every step has a note that works into a wonderful overture! Let's throw our arms around that acquaintance, wherever we may be. Give a hug in the name of Jesus. The warmth we feel when passing on a hug is tenfold to the receiver.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for little people who magnify Your love! What a heavy world we would live in without their energy! You set our feet on Your paths, so may we also transmit the energy of Your love to those we meet in our way. By Christ's strength in us, and in His warm and hugging name, we pray. Amen.

"Random" is a trend term. Middle school-age students use it for a level of cool. Random is out of our control — we're unable to manage, manipulate, or direct it. Random is unrelated to the thought process of a conversation. Random keeps the déjà vu out of the scenario of life. Viewed as positive, an action that may be looked forward to, random is the stuff that causes us to remember another day in the life of ______ (fill in the blank).

One Tuesday recently was memorable because of random.

I hadn't seen Becky in maybe ten years. With such a span to tax my memory files, I didn't recognize this person walking to each exterior door of my house, knocking, peering in the glass doors, and leaving nose smudges on my spring-cleaned windows. A bouncing, active eight-year-old boy was following her.

"Can I help you?" I asked, when I reached the house, walking up from the horse corral.

"Hey, don't you recognize me?" This thin, blonde lady walked down the steps with open arms towards me.

"I grew up across the street."

"Becky?" She'd matured a bit and cut her hair; a new Jaguar was parked behind her.

"Oh, wow, it's so good to see you!" I gave her a huge hug.

Becky had grown up with my kids; her dad was employed by my husband. I didn't remember family names and let her fill me with chatter on her stepmom and sisters, her husband and son.

"Weren't you studying for nursing last time we talked?" trying to remember something.

"Oh, I'm an embalmer, now."

Seriously. You pump formaldehyde into dead people? How random was this visit? Becky filled me in on the process of the decomposition of the body. I'm sure if I had googled "decay", I could have learned the every-day details Becky experiences in her career. Why hadn't I thought of that?

Random items happen. We wonder at the authenticity or the validity of each random act that crosses our paths. We may never learn why.

Later, on Friday that week, as I was studying my Sunday School lesson, a rushing wind blew through my head and stopped. I was studying Lazarus — the brother of Mary and Martha who died and was buried for four days before Jesus showed up. Jesus reminds us three times in this passage that "this happened so that you might see the glory of God"; "this is for your benefit"; "this is for your sake".

Jesus' four-day delay was a set-up — a set-up so Lazarus could die. A set-up so we could experience resurrection of the dead, because in just a few weeks Jesus was to rise from the dead. Would it have been so credible if it were not preceded with Lazarus' experience? Random? No. For Becky to drop in and discuss decay and embalming was a set-up, not only with basic information but to make concrete the fact that things happen for a reason.

Random is a fun term with kids, but it isn't in God's vocabulary.

Prayer: Father God, we love Your ways. They are not stagnant, but things happen with You that keep us smiling. They keep us looking forward to meeting You on a daily basis. Oh, Father, how Your ways exceed our small thoughts. Your grandeur is beyond our comprehension, and it is why we seek You daily. May our eyes be open to Your "random" acts. Give us understanding in Your perfect timing. Remembering the name given to Your Son, Jesus, we pray. Amen.