Feb 22, 2018

He Sees You When You're Sleeping…

And he knows when you're awake

He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake 

As children we were told and we believed that Santa Claus COULD see us and that he DID know what we were doing ALL day and ALL night. 

Because he could see us we knew that he was making a list, and checking it twice, and that he was gonna find out who was naughty or nice.


So, we were told that we had better watch out, and we had better not cry, and we had better not pout (I'm telling you why) because Santa Claus was coming to town.

Now this might have been a great plan by parents to get their children to behave by putting the fear of Santa Claus in them!

And it actually affected how children acted and thought; or at least for the short time around Christmas!

But it took years to realize how much damage this ‘theology’ did to us; even as adults.

We grew up with a ‘faith’ that there was someone out there who knew everything about us and watched us to make sure that we followed his laws. That this someone kept lists and double checked the lists in order to decide whether or not we made the cut.

This was the place as children where many of us who still struggle as adults with a perfectionist or performance mentality got off track.

This is the place where many of us who struggle with trust got off track. Because it is hard for us to believe that there was someone who would actually care for us if we simply believed…not performed.

This is the place where many of us who have struggled with being vulnerable got off track as we learned to constantly have our emotions in check, and not cry, or be disappointed, as we put our walls up knowing that someone had a notebook and was writing everything down.

And so, fast forward to adulthood and perhaps we can better understand why we have issues pertaining to faith in a God we can’t see when it collides with our perception of reality based upon our understanding of Santa Claus and his monitoring system.

Perhaps that is why we struggle to grasp the notion that there is a Creator; a God who made us and loves us deeply and wants to take care of us.

Perhaps we never separated that the LORD (as described in the Bible) is NOT the same as Santa Claus; no matter how good Santa Claus was to us…assuming we had been on the “good” list.

Or perhaps we have read ONLY the sections in the Bible where God is shown as angry, and so we assume that He is just like Santa dealing with people on the “bad” list.

And the idea that there is Someone who knows all about you and I and is able to see us when we cry or are disappointed; both when we are good and when we are bad, comes across as not good news.

And the only Santa Claus we ever personally encountered (at the mall) smelled like cheap cigarettes and booze or else he rang a bell as he asked for money that we didn’t have and made us feel guilty if we didn’t drop something in his bucket…

And if he ever did come to your house, he sounded a lot like uncle Mike.

So, maybe this is why it is hard for us to believe that God really cares and really knows and really sees us.

No thank you! We already lived out our childhood performing and we’ve had enough.

My friend, if this is your view point I implore you to reboot your mindset. In spite of what they told you, Santa Claus isn’t real, but there IS a God who IS real and He cares for you.


And, yes, He is watching you and He knows if you are crying, pouting, awake or asleep; good or bad. Yes, He sees all; but I am telling you not to be afraid. Or as the angels in the Bible frequently communicated; “FEAR NOT”. 

He is watching you (when you are asleep and awake) because He cares about you and your needs; He wants to help you!

And He isn’t keeping a list to decide about whether or not you will be cared for. He points out our sin because He wants to inform us so that we stop doing what we are doing, and change, and go a different direction…

Because He really does know what is best for us.

For those who question whether He can really see us in our struggles I implore you to check out the Bible; the WHOLE Bible, so that you can encounter how He cared for people like these:

HANNAH who longed for a son and thought that God couldn’t see her. But He did and provided a son for her named Samuel whose name means ‘the LORD heard me’ (read 1 Samuel chapter 1)

HAGAR who was rejected by Abraham, who got her pregnant and then tossed her aside on her own, because Abraham’s wife Sarah (who agreed to the encounter) was jealous that Hagar was carrying Abraham’s baby. She was sent away with Abraham’s son into the wilderness and felt all alone until the LORD revealed to her that He heard her and that He saw her and that He would provide for her (read Genesis chapters 6 and 21).

JACOB who had been at odds with his brother and his father since birth; fighting for favor and blessing and provision, found himself all alone and on the run. He ended up working for a man named Laban who mistreated and lied to him. Jacob wondered whether God really saw him and knew about him. And the LORD revealed that he KNEW and SAW everything that was going on in Jacob’s life and met his needs for deliverance and provision. (read Genesis chapter 31)

I love how the LORD years later tells his prophet Isaiah to talk to Jacob’s descendants as they too wonder why the LORD doesn’t seem to care:

“O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?

 O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
 Have you never heard? Have you never understood?
 The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth.
 He never grows weak or weary.
 No one can measure the depths of his understanding.” (Isaiah 40:27-28)


KING DAVID who had been on the run from kings, family, and enemies for a portion of his reign had a revelation of just how much the LORD REALLY does know who EACH of us are.

As one who was a shepherd, David knew the importance of having One who ‘knows when we are sleeping and when we are awake’. David wrote

You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights…” (Psalm 56:8a MSG Version)

David KNEW that the LORD cared about his tears and he KNEW that the LORD kept track of them all (made a list) to settle the score with those who caused us pain and made us cry. David wrote:

“…Each tear entered in Your ledger, each ache written in Your book”. (Psalm 56:8b MSG Version)

One of David’s best Psalms describing the LORD’s knowledge of us is Psalm 139, which sums up what I have been trying to say about how deeply the LORD knows us. This is not something we should be afraid of, but rather something that should bring us great comfort in this world.

Psalm 139

Lord, You have examined my heart

    and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
You see me when I travel
    and when I rest at home.
    You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say
    even before I say it, Lord.
You go before me and follow me.
    You place Your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand!

I can never escape from Your Spirit!

    I can never get away from Your presence!
If I go up to heaven, You are there;
    if I go down to the grave, You are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there Your hand will guide me,
    and Your strength will support me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
    and the light around me to become night—
12     but even in darkness I cannot hide from You.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
    Darkness and light are the same to You.

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God.

    They cannot be numbered!
18 I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    You are still with me!

19 O God, if only You would destroy the wicked!

    Get out of my life, you murderers!
20 They blaspheme you;
    your enemies misuse your name.
21 Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate You?
    Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose You?
22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
    for Your enemies are my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 Point out anything in me that offends You,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.


Santa really is the wrong representative of Christmas; after all he isn’t God.

Jesus (who was the BEST representative for God because He is God) came that we might have real life and real relationship. We need Him as our Savior and as our Lord. He was crucified, died, buried and rose on the third day.

And the Good News is that He wants to take burdens off our shoulders, give us rest when we are weary, hope when we are hopeless, healing when we are brokenhearted, liberty when we are held captive and oppressed, and recovery of sight to areas where we have blindness. 


Jesus wants to help you today. Simply call out His Name right now.


Call 1-888-NEED-HIM for more assistance

All Scripture taken from NLT New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

All Scripture taken from The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson


Feb 15, 2018

What Is the Cause and Solution for Addiction?


Since coming to Christ forty years ago, I have had many conversations with individuals caught in the grip of addiction; twenty-three years of this time serving as a pastor.

Consistently, congregants, family members, clients, and staff have asked the question; “What causes certain people to become so consumed by a substance that it becomes an addiction where others do not?” and “How do we help them come to a place of victory over their addiction(s)?”

If you had asked me years ago what causes an addiction, I would have told you that some people are just not disciplined enough to walk away. Simply put, they just needed to try harder; as I leaned on ‘reality therapy’ to motivate them to change. But that really doesn’t work.

What Is The Problem?
Occupationally, I have spent the past five years working as a pastor with people who struggle with all types of addictions; particularly drug and alcohol. And through that experience, I have learned that we may be going about it the wrong way when it comes to helping people get set free.

Here are six of my observations:

1.) The ‘average’ person who comes to treatment will go through eight to ten programs; some short-term (28 days) and some long-term (12 months). In other words, the treatment becomes a revolving door experience as they continue to go from (treatment) program to program; never really getting set free.

Some of this comes from the painful rut of a life time of substance abuse (such as alcohol) or because the program was too short and the cognitive side never kicked in (meth takes around ninety days to get out of the system…which you can’t do in a twenty-eight-day program).

2.) People successfully stop abusing or using a substance without dealing with the ‘why they used” and they transfer their emotions and energy to another “ism” such as “rage-aholics” or “work-aholics” or “perfection-aholics.”

3.) Government has been unsuccessful with their one-hundred-year-old war on drugs; which has led to extremes such as prohibition or legalization as a solution to stop the problem. But history has proven that you can’t legislate this problem away.

4.) People are given a sobriety coin to show how many years, months, or days they have been sober. And then when they relapse, they chastise themselves and discouragement sets in because they failed…Instead of celebrating how many days, months, or years that they had been sober; and be encouraged to get up, and start again.

5.) People who also have felonies are subject to returning to substance abuse after discouragement sets in because society calls them “felons”. So, even if they are successful with treatment, it sabotages their success outside of treatment.

This is counterproductive since the goal of the Department of Corrections is to ‘reduce recidivism’. And yet people with felonies can’t rent or vote or get jobs. This makes it very difficult for them to clean up debt and pay off fines and so discouragement sets in. They relapse to ease their pain and either go back into treatment or go back to lives of crime or, often times, overdose and end their lives.

6.) A major contribution to addictions comes from doctors who freely prescribe highly addictive drugs such as opiates for all levels of pain. Then, when users turn to heroin to meet their opiate cravings, these same doctors prescribe methadone, suboxone, fentanyl, or carfentanyl which are even more potent and addictive and even harder to break free from!

Addiction is very profitable for both those who prescribe them and the manufacturers who spend major amounts of money for lobbyists to make drugs such as suboxone, the ‘required’ drug of treatment centers to use for getting someone off of heroin. Yes, some drug dealers do so legally under the cloak of a prescription pad and make a ton of money because they went to medical school; while others sell the exact same drugs on the streets illegally and are called ‘felons”!

What is the Solution?
People need to write on the other side of the sobriety coin what are the key areas that they struggle with below the surface of the substance that they are abusing. They need to (metaphorically) work on “the footings” of their lives, not just “slap on a new coat of paint.”

In other words, not only looking at how many days, week, years that they have been sober, but dealing with the reasons behind the abuse such as “I struggle with…"Loneliness, Insecurity, Abandonment issues, Loss, PTSD, Trauma, or Rejection."

How Do We Do This?
The opposite of addiction is not getting people sober. It is getting them into healthy relationships.

Simply put, people are really looking for community and they will bond with anything that will bring a connection and too often that is in places that ultimately will take their life. This is true for all areas of addiction including drugs, alcohol, gambling, workaholism, rage, perfectionism, pornography and other sexual addictions and abusive relationships.

Yes, gambling and working too many hours is just as addictive as cocaine and heroin, with none of the chemical hooks.

Initially the solution seems to be that we should create special support groups for “them”, which looks good on the surface, but has the potential of causing further division for those seeking help. After all, who wants to join a group for "angry heroin addicts who struggle with pornography," especially if you have them meet at a church.

While many have used support groups to successfully stay sober, it isn’t the program that is used; it is the gathering place that is created that really is what makes it a place for successful sobriety.

I submit that we need to do something else. If community is really what we are ALL looking for, then we need to create community. We can level the ground by finding common inward needs that may be viewed through different outward expressions. This is instead of setting up special support groups that most of us will never join because we are not one of “them.” 

The common ground for all of us is that we all have issues below the surface that at times comes out and we hurt. It is what we do with those pains that makes all of the difference. Suddenly this isn’t an us vs them, but it is relevant to all of us; especially as we as a society become more disconnected.

Solution: Beyond Treatment is COMMUNITY
The people that I know who have remained successfully sober (not just from substance abuse) are actively living life in community.

I tell people that they can be successfully sober if they do the following:
·        Stay connected: Become part of a great church
         Stay committed: Become a part of a small group
         Stay transparent: Become accountable
         Stay honest: Remember your vows
         Stay humble: Keep serving others
·        Stay focused: Keep developing your character 
         Keep following the Lord Jesus Christ with your whole life

Church, we have a great opportunity to be the place for recovery and healing to take place. We have a great opportunity to be the community that people can go to for love, acceptance, healing, and life. We can be the place in which people can discover who they are in Christ.

BUT: It’s not a formula or a program. It is a family. And it takes grace.
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.” (Galatians 6:1-3 Message Version)

If you or a loved one are struggling with addiction, here are some links; all of them have "get help" buttons. It is a pretty simple application process and someone in admissions at the treatment centers should be able to walk you through it.

MN Adult & Teen Challenge: http://www.mntc.org
Life Builders (formerly Midwest Challenge): http://www.lrbmn.org 

Please call me if you have questions 612-819-3689

Pastor Tommy O, River of Hope Ministries





Feb 8, 2018

Misplaced Expectations


In my home we are a divided household when it comes to football. Cathy likes the Minnesota Gophers and the Vikings; and I like the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Dallas Cowboys.

It’s the end of football season and my team didn’t make it into the playoffs. And that’s OK because we still have five Super Bowl championships that will hold us over until next season.

Cathy’s team; on the other hand, made it to the NFC playoffs and had high expectations from everyone that THIS was the year that they were going to do it: win the NFC playoffs and then go to the Super Bowl in their own stadium.

When I say everyone, I mean even people that didn’t like the Vikings thought that they were a shoe-in because of the great season that they had. In fact, just the week before they had won in the last second (literally) and so EVERYONE expected them to go to the big game and win it all.

But they lost.

And no one expected that to happen. Fans around the world had expected great things; not defeat.

But they did lose; and everyone had misplaced expectations.

We do this with marriage, jobs, cars, and every kind of trinket that we can get a hold of. We place so much confidence and expect that things and jobs and events and people will be the ultimate source of happiness…

And when they don’t, we crash and burn and want to crawl into a hole and die. Or at least walk away from the job, marriage, trinket, etc.
 
It is during these times that I find myself wanting to ask; “What did you expect?”

“Did you really think that there would be no bad days at work or problems in the marriage or days when you would struggle and life would be less than stellar?”

So, we have two real options:

1.) We can go forward (as many do) and become cynical and lower our expectations for good things to ever happen; because we expect the other shoe to drop sometime soon.

2.) Or we could change what and where we place our expectations.

My observation is that we place way too much expectation in the job, marriage, trinket, etc. and place almost no expectation in the One who made us and all that is in the world. Why is that?

What if instead we chose in every situation (the job, marriage, trinket, etc.) to raise our expectations about what God can do with it?

What if we grew in expecting God to have another solution; another way to deal with the job, marriage, trinket, etc. other than bailing out and walking away. Or worse…

How do we grow in in expectation of what God can do? Start with reading the Bible to get to know who He is. When Jesus was on the earth, He said that when we look at Him we see what the Father is like (John 14:9).

In other words, we can expect that God will treat us similarly to how Jesus treated those who had bad situations; and came to Him for help. And if you’ve never read the stories, you may be surprised at just how merciful He is.

The Bible has many verses that speak to expecting great things from God

My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him.” (Psalm 62:5)

The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season.” (Psalm 145:15)
 
Even the earth is waiting and expecting great things to happen:
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” (Romans 8:19)

One of my favorites Bible passages says;
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Another one of my favorites passages tells me that I limit what God can do and I need to get my expectations up higher! The passage is from Ephesians 3:20 and says; “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”
 
In other words, we haven’t even thought of it because our expectations are way too low!

No this may not have fixed whatever was wrong with the Vikings, but it sure would bring hope into your daily life; as well as into the lives of those with whom you interact.

What are you expecting????

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.



Feb 1, 2018

How We Got the House At 840

I thought that since our house is now paid off, I should write about how we got the house.

On the night before Thanksgiving 1984, my dad had a dream. Mentally, I was in a rough spot. He told me on Thanksgiving Day at church about the dream; he said that he believed that it was from the Lord. He heard the Lord say that we were going to get a house for $59,000.

We were a family of five; two adults, a boy, and two girls. We were renting a little two-story house that had two bedrooms; one just off the dining room on the first floor and one upstairs. It served our needs and only had a few things wrong with it such as mice, short ceilings in the basement, and its address was “666”.

The house was owned by a friend of a friend of ours. His brother had purchased the house because it was very close in location to his house. His mother was dying in another state and his brother had purchased the house so that when his mother died, his father would be closer to his brother.

We were renting the house under the agreement that when the mother died, we would have two months to vacate the property. This agreement worked well and we lived at this house for several years.

In June of 1985, we received notice that the homeowner’s mother had died and we were given notice that we need to vacate the house by the August 31, 1985. We spent the next two months looking for a house to purchase with no success; sometimes looking at five houses each day.

Then we came to the point where we had only two weeks left before we had to leave.

Although we had been looking to purchase a house, we had nowhere to go. And, to make matters worse, because I wasn’t employed (other than odd jobs) we had no credit rating and no money in the bank. We were not the candidate that realtors want for prospective buyers.

I was in a bad spot. I said to my father-in-law; “God has finally let us down. In two weeks we will have nowhere to go. No job, no money, no house and no prospects!”

My father-in-law lovingly responded that he knew that God would come through. He said; “One thing I know is that your and Cathy’s life has always shown the provision of the Lord; He has always been faithful to you. In two weeks, you will have a great testimony of how God came through”.

My response was cynical and I said something to the effect of; “Why don’t you go through this and then I will read the book that you write as to how He came through!” My father-in-law said; “You need to go through this; it is something that you need to walk through and in two weeks you will have a great testimony of how He came through”.

Meanwhile when I was with my father-in-law, Cathy was with one of her sisters looking at houses. Cathy found a home that she liked on Ohio Street. The flyer said that it was a “Charming, two-story four-bedroom house with an Upper 3rd Floor located in a convenient area close to shopping areas, bus service, parks and schools. Because of the large corner lot, its South exposure fills the home with passive solar during the winter months and keeps it bright and cheery!” It was listed for the asking price of $59,900 as a “Contract for Deed…Like renting”

Later that Night Cathy, my parents, and I went through the house and it was agreed that we should try to get the house. The realtor (who was also the homeowner) told us several things about the house not listed in the flyer.

The house actually had a “contract for deed on a contract for deed” In other words the realtor was still making payments to someone else for the house. Also, another person had already signed a “Purchase Agreement”. My mom suggested that none of this mattered (if Cathy really wanted the house) and said she would call people and ask them to pray.

This began a week filled with one road block after another. Each time one road was cleared (like the original person requesting to back out of the purchase agreement) another road block would come up.

And each time my mom would call friends and ask them to pray. And each time one road was cleared another road block would come up. And each time my mom would call friends and ask them to pray. This took us to Sunday night, one week after we first looked at the house.

One week Later…On August 18, 1985, Cathy, my parents, and I met at the reality office (again who is also the owner of the house) to sign a “Purchase Agreement and give a check for two thousand dollars earnest money given towards the purchase of the house.

She said to me; “You two are the worst possible scenarios for selling a house. Why am I doing this sale?” I sheepishly muttered to her “Because they prayed”, referring to my mom and Cathy.
When asked what I mumbled, I spoke up and said that my mom and Cathy had prayed that this sale would go through. The realtor smiled, shook my hand again expressing what a risk it was and proceeded to congratulate Cathy.

As I stood in the office I noticed that this realtor had been “Realtor of the Month” for ten of the past twelve months!

When she gave a hug to my mom, my mom noticed that the realtor was tearing up. When asked what was going on, she explained; “Two weeks ago I was talking about this house with my husband. He said that we would have no problem selling in the next two weeks before going on a trip overseas. I told him how long it took to close on the sale of a house. He told me that the sale would happen; after all they were going to have an audience with the Pope. I told him that if the sale went through in the next two weeks, it would have to be God.

When you told me that you prayer, I wondered if God had indeed heard your prayers and that is why we were doing this”

After a brief discussion, the sellers agreed to rent the house to us for the month of September, 1985 for the amount of $375 so that we could move in immediately; and, so that they could head to Europe to see the Pope.

The official signing was scheduled for October, 1985 when they returned from Europe. Keys were given to us; one week after we first set foot in the house and one week before we needed to get out of the house we were currently renting. We had beaten the “two-week deadline” as God came through with one week to spare!

My understanding is that we would owe a payment of sixty five hundred when we signed the official paperwork in October. I tried doing everything that I could to get the money and nothing worked. I had been doing construction on people’s homes; no one seemed to have money to pay me. I even tried selling antiques and was offered well below market value.

October 4, 1985, we signed for the house. My parents came with in case we needed to borrow money for the down payment; which we did. There was also a bill for $65 dollars which covered some filing fees and back taxes. We were able to write a check because we had that amount of money in the bank. The entire closing took only fifteen minutes! The monthly house payment was around $540.

I came home from the signing and was not filled with hope but rather fear as I wondered how we would pay for the house. I asked Cathy; “Yes, God had gotten us into the house, but how would we pay for it?” She left me alone in my thoughts and headed to the store still rejoicing for how God had provided for us. The mail came and along with it was a local newspaper (the kind normally left to die in the front bushes). I opened it and saw the name of a company.

This was an ad stating what the company offers as a service and products. The ad was not saying that they were looking to hire, but something about the company stood out to me so I picked up the phone.

I need to digress and state that this was a bit out of the ordinary for me and it followed a year of application and interviews with no success and only left me more discouraged.

The owner of the company answered the phone and I asked him if they were hiring. He said to me; “Can you start tomorrow?” and asked me what I would like to make as an hourly wage; to which I gave him a number. He said that he would pay slightly less, but after two days he paid me more than I originally asked. I worked for this company for about eight years.

August 21, 1995. Ten years after we purchased the house we were to make a balloon payment of approximately eight thousand dollars. Once again I looked to myself to come up with the funds necessary to cover the debt that was owed.

Once again my efforts were met with no success at all. After months of trying, we didn’t have the money for the balloon payment. Once again I wandered and couldn’t see how we were going to come up with the money.
We asked the people who met in our home Bible study to pray for us and the situation; asking for favor from God for the money.

On the night before the papers were to be signed and the check would be due, I got a phone call from the realtor who owned the house; the one to whom we would be writing the check to buy out her portion of the contract for deed. The realtor had a strange request. She said to me; “I know that tomorrow you are coming with a check for eight thousand dollars; and I want you to know that contractually we have to take the money. I am asking if we might talk”.  I didn’t tell her that we didn’t have the money.

One phone call extended the balloon payment to September 1, 2000. After that we transferred to a mortgage company; to which we made monthly payments until we were paid up.

All of the years that we have been in the house, we NEVER missed a house payment; and we were ALWAYS able to replace furnishings including furniture, appliances, remodel rooms, replace the roof, soffits, and facia. 

Praise be the Name of the Lord for His faithfulness!

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matthew 6:33-34 NKJV)