"When the human race has once acquired a superstition, nothing short of death is ever likely to remove it." ~ Mark Twain

It's Wednesday, May 13, 2026, and, I'm glad that it's only Friday the 13th we need to worry about because the last time I checked we get a 13th in every month of the year. You know I'm just kidding around because any kind of superstition is contrary to our faith in God. I remember working with a fellow who told me his dad, a strong believer and a deacon in his local church, how, his dad would do almost anything to avoid any kind of contact with or nearness to a black cat. Woah! Confession time. Because of our conditioning, our upbringing, and, any other cultural influences, the thought does come to mind whenever one of those black silky creatures crosses in front of my car. Only for a micro-second but it does happen, it really does. I knew others that had frequented fortune tellers and even changed their schedules when told to. I think it is well established that after the shooting of President Regan, his wife, first lady Nancy, she actually consulted some kind of medium for fear that someone else might try and shoot him again. Truth is, we people are pretty fickle, don't you think? Including yours truly, but, God has an answer to our quirky but often misguided ideas. He does. He really does. The Apostle Paul writing to the local assembly meeting in Philippi, Greece gave, via Holy Spirit inspiration, these words to those folks and by extension to each of us, "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." The Letter to the Philippians, Chapter 4, Verses 8-9, as rendered in the New Living Translation NLT. 

 

Believe me when I say I'm not being critical of the fellow's dad who would drive for blocks to miss coming in contact with a black cat, or others trying to use the stars to direct their lives. I was pointing out the fact that each of us have our own fish to fry, so to speak, and, if you had been raised up like me, you would see exactly the meaning of that Southern saying. Let me be more clear, I've got a full time job getting the boulder out of my own eye instead of being critical of the fellow with a miniscule splinter in his eye. (Matthew 7: 3-5)  In fact, according to Jesus, if I do get myself in a right position I just might be able to then help the brother with the splinter. That quote above is from Dale Carnegie. I read one or two of his books. They were helpful to me in the work I was involved in especially in being able to communicate and interact with others. As an aside, I did have a local representative from the company he founded that wanted me to do an in-house program tailored to my staff. They did want to do that, very much. Very much. And, when he came in to talk to me about it he was overloaded with Dale Carnegie techniques. So much so, I was pretty much worn out when he left the building. I, being a procrastinator at heart, always put off making a decision about having his program. I can still hear him and seeing him waving his arms and laying it on thick about all the results I could have attained. If only. I bet it would have been a good thing too. That was back in the early 1990's, so, as they often say, that ship left the port a long time ago. Y'all find something in today's visit that will help you and let it be the Scriptures I shared because they will never let you down. They never will. They won't, ever, no, never, ever! Amen.