“Some days you’re the bug and some days you’re the windshield.” It’s a humorous quote, but they are days when we feel overwhelmed. When things get stressful it is helpful to have some practical tips to deal with life.

Brandon Jubar of ParishWebmaster.com has written a good article with 10 Tips to Battle Stress. I’m reading it today for personal reasons and I wonder if maybe the Holy Spirit guided me to the article. I’m feeling a bit frazzled around the edges. Check out the article here for some helpful tips.

The Memorial Day Weekend is often considered the start of summer vacations. While many people will enjoy camping, boating and picnics there is also the opportunity to spend time in remembrance of those who’ve died in military service as well as firefighters, emergency medical personnel and law enforcement workers. These people are also often in the “line of fire”.

Violence and war are not something to be glorified, but for those who are in those situations let us remember the need to be grateful for their service and to pray for their safety and their need to know that God can help them through dangerous situations.

If you would like to see some reading reflections for Memorial Day visit InternetforChristians.org.

Mongolia has just held a presidential election and the winner is Nambariin Enkhbayar of the former communist Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party. Mongolia faces issues like poverty and government corruption and the newly elected president promises to deal with these issues.

Tom Terry, General Manager of Eagle TV in Mongolia (we have written a number of times about their unique freedom of the press and ministry efforts in that country) had an interesting vantage point during the elections. Eagle TV provided a great deal of coverage but also met with many obstacles to this coverage. Sometimes their reporters were denied access and they were off the air a couple of times and the technical causes are suspicious. Nevertheless, they persevered during the hardships and were able to give a great deal of unbiased election coverage.

Keep Tom, his co-workers and Eagle TV in prayer as they continue their efforts to bring balanced media coverage to the population that has so often been given very biased and limited news. More here.

Can acceptance be the answer to all your problems? Some people believe so. For me it is one of many spiritual tools that can help me in daily living.

Acceptance is misunderstood a lot. It doesn’t have to mean approval. God knows that things happen in life that we often cannot approve of. But if we cannot accept the reality of life then we are always going to be in resistance.

If you believe that there is a God who is all loving and the Creator of our universe and lives then you should explore further what that means. I personally believe that God is not involved in treating some better than others. We are all children of God and as such entitled to the full measure of unconditional love God pours out on us all. We, of course, have free will to choose how we live and when we make mistakes it requires that we recognize that and ask forgiveness where appropriate, grant forgiveness to others and accept the reality of our actions.

Spiritual principles are real. They are as real as physical laws. The use of spiritual principles as a way to live keeps us growing and discovering the abundance of life that God so wants for each of us. Acceptance is one of those principles.

Tom Gilbert

Just about everyone is familiar with the Star Wars movies. When the first film by George Lucas was released in 1977 I was in college. I remember being immensely entertained, but also that the themes of the film had some challenging concepts worth considering. There was a battle of good versus evil and a Force that controls everything in the Universe.

Now many years later the Lucas has what will probably be the final installment, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, set to release May 19th. Those familiar with the series know that the first three movies made were actually the middle episodes of a planned nine film series. So, the prequels are the ones that have been coming out in recent years and give the background story to Obi Wan-Kenobi, Darth Vader, and the Empire. The new film will show us the transformation of Anakin Skywalker into the evil Lord Darth Vader.

Spiritual themes abound in the films together with lots of special effects and wild, sci-fun adventure. Author Dick Staub has just released a new book, Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters, exploring themes in the movies that are thought provoking and good discussion topics. He even has created a blog on the Internet you should visit – go here.

Love, kindness, respect and helping those less fortunate are all qualities that spiritually and morally minded people would agree on. Christians should be specifically concerned with them.

Criticism, condemnation, judgment, control, and an “us/them” mentality run counter to the above. Unfortunately we find it all too often in religious circles.

It seems that God acts like a gentleman and only comes in when invited. Of course, scripture teaches us that God has extended an invitation to everyone. So how do we approach others with a message of hope, love and Good News? Evangelism is not very effective when the message is “get it or else".

As I write this I am rushing a bit through a busy Monday morning. I’ve been spending the time I can this morning with duties for the Living the Solution website. Since this is not my fulltime job I also must soon get to that place of business. On top of that are the other side projects I’m involved in and fellowship commitments.

I have my notebook computer open for some personal journaling. I’m also on the Internet and I’ve spent an hour downloading and reviewing email. How do we find the time to do all we need to do each day?

Our society has made the mistake of thinking that more and better and faster technology will give us more free time. Just the opposite seems to be true! We have so much information and so many gadgets and we don’t spend nearly enough time with each other, with God and with quiet time.

Recently I came across an essay by a musician about this subject. He coined the term, “Time Deficit Disorder” and believes this will be the major new affliction in our rushed society. I think he may be on to something with that.

The answer when things seem too demanding with too little time and too much on our plates are to pause and ask God’s Spirit to give us some peace and guidance.

Tom Gilbert

As you may realize, Mother’s Day is this Sunday (May 8). Where would we be without our Moms? Motherhood is a sacred thing. Sure, many people have had unhappy childhoods or difficult times growing up. But, by and large, mothers are a critical part of the human family.

God is not gender specific. There are aspects of God revealed to us that are maternal. Let’s remember our mothers and value them and uplift them. Mary, the mother of Jesus, accepted God’s great call and she lived and suffered and persevered. We all have much to learn from that.

If you are looking for Mother’s Day gift ideas I suggest starting here.

Tom Gilbert