Be Careful How You Live

November 2, 2025

When I got home this afternoon from my doctor visit, I turned on my computer and sat down to work on this week’s ponderings. When my computer homepage came up, silly me, I thought I would scroll through the news headlines to make sure I hadn’t missed anything important. Other than the death toll from Hurricane Melissa climbing, there was nothing else of major importance. Here are some of the headlines. It seems that Emilio Estevez warned his brother Charlie Sheen before Charlie publicly revealed some less-than-flattering news about Tom Cruise. Apparently, there is something about a “revenge factor” going on. Also, you will never guess what President Trump plans to demolish next.  It seems some beloved landmarks may be in his sights. As if that isn’t enough, the Canadians are outraged about the National Anthem performance in Toronto last night. Then, Andy Reid revealed concerning news about the Chiefs yesterday. Finally, hold onto your britches, it seems Travis Kelce’s behavior during the National Anthem at the Chiefs’ game was outrageous. Now, I did not read any of these stories, just the headlines, and that is just a few of the headlines. But what strikes me is the fact that it seems there are a lot of outraged people out there, and these outraged people aren’t going to pipe down until you are outraged too. Never mind the fact that you didn’t know you were outraged until they told you you were! We don’t have time for this poppycock (I’ve always wanted to use the word poppycock in my writing, so I’m happy now). I’ve pondered on this subject before, but after seeing this, it bears repeating. Ephesians 5:15-16 tells us, “See then that ye walk circumspectly (carefully), not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Our world is sliding downhill faster than we realize. Every day, lost people are dying and going to hell, and we are concerned about Charlie Sheen hurting Tom Cruise’s feelings!? I’m aggravated at myself for reading those stupid headlines because that is time wasted that I can’t redeem (buy back). Imagine if I had actually taken the time to read the stories. I’d still be reading! Satan is having a field day. Not because Christians are doing a bunch of immoral stuff, but because they are spending their time on trivial activities. For Satan to have his way in this world, he doesn’t need to get Christians to sin. He just needs them to be busy. Busy with anything other than Kingdom work. Because the time we spend being outraged about how the National Anthem is performed, and are talking about that, is time we won’t be pointing folks to Jesus. I’m climbing down off my soapbox now, but y’all, as my grandfather used to say, time’s a-wasting, and time is something we can’t afford to let slip through our fingers.

Be blessed and go be a blessing . . . Bro Andy