Mental Musings

When I was a teen I lived in Mississippi in the country. I did crazy things like go snake hunting. And there were lots of snakes in Mississippi. If we weren’t hunting snakes we were probably hunting something else or fishing. We usually met somewhere and then road dirt bikes out into the woods or down to the river. We would ride in shorts. That way we could really feel the burn when we accidentally let our legs bump against the muffler. We also never wore helmets. I know exactly what a windshield feels like when a bug splats against it. I also know what it feels like to have rain smack you in the face while going 60 mph. Since I didn’t own a motorcycle or dirt bike, I was at the mercy of my friends to use theirs. The reason I didn’t own one is because my dad refused to let us ride them. He had a motorcycle as a teen and had broken almost every bone in his body due to multiple accidents. He was afraid we would be the same way if we were to ride. So I secretly used my fri...

Frogs have an amazing ability to detect temperature change in the water surrounding them. In fact, if you put a frog into water that is too warm, it will immediately attempt to escape because the water temperature triggers a reflex response. Scientists have for centuries attempted to determine just how sensitive this reflex is in frogs. In the early 1800s scientists found that frogs would immediately attempt to escape as soon as the water temperature increased to an uncomfortable level. However, in 1872, a man by the name of Heinzmann did an experiment that proved that it was possible to change the temperature of the water slowly enough that the frogs could not detect the changes surrounding them. In Heinzmann’s experiment he slowly increased the temperature of a pot of water until it reached a boiling point and the frogs did not attempt to escape. This was replicated by others and recorded in 1875 and in 1897. In 1888, a professor at MIT named William Thompson Sedgwic...

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.” As we continue our study, Life on the Edge, we take a look at faith. Faith is a word that is often misunderstood, overlooked, simplified, and even purposefully misconstrued. Faith is required to be a follower of Jesus. The first step in following Jesus is to have faith that Jesus can forgive us of our sins. We must have faith that what He says is the best thing to do—that He will be a good boss. Faith leads us to trust and obey Jesus. Trusting and obeying Jesus helps our faith grow. It is a cyclical thing. The more we experience Jesus, the more we learn that we can trust Him. That trust leads us to obey Him. Our obedience to Jesus leads to an increase in our faith in Jesus. Faith does not mean that we will never have problems or face difficulties in life. But when we are standing on the edge, we will find that faith helps us overcome our doubts, our worries, and or own inadequaci...