Ok, I have to confess something. When I sang this as a kid, I always pictured the grumpy old man Scrooge who hated Christmas. Why would I want to life him up?

Now, I understand that an ebenezer is a kind of memorial stone. It’s a visible reminder of a time when God interceded on behalf of His people and brought deliverance.

I think it’s good to have an ebenezer handy for when times get tough and God seems so very far away. Maybe it’s a journal. Maybe it’s a family heirloom. Maybe it’s an actual stone from a place where you witnessed God’s care and provision firsthand.

We need these reminders because we are so forgetful, especially in the trials. It’s easy to look around and see only struggles and issues and problems and how everything seems to be going wrong. It’s hard to remember past the pain or to conjure up memories of good days.

The ebenezer is a kind of reminder that yes, God delivered you before and is certainly capable of doing it again. It’s a tangible witness to the mercy of God that met you when you needed it most.

I think even old Mr. Scrooge might have found his own ebenezer. Here’s hoping and praying you and I find ours.

Are you having trouble sleeping? Are you tossing and turning long after you thought you’d be asleep? Do all your efforts at falling asleep only lead to you being more awake, not less?

This isn’t an ad for a mattress or a pillow. It’s not a commercial for a pill that helps you sleep without leaving you feeling groggy in the morning. This is where I give you a suggestion or two.

Maybe you can’t sleep for a reason. Maybe God’s putting someone or something on your mind that you need to pray for.

Search your mind. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Pray about it. Whose name comes first to your mind? Pray for that person.

And when you pray, thank God in advance like He’s already done the thing you prayed for. I’m not saying “name it, claim it.” What I am saying is that if God doesn’t answer your prayer like you wanted, it’s only because He has something better in mind.

Just a suggestion. I’m not saying you’ll sleep better, although you might after releasing your worry to God. I am saying that the whole pray without ceasing thing is a pretty goof idea.

PS My cat never has trouble falling asleep. Maybe I should take a few pointers from her.

Technology is great. I love technology. When it works.

When it doesn’t, that is another story entirely. Sometimes I wonder if we’re not too tied up with technology to the point that if the power ever goes off, we’re in big trouble. But that is another topic for another day.

What do you do with frustrations? When your plans don’t quite go like you planned? When nothing goes according to plan?

The main question is this: do you see frustrations as obstacles in your path or opportunities for you to become a better person? Do you see them as a chance to develop your character as well as your faith?

I hate to say it, but I think some very un-Baptist thoughts when my laptop doesn’t cooperate. I easily get impatient instead of remembering to be grateful for the tech that didn’t exist 20 years ago.

The old saying is that you should never pray for patience unless you want to have what little patience you do have severely tested. That’s why God made technology.

Amen to that.

I experienced a little of this tonight. Literally. As in one moment I was watching yet another syndicated episode of Friends, and the next moment I was sitting in the dark. I think my exact words were, “Well, there’s that.”

It came out of nowhere. There was no reason for the power to go out. There was no storm outside or any excess of things plugged in. It was just a very random power outage.

Sometimes, life is like that. You may be going along, minding your own business when, just as suddenly, your lights go out. You lose a job. A loved one dies unexpectedly. A check bounces.

All of a sudden, you feel like you’re in total darkness. You can’t see to find your way out. You may even feel a bit of panic building up inside you.

In those moments, it’s like the old Corrie Ten Boom analogy. When you’re on a train going through a dark tunnel, you don’t automatically jump off the train as soon as it gets dark. You trust the conductor.

In the same way, the same God who has guided you all along in those well-lit places will get you through all those dark places, too. I’ve always heard the old cliche that there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. I do know that when I can’t find that light or see my way, I can always trust the One who is leading me to get me where He wants me to be.

Tonight was the wedding. It was beautiful, as all weddings are, and it gave me just the right amount of warm fuzzies.

It also got me thinking more about family.

Family isn’t always a matter of blood-relations and sharing genes. Family is being committed to each other no matter what. It’s saying, “You are my child, no matter what. Nothing you can do will ever change that. You may break my heart but you will never ever stop being my son or my daughter.”

I believe the same applies to the family of God. Nothing I will ever do will ever cause me not to be a child of God. I may grieve God’s Spirit, but I will always be His. And He will always be mine.

One last thought: if God can forgive the worst in me, who am I to deny forgiveness to anyone? What has anyone ever done to me that even comes close to what I have done to God?

So that’s it. Family is all about loving each other no matter what and learning to be good forgivers because we each have been forgiven much.

I went to a rehearsal dinner tonight for one of my cousins, which got me thinking about family. Here goes.

You can choose your friends but not your family. For better or worse, you’re stuck with your relatives. And before you go and start bad-mouthing your family members, remember that you’re just as imperfect as they are.

You will have many friends over your lifetime, many of whom will come and go, but you only get one family. After they’re gone, that’s it.

While you may at times think that nothing can be worse than your relationship with a certain family member, there is something worse than that. Regret over lost opportunity.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, is worse than the regret over the broken relationships that you can never go back and fix once the other member is gone. And by gone, I mean dead.

I love the scene in the movie Home Alone where the old neighbor finally calls his estranged son and they are reconciled. I love the idea that it’s never too late while the other person is still alive to reach out and seek reconciliation.

So remember that. Whatever hurt you may feel is nothing compared to the regret of a lost relationship. Forgiving is hard, but not as hard as having to say “I’m sorry” to a tombstone.

There’s nothing like cold weather to make my bed seem more inviting. Being under the covers when it’s chilly outside is a good feeling.

There’s not really a spiritual point to that. I just like my blankets, especially when they’re flannel or jersey sheets. Oh yeah.

I do like simple things.

I also like having my ceiling fan on at all times. Even on the coldest night of the year, I still like to have it on. There’s something about the air stirring and the soft hum of the ceiling fan motor that helps me sleep.

And I do like my sleep. As the old joke goes, I’m good in bed. I could sleep all day.

“So we have no reason to despair. Despite the fact that our outer humanity is falling apart and decaying, our inner humanity is breathing in new life every day. You see, the short-lived pains of this life are creating for us an eternal glory that does not compare to anything we know here. So we do not set our sights on the things we can see with our eyes. All of that is fleeting; it will eventually fade away. Instead, we focus on the things we cannot see, which live on and on” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

I’d like to say that I never complain or get annoyed, but I do. Here are a few things that get on my nerves (and note how most of them involve driving and/or traffic):

1) Slow-moving traffic, especially when there’s no obvious reason for it.

2) People who crowd the yellow line on two-lane roads and can’t seem to quite stay in their lane.

3) People who don’t know how to merge, use turn signals, stop at red lights, or drive in general. And I realize that I cheated and combined several pet-peeves into one.

The Apostle Paul spoke of momentary light afflictions he was enduring. Here’s what he considered “momentary” and “light”:

1) Being beaten with rods.

2) Being stoned and left for dead.

3) Being harassed and persecuted in virtually every place where he went to spread the gospel.

4) Being shipwrecked.

5) Being in prison.

He even said to count it all joy. To give thanks. To be content. Why? Because all that produces an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs any of the bad you go through.

I suppose we all need an attitude adjustment from time to time. Maybe what I need is to have an attitude of gratitude.

That’s the title of the new Kairos series. It would also make for a good mission statement. The key isn’t to be a masochist or a sadist, but to change your perspective and look for things to be thankful for in any situation. To see joy in every circumstance.

Yeah, I think I’ll do that.