S H I E L D

Since Dementia has recently affected my family, I’ve become very aware of articles pertaining to that particular ailment and ways to help fend it off.  One report caught my attention due to its succinct approach to dealing with that risk.  An acronym has been developed to help us remember the lifestyle factors we need to be aware of.  

S H I E L D

Sleep: developing good sleep habits

Handle stress: learning how to deal with stress

Interact: spending time with friends and family

Exercise: undertaking some form of daily exercise

Learn: work on learning a new skill

Diet: eating a healthy diet

This is excellent advice for everyone.  

But as I thought about that shield to help protect my health, my contemplations turned to a scripture that mentions a shield.  It has to do with our spiritual health.  The Bible is just as succinct with its instruction.  

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”  Ephesians 6:14-16 (NIV)

This is also excellent advice for everyone.  

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It Was a Boa

I stood in line at Starbucks in the Barnes and Noble store.  Ahead of me were two more people and then a woman with a very strange scarf around her neck.  The design had a print that looked like a Boa.  I was trying to analyze how that matched her clothing when it moved.  

It was a Boa.  

I was no longer standing in line.  I removed myself a safe distance away and bravely looked at her again.  The snake was around her neck, her waist and around one leg.  It kept moving.  A lady came to stand beside me and said, “That’s why I got out of line.  Why do they let her stay in here?”  

I had no answer.  

That Barnes and Noble is attached to a mall.  After she received her drink, that’s where she headed.  I could only imagine the double takes she received.  Maybe that was what she was after.  

Later that evening, I was watching a television program that had been enjoyable during the previous season. As the program progressed, my mind kept returning to the Boa.  This show had looked okay to me before.  But I began to get a feeling that just maybe it was not an okay program to watch.  

The Boa was moving.  I needed to back off.  

The program had been recorded, so I pushed pause.  I pondered the premise of the show, the focus, the goal it had in mind.  Just as I had realized the Boa around that lady’s neck was real, I suddenly faced the realization that I was watching a snake in my TV room.  As a Christ-follower, I could not continue to watch.  

I deleted the show.  

As our world gets crazier and more immoral, I believe it is going to require us to become more aware of the insidious techniques of evil that have invaded our culture.  It may look innocent enough, but perhaps the hidden agenda contains a scheme to do harm to our moral fiber.  

It’s up to us to remain vigilant.  

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life.”  Proverbs 4:23 (ESV)

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