April 18th, 2020

Good day to all,
While our lives have been interrupted by a the current health conditions, one thing that is the same is that with the arrival of Spring, projects for outside work abound.  Therefore, like many a Tacoman, I began my day by heading to Home Depot to buy supplies for my project.  I thought I would head there early to avoid the lines that are part of our "new normal" but turned around when I could see that the line was so long, buying supplies would take several hours. As I was heading home pondering what projects I could do this weekend and leave going to Home Depot for an early weekday morning, the thought came "I should check out the lines at Brookdale Lumber". I was able to walk in, purchase what I needed, have it loaded, and head home in less than thirty minutes. 

On the way home, I asked myself, "for pity's sake, why didn't I just go to Brookdale Lumber first; they are closer and I would support a local business?". The answer I came up with was not one I care to admit. The reason why I headed to Home Depot was because that is my default store. Being my default store meant that I did not consider other places, or other factors. I simply got in my truck and headed to my default place.

Shopping for building materials and tools is not the only thing I have a default mode for. I have them for where I prefer to eat after church on those Sundays when we go out after church; default shows I will watch on T.V.; default places we will head to on our days off.  In our lives, there are other default places we head to. These include places our mind goes to. We may automatically focus on what we are missing, what we don't have, or reasons that justify being in a sour mood. (constant watching of news doesn't help by the way)

We should strive to have default thinking modes that cause us to focus on what we do have, especially when it comes to what we have because of the richness and mercy of God. We read in Psalms 68:19 [Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.]  Let our default mode be the thought "The Lord bears us up each and every day". 
Have a wonderful blessed day remembering the Lord who is our salvation.
Vic