Heart Hope by Olga

At first glance it seem a bit silly, but as I watched the firefighters in full uniform running to the trailer, grabbing the ladder and racing with it to place it against the firehouse it became clear that they were practicing maneuvers. I imagine that in a large metropolitan area they get plenty of opportunities every day to carry out missions by the number of calls they receive, but in our small community they have to simulate the situations, so they will be fully prepared when the calls come in for something out of the ordinary. In life we must practice before we get into certain situations too. It is important that we think through and plan out how we are going to act and react when trouble comes our way.  Troubles can come in many forms and fashions, but today I want to focus on the temptations we face. This was brought home recently when a young girl was in a situation that made her uncomfortable. She is not married and has made a commitment not to have sex ...

Do you know how many times a day you glance at your watch to see what time it is? I didn’t realize how much of a habit that is until the battery went out on my watch recently. I first noticed that something was wrong with my watch when I looked at it and it was 10:10 and then a short time later I looked at it again and it was still 10:10. Throughout the morning, I would glance at my wrist only to discover that the time had not changed. Now you would think that after a couple of those quick peeks, I would have stopped looking, but habits are difficult to break. Some habits are good for you, such as brushing your teeth, eating breakfast, and daily exercise. Other habits are not so positive in our lives--those such as eating out of boredom, turning the TV on for no purpose, and yes, even gossip. Good habits are often difficult to establish while the bad ones are hard to break. There are several suggestions that I have heard to help us change our habits. First we should work on one habit a...