Monday Musings by Pastor Ron - July 13, 2026

Friends,

I drove to Sugarland yesterday afternoon to make a hospital visit. The sun was shining as I began my trip. As I drove, I was thinking about our Worship service: the music, the prayers, the band, the fact that we had new faces and some we had not seen in a while. My mind was subconsciously on my driving but not fully focused there. Maybe my multi-tasking skills are improving.

As I reached the Ft. Bend County line the skies darkened and it began to drizzle. My mind still wandered. I was thinking about how I would find everyone at the hospital. I thought about our other members who are currently ill or in rehabilitation. I was still thinking about the driving part but not fully.

Then it began to rain. Not just a slight rain; it was so hard that I could barely see the front of my truck. It was dark. It was lightning. It was thundering. Suddenly it took all of my mental capabilities to concentrate on driving. I couldn't see the car in front of me. The road was accumulating water. My wipers were going as fast as possible and I could still barely see out the windshield.

As I thought about it later, I realized that my drive yesterday was a little look at life. When things are sunny. When things are going well, we are kind of all over the place. But when things get tough, when we are struggling, we tend to give 100 percent attention to our struggles. We become absorbed in our struggles to the point of setting everything else aside. That is what I did during my storm yesterday: I put everything else aside so I could concentrate on getting through the storm.

God says that life should be different. When things are going great. When everything is sunny and happy. We should concentrate on giving thanks to God that we are doing well. And when we are struggling, we should concentrate on asking God to help us get through the struggle we have. The difference between my drive and our lives is that we should not concentrate on the struggle but rather on God. If we concentrate solely on our struggle, we don't get past the struggle. We let it weigh us down. We let it overpower us. But if we concentrate on God. If we ask God to comfort us, to guide us, to help us through then the struggle becomes secondary to our relationship with God.

I am not encouraging you to think about what you are having for dinner instead of concentrating on your driving. When we are driving, we should be concentrating on that effort regardless of whether it is sunny or stormy. As the Texas Department of Public Safety says, "Drive Safely". I am encouraging you to turn to God not just when times are good, but also when we struggle. Don't let your struggles take your attention away from the road God is calling you to travel.

Keep your eye open for the storms (they are all around us), but don't let them draw you away from God.

God bless you. See you Sunday