Thursday Devotion by Richard Carlson. 5-15-26

Hey Guys, Sorry I missed last week. I was too busy to do anything to do with writing. Ok so let's plunge right into this next chapter. Just a reminder everything in quotation marks is from Richard Carlson PhD.

—----------------------------------------- “Be aware of the snowball effect of your thinking”

“ A powerful technique for becoming more peaceful is to be aware of how quickly your negative and insecure thinking can spiral out of control. Have you ever noticed how uptight you feel when you’re caught up in your thinking?

And to top it off, the more absorbed you get in the details of whatever is upsetting you , the worse you feel. One thought leads to another,and yet to another, until at some point, you become incredibly agitated.

For example, you might wake up in the middle of the night and remember an important phone call that needs to be made the following day. Then rather than feeling relieved that you remembered such an important call, you start thinking about everything else you have to do tomorrow. You start rehearsing a probable conversation with your boss, getting yourself even more upset. Pretty soon you think to yourself, “ I can’t believe how busy I am. I must make fifty phone calls a day. Whose life is this anyway?” And on and on it goes until you feel sorry for yourself. For many people, there’s no limit to how long this type of “thought attack” can go. In fact, I've been told by clients that many of their days and nights are spent in this type of mental rehearsal. Needless to say, it’s impossible to feel peaceful with your head full of concerns and annoyances.

The solution is to notice what’s happening in your head before your thoughts have a chance to build any momentum. The sooner you catch yourself in the act of building your mental snowball,the easier it is to stop. In our example here, you might notice your snowball thinking obsessing on your upcoming day. Then, instead of obsessing on your upcoming day. Then, instead of obsessing on your upcoming day, you say to yourself “ Whew, there I go again,” and consciously nip it in the bud. You stop your train of thought before it has a chance to get going. You can focus, not how overwhelmed you are, but on how grateful you are for remembering that phone call that needed to be made. If it's in the middle of the night, write it down on a piece of paper and go back to sleep. You might even consider keeping a pen and paper by the bed for such moments. You may indeed be a very busy person, but remember that filling your head with thoughts of how overwhelmed you are only exacerbates the problem by making you feel even more stressed than you already do. Try this simple little exercise the next time you begin to obsess on your schedule. You’ll be amazed at how effective it can be.”

Is God Real?

“In the beginning God created the heavens and earth.” Genesis 1:1

     Is God real, or not? This has always been one of the biggest debates in human history. I strongly believe the answer to this question is “yes.” I do not believe this is my own opinion, but I know that it is a fact that God is real. I also believe that humans make mistakes and have a tendency to get their thoughts on different subjects wrong, but out of my own experiences, scientific and historical evidence I know that the existence of God is true, and I believe this on my own accord, not because I was told to believe this- but because I have found the evidence personally. Again, people have tendencies to mess up, and get things wrong- but that existence of God is not wrong. That is the fact. Humans can say that 3+3 is 5, but it will always be 6. It is the same with this concept. Humans can say God is not real, but He is real, and always will be. This is not a debate of opinion, but a debate about the facts. Now I will walk you through my three points of why I believe God is real. One, the Biblical evidence. Two, that we are living proof, spiritually, and matter of a fact. And three, how God is written in our DNA.

Fact one- we have Biblical evidence proving the existence of God. From archaeological, to scientific, to fulfilled prophecy, to the plain facts. I'll start with the archaeological evidence. In Exodus, chapter 14, the Israelites were crossing the Red Sea, to escape the slavery in Egypt. While they were crossing the Egyptians started following them. The Red Sea was split in half and the Israelites crossed. After they crossed the Egyptians tried to cross, but the sea collapsed in on them, and the Egyptians downed. In 1978, archaeologist Ron Wyatt found several chariot wheels in the middle of the dead sea, and he believed it was from Egypt’s 18th dynasty. Exodus was written thousands of years before the chariot wheels were found.

Several years back archaeologists claimed to have found the ark Noah and his family survived on. Thousands of years ago the earth was becoming wicked, and almost no one was following the Lord. Noah was the only man left that followed the Lord. God told Noah that He was going to flood the earth, and told him to build an ark 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high, and three stories. It took Noah one hundred years to do so. When Noah was done he and his family went into the ark and God sent a flood that covered every mountain peak on the earth. After 150 days the Ark hit mountain Ararat (Genesis 8:4) and we assume it stayed there. In May of 1948 a group of archaeologists found what appears to be the Ark, buried in a mountain. It is 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. It also appears to be three stories. 

Christians believe that over 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross, on a Friday. The day that He died on the cross there was a solar or lunar eclipse. Three days after Jesus’s death He rose from the dead, on a Sunday. In Luke 3:23 it is recorded Jesus was around thirty when He began His ministry. Scholars believe that He was crucified at about 33 years old. We all know that BC stands for “Before Christ.” Of course when Christ was born it wasn't BC anymore. We now call that AD, meaning “After Death.” We believe that Christ died in 33 AD. NASA recently just confirmed that a lunar eclipse happened on Friday, April 3rd, 33 AD. You can find the evidence of this true story in Luke 23. 

Revelation might be the most confusing book in the Bible to read. The apostle John is the author of that book, and it is all about prophecy. It was written around 2,000 years ago, and the prophecy is now happening today. Even different Christians have different views on what it is interpreting. Revelation talks about that there will be wars in the last days. Well, that is clearly happening. Revelation also talks about technology taking over, and seems it is! 

Now, it may sound like I am trying to prove the certainty of the Bible, which is true. There is proof that scriptures are true. In order to believe in my Lord, then you need to believe what the scriptures say. If scriptures are true, then God is real. If God is real, then the historical evidence about Him is too. God is real, and there is substantiation. 

Fact two- humans and the universe is living proof of a Creator. If there were no God, then there would be nothing. No life, no dust, no time, no space, no matter. Nothing would be in existence. Our beating hearts are proof that God formed it. Nothing can not make something. There are so many small things that have so much immense, and intricate detail that goes to show that someone had to have created it. We can take our DNA for example. Look at the intricate details that DNA has. Or even take the sun and earth for example. If earth happened to be any closer to the sun we would burn up, but if it was any farther we would freeze. It is in the perfect spot. The earth just happens to be the planet all the humans and life ended up on. No, I don't think it just happens to be perfect. I believe that God did that. If He didn't do that, then there wouldn't be actual life. There would be no humans to glorify Him, or anyone for Christ to die for. So, this only means that God is real.

Fact three- God is written in our DNA. This, partially, goes back to fact two, because- again- humans are living proof of God. When scientists were studying the sulphur bridges in DNA they found a sequence of four letters, which repeated itself consistently. The four letters are found in the Hebrew dictionary. It spells Yaweah. This is found in every single person's DNA. Nothing can not just form that. 

To summarize everything that has been stated, God is real. He is real scientifically, spiritually, and even physically. If you argue that there is no existence of God, then you would be unfounded. You can argue how much you want about it, but it does not change the fact that there is a Creator, a Saviour, and God. 

-Bryar Engelhardt

God’s Promise

Have you ever walked outside after a rain shower, seen a rainbow (or more than one!) and been awestruck? The arch of colors in the sky is such a beauty that God has made! Unfortunately, in the present time, rainbows are associated with sin because of its usage, but this is not what this article is going to be about. Rather, it is about how the rainbow came to be and its story behind it. 

Do you know of Noah and the Flood? It’s probably quite likely that you have already heard of the story or even know it. Noah built an ark, and then he, his family, and the animals that he had gotten lived in the ark for forty days. During those forty days, God flooded the earth, destroying all the people (not on the ark) and land animals. You can find the story in chapters 7 and 8 of Genesis. 

Genesis chapter 7: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%207&version=KJV

Genesis chapter 8: 

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%208&version=KJV

After those forty days (and forty nights), Noah and his family came off the ark and offered burnt offerings. 

“And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 20-22)

God said he would never again destroy the world with water, and in honor of that, he made a covenant with every living creature, both humans and animals. 

“And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” (Genesis 9: 8-17)

The next time you spot a rainbow, remember it’s more than a beautiful display of colors. It’s a symbol of God’s mercy and promise to all of us. No matter how hard the storm was, God’s promise is still there.