August 2022 State Fair Edition

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

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BY: JENNIFER POAD, TX

it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Hearing the word of God and putting it into practice sounds like such an easy thing to do, but so many times, we don’t think things through and end up making poor decisions. Its not that we intend on being defiant, its just that we don’t stop to ask ourselves “what would Jesus do?” Its easy to carry on with our daily lives harboring unforgiveness, jealousy, or anger towards people that are unkind to us. The Bible clearly teaches us that our hearts need to be pure, showing only love towards one another. The best way to keep our minds in a good place and our hearts pure is to set aside time each morning reading the Bible, or a daily devotional, and praying to thank God for everything he has given us. Starting the day off right will help build that solid foundation we need to make good decisions throughout each day. •

Have you ever looked out in a pasture and seen a cow chewing on a shopping bag or piece of twine? We experienced this on a regular basis last year with Libbi’s steer Peewee. Every morning when we’d go out to feed, he’d be chewing on the hose to his trough, the chain to his gate, an extension cord, or the fan for his pen. It never failed. He was always into something that could cause him harm. It was so obvious to us that what he was doing was foolish, but he did it anyway out of boredom, I guess. I feel like sometimes when we make poor decisions and don’t follow the guidelines we’ve been given in the Bible, God looks at us the same way. He knows we’re going to suffer from our bad decisions, but it must run its course until we learn our lesson. Most of you are probably familiar with the story in Matthew 7:24-27 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because

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