Roger Meyer

People often make promises that they fail to keep—and if you are like most people, you are tired of empty promises. There are few among us who haven’t experienced these from one person or another.

During political campaigns, we are bombarded with attack ads from candidates, often highlighting promises on which their opponents failed to deliver. Other leaders and individuals also make empty promises. You may be promised a promotion, a raise in pay and benefits, better hours, your own parking spot, and more. How often do those promises go unkept?

The word “hallowed” means made holy or consecrated. There is nothing hallowed in the celebration of Halloween.

Like some other holidays that originated in paganism but are celebrated by “Christian” churches today—albeit with new names—Halloween also marched right out of pagan religious practices and into mainstream religion. New labels were applied to centuries-old trappings, traditions, and celebrations from the pagan world, and these practices continued to be observed on or around the same time of the year.

Has someone ever “opened your eyes” to some surprising information you were completely unaware of, or something someone had deceived you about? Or, perhaps, they challenged some long-held belief you had that proved to be incorrect. Maybe you have tried to wake up someone else to the truth about a matter.

Like many of my older-generation peers, my memory isn’t what it used to be, and it never was my particular strong suit. Many people have difficulty remembering things, but there are certain things that we simply must remember—things far too important to forget.

Pardon the jokes, but I’ve had a memory problem for about as long as I can remember. Sometimes having a bad memory bothers me, but then I just forget about it. I bought a book on improving memory… but forgot to read it.

There are so many things happening today that may fill us with anxiety, including the economy, crime and violence, drugs, war, terrorism, moral decline, pandemics, ineffective government, political and societal divisions, supply chain issues, food and border insecurity, climate change, and other threats to our safety and welfare. What does the Bible teach about how to handle anxiety?