Come to the Healer

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy[a] came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”  – Matthew 8:1-4 (KJV)

Because the Fall of Man has resulted in humans chronically committing sin, experiencing perpetual hardship, disease, and a diversity of pain, we are all in need of healing. Many do not identify this specific need; instead, we are simply aware of a desire to re-establish a comfortable state when discomfort arises. We seek to achieve comfort by whatever means are  easily accessible. Depending on a myriad of factors we may choose to settle in and concede to the pain or exhaust all the options we have identified to lessen or resolve it, if we can lay hold to even a moment of relief. Regardless of our limited awareness of the actual problem or the efficacy of our tactics we employ to make it go away, our longing for true healing persists deep within our souls until satisfied. 

At the start of Matthew 8, the Christ has just finished delivering the “Sermon on the Mount” and is descending the mountain. Masses are following Him and seemingly among the masses is a man with leprosy. Wait…WHAT?!?!?! Now, I don’t know a ton about biblical history or Hebrew laws and customs, but what I know for sure is people with leprosy being with other people who don’t have leprosy is a big no-no. I can only imagine people’s reaction when they discovered him not just in their company but approaching Jesus. Yet there is no indication in Matthew’s account of this event that the man is concerned with others’ opinion of his presence nor is he phased by the consequences of violating the law. He humbles himself in worship before the Lord. I am amazed by this man. As someone who has struggled with the fear of man and people pleasing, my primary goal for a great deal of my life has been to stay out of people’s way – do not impose, do not inconvenience, keep your head down, do what you’re supposed to do, and go back to your corner. This man is SO “in the way”; it is disconcerting to the part of me that is still in the healing process. At the same time, I get it. I understand his healing required him to be there.

So often, so many of us remain unhealed, isolated, in perpetual, debilitating pain, because we refuse to comply with what healing requires. How this man with leprosy approaches and speaks to Jesus is the fruit of faith. It seems that he came to Jesus, not just aware of his need to be healed, but already submitted to the healing he sought, ready to obey whatever Jesus told him to do. “If You are willing…” He was not going to allow any circumstance or person (not even himself) to hinder his being healed. He was already sure of Christ’s ability to heal. It would only depend on Jesus’s willingness to heal him. What if we came to the Healer ready for Him to declare what healing looks like and what it requires? What if we submitted to the One who surpasses our finite concept of healing, who knows our exact need and how to meet it before we even perceive we are in need? Maybe our relationships would be restored. Maybe we would be more fruitful. Maybe the intimacy our souls crave would be realized and be even more satisfying than we originally imagined because we are now whole and free to engage in community with authenticity and vulnerability. How fantastic would this be! 

Ok. Let’s be practical. This guy came to Jesus with an obvious issue. Sometimes, we have no clue what is going on with us or our family, friends, coworkers. We just know we do not like that we are angry, our family member is hurting, our coworker is struggling, etc. What should we do? What exactly is needed? We serve the God who sees, speaks and reveals the truth. We and those associated with us would greatly benefit if we would only ask Him our questions. Come to Him with what we do not know, what we think we have figured out. We can expect an answer, and the Holy Spirit will empower us to wait patiently for the Lord. Our God knows all and has all we need!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. - Philippians 4:6

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:19

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. - 2 Corinthians 9:8

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  – James 1:5

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come – John 16:13  

—Anyah E. R. White

Get Out of the Way…

We serve an almighty God. A God that spoke our world into existence. A God who can raise the dead to life. Who heals the sick. Who can feed thousands with just two fish and five loaves of bread. Parted seas to deliver His people from enemies…and the list goes on. Why is it then that we have a difficult time believing that He can perform the miracle we have been wanting for so long? Why do we get in His way with our mindless arrogance and try to make miracles happen on our own accord?

I recently went through an experience that reminded me of the importance of believing in prayer and leaving God alone to do His work. His time may not be my time, but God’s timing is perfect. If it is difficult to understand this principle, it is because we are imperfect. It is also because God’s wisdom is far greater than we could ever understand. So I received a phone call at around three in the afternoon on a Friday. My heart automatically sank when I heard the recording on the other end say, “You have a collect call from an inmate in our correctional facility…” A close relative of mine has been making a pattern of wrong decision for quite some time now, so the call was not necessarily surprising. I knew the conversation that was about to take place would not be a pleasant one. I accepted the call and braced myself.  A familiar voice on the other end said, “Hey…don’t worry it is not as bad as it seems…I failed to appear in court, so they are holding me here until I pay ten percent on a three thousand dollar bail fine…” He continued to give me the normal justification he had always used for his mistakes and asked me to consider bailing him out. By this time, his time allowance was up and he had to hang up the phone. After fighting back the strong emotions and tears, I meditated on what had just transpired and made a solid decision. Many times before then, my approach had been to rescue him. To get him out of trouble having faith that my prayers would be answered already and it wouldn’t happen again. But it always happened again. So I decided this time not to come through for him. I felt that my many prayers have been heard, and if he was in this predicament it was because God needed him to go through it. I’ve come to accept  that God’s motives are sovereign, and sometimes He puts us through situations to build our character. I felt that “peace that transcends all understanding,” and decided to go about my day forgetting that phone call. I was saddened about his predicament, but at peace with my decision to let him go through it. Hoping that the experience in itself would heighten his awareness of the need to change his ways. But just as I forgot about the issue, my wife made a comment that rewired my thoughts. It was her opinion that we should turn the other cheek, so to speak, and bail him out. She made a convincing argument that we must love like God loved us, and regardless of how many other times I had gotten him out of trouble, we should not deny him grace once again. Her motives were completely valid and on point, but to me they failed to trust that this had all been put in God’s hands before. That only God can make the miracle. My only  job, our only job now was to pray and trust. But the rewiring job in my brain had settled in, so I gave in. We took the drive and bailed him out. It would be at least two hours after we completed the transaction before they actually “released him,” so we decided to leave. We would follow up with him the next day.

So the next day he met with my wife for brunch at a nearby diner to discuss matters. My wife and I had cooked up an alternate plan to what we had been praying for and decided that she would not only discuss the unfortunate events that landed him arrested, but the plans we now had to help him move forward. We had contacted a friend and had a plan to check him into a rehabilitation facility and provide all the moral and financial support he was going to need. We had built a miracle! But upon showing up at the restaurant, he expressed an unapologetic and even self-entitled attitude. It was as if nothing had happened the prior day. My wife tried to reason with him repeatedly in hopes she could present this new plan we had drawn for him, but he continued to dismiss any possibility of an amicable conversation with shoulder shrugs and groans about how he felt he was fine and did not need anyone’s help. She became visibly emotional and decided to cut the meeting short by paying for his meal and asking for boxes for him to take the food home with him. He dismissed her obvious emotional state and abruptly asked for her to take him to where he needed to go next. He had walked to the restaurant to meet her. She declined to drive him and proceeded to leave the restaurant, but not before making sure his food was paid for and that he had containers to take the food home in case he did not want to finish it at the restaurant. When my wife got home, I instantly knew something was wrong. Her visible negative frown and red eyes told me everything that I needed to know. Our plan had failed. 

I can’t help to think that we got in the way of what God was trying to accomplish by putting my relative through the experience of spending a couple  nights in jail. Many times we lose patience and try to take matters into our own hands. Very few times, if any, this works out for the best. While my wife’s intentions were pure and full of hope that stepping in would help, it backfired. Maybe if we had followed my original instinct my relative would have gone through a life changing experience while in jail. But in the midst of emotional pressure, we gave in and acted on our own, even after having placed this relative’s situation in the hands of God many times before.

Psalm 46 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” I don’t suggest that we must do nothing and wait on God to do everything. But if we have already worked like it depends on us and we continue praying like it depends on God, then it is time to do as the verse suggests and be still. He is God. If you know that, you know that only He knows why things are not working out the way you’ve petitioned for. Only He knows  the time when you will see your answer. If it is His will, you will experience the answer on this side of the time continuum. If it is not His will for you to see the answer you can move heaven and earth, and it will all be in vain because He will always answer your prayer on His time and according to His will. You may not even get to see the answer in your lifetime. But He will answer. That is the very essence of faith. Believing what we do not see. And if we trust what we know, we can live in holy anticipation of the answer that is to come, and we can live according to the Word and be thankful in everything, trusting that His will cannot be violated. Whatever is happening around us is precisely what He wants. 

My wife and I didn’t do anything wrong on purpose. We thought we were doing the right thing in extending additional grace. And it wasn’t wrong to extend additional grace. We are called to do that. Where we went wrong was in taking our trust from what we have asked God to do and placing it on what we thought we could do for my relative. After many attempts to show him the right path and going above and beyond to steer him in the right direction in the past, we had decided to ask God to rescue him. We had made it a point to leave matters in God’s hands. But this time we failed. We tried to make the miracle happen on our own. 

So from this point forward we will remember that we cannot manufacture a miracle. It can only come from God in answer to prayers and according to His will. Exodus 14 says that “the Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.” While “being still” and doing nothing doesn’t necessarily work for everyone or for every circumstance, it does in this one. Two reference points guide us to cement this decision: we have prayed like it depends on God and we have already worked like it depends on us. When our mouths utter the word “Amen,” it is out of our control and directly into God’s hands.

God Bless,

—Rich Bermudez

Quítate del Camino...

Servimos a un Dios todopoderoso. Un Dios que habló para que nuestro mundo existiera. Un Dios que puede resucitar a los muertos. Quien cura a los enfermos. Quién puede alimentar a miles con sólo dos peces y cinco hogazas de pan. Parte mares para liberar a su pueblo de los enemigos... Y la lista continúa. ¿Por qué entonces nos cuesta creer que él pueda realizar el milagro que hemos estado esperando durante tanto tiempo? ¿Por qué nos interponemos en Su camino con nuestra arrogancia sin sentido y tratamos de hacer que sucedan milagros por nuestra propia voluntad?

Recientemente pasé por una experiencia que me recordó la importancia de creer en la oración y dejar que Dios haga Su obra. Puede que su tiempo no sea el mío. Pero el tiempo de Dios es perfecto. Si es difícil entender este principio es porque somos imperfectos. También se debe a que la sabiduría de Dios es mucho mayor de lo que jamás podríamos entender. Entonces recibí una llamada telefónica alrededor de las tres de la tarde de un viernes. Mi corazón se hundió automáticamente cuando escuché la grabación en el otro extremo decir: "tiene una llamada por cobrar de un recluso en nuestro centro correccional..." Un pariente cercano mío ha estado tomando un patrón de toma de decisiones equivocadas desde hace bastante tiempo, así que La llamada no fue necesariamente sorprendente. Sabía que la conversación que estaba a punto de tener lugar no sería agradable. Acepté la llamada y me preparé. Una voz familiar al otro lado de la línea dijo: "Oye... no te preocupes, no es tan malo como parece... No pude comparecer ante el tribunal, así que me retendrán aquí hasta que pague el diez por ciento de una multa de fianza de tres mil dólares... Continuó dándome la justificación normal que siempre había usado para sus errores y me pidió que considerara rescatarlo. En ese momento, se le acabó el tiempo asignado y tuvo que colgar el teléfono. Después de luchar contra las fuertes emociones y las lágrimas, medité sobre lo que acababa de suceder y tomé una decisión sólida. Muchas veces antes de eso mi enfoque había sido rescatarlo. Para sacarlo de problemas teniendo fe en que mis oraciones ya serían contestadas y no volvería a suceder. Pero seguía sucediendo. Así que esta vez decidí no ayudarlo. Sentí que mis muchas oraciones habían sido escuchadas y si él estaba en esta situación era porque Dios necesitaba que él pasara por eso. He llegado a aceptar que los motivos de Dios son soberanos y, a veces, Él nos pone en situaciones para desarrollar nuestro carácter. Sentí esa “paz que trasciende todo entendimiento” y decidí seguir con mi día olvidándome de esa llamada telefónica. Me entristeció su situación, pero me sentí en paz con mi decisión de dejarlo pasar por eso. Esperando que la experiencia en sí misma aumentara su conciencia de la necesidad de cambiar sus costumbres. Pero justo cuando me había olvidado del tema, mi esposa hizo un comentario que cambió mis pensamientos. Ella opinaba que deberíamos poner la otra mejilla, hablar y sacarlo de apuros. Ella dio un argumento convincente de que debemos amar como Dios nos ama y sin importar cuántas otras veces lo haya sacado de problemas, no debemos negarle la gracia una vez más. Sus motivos eran completamente válidos y acertados, pero para mí no confiaron en que todo esto había sido puesto en manos de Dios antes. Que sólo Dios puede hacer el milagro. Mi único trabajo, nuestro único trabajo ahora era orar y confiar. Pero el trabajo de cableado en mi cerebro se había asentado, así que cedí. Fuimos a la corte y lo rescatamos. Pasarían al menos dos horas después de que completáramos la transacción antes de que realmente lo "liberaran", así que decidimos irnos. Nos comunicaríamos con él al día siguiente.

Así que al día siguiente se reunió con mi esposa para almorzar en un restaurante cercano para discutir asuntos. Mi esposa y yo habíamos ideado un plan alternativo a lo que habíamos estado orando y decidimos que ella no sólo discutiría los desafortunados eventos que lo llevaron a su arresto, sino también los planes que ahora teníamos para ayudarlo a seguir adelante. Nos pusimos en contacto con un amigo y teníamos un plan para internarlo en un centro de rehabilitación y brindarle todo el apoyo moral y financiero que iba a necesitar. ¡Habíamos construido un milagro! Pero al presentarse en el restaurante, expresó una actitud sin disculpa e incluso de autodenominación. Era como si nada hubiera pasado el día anterior. Mi esposa trató de razonar con él repetidamente con la esperanza de poder presentarle este nuevo plan que habíamos elaborado para él, pero él continuó descartando cualquier posibilidad de una conversación amistosa encogiéndose de hombros y quejándose de que sentía que estaba bien y que no necesitaba la ayuda de nadie. Ella visiblemente emocionada decidió acortar la reunión pagando su comida y pidiéndole cajas para llevarse la comida a casa. Él descartó su obvio estado emocional y de repente le pidió que lo llevara a donde tenía que ir a continuación. Había caminado hasta el restaurante para encontrarse con ella. Ella se negó a llevarlo en auto y procedió a salir del restaurante, no sin antes asegurarse de que su comida estuviera pagada y que tuviera contenedores para llevarla a casa en caso de que no quisiera terminarla en el restaurante. Cuando mi esposa llegó a casa, inmediatamente supe que algo andaba mal. Su visible ceño negativo y sus ojos rojos me dijeron todo lo que necesitaba saber. Nuestro plan había fracasado.

No puedo evitar pensar que nos interpusimos en el camino de lo que Dios estaba tratando de lograr al hacer que mi pariente pasara la experiencia de pasar un par de noches en la cárcel. Muchas veces perdemos la paciencia y tratamos de tomar el asunto en nuestras propias manos. Muy pocas veces, si es que hay alguna, esto funciona de la mejor manera. Si bien las intenciones de mi esposa eran puras y llenas de esperanza de que intervenir ayudaría, resultó contraproducente. Quizás si hubiéramos seguido mi instinto original, mi familiar habría pasado por una experiencia que le cambiaría la vida mientras estaba en la cárcel. Pero en medio de la presión emocional, cedimos y actuamos por nuestra cuenta incluso después de haber puesto la situación de este familiar en manos de Dios muchas veces antes. El Salmo 46 dice: "Estad quietos y sabed que yo soy Dios". No sugiero que debamos hacer nada y esperar que Dios lo haga todo. Pero si ya hemos trabajado como si dependiera de nosotros y continuamos orando como si dependiera de Dios, entonces es hora de hacer lo que sugiere el versículo y estar quietos. Él es Dios. Si sabes eso, sabrás que sólo Él sabe por qué las cosas no están funcionando como lo has pedido. Sólo Él sabe el momento en que verás tu respuesta. Si es Su voluntad, experimentarás la respuesta en este lado del continuo del tiempo. Si no es Su voluntad que veas la respuesta puedes mover cielo y tierra y todo será en vano porque Él solo contestará tu oración en Su tiempo y según Su voluntad. Es posible que ni siquiera llegues a ver la respuesta durante tu vida. Pero Él responderá. Ésa es la esencia misma de la fe. Creer lo que no vemos. Y si confiamos en lo que sabemos, podemos vivir en santa anticipación de la respuesta que está por venir y podemos vivir según la Palabra y ser agradecidos en todo momento confiando en que Su voluntad no puede ser violada. Todo lo que sucede a nuestro alrededor es precisamente lo que Él quiere.

Mi esposa y yo no hicimos nada malo a propósito. Pensamos que estábamos haciendo lo correcto al extender gracia adicional. Y no estuvo mal otorgar gracia adicional. Estamos llamados a hacer eso. En lo que nos equivocamos fue en quitar nuestra confianza de lo que le habíamos pedido a Dios que hiciera y depositarla en lo que pensábamos que podíamos hacer por mi familiar. Después de muchos intentos de mostrarle el camino correcto e ir más allá para guiarlo en la dirección correcta en el pasado, decidimos pedirle a Dios que lo rescatara. Nos habíamos propuesto dejar los asuntos en manos de Dios. Pero esta vez fallamos. Intentamos hacer que el milagro ocurriera por nuestra cuenta.

Así que a partir de ahora recordaremos que no podemos fabricar un milagro. Sólo puede venir de Dios en respuesta a las oraciones y según Su voluntad. Éxodo 14 dice que “el Señor peleará por vosotros; sólo necesitas estar quieto”. Si bien “estar quieto” y no hacer nada no necesariamente funciona para todos ni para todas las circunstancias, sí funciona en esta. Dos puntos de referencia nos guían para cimentar esta decisión: hemos orado como si dependiera de Dios y ya hemos trabajado como si dependiera de nosotros. Cuando nuestra boca pronuncia la palabra “Amén”, está fuera de nuestro control y cae directamente en las manos de Dios.

Dios Bendiga,

—Rich Bermudez

Trusting Him in Your Storm

My right wrist is throbbing tonight. I know what that means.

Maybe you have a barometer tucked inside one of your old, creaky joints too.

It’s going to storm.

Soon.

I don’t have to check with any other weather information source out there—no matter how reliable and credible their reputation.

My aching wrist never gets it wrong.

Don’t you wish LIFE’S storms were as easily and accurately predicted? That we had fair warning about the annoying showers and the devastating hurricanes that may be lurking ahead of us on our journey?

Just this past week, so many dear ones I know have suddenly been shrouded in dark clouds while wild winds, flashing lightning, and torrents of rain seem to hammer them without mercy. A job lost unfairly without notice. A scary prognosis following surgery. A miscarriage. An unwanted and ugly divorce. A betrayal of a spouse. My circumstance seems like a delightful summer shower compared to my friends’ tsunamis.

As I pray for my friends, as I face the over-my-head plan of bringing my dear and needy mother-in-law home, I long to hear from my Father. The thunder is rumbling…

Storms, theirs and mine, even yours, are His specialty.

I found great comfort and God’s truth in the writings of Alistair Begg in Truth for Life, 365 Daily Devotions.

When Storms Come

“A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling…And they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’”  Mark 4:37-39

Anyone who has lived for much time at all knows that in life storms will surely come. Sometimes, seemingly out of nowhere, we are faced with an unexpected job loss, a grim diagnosis, the painful passing of a loved one, or the sorrow of goodbyes. Like the disciples caught in the storm on the Sea of Galilee, we can feel overwhelmed by these trials, as if our boat were sinking.

Following Jesus does not insulate us from life’s storms, but we can take comfort from knowing that God promises to hold us fast through them. He can calm our hearts, and He may even quiet the very storms themselves.

When storms come, we are often tempted to doubt God. The disciples questioned Jesus even though they had seen His miracles firsthand. They looked Jesus in the eye, and they shared meals with Him every day—but when the storm arose, they took to panic stations of unbelief as if they’d forgotten who He was or what He was capable of doing. Don’t we often find ourselves there too? As soon as the turbulence hits—as soon as life’s winds and waves rise—our doubts and weaknesses burst forth, and we forget who it is who dwells within us and what He is capable of doing.

God does not prevent storms from coming. But He is a God who is both present through them and sovereign over them. Jesus not only stayed with the disciples during the storm, but He displayed His power by calming it. As God, He had created the sea itself. Why would the sea ever be a problem for Him? For us, too, even circumstances that seem hopeless and insurmountable unfold exactly as He has planned. When difficulties, fear, and pain persist, we can trust Him to give us a peace that “surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7) and bring us through to a place of calm, whether it arrives in this life or only beyond the final tempest of death.

The question, then, is not “Will storms come in my life!” They surely will. Rather, we must ask, “When the storms do come, will I believe that Jesus Christ is able to deal with them—and will I let Him do that?” He can lift the clouds of doubt fogging our minds. He can mend broken hearts. He can soothe our longings for love. He can revive weary spirits. He can calm anxious souls.

When you see Jesus as the Creator of the universe, the one who calmed the sea, and the one in whom everything holds together, then you too can experience the calming of the storm.

 So even though I may be blindsided by a dark, violent, frightening storm in this life, even though I have had no warning or time to prepare, He is the God who is both present with me in my storm and sovereign over it. Will I trust Him with my circumstances?  

Doesn’t it always come to that? Trusting Him?

As scary and daunting as my days ahead look to me right now, as the raindrops mingle with my tears running down my cheeks, I am determined to trust Him in my little thunderstorm.

Oh, Father, help my unbelief.

And remind me, Jesus, when my joints kick up a fuss, to be praying for all those who are clinging to you in life’s storms and for those who will soon be caught up in one. Will you calm their squalls? Will you show them you are near? Will you help them to trust you more?

Will you give them peace?

Thank you, dear Savior.

You are trustworthy.

—Eileen Hill

An Opinion is Just an Opinion and Not Much More

I once heard it said, "Two Christians, three opinions," and I think it is true because untested opinions are very cheap to build and easy to maintain. It is difficult to have one's views challenged, and usually costly to let go when we need to change. We need to be careful with opinions.

Opinions are volatile and filled with all kinds of twists and turns. The equality of all opinions is now one of the mantras of our culture. Unfortunately, like some food at a church potluck, you might not want to return for a second serving. Holding tightly to unfounded opinions will cloud the truth and cause the fracturing of even the best relationships with God and man. We all hear many opinions and give voice to almost as many. Opinions can be right and useful, except when they are not.

One of the best gifts humans have is the ability to make up our minds about things, to have preferences, and to pick our favorite food, colors, books, pastimes, music, or friends. We all have and give opinions, spoken or unspoken, which affect how well we interact with almost everything around us. Opinions can be the equivalent of calling Punxsutawney Phil a meteorologist, or they can be the reasoned and measured thoughts of an expert witness in court, giving a dependable place to engage more truth.

Here is what Cortney Warren, Ph.D. has to say about opinions:

"…an opinion is not a fact. Alarmingly, most humans believe that their opinions are facts. We incorrectly assume that our thoughts are correct. I mean, if we think it, it must be true, right?

Wrong. The truth is that a fact is a statement that can be supported to be true or false by data or evidence. In contrast, an opinion is a personal expression of a person's feelings or thoughts that may or may not be based in data. Indeed, many of our opinions are based on emotions, personal history, and values—all of which can be completely unsupported by meaningful evidence"

As a body of believers, consider how Romans 14 should work among us as we coalesce around our doctrine and how we live Christ together.

“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.” ESV.

We all have opinions, but it would be spiritually healthy to take time to know if our opinion is just a preference, an unfounded perception, or just based on another influencer's ideas before you judge someone else by it. Here again, is Cortney Warren with a word of advice:

“… So, the next time someone tells you that they have a strong opinion about something, understand what their opinion is based on. Is it based on measurable data with some compelling outcome? Or is it based on reactive emotional preferences and impressions? If it is the latter, take it with a grain of salt before you value it. And if you have a strong opinion about something that you know very little about, try to figure out why before you give strong credence to your belief.”

If you want my opinion…that's pretty good advice. Lol.

—George Davis