Led By God

Read Mark 10:46-52

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NRSVUE)

I enjoy taking early morning runs, and before I leave the house, I check the weather conditions from the nearby airport.

One morning, the visibility at the airport was down to one mile. A thick layer of gray clouds hung above the treetops.

As I ran, I heard a plane overhead, but because of the cloud cover I couldn’t see it; I knew that the pilots couldn’t see the ground either.

Pilots must always rely on their training and sophisticated instruments to safely fly and land the plane, but this is especially true when visibility is reduced.

Sometimes I struggle to see where I need to go in life. l lose focus, and finding my way is difficult.

In those moments, I work to regain my bearings with these words from Proverbs 3:5-6— “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Trusting in God is not always easy.

Yet, that is exactly what Bartimaeus did when he asked Jesus to restore his sight; he trusted God in his heart.

On those days when the way is unclear, my heart needs to be more trusting, just like Bartimaeus.

Prayer: Faithful God, help our hearts to trust you when our vision is clouded. Guide us through your word. Amen

Thought For The Day: When the way seems unclear, I will trust God to lead me.

Bill Pike (Virginia, USA)

Note from the author: Friends I’m honored to have this piece published in the November-December edition of the Upper Room today, Tuesday, November 18, 2025. In case you are interested, I’ve also included the original piece that was submitted to the Upper Room. Thanks for your reading time, be safe, Bill Pike

Flying With God

Read Mark 10:46-52

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NRSV)

I still enjoy taking an early morning run through our neighborhood.

I keep a running journal. Before I leave the house, I jot down the current weather conditions from the local airport.

Most mornings, the visibility is listed at ten miles. At the dawning of this day, the visibility at the airport was down to one mile.

In our neighborhood, a layer of thick, gray clouds hung above the treetops. As I started my run, I could hear the whine of jet engines in the cloud cover, but I couldn’t see the plane.

When visibility is reduced, pilots must rely upon their training and the use of sophisticated instruments to safely bring the plane through the clouds for a landing.

Sometimes in life, I struggle to see where I need to be landing. My vision becomes blurry. I lose focus. Finding my way is difficult.

In those moments, I work to restore my sight with these words from Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Trusting in God or Jesus when my vision is cloudy is not easy to do.

Yet, that is exactly what Bartimaeus did when he asked Jesus to restore his sight—his heart trusted.

On those days when my vision is reduced, my heart needs to be more trusting like Bartimaeus.

Prayer: Father of us all, help our hearts to trust you when our vision is reduced. Amen

Thought For The Day: When the clouds of life reduce our vision, trusting in the Lord can lead us to his light.

Submitted to the Upper Room 4/6/24