Working on a Sunday School class for the 12th; thoughts from this morning: Our challenges help us to remember our helplessness and need for the Rock of Israel (Deut. 32). God pinches us awake. We are to live per Hebrews 12. Instead of forgetting our God, we are eagerly pursuing God, not merely remembering him so we can be thankful. If our lives are preoccupied with this world, we will pursue finite goals for this life, and eventually God will fade from importance and even from mind. If we remember what we are about, who we are, why we are here, what story we are in, where everything is headed, then we keep the spell of the world broken. We stay alive and awake. We live in fellowship with the Spirit, pursuing the glory and vindication of our Lord, warring a good warfare - not settling down as if this were our home. We will also be thankful for the honour and privilege of it all. We will hate idolatry with a vengeance! [Image: public domain.]