Of course, like marriage, a trip to a tropical paradise requires a certain amount of preparation that has to be done beforehand. The vacation-bound family must first set a date that is convenient to all. Choosing the optimum time of the year to receive the best bargain for this journey is always good advice.

Next, for health purposes someone must ensure that all lotions are purchased and packed. Since weather conditions, hot and humid, are a known factor the proper attire is imperative. Therefore, shirts, shorts, sun visors, flip flop shoes, and sunglasses will be needed. Now all the preparations have been made and the family departs by flight to the beautiful island of Hawaii. Everyone is happy and relaxed, and looking forward to the event.

Suddenly, the pilot sends a message over the speaker, “the plane must land due to mechanical failure.” The pilot further states, “we must land immediately to avoid any incident.” The happy family now bewildered and stunned has now a feeling of inadequacy. Like a married couple after the honeymoon, what happens next?

Without delay the plane sets down safely and a feeling of relief is felt by the crew, passengers and family. Everyone is thankful. But there remains a question in every one’s mind, “Where have we landed?”

The family runs to the cock pit and asks the pilot where are we? Immediately, the pilot stands up puts on his leather aviator hat and tying up its flaps with a sigh says, “Alaska”.

As the family exits the plane the realization of Alaska versus Hawaii physically sets in. One-by-one each family member begins to shiver and as a family they begin to huddle together because of the wintry cold. Then, realizing his dilemma the father remembers that he brought a jacket. The mother thought about the blanket she brought for the beach. The family began to do something that is imperative in all marriages and that is to “adapt.”

The fantasy of marriage is a great condo, great husband, great cars and great kids. The reality is you don’t know a person until you live with them. The reality is the marriage was like Hawaii in the beginning and each year it keeps getting colder. What can we do? We must adapt, we must make changes. We have to change ourselves and our lifestyles to make the marriage work. The Bile explains; “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. This passage of scripture reveals to husbands and wives that Christ gave everything to the Church; to include his life. Another definition of Adapt is to adjust and we know that Christ made many adjustments that we might be saved. God is asking us in our marriage to adapt, adjust, and make changes, so that our marriage can be a representative of what Christ did for us on the cross. Christ said a few words that changed the world. If we obey these words adapting or changing our marriage will become our purpose and our marriage will be successful.

I will conclude these words from Jesus. Someone said to Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

A very famous scripture that Peter wrote saying, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”

Peter makes us aware that bizarre and horrific things do happen in our lives. And Paul tells us to watch out saying, “In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

Hearing of bizarre things and fiery darts aimed at us reminds me when I was back in the Army. During maneuvers, as part of our heavy training, we would encounter what is known as a sniper. The traditional definition of a sniper is an infantry, soldier skilled in field craft and marksmanship, who kills selected enemies from concealment with a rifle at long distances.

Typically and ideally, a proficient sniper approaches an enemy (who unaware of his presence), uses a single bullet per target, and withdraws without being seen. The word originates from the snipe, a game bird known for being difficult for hunters to sneak up on.

How often does our unseen enemy, or for Christianity’s sake the devil, sneaks up on us like a sniper and takes us out of our day. How often does he shoot spiritual darts of life’s struggles to keeps our spirits down? Or dim our hopes and dreams? How many nights are we awaken as he shoots us with painful memories of the past? How many baracades will we built in order to hide out from being his target?

Well, there are several ways in military training to find a sniper and one way is to find the path of the bullet. The path of the bullet is called the trajectory.

Once you find the path of bullet you can find the sniper and destroy him.

When our enemy is hitting with the fiery darts like the ones Paul describes we need to find the path of where they are coming from. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. Sometimes we are the enemy. I’m reminded of a Pastor explaining to the congregation that one morning he got up and looked into his bathroom mirror and said, “I want you to stop ruining my life!”

Walt Kelly wrote a famous quote on a poster in 1971, “We have met the enemy, He is in us.” Ask yourself, “What do I need to do to heal my life?” Look back over the years, look for the beginning. When did it start? Do you have unforgiveness in your heart? Is there someone you need to forgive? Do you need to forgive yourself?

Romans 10:9-10 says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. We must remember that when we live for Christ that we are partakers of Christ Sufferings we know that he offers us peace that can give us rest and joy unspeakable. And however the enemy strikes we must call on Jesus who suffered for us all so that we reign and rejoice with Him in His glory.

Just as finding the path of the bullet is important, we must also find the path of where our plight begun.

The subject of this article, “who or what is the sniper in your life,” was chosen by me to provoke thought. Just like the soldier who is pin down by sniper fire and cannot move himself or his unit. We too can allow the enemy to pin us down and even kill our salvation. Ask yourself what’s pinning you down, what stops you during the day, what literally puts you in tears every time you think about it. If we think about hard and long enough we would realize that we all have a snipers in our lives. There are times when there are two to three snipers perhaps more at work in our life. There are times we have that same particular sniper on our trail for years because we haven’t found the path of the bullet. We haven’t retraced our steps to forgive, or to let go. But we can.

II Timothy 1:7 says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. This scripture reminds us that we need not live a life looking what’s behind us or have the fear of what might hurt us along life’s journey. But we must live life abundantly and to its fullest.

During life’s journey there will always be snipers just as there will always be beautiful roses. Roses have thorns but still we enjoy the fragrance. We must enjoy the fragrance of life blessings with faith knowing that one day we will rejoice forever with Christ as our savior.

What do you do when God calls? Do you take a message and call him back later? Do you forward your call? Do you delete the message? Or do you simply not answer.

Did you know that God has a phone number 333? Jeremiah 33:3 “Call on the Lord and he will answer.”

I recently had one of those days. A day where it seemed the earth shook and then opened up and I fell through to the bottom.

My boss seems to think that I have the arms of an octopus. My kids think my wallet resembles Donald Trumps bank account. And my co-workers, well, they’re getting along like a gun fight at the OK Corral.

In the midst of this chaos I managed to get out of the office to run an errand. The moment I sat in my car I began to relax. Hoping to relax I turned on the radio. I drove my usual route through the busy college campus that sits next to my job. I often spend time waiting for the many students to cross the street. Today, it was a blessing to take the time. As I waited for the light to change I glanced at the students who were also waiting. One student caught my attention. A young man who continually stared at the ground. Was something wrong? Had he lost something? Was he mentally challenged? Or simply having the same type of day I was having?

Then the light changed and the student in front of him moved up a step to check the traffic and the mystery was over. The student who was staring at the ground was holding a long white cane with a six inch red tip. He was blind.

Blind. Young. He could not see the sunny day. Here was a blind, young man attending college to better himself. Maybe, my day wasn’t so chaotic after all. Maybe I had simply allowed the chaos around me to overwhelm me. Maybe, I had allowed others to make my day.

David wrote, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” This passage was written when David was surrounded by his enemies. David reminds us that our days belong to the Lord.

The young student reminded me that this should not be a day of chaos but a day of thanks.

The day was gone and evening had sat in on this midsummer’s night. I enjoy this time of the year, the clear skies and star filled nights and of course the sound of jazz. It is a combination that makes me smile.

Just as I settled in for the commute the SUV driver suddenly reappeared. Like the chaos before a riot or the confusion before an accident best describes the havoc he brought to each lane. I realized that the driver wasn’t simply being reckless, he was cutting in and out of lanes intentionally.

As I slowed down I glanced around at the other drivers. In front of me was an eighteen-wheeler in the center lane driving at normal speed while the driver of the SUV continued to put himself and those of us around him in danger. I watched in as the distance between the SUV and the semi-truck grew smaller. I wondered again, what could possibly be on his mind?

It was at that moment it happened. The semi began to switch to the right lane of the highway as the SUV switched to the left lane. I watched in horror as the SUV’s bumper locked with the unsuspecting semi-truck’s drivers bumper. The huge eighteen-wheeler-dragged the SUV to the right lane like it was a tiny toy model car. The SUV’s front end began to breakup and then as quickly as they had locked together the SUV was released and thrown into the guard rail. Seconds later as I drove past the SUV I could see the driver’s face, he looked startled with fear and bewildered.

Driving down the road I thought about how often we Christians get hooked up with things that drag us down. How often do we get involved in situations that startle us with fear? Too often, we dart in and out of life’s troubles just as the reckless driver darted in and out of lanes on the highway.

We need to slow down and pay attention to where we are going. Jesus says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” indicating that whatever weighs us down He alone is the answer. No matter what shakes us up in life, we can rely on and put our trust in Jesus. He will lead and guide us in the time of trouble.