Thoughts On Distractions and Sleeping In – Thoughts From the Edges

Thoughts on Distractions and Sleeping In     

From the heart of Pastor Calvin Cook

August 8, 2025

Scripture : Proverbs 4:24-27 Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. 25 Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. 26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. 27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.

Every morning, I usually wake up before the alarm goes off. I can no longer say every morning, because this morning I slept in. Either I didn’t set an alarm, or I turned it off without realizing and slept over.

Part of the reason, because there is always an excuse, after Gail went to bed, I became captivated by an old movie that I hadn’t seen in years. It was the first movie I remember seeing at a drive in theater with 101 Dalmatians. It was the first time our Dad and Mom took my sister Christine and me to the drive in. In that day- the early 70’s it was a really big deal.

After watching the moving I was thinking about how this family shipwrecked on the island made the best of everything they had. They used their ingenuity to persevere and fight off the enemy. Even in that beautiful setting and all that each of them was experiencing in their own lives they did not become distracted by their purpose to be rescued.

This morning – I thought that becomes our whole purpose. To be rescued! We are all just trying to survive with as much hope and joy as possible so that we might survive into the next stage of life, ultimately ending this life well with the hope of eternity before us.

But in the meantime, there are so many distractions that keep us swimming frantically to save ourselves from drowning. They are different in each of our own particular situations.

While we wait for the rescue or the rescuer which is God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit there are so many distractions that keep us in a constant state of turmoil. I am not saying we avoid dealing with the pressing issues but that once we have moved past them – we keep our focus as the writer of Proverbs directs us in Proverbs 4 that I shared with you at the beginning of this devotional.

I can make many excuses why I slept in this morning, but here is my resolve. God will use all things to bring us to the place that we need to be. If I had not watched Swiss Family Robinson last night as the last thing I did – I would not have probably realized once again all the distractions that come my way.

Living into God and the center of God’s will does mean we have to keep focused but it also means that we focus on things that are honorable, trustworthy, pleasing, and good (Philippians 4:8) Resisting the distractions that come our way with a heart focused on God. Always!