Back when I was in business, some of my working days could be quite stressful. Emergency service calls could mess up my scheduled service calls quite quickly. Then there were the days when I spent most of my time driving long distances to a customer site. One of those places was in Elizabeth City NC. The customer was located next to a river, a flat calm river during the summer doldrums of July and August. After making repairs to their phones or whatever it was I needed to do, I would walk down to the river bank and look for flat stones. I would pick up a few that I could use to skip them across the river. Skipping rocks would be my stress reliever for the next half hour or more, then I would jump back in my truck and drive home. It was nice to feel like a kid again if only for a short amount of time.

Have you ever skipped rocks across a pond? It is fun. I obviously want to skip it as many times as I can, and I think my record is something close to thirteen hops maybe more. I was taught by my Dad, and I taught my son, Joel, how to cast flat rocks across a still body of water. Cast, that is a good word, it means to throw something forcefully in a specified direction. You certainly have to do that to skip a rock across a pond.

Saint Peter said this: “Cast all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” The Him is Jesus son of the living God. Don't hang on to your troubles, don't let go of them a little at a time, and don't tell yourselves that you can handle it, you need to do more than just let go and let God. Throw your burdens at him! That is what he wants us to do. Cast your thanks at him too. Don't hesitate to say Praise the Lord because he wants us to throw praise at him too. Pick up a rock of thanks and skip it to the throne of God. Every skip is something you are thankful for or care to give to him. Set a new record for yourself. God is good, full of mercy and he is worthy of a million rocks of praise! Get to skipping folks!

Psalm 55:22 Cast thy burden upon Jehovah, and he will sustain thee: He will never suffer the righteous to be moved.

Psalm 107

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this-- those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.

5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.

6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.

8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,

9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

10 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains,

11 for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.

12 So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.

15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,

16 for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

Derrick