Three weeks ago my wife and I were going through Sams to pick up a few items before our baby Emma was to be born, some last minute provisions you could say. It was a Saturday, and if you are familiar with Sams and Saturday then you know that free samples are everywhere. I told my wife we would make a point to try everything we could; because of course I love samples, especially when I haven't had lunch yet.

As we walked around trying the many different samples, we came to a woman who was handing out samples of yogurt, by this time my wife was about 37 weeks through her pregnancy, most people would ask when she was due, or whether it was a boy or girl, but this woman asked a different question. She said, "How do you spoil a child?" I responded with, " Spare the rod, and spoil the child." Her face immediately lit up with surprise. She seemed surprised that I would know the answer. Something about the woman struck me as being like a sister, not by birth, but through Jesus Christ.

As we continued to talk she instructed me to pray over our child everyday, and to look up Psalm chapter 91. We said God Bless to one another and my wife and I carried on our path for quenching my appetite for samples.

A few minutes later I was telling my wife that when one Christian tells another Christian of a verse in the Bible to check it out, you never know, God may have been using this person to share truth, peace, or even guidance, though the Word of God always seems to bring all three without hesitation. So as soon as we got home my wife looked it up.

As I began to ponder the first verse I couldn't help but think about my secret place, my place where I direct my prayers to the Throne of God, the quiet place the Lord lays me beside the still waters, I immediately began to feel peace.

The peace began to flow through my spirit as I finished the rest of the verse, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. What a place to abide, in God's shadow. In order for a shadow to be present an object has to present. For us to abide in the shadow of the Lord, than the Lord must be present, this is the peace factor, the joy of knowing that the Lord is present. But you can't abide within the shadow of the Lord if you don't dwell in your secret place over which the shadow of the Lord covers.

Our time alone with the Lord is invaluable and undeniably one of the most important areas of the Christian's walk of Faith. Without this time alone with the Lord we can become led astray, fooled by the principalities and wickedness of this world, fail to understand God's will for our lives, the spiritually destructive effects upon our soul are endless when we fail to spend alone time with our Creator, our Savior, our Lord. If neglect of our alone time with the Heavenly Father will cause such spiritual repercussions, than with passionate observance the spiritual blessings are ultimately endless and eternally infinite.

In this day that we live we are consistently traveling through the valley of the shadow of death, where with the Lord we should fear no evil. I challenge us all to spend more time, or if you don't, start spending time with the Lord in a place of quiet isolation. Seek your Father as you would a lost friend, love Him as you would a loved one, and trust in Him unlike any other trust you have ever expended. God is real, God is love, and God is truth. Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened.

God Bless, daniel