by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
If you let social media bombard your mind with all this social, political, and racial tension, soon you feel like everything good about our country and our neighbors has gone. But when you notice the birds, nature, and your surrounding neighbors, and you hear children laughing in the area, you then realize that good is still here to be enjoyed.<\/p>\n
The media hits us with more and more crime cases, more burning and rioting, and pretty soon, we lose hope for our country. What we need is to offset the negative with a lot of good news, stories of good deeds, people who act nobly and heroically. Someone did the right thing; someone made someone else’s life happier and easier. Someone lifted someone’s spirit, someone restored hope in humanity. Someone cheered a heart. Someone stopped feeling sorry for themselves and got busy bearing the burdens of others, which brought a better focus and outlook. Someone stopped feeling worthless because they redirected their minds. They began shining as a beacon of light in a dark world, and soon the area was no longer dark.<\/p>\n
Think on these things (Philippians 4:4-8). Not just with a passing thought, but actually bombard your mind with these things until they transform your outlook and emotions, until you see things in a better light. Bombard your mind with good things. That is how the real heroes of faith handled their great challenges. Your mind adjusts to what you feed it. What are you constantly feeding your heart?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton If you let social media bombard your mind with all this social, political, and racial tension, soon you feel like everything good about our country and our neighbors has gone. But when you notice the birds, nature, and your surrounding neighbors, and you hear children laughing in the area, you then…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1281,495,97],"class_list":["post-89778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-good","tag-heart","tag-thoughts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59610,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/good-neighbors\/","url_meta":{"origin":89778,"position":0},"title":"Good Neighbors","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 12:16-21 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Putting off the old man \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we become a Christian, we are supposed to become a new person - II Corinthians 5:17 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We are supposed to have the mind of Christ - Philippians 2:5 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That isn\u2019t so hard when everything goes well\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55149,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/be-a-better-person\/","url_meta":{"origin":89778,"position":1},"title":"Be a Better Person","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Carey Scott Don't we all wish that everyone would be a better person? Do we not hope that some bad people would turn their lives around and start doing good? Do we wish our neighbors would treat us better than before? Do we hope that the people we meet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31284,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-sin-is-breaking-the-law-can-someone-sin-against-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":89778,"position":2},"title":"If sin is breaking the law, can someone sin against me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, I know that sin is breaking God's law (I John 3:4) my question is, can someone sin against me? How am I to forgive someone? Answer: \"Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20081,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-i-see-someone-sinning-is-it-wrong-not-to-say-anything\/","url_meta":{"origin":89778,"position":3},"title":"When I see someone sinning, is it wrong not to say anything?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: After reading Leviticus 19:17, which commands us to rebuke our neighbor, I was surprised and a little worried.\u00a0 You see, sometimes I am afraid that, if I rebuke someone, they will either mock me or think of me as sanctimonious and thus be reluctant to befriend me or be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92849,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/avenge-our-blood\/","url_meta":{"origin":89778,"position":4},"title":"Avenge Our Blood","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Hurst via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 19 No. 2, June 1993 Vengeance is a greatly misunderstood subject in the Bible. Our understanding of the word is described with words such as retaliate and punish. Most of us view it as an undesirable trait. We fight feelings that desire to see\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32645,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-need-someone-to-talk-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":89778,"position":5},"title":"I need someone to talk to","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I try very hard to open my heart to God, but since I moved to another country my heart turned to stone. I go to church but I feel like a hypocrite. When I am in church I start to think about the rent to pay and the things\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}