I don’t know about you, but I enjoy looking at nice homes along the road. Beautiful brick patterns. Unique roof pitches. Fancy windows. It’s fun to admire such homes, but there’s something I never look at — the foundation.

Every beautiful home needs a solid foundation. But we never pay attention to foundations. Instead, we marvel at what meets the eye. We gasp in amazement at the brick walls, but we don’t even consider the foundation holding those walls up.
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Our culture cares more about looks than legitimacy. This is most obvious in our perception of people, including ourselves. We often base those perceptions on appearance rather than foundation. As a result, we’re deceived into toxic relationships and find it difficult to live consistently with ourselves. We don’t know who we are.

As an avid coffee drinker, I know what makes a good cup of coffee. It all begins with a good brand of coffee grounds. I prefer McDonald’s. Then, there’s the coffee maker. The better the coffee grounds are filtered, the better the coffee tastes. But there’s one more requirement for a good cup of coffee. It’s the mug.

The taste of the content depends on the container.
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My dad always drinks his coffee from a Styrofoam cup. I don’t. Why? Because I don’t like how it makes my coffee taste. I prefer traditional mugs. When I’m home, I usually drink from one of two different mugs. One is my Bible verse mug. The other is my Clearwater Beach mug. And honestly, I drink more coffee from my Yeti than either one of those.

People often ask me. I usually ride the bandwagon, replying with the classic response. “Good.”

I’m typically not as good as I pretend to be — well, actually, it depends on the definition of “good.” What does it mean to be “good?”
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If being “good” means everything in my life is good, then I’m a liar. My life isn’t always easy. I struggle. I sin. I face difficulties, battles, trials, and temptations. But when someone asks me how I am, my natural instinct is to consider my circumstances.