Devotional

Gates and Roads

The One Gate of Salvation

Through a local community outreach at our gym I occasionally converse with people that have a common belief there are many paths of faith that lead to the same God.  I have learned to kindly disagree with them and share how Jesus declared that He is the ONLY way to God (John 14:6).

Often this is taken as narrow minded and non-inclusive. Sadly, today's culture often uses the term ‘inclusive’ to the detriment of true Christian faith. Don’t apologize for Christianity being exclusive. There is only one gate of salvation. It is through Jesus and we need to share this as absolute truth.

“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” (‭‭John‬ ‭10‬:‭9‬)

Narrow Road of Discipleship and Holiness

It is interesting that Jesus referred to not just the gate but also the narrow road. This to me refers to the road of discipleship and holiness, which is necessary for all Christ followers.

Salvation is entrance to the Kingdom.  Discipleship and holiness are critical to living a fulfilled life and accomplishing your Kingdom purpose on earth. The alternative road leads to destruction. We cannot accept Jesus and continue to pursue living a life of sin believing grace has us covered. Yes we are saved solely by grace but we are also called to live a holy life.

“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;” (1 Peter 1:15)

“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” (‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭14‬)

More to Build Your Faith

I recently listened to this outstanding podcast with Dr. Jeremiah Johnston, a renowned Biblical and historical scholar. He provides fascinating scientific detail and visual evidence to validate Jesus death and resurrection, including that of the Shroud of Turin. It will educate you and bring you closer to witnessing what our Savior experienced through His crucifixion and resurrection. It provides scientific proof which you can share with friends that are skeptical about Jesus.

Financial Update

Office Space Investing

Few sectors were hit harder by covid than commercial office real estate. Almost overnight in 2020, millions of workers sent home by necessity never fully came back,  and what began as a temporary inconvenience became a permanent shift in how America works. 

For investors, the fallout was severe. But for those with patience and a long-term perspective, the wreckage may now be creating one of the more interesting contrarian opportunities of the decade.

Before the pandemic, office real estate was a stable, income-generating cornerstone of institutional portfolios. When leases began expiring after COVID, tenants either shrank their footprint or went fully remote. 

The results were devastating: national office vacancy rates climbed to a record 19.6%, far worse than even the 2008 financial crisis. Downtown values in cities like San Francisco fell by as much as 50% from their pre-pandemic peaks. The office market, to put it plainly, fell off a cliff.

Real estate is cyclical. Prices that fall far enough, long enough, eventually become attractive again, and there are real signs the office market may be approaching its bottom. Return-to-office momentum has been building steadily. 

By 2025, most companies settled on two or three in-office days per week, and major employers like JPMorgan Chase and Amazon mandated fuller returns. Office visits nationally were running at roughly 66% of 2019 levels through 2024, up 10% year over year. New office construction has also slowed dramatically, which means less new supply competing with existing buildings. 

Industry forecasters at Colliers now project vacancy rates will drop below 18% as hybrid patterns stabilize and outdated buildings are converted or demolished. Class A trophy buildings in prime markets like New York and Dallas are already seeing rents recover above pre-pandemic levels.

This is not a call to rush in, significant risks remain, Nearly $875 billion in commercial real estate debt comes due in 2026, and the impact of artificial intelligence on office-using jobs adds long-term uncertainty. West Coast markets may stay impaired for years. 

But office buildings that were once worth $100 per square foot are available in some markets for $50 or less. For investors, that kind of repricing is worth studying carefully. REITs focused on quality office properties offer a more accessible entry point without direct ownership.

Tech Update

One Giant Leap of Faith

The current Artemis 2 mission to fly around the moon has sparked a lot of interest in human space flight recently.  Consider that the last human moon flight was in 1972, and 1969 was when humans first landed on the moon. It begs the question, why so long? It also brought me to ponder what was the state of technology back in 1969? Seems like it would have been even more of ‘one giant leap of faith’ as it was ‘one giant leap for mankind,’ as quoted by Neil Armstrong.  I pose 3 interesting facts to ponder reflecting on 1969 technology in comparison to today….

Faith in a Drone Like Computer System

The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) that pioneered Apollo 11’s lunar landing in 1969 was a basic embedded microcontroller, like an Arduino Uno or a small flight controller you find in a drone. It featured 4 KB RAM and 64 KB ROM (memory). In comparison, even a cheap smartphone or laptop charger controller is far more powerful than the AGC in raw compute and memory. In fact the total computing power of the Apollo missions was less than what’s in a modern car key fob! Now there is a leap of faith in technology.

Faith in Manual Lunar Landing

Back in 1969, the lunar landing involved a huge amount of risk taking. Most rocket engines of that era were not designed to throttle to adjust the power with extreme precision and required mostly manual control. Today this would be fairly easily accomplished by an automated computer landing system.

I had a glance at the Lunar Module guidance Computer (LGC) transcript and had a quick appreciation for how basic the technology was then. For example, the pilots had to punch in various specific sequences of combination codes (NOUN XX VERB YY) into the LGC to adjust and time braking their module from 50,000 feet down to the moon’s surface in about 12 minutes, while adjusting for multiple alarms and error codes through the process. They landed on an area of the moon called the ‘sea of tranquility’, a welcome space indeed after the high-risk landing.

Faith to Not Burn on Re-Entry

Coming back to earth was technically much harder than blasting into space. Apollo 11 returning hit the earth's atmosphere at roughly 25,000 mph (40,000 km/h). The atmospheric friction creates temperatures of about 5,000°F (2,760°C) which is hot enough to melt almost any metal. NASA designed and used Ablative Heat Shields using a resin-filled fiberglass honeycomb material. Instead of just absorbing heat, the material was designed to absorb heat, char and flake away, carrying the thermal energy with it to protect the module and astronauts inside from rapidly burning up.

57 years after the first moon landing, Artemis 2 flying around the moon this week seems like a cake walk with the technology we have today compared to 1969 - which certainly was a giant leap of faith with their now ancient technology.

Health Nuggets

Blood Pressure - Big Pharma Moving Goalposts

An article came out a while back talking about historical “normal” blood pressure shifts. In 1940, a doctor would say to use 100 + your age and that was to be a good range for your blood pressure, for example: a 70yr old with a blood pressure of 170/95 was normal. Then in 1970, it was changed to 160/90; in 2000, it was changed to 140/90 and now today, doctors want patients under 120/80, or you’re “hypertensive”.

Anti-hypertensive drugs raked in $36.7 Billion in 2024 alone. Lower thresholds = more diagnoses = more lifelong prescriptions. Meds don’t fix root causes, just symptoms - leading to more pills for side effects.

Hidden Dangers of Blood Pressure Medications:

• Low sodium and potassium, dizziness and headaches, dehydration and muscle cramps, gout and joining pain, insomnia, nightmares and depression, slow heartbeat and heart palpitations, asthma symptoms, sexual/erectile dysfunction, fainting and kidney issues, angioedema (swelling of face/tongue). Very low blood pressure increases chronic illness and mortality risk, especially in seniors.

Natural Ways to Optimize Your Blood Pressure:

• Adopt a whole-food, low-carb diet prioritizing nutrient-dense animal foods

• Eliminate seed oils, processed foods and sugar

• Boost potassium and magnesium via unrefined mineral salts and targeted supplements - they power your body’s sodium-potassium pump

• Focus on lifestyles: anxiety/stress reduction, exercise

For older adults, a higher BP may actually help you live a healthier life.

Source: @healthbot (on X)

Note: Health Nuggets are opinions and not medical advice.

Trivia Corner

Test your wisdom and knowledge of the Bible.

Subscribe for free and Share with Friends

Join a vibrant community of Christians pursuing God’s wisdom for life and business. Receive Solomon’s Circle newsletter directly to your inbox weekly: