His suggestion for coping with stress involved asking yourself some simple questions: "What did I do yesterday? And how did my actions make me feel? Did some of my actions cause me to feel more stressed or anxious?" Those are good questions. As Christians with the goal of becoming like Christ, however, we can raise the level of scrutiny of the impact of our actions by asking additional questions, such as; "How did my actions make someone else feel? What was the impact of those actions on someone else?" In other words, what we do almost always has repercussions beyond the immediate sphere of our own lives. In one of the apostle Paul's letters to the church at Corinth, he instructed the members to examine themselves as a means of insuring their conformity to the will of God (2 Corinthians 13:5). We often think about self-examination as an element of the Passover, and Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 11:28 clearly establishes it in that context. But evaluating the patterns of our lives is something we are to do on an ongoing basis. Along with asking about our impact on others, we might ask further: "Have my actions strengthened and solidified my relationship with God?" Most of us have, no doubt, said at one time or another something to the effect that "I intended to do (such and such) but it slipped my mind." We had good intentions but we failed to follow through. In the book of James we are reminded that our good intentions have to be transformed into positive actions in order for anyone to derive benefit from them. "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only" (James 1:21-22). James reminds us that we are not only to seek instruction from God through His Word but also that once that word is implanted in us, it must be nurtured into production. We must act upon the instructions we receive and we must periodically assess our progress by asking of ourselves, "What was the impact of my actions on other people's lives?" Learning to ask the questions and then making corrections in our lives as we learn to answer them honestly and objectively will help us to accomplish the ongoing task of self-examination, which Jesus Christ expects of each of us as we grow in grace and knowledge.