The Coldest Night Of The Year … To Me

Last night was the coldest walk outside this year. 

the coldest night of the year to me

It may not have been the coldest night of the year, but it certainly was the coldest I’ve been all year.

I remember my days in Edmonton. We would always get a stretch of cold temperatures each winter. It might have lasted a couple of weeks, but it felt like it was never going to end.

It was the kind of cold in which we would talk ourselves out of even going to the store to get milk: 

“Dear, are you sure you really need milk? Maybe you could pour something else on your cereal in the morning.” 

“Have you ever tried almond milk? I think you might like it.” 

“Let’s just stay in and go to the store tomorrow. I hear it’s going to get up to -24 C tomorrow afternoon.” 

The conversation would go something like that and we would stay in and do without, just because we didn’t even want to drive in that cold if we didn’t have to. 

But I also remember times I did go to the store and there would be three pickup trucks at the 7-Eleven ahead of me, nobody in them, but the engines were still running. 

I did the same. 

Car thieves must have had the same conversation about whether they really wanted to go out in the cold to steal a car that was open, keys in the ignition with the engine running. 

Well, last night that’s what it felt like. We went to the Kingston Frontenacs’ game and found a parking spot several block from the arena … which meant hoofing it to the rink, but that’s what we do all the time. 

Last night we should have tried to get valet service because, man, that walk was cold. 

It had snowed earlier in the day. In fact, before the temperature dropped there was a lot of snow that fell in a very short time – so much that many businesses didn’t have a chance to shovel their sidewalks.

Because it got so cold so fast, the snow packed together and stuck to the streets and sidewalks, leaving them very uneven and slippery. We were walking on trampled snow and underneath our shoes the snow squeaked as we walked. 

You know when you buy cheese curds and you pop one in your mouth and the cheese squeaks as you chew? That’s the sound the snow made as we walked to the arena. 

It took me about half the game and a hot chocolate to start to warm up … but we were in a building that has its floor frozen with a sheet of ice on it. 

The walk back to the car was colder. 

The temperature had dropped several more degrees from when we came. 

I didn’t think the car was going to heat up before we got home. It was the coldest night.

Well, they say it’s the damp air in southern Ontario that makes the cold go right through you. It sure did last night. 

Here’s the thing: In the comfort of your home, you may not feel so pressed to go out and follow Christ. You may be able to convince yourself you are okay just as you are. But let me encourage you – get out to a church, talk with a pastor and find out how to follow Christ. Don’t hibernate on this decision. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you put off because you are comfortable? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Deceived By Green Grass And Mild Temperatures

We can perceive things wrongly and be deceived, so that we make assumptions on what something looks like. 

deceived by green grass and mild temperatures

Shadows in the middle of the night cause objects to look different, bigger, scarier than they really are.

The weather here has been a little like that. For the most part, the weather has just not seemed to match the season … but we know that can happen anywhere, any time. 

When my daughter, Karlie, lived in Calgary she said one year they had either snow or hail in every month of that year. 

I remember one Canada Day in Kingston that was very uncharacteristic of that time of year. There were all kinds of family friendly things to do downtown by the water, so we decided to check them out. We had planned to stay downtown for the afternoon and enjoy the bands and fireworks at night.

When we parked our car the temperature was about 25 degrees celsius. We were all dressed in shorts and T-shirts. But some weird cold front came screaming into the region and in a matter of hours – maybe four hours or so – the temperature dropped by 20 degrees. 

By the time the bands were playing and we were finding a spot to watch the fireworks, it was about 2 degrees. 

We had come prepared for the temperature to drop a few degrees, but not that low. We needed winter parkas! On July 1st it’s supposed to be warm. We are not supposed to be huddled together trying to keep the kids from getting hypothermia.

Right now in Kingston we are in the middle of winter, but until this week it didn’t seem like it. 

On Sunday we had green grass showing on our lawn. Sure, we had tiny snow piles from where we shovelled our driveway, but it didn’t look like it was the middle of winter. 

If you took a quick look, you might think it was the tail end of the cold, that spring had already sprung. It looked like the big old, cold winter had pretty much been beaten. 

But then Monday morning we woke up and wondered if that green grass on our lawn had been an illusion. Falling snow covered everything and didn’t seem to be slowing down one bit. 

In the end we got 42 cm of snow … and me and one other neighbour are the only ones on the street who don’t have snowblowers. 

Now it looks like the middle of winter. There is no deception, no mismatch of seasons. We definitely have ourselves some winter.

I can’t say I like it any more than I did that July when the temperature dropped by 20 degrees. But at least when I look outside, I don’t get fooled into thinking that summer is coming any time soon.

Here’s the thing: Life can be a little deceptive. Your life can seem to be doing really well – solid relationships, financially secure, healthy and in great shape. You could assume that you have nothing to worry about. But if you have not cared for your spiritual side, you’re deceived. Though from your perspective, externally life looks good in every way, what is not seen may reveal a different reality when you face God. Ensure your spiritual side is right with God and then you will not be deceived.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need proper perspective on right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Sometimes Being Counterintuitive Is Best

I’m always surprised when I do something that seems counterintuitive and it happens to be just the right thing to do.

counterintuitive

When you are hot and the sweat is pouring off you, your first reaction is to try to make yourself as cool as possible. 

After I have worked out in my home gym, I often take my t-shirt off because it’s wet, I’m hot, and I feel that I will cool down easier if my skin can breathe better. 

It makes sense … but not always. 

There have been times that I have had a cold or flu and have been running a fever. My head feels like it’s going to explode, I’m all stuffed up … you get the picture. 

I’m a bit of a mess.

Instead of getting under the covers and laying low, sometimes I have gone out and played hockey. In fact, I will wear an extra shirt under my pads and zip it up to try to sweat the cold or flu right out of my system.

I know that doesn’t sound like it would work, but it does and has … some of the time, on more than one occasion. There are times I’ve been just too sick to sweat it out. 

And when I have a cold, I will purposely go to bed in a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I’ll put an extra blanket over me with the hopes that by morning I will have broken my fever. 

My clothes may be drenched and I might be sweating, but many, many times I feel better when I wake up.

Sometimes doing the opposite of what you think you should do works in your favour.

The last couple of days I’ve had a stiff neck. I think a few muscle in my neck have been waging a little revolt on me for some reason. 

It’s sore. But rather than keeping my neck still, I’ve been doing exercises to stretch and compress the muscles that are in mutiny right now. 

It seems to be working, but let me tell you, I’ve gotten some strange looks from people when I’ve chosen to do these stretches in public. 

It looks odd to people when you are walking in a mall and are trying to bend your head in such a way as to get your ear to touch your shoulder, or at least move in that direction. 

It’s hard to see the road when you dip your head down and try to touch your chin to your chest. … I don’t do that one too often when I’m in the car.

This morning I played hockey. And even though my neck was sore before I started, as I played things began to loosen up until I didn’t even notice that my neck was stiff or sore.

We’ll see how I fare the rest of the day. Will my neck stiffen or become even more flexible?

Here’s the thing: The natural thing to do when you wrong someone or hurt someone is to stay clear. You pull back and try to avoid them. We do that with God, too. Maybe we are embarrassed; maybe we think He won’t forgive us, or that He will punish us. But doing the counterintuitive thing works best. It is amazing how apologizing to the person you’ve wronged or hurt actually makes it better. When we’ve sinned and go to God, He is waiting with open arms.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to do this week that seems counterintuitive? Leave your comments and questions below.

“Cold” Doesn’t Always Mean the Same Thing

I’ve discovered that “cold” does not have the same meaning everywhere.

In my part of the world we understand cold to a greater extend than in other parts of the world. In Canada cold has a greater depth of meaning because of the wider range of temperatures we experience.

Most places on earth experience cold, but the range of temperatures a region experiences will determine the extent of their understanding of cold. 

I remember driving to Florida for a winter vacation with my family. We had left a major snow blizzard back in Canada. In fact, we got out of “Dodge” just in time, or we would have been stuck there and not made our trip. As it was, the roads were treacherous for the first day and a half of our trip. 

When we finally made it to Florida, we ditched our winter coats and put on our spring jackets because it was not very warm there.

The next morning we were up very early to spend the day at Disney World. When I say early, I mean Lily got us there before the park workers arrived!

It was quite chilly standing around in our spring coats, but it was nothing like back home where we would have had every inch of skin covered in layers. 

After a while the park workers started to show up for work. What surprised me was that they were arriving for work in winter parkas. 

For some reason, I thought that winter coats were only sold above the 42nd parallel, but here these people were decked out in the latest polar fleeced, designer winter jackets.

My first thought was, “That’s a little overkill.” … I wished I had have had a heavier spring jacket with me, but I would never have thought of digging my winter coat out of the trunk of the car when I was in Florida.

But for people living in places like Florida, they don’t experience the range of temperatures we do in the north, so for them it was cold … winter coat cold.

This morning at 9:15 am, I took a tram in Spain. The sun was out; the temperature was about 14 degrees. I was the only one on the tram without a coat of some kind.

There was even a woman wearing a winter coat, a scarf wrapped around her neck a few times, and a pair of ear muffs. 

The ear muffs were excessive. I don’t know any Canadians who would wear ear muffs in temperatures above zero.

But cold in Spain doesn’t mean the same thing as cold in Canada. They don’t understand cold like I do. 

On the other hand, I don’t understand hot like they do here in Spain. I might have more experience with cold in Canada, but they have more experience with hot.

Here’s the thing: Your experience with something helps you understand it better. Your experience with forgiveness from God helps you understand forgiveness so that you can apply it to others. When you understand that you need to be forgiven and then experience forgiveness from God, you have a greater depth of understanding so that you can forgive others. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is your experience with forgiveness? Leave your comments below.

When Should We Hibernate?

I feel I must place a caveat on this post. I wrote this article on Saturday morning. Sunday morning we got a ton of snow and wind. It turned out that only a handful of people showed up for church. I am not pointing fingers at anyone.

There are animals that hibernate in the winter and sometimes there are people who hibernate as well.

So far this winter has been pretty easy on us in this region. Often first thing in the new year we have some weird weather patterns that create lots of rain and then a deep freeze. 

… We certainly know in Kingston what an ice storm is like! 

But this year we have had relatively little snow. It really has been minimal. 

Most years I drool over the snowblower ads in the flyers and whine to Lily that I need one. But I have not given them a second thought this year. 

I could be a contributing factor to the reason the snow has been almost non-existent this year -in the fall I finally bought winter tires. (You can read about that here.)

But we are not done with winter and today I’ve been reminded just what winter is like. 

We are supposed to get a snow storm today, with lots of snow, but I’m hoping the snow drops south of Lake Ontario so that we get very little.

However, the temperature today is the coldest it’s been all season and it’s way colder than I want it to be. 

It was minus 20 Celsius this morning! 

And if there was ever a time when human beings would think about hibernation as something they would consider practicing, minus 20 would be a temperature that would drive them to it. 

I played hockey this morning before I knew just how cold it was outside. We park our car in our garage so I didn’t really experience the weather until I got to the arena and got out of my car. 

Man, it was bitter!

The little snow we got the night before was squeaking as I walked across the parking lot. It was like how fresh cheese curds sound in your mouth when you chew them.

It turned out that we didn’t have too many guys for hockey this morning. I think some of the boys thought hibernation was on.

… And that’s the extent of hibernating that a human does. We eventually have to come out of the cave (house). 

We might stay indoors for some things, but there are still things we need to come out from our winter slumber for.

I know I need to pick up a few things from a store today. I wish they could be delivered, or that maybe Lily is going out and can pick them up for me.

But I think if she has things to get, she’s probably hoping I will pick them up for her when I go out. 

I will also need gas for the car soon. I could have gotten it two days ago when it was warmer but now it looks like I will have to stand at the pump when the mercury is all sucked into a ball at the bottom of the thermometer.

The real reason we can’t hibernate too long is that we have to eat. We’re not like bears that store up food for the winter. 

I need hot wings tonight for the hockey game. It doesn’t matter how cold it is, I’m going out to get them.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we let things like weather influence our decision to do certain activities. On Sundays we gather to worship God. Letting weather determine your decision on attending, well, that just takes you down the food chain a couple of notches. Worshipping God together is important; don’t neglect it. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What things keep you from attending church? Leave your comments below.

I Think My Actions Changed The Weather

I sometimes wonder if our actions can actually change the weather. 

You see, right now we should probably have snow on the ground here in Kingston, but instead we have green grass … oh, and a touch of frost this morning. 

So far it’s been an interesting fall, with a lot of rain and more overcast days than I can could. … I was told that in October we only had three days of sun. 

Snow came early out west; there is lots of it in Ottawa … but we have none. 

I think it’s because I finally got winter tires. 

We got a new vehicle a couple of years ago and the tires were good, so I never purchased winter treads. 

But this year, my tires are a little more worn and, on a trip up north, they proved to be really bad in the snow. 

But since I got the new winter tires put on my SUV, there has been no need for them whatsoever. 

It’s like when you buy a new winter coat that you’re dying to wear. It’s impressive and you want to impress, but the temperatures stay high. You force the coat into action anyways even though it’s way too mild. You look like a fool and also learn that your new coat can act as a sauna as well as winter apparel. 

Can purchasing tires or a new winter coat really prevent the weather that is required to put them into action? 

I can’t say for sure, but it happens so often … as much as the weather man gets his predictions wrong. 

Now, I know I’m not the only one buying new tires, and there are people buying tires in snow-ridden places. I’m just saying that it’s uncanny how this works out for me. 

I know the snow is coming and really a major part of me is quite willing to delay the inevitable as much as possible. But I’d kind of like to know how these tires do in the snow. Will I be slipping and sliding around with them or will my vehicle be just as stable as if on dry asphalt?

It sure would be nice to be able to change the weather by my actions. It might be expensive, however. 

What else would I have to buy? 

Oh, I know! – a snowblower! I’ve wanted one of those for years, but my wife, Lily, keeps telling me we don’t need one. 

I can imagine if we got a snowblower in the next week that we wouldn’t see any white stuff on the driveway until after Christmas. 

I could also buy winter boots, and I could use some new winter gloves. 

I realize we are going to eventually get winter. I also don’t want to push winter into spring with a whole loft of purchases. That would not be good at all. 

… I’m not superstitious – really. I’m just making some observations about things that don’t happen when I prepare for them in some way. 

Here’s the thing:  Your actions can’t actually change the weather, but your actions can change someone. A smile, a word, a gift, an example can change a person’s day. Your consistent testimony can change a person’s destiny if they are drawn to the Father God by your actions. Be a light to others. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What would you like to change with your actions? Leave your comments below.

Don’t Be Deceived By The Sun

Hey people, let’s not deceive ourselves – it’s brutally cold out there!

My wife, Lily, opened the blinds this morning and was very cheery. “Ah, the sun is shining”, she said, as if that made everything alright.

She made her comment like she was ready to take a magazine out to the deck and catch some rays as she relaxed in a lawn chair.

“It’s minus 22 Celsius out there”, I said.

Lily’s rebuttal was that it reminded her of Edmonton winters where the sun was the consolation for surviving weeks on end of needing a balaclava when you stepped outside the front door of your home.

She went as far as saying she would rather have -20 C and sunny than -4 C and dreary.

Give me the dreary! If we have to go another week with these temperatures, I’ll be done with winter big time!

I’m not sure why Lily has been so hypnotized by the sun’s power, or it could have nothing to do with the sun at all.

It may have more to do with the old coat she rediscovered last night.

We went out for dinner and Lily decided to wear a fur coat – that’s right, it’s fur, and it’s probably seal too.

But don’t get too upset at her owning a fur coat. It’s a hand-me-down from my grandmother. I figure that coat is probably between 70 and 90 years old.

When I was just a kid, I remember my grandmother wearing it to church when she came to visit us on weekends. My brother, John, and I made sure we sat on either side of her during church.

Besides the little purple candies she would give us, it was really sitting beside that coat of hers that was the treat. It was, and still is, the softest coat you will ever touch. It’s unbelievable. We would snuggle right up to her just to feel that fur.

You can’t stop touching it.

But I digress. Maybe the reason Lily doesn’t mind the cold is that this coat is the warmest coat she’s ever put on. She didn’t care how long it took us to walk from the car to the restaurant; she was toasty.

… I, on the other hand, was freezing and couldn’t wait to get inside.

Maybe she thinks she is impervious to the cold with this coat, I don’t know.

All I’m saying is let’s not be deceived or brainwashed by the sunny days, thinking that it’s okay that we are living in temperatures that would make a polar bear want to travel south for a vacation.

We weren’t planning on taking a winter vacation but now I’m entertaining the idea … and the longer this cold snap – sun and all – stays with us, the more the price of the trip doesn’t matter to me.

Let’s just all agree on one thing: it is crazy cold out there, and there is nothing good about it.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we can get fixated on one thing so that something else doesn’t seem to be that bad. Maybe you struggle with a certain sin but, instead of dealing with it, you look to something good you are doing as if that cancels out the sin. To God, sin is missing the mark and, no matter how close to the mark you are in another area, you’re still missing the mark. Deal with the sin in front of you. Don’t mask it, justify it, or ignore it; just confess it and turn from it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to deal with? Leave your comments below.

This May Be The Coldest Time Of The Year

For me, this is becoming the cold time of the year. I know that it’s the middle of April and the snow is long gone, but I’m freezing!

When I’m in my basement, I have to have a blanket over me just to prevent my body from going into hyperthermia.

As you go down to our basement, you can feel the temperature change when you get about halfway down the stairs. The staircase is only 12 steps long, but at about stair 5 I’m feeling the cold.

It doesn’t help that we’ve had a lot of rain – it’s probably a little damp in the basement.

Still, I’m freezing and I have to spend a lot of time in my basement right now. It’s hockey playoffs and I’m not going to miss watching the Leafs play in the playoffs for the first time in four years.

I will do what I have to in order to survive the frigid temperatures of my family room.

I fully understand that in a couple of months I will be loving the fact that it is cooler in the basement, and I will gladly spend time down here just to keep cool.

But right now, I can hardly bear it!

I’m thinking about keeping some mitts and a wool toque down here for when a game goes into overtime, or double overtime like it did last Saturday.

… The problem with that is it would be really hard to type out this blog post wearing something covering my fingers.

In the middle of the winter when the snow is flying and the temperatures outside are well below zero, I’m warm in my basement because the heat comes on regularly.

But the upstairs is not cold because that’s where the thermostat is. It might be 21 degrees upstairs but down here where I am right now it’s only 17.

I remember when I was a teen and I worked at a restaurant part time. Every once in a while we would have to get something out of the walk-in freezer.

When you first went in you would shiver, but then it was okay … for a couple of minutes. After that your blood started to solidify. You started moving in slow motion and you just prayed that the door wasn’t locked from the outside.

That’s the way I feel down here some evenings.

I don’t like coffee or tea; I really don’t like any hot drinks … but I’m starting to think a little hot chocolate might be in order.

… Maybe with a few marshmallows on top.

The one thing that is good is that my exercise room is down here. I’m exercising more because it’s the only way for me to generate a little heat in my body!

I can see my time in the basement lasting another couple of months with hockey playoffs going to mid June. … I guess I’ll feel like I’m sitting ice level in an arena for a while.

Here’s the thing: You may find yourself in an environment that is not the most comfortable. It may be that God wants to stretch you in an area that you find difficult to adjust to. Don’t try to move to a more comfortable environment until you warm up to your knew environment or until God wants you to move out of it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What new thing is God leading you into? Leave your comments below.

I’m Going Through A Cold Spell Inside Me

I am cold and the temperatures outside are only serving to accentuate that fact.

Over the last few months I’ve dropped about 15 pounds. I’ve written a few posts describing the things I’ve done to lose this weight (you can read about them here and here).

I didn’t even set out to lose any weight, but rather to try to figure out what was causing my muscle issues when I played hockey.

The outcome of that experiment is that I’m not having muscle pain, I’ve lost some weight and the huge benefit is I feel great.

The downside to all this is that now I’m always freezing. I’m having a hard time keeping warm.

I will often wear my coat at work, and at home I immediately put on a sweatshirt. If I’m watching TV, I’ve probably got a blanket over me.

It’s frosty in my house. I’ve even thought of getting one of those TV blankets that has sleeves so that I’m actually wearing the blanket.

Well, not really; I wouldn’t get one of those things – that’s crazy! … well, unless they had a leopard patterned one … just kidding.

What’s making this worse is the temperatures outside. It’s halfway through March and suddenly we’re experiencing the longest cold snap of the winter.

I was hoping it would be getting warmer by now. But spring – really just spring weather – can’t come soon enough for me.

There is a senior man from my church who I visit fairly regularly who can’t get out to church. He’s always cold as well. He wears long johns in the summer … I’m feeling his pain right now.

I sure hope I level out by the summer time. I don’t think wearing long johns with shorts is that good a look … but I’m not a fashion guru.

These days when I shake people’s hands, I’m hoping that the warmth of their hands will transfer to mine and take some of the chill away.

Back in the fall when we bought a new vehicle, the only option my wife, Lily, really cared about getting was heated seats.

We had them added, but only for her sake.

Now I wish we had a remote for the heated seats so I could fire them up before I got into the car. At this point, if it isn’t instant heat, it’s not good enough for me.

In a couple of hours from now, I’m going to play hockey – more cold. I’m going to have to skate extra hard just to generate enough body temperature to combat the sub-freezing conditions of the arena.

Fortunately, my muscles are working well now, so I can go all out and skate hard.

I guess with every good thing there is something that’s not so good. But the way I feel right now, I will put up with being cold all the time. It’s worth it.

Here’s the thing: There are some things in life that we put up with, but are those things worth it? Are there things in your life that are destructive, harmful, negative, sinful that you just put up with? It’s time to take an inventory of the things we put up with; keep those things that are worth it and cut out the things that drag us down.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you put up with that’s worth it? Why? Leave your comments below.

The Day I Got My Reprieve

I got a one day reprieve yesterday that was pretty amazing.

slow-motion-of-a-man-sneezing-video-id510824986

Let me take you back three days earlier … I was doing a funeral service for a family, after which we went to the cemetery for the interment.

I generally ride with the funeral director in the lead car and this time was no exception. It was a quick ride because the cemetery was literally minutes away.

When we had finished at the graveside, I gave my condolences once again to the family and got  back into the lead car.

The funeral director got behind the wheel and shut the car door. Almost simultaneously to the door being shut, he sneezed really hard.

Immediately I thought, “Is there any way I can keep myself from breathing for the next few minutes until we get back to the funeral home?!”

That would have been a tricky act because how do you talk and not take a breath? … I’m sure he would have noticed if all the words out of my mouth came while I was exhaling. You could only keep that up so long.

But I knew it was not good. I was trapped in a car with the germs swirling around our confined compartment.

What were the chances I would escape unscathed?

Turns out, not that great! The next morning I woke up with a sore throat. All day, though I was drinking water by the gallon, it seemed my throat kept getting a little sorer.

That was Friday, and I still felt good despite my sore throat. The next morning, however, my sore throat remained so I tried my personal remedy for getting rid of a cold: sweat it out on the rink.

And that’s what I did. I wore something around my neck and an extra tee shirt. After hockey I still felt okay but, as the day wore on, my sore throat also turned into laryngitis.

That’s okay … unless you’re a pastor and you have to preach the next day! By dinner time I had nothing coming out of my vocal cords. I could only whisper one word at a time.

It was not looking good. I went to bed early and my wife, Lily, prayed for me that I would be able to speak the next day.

At church on Sunday, the service leader also prayed for my voice. Someone else offered me some throat lozenges.

When I got up to preach, my voice was clear – no cracking, no trouble putting sentences together. I didn’t even need to take a drink while I spoke.

I felt a little weak but, other than that, I didn’t feel too bad.

Well that was Sunday morning. By late Sunday afternoon I went to sleep, not feeling well. I even took some Tylenol before bed, and I don’t usually do that.

This morning I was hoping I would be a little better, but nope. I feel worse – achy, shivery, with a little bit of a headache.

But did I ever get a reprieve Sunday morning! Prayer works.

Here’s the thing: Some of our needs are selfish; they are for our own benefit. We wonder why God doesn’t necessarily answer them the way we want. But if your need is in line with God’s purposes, you can count on Him answering your prayer. I never doubted that I would be able to preach; I was just amazed how He did it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How has God come through for you in a big time of need? Leave your comments below.