The Risk Is Adding To My Confusion

I am so confused. I’m not sure if I can or if I can’t and I don’t want to risk taking a chance.

the risk is adding to my confusion

That first line may be confusing you, so let me give you some insight into my confusion.

Back in January I broke my drone. It was a careless mistake on my part … and a pretty sad day for me. I wrote about it here

For the last six months, I have not had a drone to fly.

However, for my birthday, I got a new drone. It has some better features than my previous drone, and one special feature I was looking forward to.

My new drone is below the weight classification that requires a drone license. That in itself is not a big deal because I already have a drone pilot license. But with this new drone I have less restrictions on where I can fly … or at least that is what I believed to be true. 

All the advertising videos I had seen had pumped me up about being able to fly right off the back deck of our house – legally!

Because we live within five kilometres of an airport, I could not fly my old drone in our neighbourhood. 

With my new drone, I no longer have to drive fifteen minutes to find a spot where I’m allowed to put my drone in the air.

Or do I?

This is where I got confused … 

You see, I was excited to take my drone out as soon as I got it. So once everything was charged, I popped over to the high school field a block away. I was going to fly my drone for the first time.

But when I went to fly it, I received a warning through the controller and my drone remained in a locked mode. 

To unlock the drone, I had to submit my telephone number. Ya, that’s right. “Big brother” is watching – watching where I fly my drone.

The penalty for flying a drone in a restricted zone is a minimum of $1000! 

I certainly was not going to give anyone an open invitation to fine me so I packed up and went home.

I was very disappointed to have the same restrictions as I did before. Not only was I disappointed, I was confused because I had thought I could fly it. 

What was the point of getting an under-weighted drone if I still face the same restrictions as someone with a larger drone? 

Then to confuse me even more, I got the NAV Canada Drone app. 

This app shows you a map of where you are and highlights any restricted zones in the area. 

When I plugged my drone info in the app, it showed that I was approved to fly. 

So do I believe the app or the drone controller? The drone app says I can, but my drone indicates that I can’t. 

I just don’t know. Do I want to take the risk?

Here’s the thing: There is a verse in the Bible that talks about the sin that easily entangles. Not all sins would be described this way, but you probably know which sins are easily entangling for you. Hebrews 12:1 tells us to lay them aside. In other words, consider staying clear of those sins; stay far from them. You don’t really want to take the risk of being entangled by them. The cost might be really high.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What unnecessary risks are you taking? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Cheap Doesn’t Always Mean It’s Easy

I think cheap things should be easy and simple, while more expensive things harder and more complicated. 

cheap doesn't always mean it's easy

For instance, take two drones that look the same. You might think the cheap one would be easier to fly than the more expensive one. You might think the more expensive one would take more skill to fly it. 

But that’s not the way it is. 

The first drone I had was very inexpensive. I constantly had to work both control sticks to keep the drone in the air so it didn’t drop to the ground and crash.

It was hard, constant work. 

My next drone cost me more. But I could put the drone in the air, take my hands completely off the controller and it would just stay there, hovering in place. 

The more expensive drone was much easier to fly. It took less skill to use the more expensive one than the cheaper one. 

Things shouldn’t be that way.

If I’m new at something and buy an inexpensive product to learn on, it should be easier to use. I want to gradually get more proficient at it and then upgrade to something that requires more skill. 

Drones are not the only things like that. Guitars work that way, too. 

Every guitar has the same components. Someone should be able to pick up any guitar and play it. You place your fingers on the frets the same way. You strum the same way. The sound comes out of it at the same place. 

No matter what guitar I pick up, I should be able to play it. 

… Well, that’s only partly correct.

I remember when I got my first guitar. A guy I knew said he had an old one I could have, which was great since I was just learning to play. 

The first thing I did was change the strings that were probably twenty years old. I took off all the strings, put the new stings on and then started tuning it. … I didn’t know you should always keep some tension on the neck.

As I got the guitar closer to being in tune, I snapped the neck right off the back of the guitar. 

I was back to having no guitar, so I went out and purchased one. It was cheap – only $85 – but it had a nice sound to it.

I learned how to play on that guitar and had it for many years. 

There was just one problem with it. The strings seemed like they were about an inch off the neck so I had to press really hard when forming a chord. As much as I played, my fingers never seemed to get past the hurting stage. It didn’t matter how thick the calluses were on my fingertips, after twenty minutes I needed to put the guitar down. 

But a cheap guitar should be easy to play. 

Unfortunately that is not the case. … In my next post (read here) I will expose this problem more.

Here’s the thing: Because two things work on the same principles doesn’t mean they are equal. Some people believe that all religions are based on faith and, therefore, are the same. Not true. Christianity is the only religion that believes you can’t earn your way into heaven. It is the only religion that requires 100% faith in God to provide it. There’s nothing you can do. Not all religions are the same and not all faith is equal. God has provided through Jesus what we could never do – a relationship and eternity with God. Take God up on His offer; put your faith in Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How much faith do you place in your future? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I’m Missing Something This Spring

There is something missing right now that would make spring just that much better. 

I'm missing something this spring

Some years what’s missing in early spring is half decent weather. Well, I can’t say we are missing that this year.

I went biking the other day for the first time this year and it felt like a mid-summer ride. It was 25 degrees Celsius.

We’ve had a mild winter and now a fantastic start to spring. What is there to complain about, except COVID?

But I feel it. There is still something missing and the nicer weather has brought it to my attention: I’m missing my drone. 

Right now I would be getting my drone out and looking for places to fly it. But it’s not happening this spring. 

It’s not that I’ve lost my drone or can’t find it, I have it. In fact, it’s right beside me now. But my drone is broken.

Back in December I flew it into a tree and it fell about thirty feet to the ground, and not just the ground, it fell onto ice. 

I knew it was finished then, but I put it back in its case and have kept it around. 

Then about a week ago, I watched a video of a guy who fixed his broken drone. 

Well, I got inspired. I hauled out my drone, viewed the video once again, and then looked at the damage on my drone. 

My heart sank again, just like it had done in December. The damage to my drone was way more extensive than the one in the video. 

I have a couple of wires extending to the props that are disconnected and I just don’t have the skill to be able to reattached them. 

Besides that, there is damage to the forward sensor and two places on one of the prop arms that are cracked and left dangling. 

The drone is just too far gone.

And so I’m reminded that I’m missing what I would normally be doing, finding places to fly my drone … and getting some great drone footage to use in video projects. 

When things go missing, often times they come back or are found again.

When children lose a tooth, they may have a gaping hole in their smile, but they won’t be missing that tooth for long. A bigger, stronger tooth is on its way.

When you’re older, however, and a tooth goes missing, there is not any hope of it coming back. You must look at different ways to fill what is missing from your smile.

One thing I know for sure about my drone is that it is not going to fly again. The only way I will be replace my missing drone is with a new one. 

It’s too bad that my birthday isn’t until mid June. 

Like a young child without his tooth, I will be missing my drone for a while. 

Here’s the thing: The only sad thing about heaven is that there will be people missing from it. You will, undoubtedly, be missing someone you loved and wanted to share all eternity with. There will be no replacement. Therefore, it is important to do what you can to ensure your loved ones have an opportunity to choose Christ, so they won’t be missing in heaven. Do not wait for someone else to share Jesus with them; take the initiative yourself. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Who or what is missing in your life right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I Flew For The First Time In Five Months

It’s been five months since I’ve been up in the air, but I finally flew the other day. Last year I flew right through the winter, but it’s more difficult to fly now. 

I flew for the first time in five months

… Oh no, I’m not talking about COVID-19 restrictions; I’m talking about flying my drone. 

A year ago I could take my drone up with few restrictions on the airspace I could fly in. Not this year. The restrictions are plenty, so choosing a place to fly my drone is difficult and requires going a good distance out of the city.

Along with all the restrictions, there are weather factors to consider in winter. The temperature can’t be too cold or the battery might freeze and my drone might fall out of the sky … not to mention my fingers might freeze off while holding the controller. 

I have experience with freezing fingers … playing pond hockey way past the time hypothermia starts to kick in. 

… Or being in the thick of a snowball fight, when the snow is really wet and your gloves have soaked through. You can’t stop or you will get pelted, but in those temperatures your hands become one with the snowball – frozen! 

But earlier this week I finally managed to take my drone out. It was perfect for a flight – well, somewhat. 

It had been a great day on the Saturday, but I wasn’t able to get out. Then Sunday it rained all day. The forecast for Monday was the same but turned out to be nice. So late in the day I decided to get out there. 

What I didn’t know was they had lifted the ban on using trails and walking paths. When I got to the spot I had planned for my flight, the parking lot was full of cars. 

The spot was an old railway line that has been converted into a walking, jogging, hiking, biking trail. I’ve been there before with maybe a car or two. Not this day. There were more cars than the parking area could hold.

I tried another spot farther up the trail. Same thing. It was like everyone decided, “Let’s go walking and biking today.” 

I did eventually find a place to park and I got my drone in the air. 

I wasn’t really interested in filming anything, and believe me there wasn’t much that was interesting to film at this spot. 

Everything is still brown; there is no colour. Other than evergreen trees, there aren’t even leaves on the trees.

I just wanted to get flying again, and practise some techniques so that when I get a chance to film something interesting I will be able to pull off the shot in a cool way only drones can capture.

Five months off of flying is a long time but, much like riding a bike, you don’t forget how to do it. 

I hope now that spring has sprung, it won’t be so long in between flights.

Here’s the thing: When was the last time you spent time with God or spent more than two minutes reading your Bible? How long has it been since you’ve been to church? Well, all it takes is some desire and inspiration to do it. Plan a time to meet with God; pick up your Bible and read; stream a church service … I know of a good one (Kingston Alliance Church on YouTube.com).

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: You have more free time right now – what are you doing with it? Leave your comments and questions below. 

It Will Develop Into Something

The other week I shot some video with my drone that took time to develop into something.

develop Polaroid

Remember the Polaroid cameras? They’ve made a little bit of a fad/retro comeback of late. 

I was at a wedding recently where the couple encouraged people to take selfies with an instant camera and place the pictures in a scrapbook for their memories.

The instant camera or Polaroid was interesting because you would take a picture of something – something that caught your attention, something that you wanted to capture and remember. You then watched as the picture was ejected from the camera, totally blank at first. 

You knew what you had taken a picture of, but you waited rather impatiently for that picture to develop right before your eyes. You wanted to see if the picture turned out, if it was as good as you hoped it would be. 

Well, I kind of did that with my drone the other day. 

I saw an old, abandoned barn in a field and I was somehow drawn to it. I wanted to take a video of it with my drone. 

There was a small farm house near it so I was cautious. I actually drove past it several times before I determined that the home was abandoned as well. 

One morning, just as the sun was rising above the horizon, I drove to the barn, parked my vehicle on the side of the road and sent my drone off to capture video of this lonely, old barn in the middle of a field.

I really didn’t know what I was going to do with the footage. I just knew that something was attracting my attention to it and I wanted to film it from several angles.

When I was done, I loaded the video on my computer … but there it sat. 

I scrubbed (scrolled) through the footage a few times and liked the shots I took, but didn’t think it would be all that interesting to just add music to it. 

Then about a week after I shot the video I got an idea. I was thinking about the barn and how lonely and empty it looked. I thought there are people who probably feel like that barn looked. 

So, with a little imagination and a little inspiration from my video, I wrote a short script about the barn.

My video was now developing into something. 

I found some music that kind of fit the mood, and recorded my voice reading my script. I cut up and spliced footage, and made some adjustments in places to the colour and speed of the video.

When I had done all that I noticed that it was something. That barn I was attracted to, that video I had had high hopes for, had turned into something. 

It took longer than a Polaroid to appear, but that video footage eventually turned into something I had hoped it would.

You can view that video by clicking here.

Here’s the thing: At some point in your life you might wonder what your life is all about. You may wonder if there is anything that will develop from it. I want to assure you that your life can develop into something bigger than you imagined it would. It can if you trust Jesus to help you develop it. Some may need to start a relationship with Jesus to get things going. Some of you just need to trust Jesus with the development of your life instead of hanging on to the raw footage. Trust Him to develop all those happy, sad, thrills, scares, wows, and ughs you’ve experienced. The end product will be worth it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you hoped your life would develop into? Leave your comments and questions below.

Everybody Wants Me To Be More Intentional

I have to be more intentional this year when it comes to flying my drone.

The other day I took my drone out for the first time in about two months. It’s not easy to fly it in the winter in Canada. You have to wait for the perfect day – a day that is not too cold and with not too much wind. 

Even then, standing almost still outside in winter for about 30 minutes starts to turn one into a human popsicle.

The other day the temperature was above zero and I had a little time. So I charged all my batteries and got all my gear together. 

Lily was willing to go with me, so we made a plan.

With new regulations for drones coming into effect shortly, it’s not as simple as going over to the nearby park or high school to send the thing up in the air. You have to know where you can fly your drone and the areas that are restricted.

I found a website that shows all the restricted areas in Canada. Granted all that is marked on this site are areas around airports and prisons … which covers much of Kingston.

I had to look outside the city until I found a great spot – just north is one of the locks on the Rideau Canal.

I thought it would be perfect. No one would be around. I would get to fly my drone and capture video of water rushing down over the rapids, possibly disappearing under the ice.

So with everything ready, we hopped in the car and drove about twenty minutes to the spot. 

As we approached, there were a lot of vehicles in the parking lot even though it was a Saturday, the lake was still covered in ice and the ground was frosty. 

I quickly realized that all the activity at the locks was by workmen. They are making repairs and doing it before the water starts flowing and boats want to make their way up the river system.

There were fences everywhere; the property was virtually off limits. 

… Even my plans and efforts to fly my drone were thwarted.

We got back in the car and looked on a map for another spot. 

There was a place I wanted to film – it’s an on-ramp to the 401 that they literally cut out of the rock. It looks really cool. But when we went to the spot, Lily thought it was too risky for me to fly there. 

I wanted to stand near the edge of a cliff above the ramp so I could see what I was doing but she didn’t like the idea of me being so close to the edge.

So we started randomly looking for a spot on the map. We ended up going to a place that will be the site of a new subdivision north of the city.  

It sure wasn’t the landscape I was hoping to film. 

This year flying my drone is not going to be random, but much more planned and intentional. 

Here’s the thing: How intentional are you in growing your relationship with God? Do you ask Him what He wants you to work on with Him? Or do you randomly attempt to work on some problem in your life that happens to pop up? Be intentional. If you ask the Lord, He will show you what you should be working on. The good thing is He works with you on it so you’re not on your own.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is the number one area of your life you need to work on right now? Leave your comments below.

We Should Just Bubble Wrap Everyone

We live in an era of heightened protection. Maybe if everyone just wore bubble wrap from head to toe we’d all be safe. 

In medieval days they built forts and castles with high walls and moats to protect themselves from enemies. 

… Today we have to wear helmets to drive a Zamboni to flood a rink! 

When I was a child, there were no seatbelts. Car dashboards were made of metal and came to a point that would put a nice crease in your forehead if you hit it hard enough.

Back then we just bounced around in the back seat. Most of us survived. 

Now we seat belt or car seat our kids so that they are protected. I know our kids were not the tallest or heaviest kids on earth, but if we had have stayed strictly to the guidelines, our kids would have been sitting in car seats while they were attending junior high.

We take these measures to protect ourselves and our loved ones from things that could potentially harm us and them. 

I get that … but maybe we’ve gone a little overboard with protection. 

In the last year, I have gotten into flying drones and have really started to enjoy it. 

 

Now the government has come out with a whole new set of regulations, rules and laws. By June I will have to have a license to fly my drone. 

I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It might keep some crazy people from buying them, but maybe not. It hopefully will keep people safe from being attacked by a drone. 

But to get my license, why do I need to know the inner workings of my drone, and understand air speeds and currents?

When you write your driver’s license, they don’t make sure you know why the car goes forward. You just have to know how to move the gear shifter into drive and push the gas pedal. 

If safety is the issue with drones, why not just make sure that the people who get a license know how to operate them safely? 

Who cares if they understand what creates lift on a drone. They should just know which joy stick to move and in what direction. 

It seems that when we try to protect people from something, we do it to a degree that is ridiculous. 

Instead of being sensible with protection, society tries to overprotect to the point where we might as well just wear bubble wrap. … Maybe that could be a new line of outerwear to protect ourselves from the crazy drone people, or uneven sidewalks. 

If you were going for a walk and were not sure if the sidewalks were lifting in places, you could just put on your bubble suit and be safe.

If you were at the park and someone was flying a drone, you could just slip into that bubble suit and be good to go.

There are risks in life. You can hurt yourself, or be hurt by the environment you are in. … Maybe people should just protect themselves.

So if you’re concerned that your life’s at risk today, wrap yourself in packing bubble sheets and put your mind at ease.

Here’s the thing: In a society that seems to try to overprotect themselves, it is surprising that many have no qualms about living fast and free with eternity. To think that all there is to life is to live and then die doesn’t even sync with the human spirit. The only protection for eternity we have is God, and He has provided a plan for our protection in his Son, Jesus Christ. 

That’s Life! 

Paul

Question: What value do you place on protection? Leave your comments below.

All Anticipation, No Results

My anticipation didn’t live up to the actual results of my activity.

Flying a drone in Canada in the winter is sporadic at best. There are so many factors that work against being able to take your drone for a spin.

There are weather conditions including wind, rain, ice, snow and cold – the cold is deadly on drone batteries. If you are not careful, the battery can give a false read to the controller and cause the drone to fall out of the sky. 

Cold is also a factor for the person flying the drone. In November I flew it in about -5 C for 13 minutes and Lily had to take the controller out of my hands because I was so cold I couldn’t move my fingers.

With all the opposition to flying a drone in winter, when you get a chance to get it up in the air it’s pretty exciting. 

The other day the forecast was +4 C and sunny. 

I had to work but I was anticipating that I would get a chance to fly my drone at the end of my work day before the sun went down. 

… And that’s another factor against flying drones in winter in Canada: the sun sets very early in the winter, at about 4:30 pm right now. 

So I raced against time to get my work done, and get to a safe place to fly my drone. 

With all the anticipation, I was most looking forward to the video I would capture. I wanted to do a fly over of some wooded areas and get shots and video looking down on the tops of trees. 

My anticipation was high in the afternoon while I was working, and when I was driving, parking the car, and even as I was getting my drone out.

I was in such a hurry because the sun was going down fast that I didn’t put my gloves on to fly and so I experienced a little pleasure and pain all at the same time. 

It reminded me of my childhood when we would go skating on the Humber River and end up being so cold that we would actually walk home in our skates. Our hands were too cold to untie our laces, our feet were almost frozen off, and we would carry our boots and sticks home tucked under our arms. 

It was brutally painful. And the pleasure? Well, we were out on that river the next day doing it again, so there was obvious pleasure involved.

By the end of my flying session, I was anticipating looking at the video I had shot and editing it on the computer. 

I could hardly wait as I drove home because I thought I had captured some great shots. 

The first thing I did when I got home was upload the footage onto my computer. And when I did, what a letdown! 

I had apparently not fully pressed the record button on take off, so it didn’t record. When it landed, I had pressed the button to stop recording, not realizing that I was now only starting to record. All I got was a few seconds of pavement footage!

… I’m already anticipating the next time I will be able to take my drone out. 

Here’s the thing: You may not anticipate it, but God anticipates the next time you will spend with Him. You may take it for granted, you may see it as a duty, but God anticipates each quiet moment He has with you in His presence. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you anticipating right now? Leave your comments below.

I’m Looking For A Good Sunset 

I like a good sunset, but I usually gaze at them only when I’m at the beach. 

The other day I discovered it’s not a bad idea to look for them elsewhere.

… We had finished dinner with our son, Mike, who was home, spending some of his vacation with us. We were letting the meal settle when Lily said, “Why don’t you go out and show Mike your new drone?” 

I wasn’t too excited at first. I’d flown my drone over our house many times and was bored with videos of just sky and subdivisions below. 

But she urged me a couple of times to do it, saying that the sun was setting and I could film the sunset.

You know, it’s one thing to stand on a beach, looking over the glistening water at the sinking fireball just above the horizon. It’s a totally different thing to look up over the fences, houses and wires to see a little portion of the sky as the sun begins to disappear.

I could stay on the beach for a long time watching the sun go down and the clouds change colour from orange to red to purple. Trying to see the colours in the sky over the tops of houses is not something I like to spend a lot of time gawking at.  

Well, we went outside and I figured I would take the drone up, show Mike how it flies, give him an idea of the quality of video and pictures you can get with it … and then bring it down. 

When I got the drone up, however, the sun had just snuck below the horizon. The sky was absolutely amazing! 

From where we were standing in front of our garage, we could not have known there was any kind of a sunset. But when the drone got up to 20, 30, then 90 metres high and turned to face the west – Wow! The sunset was every bit as spectacular as if we were standing on the beach with the whole sky as a visual screen right before us. 

There may not have been any reflection off any water below, but the colours were incredible. I couldn’t get enough video of it. Finally I switched to the camera and shot some stills of the incredible scene.

If Lily hadn’t encouraged me to go out and show Mike my drone, I never would have even known the sunset was as spectacular as it was. 

When we are at the lake, we make a point of going to the beach at sunset. At home we never give it a thought. 

My sight lines might be restricted in my front or back yard, but 90 metres up I can record the whole sky. 

From now on, I will be taking note of the time of sunset and getting ready to fly my drone to get a glimpse of the magnificent painting that’s filling the canvas that day. 

Here’s the thing: It is really easy to become blind to what God is doing. You get busy with life and what’s coming next. Maybe you’re too focussed on what’s concerning you, or busy juggling the many things you have on your plate. Just like how we can miss the sunset that’s right outside, showing off God’s creative handiwork, we can miss the amazing things God is doing in our lives. Stop and look around; take notice. God is active in your life; He is speaking to you, answering your prayers, and opening doors for you. Just take some time to notice. Don’t miss His magnificence in your life on a daily basis. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What keeps you from noticing God in your life? Leave your comments below.

I Need Those Batteries Now

These days you can’t go very long without needing a bunch of batteries to replace ones that have worn out.

There is a clock in the sanctuary of my church that reads 5:05. That’s not the current time; it’s been showing that time for a week now.

It needs a new battery.

I wear a mic when I preach and every week I take out the batteries and charge them so they are ready to go for the next week.

I’ve been noticing that even rechargeable batteries can’t be recharged forever.

What would we do without being able to quickly pop in a new set of batteries to run our clocks, lights, mics, vacuums, you name it – even our drones?

Especially drones!

I have two drones and the batteries in them don’t last very long.

The battery in my little drone only lasts about seven minutes and the one in the bigger drone only lasts about ten.

I don’t get much flying time before I need to replace them.

The problem is they don’t take standard AA batteries. They have their own shape and connections so you can’t just go to the store and buy new ones.

You usually have to order them online and they generally come from China which takes a long time. … Replacement batteries for my little drone arrived the other day and I’d been waiting for them for two months!

I think it’s China’s secret way of crippling the west. If they just hold out on the batteries,  we in North America will be at their mercy.

Forget weapons and armies, they’ve got our batteries!

And the batteries for these drones are a step backward in technology. You don’t want to overcharge them; that will damage them.

You don’t want to recharge them if they still have some charge left in them either. They have a memory, so they will only remember to charge for the shorter amount of time.

And you don’t want to let the battery run down too low because, if it does, it won’t take a charge at all.

My brother found that out the hard way; that’s why he has two batteries on order right now.

We need batteries to be more reliable and to last longer. They can figure out how to get a car to run on batteries for an hour; we need someone with that kind of know-how to make our drone batteries last that long.

The keyboard I write this blog on needs a battery to power it. I’ve had it for over a year now and I still haven’t had to change the battery … That’s the kind of battery life I’m talking about.

And while they’re at it creating a better battery, they should make sure we can just leave it sitting around for a month or two without fear of it draining all on its own.

After all, it’s not like the energy produced by Niagara Falls, where we have to use it right after it’s produced.

Here’s the thing: This week I was reminded that a Christian has everything we need in us for life and godliness – that everything is the Holy Spirit. He never runs out, never has to be recharged. We just have to use Him and work with Him to produce in us the character qualities that God wants to see in us.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need recharged right now? Leave your comments below.