Author: Paul Silcock

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Real Freedom May Not Be At The End Of Your Hard Work

Sometimes you work hard to give yourself more freedom later, only to be disappointed when that anticipated freedom becomes available.

freedom

That was my experience the other day. I was trying to finish a talk I was scheduled to give in two days because I didn’t want to have to work on it the next day.

I was tired and wanted some freedom the next day – some time off. I didn’t have plans; I just knew I needed some time to myself.

So I worked at it all day – even when the ideas were flowing more like a frozen lake than a rapidly moving river in the spring. 

I found out late in the afternoon that my evening engagement was cancelled so I just kept on working through the dinner hour. I put my head down and kept writing. In fact, I got on a bit of a roll, and it was then that I determined to finish the talk, no matter what, so that I wouldn’t have to work on it the next day.

The thought of having a free day inspired me to keep going. I didn’t make a list of things I wanted to do; just the idea of being able to do whatever I wanted was so appealing right then.

By 8 pm I had finally finished my talk. It was a huge relief, a weight off my shoulders. 

But I still was not quite finished. 

If I wanted to be really free the next day, there were a couple more things I needed to do. I spent the next twenty minutes putting my power point deck together for my presentation. I then put together the online outline and uploaded it to the server. I printed a copy of my talk and then put my computer copy in a format for my iPad. 

By 9 pm I was done. I left the office tired but feeling really good. I was ready for a full day off.

Life was good; I felt free. I was looking forward to the next day.

The next morning, I started the day with a 7 am hockey game. Then the rest of the day was all mine. 

What do you do when you have a whole day in front of you and you have no responsibilities? 

Well, let me tell you what you do: you make a plan. Right away, immediately, you make a plan so that you use your freedom to give you maximum enjoyment and fulfillment. 

… You don’t do what I did. 

I put absolutely no thought into what I wanted to do. I just had this idea of being free for a day, but I didn’t plan anything for that free time. 

When the end of my day off came, I felt that I had wasted my freedom. I didn’t do anything of consequence because I hadn’t thought of what I might want to do. 

When what you are looking forward to is vast and vague, you will never be happy with the outcome unless you make a concrete plan.

Here’s the thing: The idea of complete bliss and unending tranquility when life is over will not materialize unless you have a plan for it now. Plan now for what you want your future to look like by putting your faith in Jesus Christ and trusting your life and future to Him. Then, when all your work in this life is over, you won’t be disappointed. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Right now how will you go about making your plan for the future? Leave you comments and questions below.

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It’s Pancakes For Lunch Today; That Might Not Be Good

“How about pancakes for lunch” my wife suggested at noon on Saturday. It is one of our go-to weekend lunches.

But since it’s early in the year and there’s still all kinds of sugar pumping through my veins, from chocolates to candy to baking, I’m not sure it’s wise to have something so sugar-laden.

If you are thinking that it doesn’t have to be that sweet, then you’ve never seen me eat pancakes.

First you have to stack them, about 6 or 7 high, and then you create a waterfall scene with the maple syrup flowing down into puddles on the plate below. 

It reminds me of a scene right from the Bible. You know when Elijah had altar wars with the prophets of Baal? Elijah dowsed his altar with water and more water, so that the water filled the trough around the bottom of the altar. Then he called on God to bring fire and burn up the water – which God did.

Well, my pancake scene reminds me of the altar with all the water being poured on it before God lit it on fire.

Anyway, the syrup is sweet and plentiful, but then there are the pancakes themselves. 

My wife, Lily, doesn’t just make regular pancakes. She make banana chocolate pancakes. Into the batter she adds mashed bananas and chocolate chipits. These babies are sweet all on their own!

Now it’s possible I could show some restraint with how many pancakes I take, and even limit the syrup I use, but I know how it goes.

I look at my stack and think, “maybe one more”, and when I’m pouring on the syrup, sometimes it’s hard to pull up on that spout when that golden brown elixir is flowing so smoothly in slow motion fashion. 

No, I think it was a mistake to say I’d have pancakes for lunch. Maybe by about the middle of February my sugar levels will start to go down to an acceptable percentage level.

We use real maple sugar on our pancakes and I’m not sure if that is better or worse than using that fake stuff by Aunt Jemimah that my son seems to love so much. 

… There must be something seriously wrong with him that he would prefer that coloured water with some artificial flavour added in. 

But I don’t mind because when it comes to any kind of saucing of food, that kid knows no limit. It doesn’t matter if it is gravy, hot sauce, or syrup, if it is something that you pour over food Mike floods his plate with it. 

So his choice means more syrup for me. He can just use that cheap imitation stuff to his heart’s content. 

But this doesn’t solve my sugar problem today. Maybe having hot wings with Franks Red Hot for dinner will counter all the sweetness I’m having at noon. 

Why not? It satisfies my conscience.

Here’s the thing: You can have too much of a good thing to the point where it’s not good for you. But you can’t have too much of God. In fact, when you are low, an extended time of thanking Him will lift your spirits. And if you are full of joy, thankful praise will motivate you further to love and good deeds. No matter what’s flowing through your soul, time focussed on God will produce good fruit. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When was the last time you took an extended time to thank the Lord? Leave your comments and questions below.

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My Life Is Like A Sprint, But I Wish I Could Slow Down

In running a sprint, a fast start is ideal … but it’s not always advantageous to get a quick jump out of the starting blocks. 

Like A Sprint

I followed a hockey game last night where, in the first period, the visiting team got scored on early and often. After the game, the losing team and the media talked about how fast the winning team started.  

It’s so important to get a good start because it can set the tone for the rest of the game. 

We’ve just entered a new year and I feel like, right from the start, I’ve been going at a very fast pace … and I’m not all that excited about it either. 

I’d like to slow it down a little. I think I need a breather. 

The other day I overheard someone saying they were leaving for a vacation in the south and I immediately had a vision of me sitting on a beach, not doing much at all except watching the waves lap up at my feet on shore. 

White sand, blue sky, emerald water …. ahhhhh. There I go with another vision. 

My start to 2020 has kept me from being able to enjoy a day off. I think so far this year I’ve worked every day. 

It all started with Christmas. Maybe because the big day came in the middle of the week, it made it hard to find extra time to relax. The entire holiday season, I could never string together more than one day off in a row. 

Since the new year, I’ve had extra meetings, a couple of extra speaking engagements, and I can’t remember what it’s like to slump on the couch. 

Life is not supposed to be like a sprint, but more like a marathon. 

I’ve seen those marathon runners from Kenya with their long, rhythmic strides, seemingly floating inches above the ground. Their movements look effortless. 

That’s how I imagine a new year should start. 

But my 2020 has so far been more like a 100 metre sprint, where the runners explode out of the starting blocks and run at a frantic pace until they almost collapse at the end of the track.

I remember ten years ago that we started the year with a Caribbean cruise. We flew to Miami on New Year’s Day and were on the ship the next day. Every day we got some rays, exercised a little, ate way too much, and every night watched college football on a gigantic screen.

Now that was a great way to break in the new year! 

I haven’t been able to start a new year that way since. But just thinking about it, with the images of that vacation scrolling across my mind, I get a vision of a completely different pace than what I’m experiencing right now. 

The rock group, Smash Mouth, recorded a song back in 2002 called “Holiday In My Head”. My life might not slow down but maybe I can slow down my mind just a little. 

Here’s the thing: We can physically be moving fast – which will quickly exhaust us – but, while that is happening, we can slow our souls down by spending extended, quality time with God. As our souls slow down, we will be in a better place to deal with the physically taxing pace we might find ourselves in at the start of a new year, or any time.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you slow your soul while your pace is so fast? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I Wrote In My Sleep, Well Almost

You have heard about sleep walking, and talking in your sleep, but have you heard of writing in your sleep?

I Wrote In my sleep

I googled it and was surprised to find that there were some results that came up. There was a definition and a few articles that had sleep writing in the title but really weren’t about writing when you are asleep. 

It’s a crazy notion that anyone could do such a thing … but I came close the other night. 

When I was young, my mother had told me that I talked in my sleep. Sometimes she had conversations with me. The words I said, however, didn’t make any sense, and often the sounds that I made were more like the teacher’s from the Charlie Brown cartoons.

Talking in your sleep is rather harmless … unless you have some really juice topics or secrets that you reveal to someone who may be awake and in ear shot of you.

It’s nothing like walking in your sleep. Now that could be potentially dangerous! … especially if you lived in an apartment with a balcony or a house with a long, steep set of stairs. 

You would want to make sure the door to the balcony was locked every night and, if there were stairs, you would need one of those baby gates, regardless if there were children in the home.

But sleep writing is a whole different matter. It takes much more coordination and even some planning to pull it off. Somehow you have to have your eyes open and be able to see what you are writing on. You need light. 

The other night I didn’t really sleep write but I was close to it. 

I had a very brief talk that I had to give (about 2-4 minutes) and I had some trouble coming up with what I should say.

I guess sometime in the middle of the night I was half asleep thinking about how to start the talk. As I tossed and turned, I managed to determine that it would be a good idea to write some things down. 

I got my phone out and opened up a notes app. I started with “Welcome” and then I just kept writing. In my 3 am dosing state it seemed to flow pretty well. In no time I had finished and written down what I wanted to communicate in the talk.

I turned off my phone and went back to sleep.  

The next morning, driving home from hockey, I remembered that I had written out my talk, but I couldn’t recall any of the actual words. 

As I pulled into our garage, I chuckled to myself and wondered if it made any sense at all.

I told my wife, Lily, and pulled out my phone to read what I had written. When I finished reading it, we both looked at each other with shock. 

It was perfect … exactly what I needed to say.

Here’s the thing: It’s neat that God gave me that message and in my tired, half awake state, I just wrote what He gave me. The Bible writers (40 of them) wrote within their own style, from their own backgrounds, what God gave them to communicate. And to think they did this over almost a 2000 year span, maintaining a perfectly consistency message that points to Christ. That’s not just neat, it’s miraculous!

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Have you ever sensed that God gave you a message to give to someone? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Why The Older You Get The Harder It Gets To Keep Going

This post is republished from January, 2014. I hope you enjoy it.

This morning I played hockey at 6:30 am and, as I reflect on it, I am feeling older. Both my elbows are sore. I’m not sure whether I have tennis elbow or some other injury, but I think I just have to live with it, if I want to keep playing.  

older

This was my first game since before Christmas so I’m still a little winded right now, lounging on my couch in our family room writing this blog. I haven’t done anything active for a while (except shovel snow) so I wasn’t at the top of my game.

There were younger guys playing who had lots of energy. I used to have energy, loved to skate hard and could go forever. Now my hips get tired if I go for too long, so I have to coast a bit or go back on defence.

I notice I’m playing defence a lot more these days. I used to hate being a rear guard, working behind the play, throwing the puck up to the forwards and watching the play develop.  

I was always in the middle of the action. I was quick to break out and always went to the net. I still play with that sense and urge, except now I don’t mind taking a turn initiating the play and watching it unfold as I coast up the ice catching my breath.  

Don’t get me wrong, I would never want to be a full-time defenceman – that’s not me. It’s just that I need a change of pace from skating hard and crashing the net. 

I was a little surprised this morning that my knee felt pretty good. I wear a custom-made carbon fibre brace on my left knee, to give it support because of a torn ACL. I’ve been wearing this brace and it’s predecessor for the past 23 years.

This thing has been a lifesaver. With it, I’ve been able to play baseball, hockey, snow ski, and water ski. Without it, I doubt I would have been able to do any of those things.  

But even with my brace, in the last while my knee has not felt as stable. It feels like it is deteriorating a bit and I may need to have it scoped again some time.  

Being a pastor, I’ve done my fare share of visiting people in the hospital who’ve had hip replacements, knee replacements, and open heart surgery, and their stories stick with me. I hope I won’t be in their place one day.

However, with all my aches and pains, I can’t rule that out. I never saw myself as having parts that would wear out. Now I wonder about that.  

My right elbow has regressed, it feels like it did about two weeks ago. It hurts to even bring my hand up to my face. Oh well, I’ll play again on Monday and try to get myself back in shape. Once I start playing I don’t really think about my aches and pains. 

There’s something about being in the action that dulls all those twinges of discomfort.

Here’s the thing: It’s easy to let little annoyances and pains stop you from doing activities that are good for you. They can become a great excuse, and justify giving up. You find the same thing in your spiritual growth. Little things will try to keep you from continuing on the path of growth. Don’t give in, keep growing.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you find gets in the way of you growing spiritually? Leave your comment below.

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Why Projects Always Take Longer Than You Plan For

This post is a repost from January 2014, I hope you enjoy it.

Maybe it’s just me, but all projects I take on turn out to be more than I bargained for. It doesn’t matter what it is, nothing is as simple as I think it’s going to be. Something I think will take 10 minutes will take a half hour.  

projects

The other day I decided to fix a broken standing pole lamp that Lily really liked.

I took some measurements and headed to the hardware store. I was hoping for an all-in-one-fix-your-standing-pole-lamp-diy kit, but though I looked everywhere, I couldn’t find one.

I scoured the electrical section and found wire that I needed. There were two gauges to choose from; I picked the heavier gauge. I grabbed a switch and a socket that looked about the same as the original ones and headed home.  

So I purchased three items and, as it turned out, all of them were different that the original items in the lamp. But for some reason, I figured they would work just fine … and that’s all Lily cared about. She wanted the lamp to work.

It’s like the instruction sheet mentality, where you think, “Who needs instructions? Just do it and don’t worry about spare parts; it will all work out.” 

Well, my first problem was in replacing the wire. The opening in the pole was tight; I should have bought the lighter gauged wire. But I was going to make it work! So I forced it in and, yes, it probably took 3X longer than I thought, but I got it done.

I was surprised that the socket went on really quickly. That should have concerned me. When something is that easy, it usually means I forgot to do something. But I was on a roll and moved on to the switch.

I realized that I bought an on/off switch when the original had been a dimmer switch. At that point I didn’t really care. Lily was going to have light, and when you have light, why in the world would you ever want to dim that?!

With the switch in place, I plugged the lamp in and flicked that switch. Voila, it worked! I thought this was one of the easiest projects I’d done in a long time.  

That’s when I went to put the lamp shade on and realized why the old socket was different from the new one. It was used to secure the shade to the lamp.

I had to take off the socket and use the old one, and that required me to use solder. … I can’t solder worth a darn and it took me forever to make the change.  

When my project was finally complete, I didn’t stand back and think, “Great job, Paul. You did it again.”  

I placed the lamp stand in the living room, turned my back to it and walked away thinking, “I don’t want to look at that lamp for the rest of the night.”

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we want to fix our problems in life with ideas we’ve tried before or recycled approaches from some self-help source. The best approach, however, is to seek God for a fresh solution to your problem. Ask Him to apply His power to the problem at hand. He will use the right materials for the job.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What gives you the greatest frustration in problems or projects you have?  Leave your comment below.

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It Was The Same Old New Year’s Day

I do not sleep in on any day of the week, except on New Year’s Day. Maybe it’s habit, or maybe it’s because I’m rebelling. I’m not sure which it is, but I do know that it is the only consistent day of the year that I sleep in. 

new year's

In some ways it makes sense because I stay up late on New Year’s Eve. However, there are other days throughout the year that I stay up past midnight but still manage to wake up to my 6:00 am alarm.

Being up late is not the reason I sleep in – it’s a conscious decision I make. I decided when I went to bed that I was not going to get up with my alarm … and I didn’t even hear it go off in the morning. 

I am a seven days a week, 6:00 am riser, and have been for decades … but I wasn’t always that way.

When I was in high school I could easily sleep to 11:30 am – on weekends, 12:00 pm was never out of the equation for me.

But sometime as I was approaching my twenties, I changed my thinking. I didn’t like the fact that I slept through the first half of the day. I felt like I was wasting my day, missing out on something. 

It was a slow change, however. It wasn’t until many years later that I started waking up at 6 o’clock. 

That took place when I got serious about having a set amount of time in the morning to spend with God. Before then I thought I was a night hawk: stay up late and get up later.

But New Year’s Day was always a little different – especially during the ten years when I ran all-night youth events on New Year’s Eve. I didn’t even go to bed until about 10:00 am New Year’s Day. 

It was nice when I could actually get to sleep before the sun rose on the New Year.  

I’m thinking that maybe, just maybe, my desire to sleep in on New Year’s Day is out of rebellion – rebellion against getting up at six in the morning every other day of the year. 

But rebellion isn’t a good thing. It doesn’t work out well in the end. Look at the law: when you rebel against a law, in time you are usually going to get caught and have to pay a price. 

When you rebel against God, look what that gets you. It may be delayed consequences but you will pay in the end.

It’s just like delayed gratification, only in a really bad way.

Maybe my rebellion against getting up at my regular time isn’t really rebellion after all. Maybe it’s to shorten the one day of the year that, after my time with God, there is nothing – really, nothing – to do. 

… Unless you are desperate to watch college football all day. Oh, and an environmentally friendly horticultural parade.

Can’t say that I want to get up early to watch that. 

Here’s the thing: There is one thing that we should be excited for each day and that is to spend time with God. He loves it when we do, and if you do it right, you will look forward to it each day. Here’s to 2020 and a new year! Let me challenge you to set a time to meet with God each day. Make it interesting – I read through the Bible chronologically each year. Don’t do all the talking; pause to listen to what God might be saying to you. Then record what you hear, and follow through with it. Have a Happy New Year! 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What’s your big goal for 2020? Leave your questions and comments below.

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We Fit More People In Than I Thought We Could

You can always fit more people in than you think you can. This has been proven over and over, but we just proved it once again. 

We Fit More People In

I remember in the 70’s – before seat belts were a must – we would, at times, pile insane amounts of people into cars.

Sometime we would do it for fun, but mostly it was out of necessity. We frequently needed to transport more people than there were available seats in the vehicles. It was routine that we would go somewhere with friends, often sitting in the back seat, squished between two guys, with two or three girls sitting on our laps. 

It was similar to a gang tackle in football, only we were under the pile a lot longer. 

Sometimes we would shoehorn so many friends into a car that we had to ask someone to move a bit so we could shift gears. For long trips that wasn’t bad, but for city driving it meant for a lot of moving parts.

Well, for the first time in 24 years, we hosted the Christmas meal at our home. We really should have done it the first year we moved back to Ontario – we would have had a few less people. But having the whole family for Christmas dinner at our place this year, as apposed to 24 years ago, created an even bigger space issue. 

In 1996, 6 of the 14 family members at the meal were 7 and under. Not now – everyone is an adult – no little people anymore. 

We have a dining table that seats 8. With some creativity and ingenuity from my wife, we were able to up that to 12 people. That left 6 people eating standing up, so we brought in a folding table that extended into the living room.

It was going to work we could fit everyone in. But when everyone started to arrive and the tables were set up, it didn’t leave a lot of room for people to mingle. 

There were people sitting in the living room but then a whole lot of others standing around the perimeter of the room … much like a bunch of junior highers at a school dance.

 Fortunately we soon saddled up to the tables and got down to some serious eating. 

And when dinner was over, we pushed the extra table against a railing in the living room and shortened the dining room table. People spread out to other parts of the house; some went downstairs to the family room. Before too long the family was fitting in the space.  

I’ve been to parties where there was a crowd in every room you entered, wall-to-wall people. It was not nearly that bad … certainly not too crowded for a day.

The day after I was talking with a friend and told him about the 18 people we had over to our little home and he just smiled at me. Then he said, “We have 16 people living in our house all the time.” 

… Maybe we should have the whole family over every weekend.

Here’s the thing: People have joined God’s family for over 2000 years, putting their faith in Jesus Christ. We don’t know when Christ will come back, but one thing we know is that there will always be room to fit more in. So if you have not joined God’s family by claiming Christ as your Saviour, the time to do that is now.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How can you strengthen you family ties? Leave your questions and comments below.

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It’s The Worst Part Of Christmas

What’s the worst part of Christmas? … I know it’s not what you would usually think of at this time of year, but I was faced with something I don’t really like and that’s when I started wondering. 

worst part of Christmas

I’m sure that everyone has their own idea of the worst part of Christmas. For some people it might be the stress of entertaining. For others it’s all the gatherings. For most children it’s probably the waiting.

For me, maybe the worst part of Christmas is the wrapping of presents. 

I’ve just never really liked it. Much like shopping, it seems to suck the life out of me. After spending an hour wrapping four or five presents, I’m tired and exhausted.

Yes, I know some of you are questioning what takes me so long to wrap presents.  

Maybe it’s my dislike of the task that drags it out for me. I just can’t wrap presents quickly.

I liked it about twenty years ago when people would put a present in a bag with drawstrings. It was like a hoody for presents! Wrapping took no time. 

Sadly, it seems that that fad has faded and we are left with the good old wrapping paper and tape.

When I was a kid, my aunt wrapped presents the best. They were perfect, and perfectly coordinated with the bow. … I can never seem to get the corners sharp or the paper tight around the present. 

Some people are able to do a nice job of wrapping a present, but they cheat. They use so much tape that it’s near impossible to unwrap their gift. Those people have lost the focus that it’s the gift and not the wrapping that is the most important thing. 

However, a well-wrapped gift is sure inviting … it’s just so painful to do. Sometimes you have to work with a subject that is an odd size or shape, making the task even more difficult and painstaking. 

At least the wrapping paper creators have done one thing that is nice. They have put little guidelines on the back side of the paper to help with cutting. There’s still skill involved because, even with the grid pattern, I can’t seem to cut a straight line.

And then there is the aftermath. After you’ve worked so hard and long at wrapping the gift, it is opened in a second or two … unless you doubled down on the tape.

I remember the days in the living room of the home I grew up in. Mom stressed with every present that was being opened, pleading, “Save the paper!” 

She was so ahead of her time, wanting to save the trees. What an environmentalist she was.

Now that paper hits a green garbage bag before the plastic shrink wrap is ripped off the box.

Wrapping presents – it’s the worst part of Christmas. Let’s bring back present hoodies.

Here’s the thing: I think the worst part of Christmas for Mary and Joseph might have been right after Jesus was born. I imagine they looked around at where they were, and at their baby who didn’t look any different than any other baby. It had been a hard and difficult nine months. Nothing seemed special about this child. Maybe they questioned the angel visits they had both had. But then the shepherds came in. They told the story of what the angels had said and sung about their little baby. And then looking at the face of Jesus, Mary and Joseph knew God had done this. They were actually holding this gift. Make sure you are holding God’s gift this Christmas. You can’t hold Him in your arms, rather hold Him in your heart. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Questions: What’s the hardest part of Christmas for you? Leave your comments and questions below.

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My Lists Just Keeps Getting Longer

At this time of year more people are carrying around lists. Christmas time is probably the “king of lists” – mine just keeps growing. 

list, getting longer

Most people set out to make a list and then work at checking the items or actions off the list until they have completed everything. 

My lists are getting longer and longer. We are getting closer and closer to Christmas but my lists are on pace to keep me going until well into the new year. 

My Christmas “things to do” list is similar to my kind of grocery list. While some people will methodically plan their route and cross off the items as they put them into the cart, I see something and add it to the list as I place it in the cart. 

… Oh I cross it out, but by the time I’m finished, I’ve added quite a few things that my wife, Lily, didn’t request and often really didn’t want in the house. 

I feel that my list of tasks this Christmas is much like that. Every time I go to cross something off the list, I have to add one or two more things. 

What makes matters worse is that Lily is adding things to my growing list. That should not be allowed; you keep your list to yourself. Everyone has his own list(s) and shouldn’t need to be helping someone else cross items off her list … especially at Christmas. 

I remember a time when I couldn’t wait to look at a list. The coach would post those who made the team and if your name was on the list, you were in. We would practically climb over each other’s backs to get a glimpse of the names on that list. 

The lists I’m making now don’t hold any of that anticipation or excitement.

I don’t like pulling out my list now, unless it is to check something off … and then I want to do it really quickly so that I don’t think of something else I need to add to it. 

I make my lists electronically these days. I can make a list on my computer and be able to see it and update it on my phone or iPad. I am never without it.

In the days when I used to make paper lists, sometimes I would have to remake them, so that I would be writing out the same item several times if I didn’t get it checked off soon enough.  

I had a list once that was in my pocket for a good week or more. It was so long that it resembled a child’s Christmas toy list. 

I kept at that list, checking things off one by one. By the time I got to the end of the list, the fibres in the paper had changed. The list felt more like it was written on a Kleenex tissue. And no, when I crossed off the last item, I did not blow my nose with the list. 

Right now I wish my current list would magically disappear.

Here’s the thing: There is a list that is really important and it’s a list that you want to get your name on. The Bible says that after Christ returns, He will bring out the Book of Life and it will list everyone who will join Christ in heaven. I want to be on that list, and you will want to also. Placing your faith in Christ is what is needed to get on that list. Add that to your Christmas list this year if you’re not already on Christ’s list. 

That’s Life! 

Paul

Question: How important is completing your list this Christmas? Leave your comments and questions below.