Author: Paul Silcock

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It Was A Second Thought That Got Results

My second thought produced success. You know, that’s when you had decided against something, then changed your mind, and it turned out to be the best decision you made.

Recently I bit the bullet and bought a new MacBook Pro. I was about due since my last one was eight years old.

Once my new computer was in my possession, the big task was to transfer all my files, applications and information from my old mac to my new one.

Luckily, Apple has an easy way to do that. Basically you hook up the two computers together and clone the old one on to the new one.

In the end, everything is there – passwords, logins … there’s virtually no other set up to do.

Sounds nice and easy … except my old mac is so old that hooking up the computers is a little more difficult. To make things worse, the new computer has a connection that is not common yet: USB-C.

So I went on a search for the connection I needed. I went right to the store I purchased my new laptop from. I searched the aisles and then had an employee search the aisles. The connection was nowhere to be found.

I tried a second store that was close by and, though the employee was very helpful, he was unable to locate the adaptor that I needed to connect my two computers together.

So I tried a third store. This time I was fairly confident I would find what I was looking for.

This store is not an official Apple Store but it’s the closest thing to it. It even looks like an Apple Store in its set up. And like the official retailer, this place only sells Apple, and Apple-related products.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the adaptor either. Not only that, but the employee didn’t even know what I wanted to do.

The one place I thought would understand my need offered no help or even knowledge.

I questioned the clerk, “You’ve never heard of Apple’s migration processes?”

He replied, “I’m a law enforcement student.” … interesting information about his future plans but his answer had nothing to do with the question I asked him!

I left the store discouraged and ready to give up my quest for the day.

There was one other store within walking distance, but I figured since they specialized in PC’s they weren’t going to have the adaptor I was looking for.

Besides, if a Mac store didn’t have it, what were the chances?

I started walking in the direction of my car.

But then I had a second thought: “I’m so close to this place, why not just go in and see?”

I walked the three blocks up the street, went in, and within about 30 seconds, spoke to an employee. I told him what I was looking for and he walked me directly to a shelf, reached up to the very top and then handed me my adaptor.

Amazing! … On second thought, I was super happy.

Here’s the thing: When is it the right time to give up on seeking something from God? You may have been asking Him for direction, or a solution, or even a miracle, but so far you’ve received nothing. Is it time when you’re feeling hopeless? … On second thought, your answer might be just around the corner.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you almost given up on? Leave your comment below.

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A Phone Call Rearranged My Day

My afternoon got rearranged with a simple phone call, just a random call put through to me.

Fridays are sermon writing days for me. Don’t get me wrong here, I work on my sermon all week, but Friday is the day that I put all the research and study together and write it.

The morning is the best time for me to write. I’m focussed, energized and think better and faster at that time of day.

It seems that once I take a break for lunch, I don’t have the same focus or energy, and sermon writing slows down considerably.

This week I had a fairly productive morning but had a hard time getting back to writing after lunch. I had a few other things on my mind that distracted me.

Then I got a phone call. I get phone calls like this regularly – maybe once a week – from someone who needs some help.

The story she gave me was long and complicated, and I wasn’t sure I believed everything she was telling me. Still, I didn’t want to turn her away in case she really was in need and I could do something to help.

I told her that the only way I could assist her was to meet her at the bus station and purchase a ticket for her. I don’t give people cash.

Well, she said she needed to check a few things first and would call me back.

I was thinking there was a good chance I wouldn’t hear from her again, but about 15 minutes later the phone rang and it was her.

This was the second time I had to stop my writing process and change gears.

She had discovered that getting where she wanted to go was not going to be possible, so she had a Plan B.

She asked if I could pay for a night’s stay in a motel. I replied that I could do that, but first she needed to check if a room was available.

When she called back the third time, I had not really been able to write anything more on my sermon. However, just before the phone rang, I had a brainwave and was ready to write a bit more.

She told me that she reserved a room at a motel, could get a ride, and would be there in about 10 minutes.

I said it would take me a little longer but to just wait in the lobby and I would get there shortly.

I got off the phone and quickly tried to put down the thoughts I had had just before I picked up the receiver.

I was almost finished my sermon; I just needed an illustration and would try to think of something while I drove to the motel about 15 minutes away.

When I got there, she was nowhere to be found. The front desk clerk had no reservation and no knowledge of this person.

I hung around for a few minutes and then drove back to the church … all that for nothing.

The whole ordeal sidetracked me from my sermon and I didn’t even end up helping her … but it sure changed my day.

Here’s the thing: We like to know the end; we crave resolution. But with God there is mystery, and sometimes we have to be okay with the mystery. It’s in the mystery that faith and hope can grow.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What mystery do you have to live with? Leave your comment below.

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I Was All Ready, But Not Really

I was ready; I had my things all set to go. I just needed to get there in time, or so I thought.

We were up at our cottage and the sun was finally going to come out at the end of the day. I thought this was my chance to finally film a sunset with my drone.

Not long ago, I wrote how I lost a drone in an attempt to get some video of a sunset over Lake Huron (read here).

Well, after that disaster, I got a replacement drone and this was the first time I was back at the cottage with it.

I wasn’t sure I would get a chance to capture a sunset; it had been cloudy most of the day. But I was going to be ready … just in case.

I had charged the battery and had my phone, which acts as the controller for the drone, charging as well.

I knew I was set, but as it got closer to the time that the sun would sink below the horizon, I got busy doing something else.

So though I was all ready to go, I suddenly had to fly into hurry mode, to gather my equipment and head down to the beach.

I walked as fast as I could, but my sore ribs from a mountain bike crash a week earlier (read here) kept me at a slower pace than I wanted to go.

The sun was still in the sky as we got onto the beach, but I knew it would drop fairly quickly out of sight.

I synced the drone with the controller and waited, not very patiently, as it acquired the necessary satellites to operate.

It seemed to take forever, but finally was able to take off. I cautiously wanted to keep it from flying out over the water like the last time I tried to film a sunset, so I didn’t take it up too high.

I thought I would snap a few pictures first, although when I went to do that I didn’t hear the usual shutter sound. That didn’t stop me from taking a few more.

Then I turned on the video camera and that’s when I realized I had all my stuff ready to go except one thing.

Nothing happened when I pressed “record”, but a little dialogue box came up on my screen. It read, “no SD card on board”.

“Whaaaaaat?!”, I muttered. And then I remembered the one thing I didn’t do was put the SD card into the drone. It was back at the cottage.

Unbelievable! I had been dying to take some sunset scenes at the beach; I even lost a drone doing it. Now, after anticipating it for so long, I had forgotten to bring the little card that would enable me to record the sight.

This picture is the scene I missed capturing with my drone.

Here’s the thing: You can think you are ready for what is coming next. You can have your relationships in order, your finances in order, even have your health right where you want it to be. But if you miss one thing – a relationship with God through Christ – you will miss capturing what will matter to you eternally. Don’t neglect those things that you think are secondary or down the road. Be ready now.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you missed that was really important? Leave your comments below.

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It Was The Worst Or The Best – You Be The Judge

I crashed my bike the other day and it was either the worst or the best crash of the year.

I usually have a number of crashes to pick from in determining my most spectacular crash. This one rated up there. The bike was alright, but my body suffered a little more than usual.

On the trail I was riding, there is a section that goes right through a corn field. It’s pretty cool riding along a 4-foot wide trail with walls of corn about 6 1/2 feet high on either side of you. Your elbows slap the sheaves of corn as you ride through this gauntlet.

On one bend in the trail, I took it a little fast and maybe a bit wide. I got too close to the stocks and, before I knew it, I spilled all over the place.

I hit my head on the ground; I think I bounced at least once. I had the wind knocked out of me, so I gasped to get my breath back.

And, oh ya, I was sore.

The thing is all I could think about was the guy gearing up to go biking when I had set out. I figured he would be coming along at any moment. I was hidden by the corn and a curve in the trail so I could see an even bigger crash looming.

The only thing I could think of to do was what you do when you get hit in hockey: get up fast and try to make it look like you’re not hurt.

I was aching and still a little dazed but I kind of flopped on my bike and started riding.

By the time I got out of the corn I didn’t think of checking to see if I was okay. My head cleared and the pain had subsided.

I just rode on.

As I continued on the trail, I kept thinking, “I’m going to be sore tomorrow.”

I was right about being sore, but wrong about the timing! I started feeling really sore on the drive back, and by the time I got home I was not moving very well.

The ground where I had fallen was like cement and, in talking to a guy who farms, I learned that the corn sucks everything out of the soil.

I’ve felt sidewalks that have more give to them than the spot where I fell!

I figured I had bruised some ribs, and though my wife and daughter think I might have cracked a few, I’m holding to my diagnosis.

I talked to a friend who said cracked ribs can take 6-8 weeks to heal … I definitely don’t have that kind of time to give to the healing process.

Here’s the thing: Depending on how you look at something difficult, it can either be the worst or the best. My fall may have been my worst crash this year, but certainly not my worst crash ever. I could also look at it as the best crash this year, the most spectacular because it was a big crash but I walked away from it. In your life, God can give you the right perspective to have when going through difficult or troubled times. Look to Him – what you’re going through could be the worst, or maybe it’s the best.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How has God helped you see the positive in difficult times? Leave your comments below.

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I Have To Admit It: She Was Right

I like being right; I think most people do. So I hate it when Lily is right and I’m wrong.

It happened the other day and, don’t get me wrong here, she was wrong in so many ways, but right when it counted.

Lily wanted to see the Snowbirds – and I’m not talking about Canadians who go down to the southern States to ride out the winters. I’m talking about the Canadian Air Force Snowbirds,  the world famous pilots and planes that do acrobatics and synchronized flying at air shows.

Living in Kingston, we get to see more than our fair share of them and this past weekend they were here to put on a show.

I could tell Lil was very determined to see them so I didn’t put up a fuss or even comment on how many times she’s already seen them. I just asked, “When are we leaving?”

I wasn’t paying too much attention to her answer, but in the back of my mind I thought she was cutting it close.

I was right. The traffic was bumper to bumper all the way to Fort Henry, over which the Snowbirds would be performing.

Lily seemed upset with me that she had picked the same time to leave as thousands of others had. I think she wished I’d driven a different route or driven on the sidewalk to get around the streaming line of traffic in front of us.

Three times she told me what I should do after it was too late to do it. It was like the past and her present were all convoluted together.

Lily’s stress was mounting as it became more and more apparent that we would be in our car trying to find a parking spot when the air show was going on.

I couldn’t take much more so I parked the car, probably about 2 or 3 kilometres from the Fort.

We got out and started walking past a line of cars that were barely moving … mind you, we were walking at a good clip, but I could tell that Lily wanted to walk even faster.

When we arrived at Fort Henry we had to walk up a hill. All along that hill there were people sitting down waiting for the Snowbirds to arrive.

I thought we could just join them, sit on the side of the hill and count our blessing that we made it before the show began.

But no, that’s not what Lil wanted. She wanted to walk to the top of the hill and then go around the back of the Fort, overlooking Lake Ontario, because that was the best backdrop for the planes.

I thought, “She’s being greedy. We made it on time; now she’s pushing it.” But though my legs were tired, we got there just minutes before the planes came roaring overhead.

I have to admit, seeing the Snowbirds from that vantage point was truly spectacular. She was right.

Here’s the thing: I know this is true in my life, and I’m sure that it’s true for you: There are many times when I think I know what is right and best for me, or a family member, or for work, yet God doesn’t seem to bring what I think is needed. Unlike us, who are right some of the time, God is right all the time. Somehow we have to get our minds and emotions around that fact … even though it might go against our better judgement.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What was something you thought was right, but in the end it wasn’t? Leave your comments below.

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Running Shoes Don’t Last Forever

I guess the life expectancy of my running shoes had reached its limit and then some.

I can’t remember when I bought them, but I do remember buying a pair about 22 years ago. I can’t say for sure that the runners I have now are those, but let’s just say I’ve had this pair for a very, very long time.

There was a time when I would go through a pair of running shoes every year. They were my go-to, every day shoes.

Since then I find I don’t run very much, so they just stay in the closet, collecting dust until I go on my treadmill or rowing machine. … I guess that’s why I’ve been able to keep them so long.

This year though, I decided to play baseball, so out came my trusty running shoes.

I wore them every Monday this spring and summer, but these shoes will never feel my feet inside them again.

Last Monday they simply disintegrated. I don’t know why they chose this past week to break down and I don’t know why they blew up all at once instead of gradually.

When I put them on before ball, they seemed to be in really good shape. I had no thoughts of needing to replace them this year at all.

The only thing I can think of is that the infield was made of red clay and was pretty wet … and we were just taking batting practice.

The pattern was to hit 10 balls, take a break while another guy hit ten, and then hit another 10 balls.

It might have been a combination of things, including extended time in the batter’s box dragging my toe through the wet clay as I swung through the pitch.

For the first 10 balls, I decided to hit right-handed. I noticed that a bunch of clay had gotten up inside the tread on one shoe.

For the next ten, I decided to hit my natural way – left-handed – and this time it was the other shoe that filled up with clay under the tread.

I then took my turn fielding balls.

By the time I finished my next at bat, the soles of my shoes were flapping like the tongue of a big old dog who’d just finished slurping down his dinner meal.

I walked back to my car feeling like I was wearing clown shoes! It was such an odd feeling.

The shoes were done, finished, not even good enough to cut the grass in.

Last night I went out looking for a new pair of running shoes. Cross trainers seem to be the type of shoe best suited to my activities. … $100 later and I’m ready for baseball next week.

Here’s the thing: In life, most of the time, we manage just fine. We even handle struggles with not too much sweat. But every once in a while the wheels fall off, the shoes disintegrate, life blows up in our face. This happens when we are least expecting it, usually when we are not ready for it. If you’re not in the habit of turning to God, you can really find yourself lost, floundering, panicked. Begin a relationship with God today – if you haven’t done so already – because He can put your life back together.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What unexpected thing has blown up in front of you? Leave your comments below.

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My Life Is In Flux Right Now

I’m in a state of flux right now. Though it’s early in September, and I’ve had a long planning session for the upcoming year, I still feel a little out of sorts.

My planning went well and I came away from that week with some solid tracks to run on. But when I sit in my office, I don’t feel settled.

The reason for that? – my office is a mess!

During the summer we had a huge rain storm. The church basement flooded and we had to have a company come in to help clean up the mess.

I was away on vacation at the time; my office was locked and there was no need for anyone to go in it.

So when I returned after being away for several weeks, the first thing I noticed was the damp smell and then the ceiling tile that had fallen down.

There had been a leak in the roof and it had soaked through a ceiling tile, which had fallen down beside a bookshelf.

The amazing thing about it all was, though the ceiling tile was still soggy wet, the leak never touched any of my books.

I was sure happy about that, but it left me with a bit of a mess and forced me to make an even greater mess.

I took all the books off the shelf and put them in piles around my office. I then moved the bookcase out from the wall so that someone could examine the situation and put the ceiling back together again.

Well, things are moving rather slowly and my office has been in the same state for a couple of weeks now.

… And that’s why I feel so unsettled in my office.

It’s that same feeling you have when you’ve moved into a new home and you have boxes everywhere. You’re excited to be in the new place but you don’t feel right until all your stuff is where it is supposed to be.

I’ve been meeting with people in another room because my office chairs are being used to support three foot high piles of books.

I also have a bookcase that is standing in the middle of my office.

My office feels more like a storage space than an office. It’s not conducive to focussing on work.

When I look up from my computer, I often wonder if one of the piles of books looks like it’s leaning a little too much. I start to imagine it as the leaning tower of Pisa.

I really hope that I don’t need any of those books. If I do, I’ll be forced to play that block game Jenga with them … and I’ve never been particularly successful at not toppling over the stack of blocks.

I think the sooner my office can get put back to normal, the sooner I will start to settle down for the fall.

Here’s the thing: Many things can come up in life that cause you to feel unsettled – a health issue, job pressure, a move or even a flood. There may be nothing you can do to get life back in order, leaving you tempted to completely lose focus. However, you can keep order in your spiritual life by spending regular, quality time with God. If you do that in the morning, it will start your day off right, even if other aspects in your day are still in flux.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has got you feeling a little unsettled? Leave your comments below.

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I’m Back Droning On About My Drone

Several weeks ago I wrote about my traumatic loss of a newly purchased drone (read here). It was like losing a close friend or pet (kidding).

What you often do when that happens is go out and get another one. You look to make a new friend or go shopping for a new dog or iguana or whatever … not a cat, though.

Well, as I pondered the loss of my drone out on the waters of Lake Huron, I decided that I couldn’t wallow in my sorrow. I needed to start looking for a new one … one that wouldn’t fly away on me, or at the very least would return to me when I lost control of it.

My brother was also in the market for a drone, so we started looking online for the perfect one for us.

We found one that was not too expensive – another important criteria.

We are not experienced and in case we flew the thing into something hard and broke it, or – dread the thought – let it get away on us over a large body of water, we didn’t want to be out a lot of money.

It also had to be easy to fly and have features that let you take your hands off the controls while maintaining a certain height without hovering higher and higher.

Lastly, it needed to be able to return to us if it got out of range or the battery got low.

The one we found was really advanced for the price and, as a bonus, came with GPS.

Within a few hours of each other, we locked our orders into the same website that would be sending them to us from China.

I know that China is far away from Canada … If I booked a flight from here to Beijing, it would cost $800 on sale and take about 13 hours.

If I took a ship to China it would take 6-7 days.

I knew we weren’t going to get the drones in a couple of days.

So we waited and kept checking our tracking numbers.

We noticed a flurry of activity at first. The orders were processed, they were delivered from one city to another in China and then they departed China for Toronto – all in a matter of a day or two.

Then we waited. The tracking information stopped; nothing was happening. Supposedly, the drones left China by plane.

For many days there was nothing new to report. Finally my brother’s drone was delivered about 12 days after we ordered them.

Mine? No news; the shipping status didn’t change. I checked every day and got the same information.

Remember when you were a kid and you ordered something from a cereal box? It always said it would take 4-6 weeks. Those 4-6 weeks felt like 46 weeks!

Well, that’s how I felt. Days went by; weeks went by. Two full weeks after my brother got his drone – a full 25 days after ordering it – it arrived.

That was a long time. Now I can finally get droning.

Here’s the thing:  We ask God for things all the time. Our request might be just something we want, or it might be to see God work in some way, something that is really needed and for a good cause. No matter what it is, we can get very impatient waiting for God to answer. The best thing is not to micro-manage God. When you leave your request with God, the key word is “leave”. Trust Him with the request and don’t be anxious. He will answer in His time.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need patience for when it comes to God? Leave your comments below.

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I Can’t Believe I Broke My Streak

I knew there would come a day when my streak would come to an end; I just didn’t want it to be today.

Near the beginning of the year, I started a calorie burning streak that has lasted over seven months.

One of the things I’ve been doing this year to improve my health is to make sure I’ve hit three goals each day. The goals involve the amount of standing I do per day as opposed to sitting, exercising at least 30 minutes each day and burning a certain number of calories each day.

Since January 9th I’ve not missed my calorie burning goal. Along the way the goal has increased several times, yet I have not missed reaching it every day for the last 231 days.

But that all came to an end tonight.

What an awful feeling …

… like your favourite TV show went off the air for the last time: no more Flintstones; no more Seinfeld.

… like a dear friend has moved away or passed away; you won’t see them any more.

… like years ago when we were traveling from Alberta to start work in Kingston, Ontario. About 3 days into our journey, our 5 year old son said, “I want to go home.” His big sister who was trying to comfort him said, “Michael, we don’t have a home.”

It’s gone and it’s not coming back!

I now have to go the next 232 days just to beat that streak.

It’s not that I hadn’t almost broken the streak earlier in the year.

There were times when I was doing jumping jacks in my bedroom 2 minutes before midnight to try to reach the goal before the clock reset.

Each time I was able to squeak in under the wire and reach the goal.

But this time I just wasn’t thinking. I had already accomplished my standing goal for the day and had completed my exercise.

Normally after I’ve exercised, I’m really close to reaching my calorie goal as well. But I made a mistake at the start of the week and hit the submit button on my watch before I adjusted the suggested weekly calorie goal.

As a result, I still had lots of calories to burn after I had exercised, which meant I needed to stay active a little while longer.

But I was tired that night and decided I would go to bed a little earlier … and forgot all about my calorie goal!

In the morning, you can’t imagine how disappointed I was.

… like the time when I was a kid and I lost my iguana outside, about an hour before we were to leave on a two-week vacation.

I was very sad leaving the house, knowing that my pet was on the loose, that he probably wouldn’t survive the outdoors, especially at night.

I’m happy to say that my iguana did survive those two weeks. He was so cold he hadn’t moved the entire second week!

Unfortunately, I’m not getting this streak back. All I can do is start again.

Here’s the thing: The downside about sin is that you feel so rotten when it happens, you may feel that you let others down, yourself down, and God down. You might even experience guilt that prevents you from moving on. But when you seek God’s forgiveness, the good thing is you start again. And starting again IS a good thing.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How hard was it for you to get back after you broke a streak of some kind? Leave your comments below.

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I’ve Been Programmed By My Wife

My wife has somehow programmed me to do something I’m against doing.

I just realized I will now do this even when I’m on my own. Have you ever found yourself in those shoes?

You see, for years my wife, Lily, has been washing out plastic ziplock bags and reusing them. It’s something that I just don’t agree with and I’ve told her repeatedly.

I’ve even blogged about it (you can read it here).

When we clean up after a meal there is usually a few things that don’t make the dishwasher, so they get washed by hand.

Lily is the washer and I dry what’s on the rack … but I don’t like drying those plastic bags!

My feeling is they’re good for recycling material; I shouldn’t have to waste my time with them. We should just pull out a new bag from the box when we need one.

But for years she’s been washing them and I’ve been drying them.

Last week when I was on my own at our cottage on my planning/study week, I had to wash the dishes on my own.

I let them pile up over the day and cleaned them up in the evening … or sometimes the next day.

Hey, I got to use most of the dishes in the cupboard instead of the same two or three at the top of the pile. I like the idea of giving all the dishes and cutlery a chance to be used equally.

One day in the pile of dishes I had used, there was a plastic bag I had stored some food in. The plastic bag was in the sink and I didn’t think anything of it. But when I went to do the dishes I found myself washing out that plastic bag.

Without thinking I gave it a good soak, stuck the dishcloth in the bag and swirled it around. I rinsed the soap off it and put it on the drying rack.

When all the dishes were washed, I grabbed the towel and started drying them.

I’ve done this a million times. But when I picked up that wet, clingy ziplock bag, I at once realized what I’ve done …

I’ve become like my wife! I’m now washing out plastic bags to be reused again!

Well, I kicked with myself for even putting that used, dirty plastic bag in the sink and not in the trash.

But there I was holding a towel in one hand and a wet, limp plastic bag in the other.

I stared at it for a moment or two; I considered what my next actions were going to be.

I looked around (nobody was there), and I tossed that plastic ziplock bag in the garbage can.

I had to do it so that I could break the programming Lily has attempted to download into my brain.

Here’s the thing: There are a lot of things we do without thinking – unconscious actions that don’t need to be thought about or decided upon. We just do them. It’s not always a bad thing. If you will consistently involve God in your decisions, actions, speech and thought, you will get to the place where you will automatically involve Him and do what He wants. You will do it because you’re accustomed to it; it will become your natural conduct.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to program into your life? Leave your comments below.