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How Your Purchases Make An Impact

Have you ever thought how much we consumers are getting ripped off in our purchases? I know everyone has to make a living, and demand will drive the price of a product, but I hate paying more than I have to.

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Recently, I purchased an optical audio cable through Amazon. The price was unbelievable at $2.99 so I had to order it. I should have ordered 100 and gone into business. The same cable at Best Buy or Future Shop would have cost me between $25 and $35.

How can I possibly get that cable at such a low price unless someone is making about 90% profit on it or there is some factory worker in China making about $.50 a day?

I can see it all happening … Some guy wakes up at about 4 am, rolls up his sleeping matt in his thatched roof home that’s on stilts in the country. He gets on his bicycle and rides down dirt roads, past flooded rice fields, and arrives at a huge factory at about 6 am.

He puts on his uniform and joins an assembly line of people putting together wires they have never seen before, have no idea what they are for, and have no use for them themselves.

He then repeats that ritual six days per week to provide for his family.

Meanwhile, I’m waiting about 4-6 weeks (feels like 46 weeks) for this piece of wire to arrive in the mail. I’m happy that I finally have it now, but I was really tempted about two weeks in to just break down and purchase the cable at full price.

I’d also be okay paying $25 for the cable if I knew that someone in perhaps Aylmer, Ontario was in his garage hand-making these cables, one at a time. But my suspicion tells me that all these cables are made in China by the same guy who’s making $.50 per day.

I guess I shouldn’t be too quick to make these assumptions; I haven’t even tried the cable out yet. What if my 3 buck audio cord doesn’t even work? I didn’t by it from a store where I can take it back. I can’t call up the factory worker in China who made the thing; he may not even have electricity in his hut, for all I know.

One comforting thing is that, for the amount of time it took for my package to arrive, it shows that their postal service is as bad or worse than ours. And there was some saving in the packaging.

The cable in the store was all packaged in a box, with a see-through window to view the product. It was attractive and gave all kinds of information about the product, probably including where it was made. My product came in a small knock-off ziplock bag, inside a 4×6 bubble pack envelope.

There was no product information, but the bag was clear plastic so I could see the entire product. I’m happy that I only paid a fraction of what it would have cost me in the store … I’m just saying there’s a rip-off going on somewhere!

Here’s the thing:  Regardless of what cable I purchase, I’m making an impact on someone. The difference is in the kind of impact I’m going to make. And you can live in such a way that your faith shows up very little in your life or you can live in a way that your faith is very prominent in your life. You will have an impact on people, either way. What kind of an impact do you want to make?

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What kind of impact does your life make on others? Leave your comment below.

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Why My Old Stereo Conversion Project Isn’t Perfect

Lily is away this weekend so I thought I would do a conversion of our old stereo into a home theatre.

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Many homes have some kind of additional speaker set up with their TV, but not us. There has always been other things we needed more than feeling the couch shake while watching Jason Statham or Bruce Willis blow something up in a movie.

It all became possible when Lily asked if we needed the stereo cabinet in the living room. To her shock, I said we didn’t, and within about 15 minutes it was all gone … to her delight.

We don’t really use it anymore with iPhones and iTunes holding all our music. And the stereo is old, like about 27 years old. We even have a turntable and a cassette deck! Our speakers are still good, but they’ve had to pump out lots of “Little Feat” tunes over the years.

Still, you’d think it would be easy to hook all that stuff up to your TV, and bingo, your wife could watch her live Sound of Music special, featuring Carrie Underwood, and it would be like she was in the theatre.

Not so fast. Our TV is not the same vintage as our stereo. In fact, it only has one audio output and it is an optical audio connection. If my old stereo could talk and you asked to  plug an optical audio cord into it, it would respond with, “Whach you talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?”

From the internet, I was able to find out that there might be a conversion box I can buy. I just hope that the conversion box isn’t the same price as a new home theatre system. I’m trying to do this on the cheap – make a quick conversion from stereo system to home theatre, with very little time, effort and money involved.

Years ago, my son and I saw an infomercial for an “ab dolly”. I thought I could make one cheaper. So Mike and I got some wood, bought some casters and made one ourselves.

Lily now uses it to put under heavy objects when she wants to move them from one place to another. It didn’t turn out that great.

I know this conversion won’t be perfect either. It won’t be like buying all new equipment that is completely compatible with my TV. The speakers sounded great in the day but I’m not sure how they will perform in the 21st century. I’m also going to have to get up off the couch and walk over to the unit and turn it on by hand. My stereo doesn’t have a remote.

But just think, if I can get this all hooked up this afternoon, when I turn on the Leaf game tonight, it’s going to be like I’m sitting just behind the bench!

The downside is Lily will see this blog before she sees the home theatre conversion. Oh the thoughts and images that will be running through her head! Maybe I’ll stick a Christmas bow on it all so it will look festive for her.

Here’s the thing: Thinking that we can make our conversion experience with God something that doesn’t involve a total change will be more work in the long run and the results will not be all that satisfying. Give yourself completely to God, don’t hold on to the old in any way. It will just complicate your conversion.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you tried to convert, only to find it wasn’t as good as if you got something new? Leave your comment below.

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Why Should I Bother?

This is a guest blog post by Lily Silcock.  Lily works for SureWx as an executive administrative assistant, and is also actively involved in church ministry at Kingston Alliance Church. She is mentioned often in this blog, and is chief editor of it; Lily is also my wife!

It’s that time of year again. You know, that “haul-out-the-boxes, set-up-the-tree, decorate-the-house-for-Christmas” time of year.

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The calendar tells me it’s time, but I don’t feel like it. It’s been a busy few weeks: we’ve had company a few times, we’ve both had the flu, and work’s piling up. I’ve got a lot of other things to do and I’m tired.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas. It’s just that all that decorating is kind of a bother. Oh, I like the decorations when they’re up, it’s just putting them up I’m not thrilled about! … especially these last years since our daughter moved away and I have to do it all myself (correction: I choose to do it myself) … I’m not yet willing to have our trees and home decorated by the guys in our family. They really have no clue how to arrange mesh ribbon on a tree … I do have standards, ya know.

I’m sure I’ll be delighted with the end product once it’s done. Each year when the house is finally all decorated, I plunk my tired body down in the living room with a cappuccino, admire the glowing lights and soak in the ambience.

But getting there can be such a chore! And I’m not even a Christmas decorating fanatic like some people I know!

Still, there are two trees to decorate, garland to drape, lights to string, and a Dickens village we inherited to set up. It all takes time – most of a day in fact – and, honestly, I just don’t feel like it.

I could do a lot less but, in the end, I know I won’t. I’ll make the effort even if I’m busy and tired because it makes my family happy … and, because after all these years, they expect it.

But if I’m truthful, I really do it for me, because even though I don’t feel like doing it right now, when it’s done, I absolutely love it! Our house looks so pretty, cozy and magical all decorated, with the mini white lights softly glowing all around. All the effort is definitely worth it in the end!

… I guess I’d better get at it. Christmas won’t wait!

Here’s the thing: We often don’t feel like giving praise to God. Sometimes we’re busy, preoccupied or just too tired to worship Him. It can seem like too much effort when we could get away with a lot less. So why bother? God deserves it, He expects it, it makes Him happy. And the crazy thing is, when you praise Him, it’ll make you happy too! It’s SO worth it! HE”S worth it.

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How Being Sick Hijacks Your Whole Life

This week I got sick. Ya, ya, I know, I just wrote about how to keep from getting sick (“Four things you need to divert a cold”). But before you get ready to sue me for bad medical advice, you need to know that this sickness was different. I got food poisoning.

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My wife, Lily, thinks I got the flu but I know what I had and it was food poisoning. I think she wants it to be the flu so I can’t blame her for feeding me that leftover chicken last Monday.

It’s not like the chicken had been left on the counter and the flies had been circling for a few days, but it had been in the fridge past my internal best before date. It’s just a sixth sense I have.

I didn’t even see it coming, though the evening before my stomach was rumbling. I didn’t feel bad and just imagined that by morning everything would be normal. Well, about 5 am on Tuesday things were NOT normal.

I spent the next three hours in and out of the bathroom … enough said.

I was achy all over and that lasted the rest of the day. I was so wiped that I slept several times during the day to the point that I was completely disoriented.

The day seemed to last forever. I turned on the TV at one point, thinking it must be late afternoon, only to realize that it was only 1 pm. I had no energy and I felt so weak, much like a kid in the grocery store who’s had a meltdown, sprawled on the floor near the sugar cereal aisle.

There was nothing that could appease me. I didn’t dare eat anything – the memory of the early morning dash made all food totally unappealing. Sipping water at first was huge, like a child taking his first ever steps across the room.

I held my breath to see what would happen or which way it would go. I could hear it travelling through my system, at times like a gurgling brook, then like some light rapids, and finally dropping quite low in my system like a waterfall.

At least it was some entertainment. I was pretty bored all day, not that I didn’t have anything to do. There were things for me to work on, things I really needed to be working on, but I only had the energy to listen to my stomach get a workout while sipping water.

I fell asleep on the couch at about eight in the evening and, when I came to just before 10, I noticed that the achy-ness had gone. I breathed a sigh, and knew it was over and I’d be alright the next morning.

I called it a day and went to bed.

Here’s the thing: Bad food can impact everything about you, all your body parts, and even your thoughts and emotions. Not dealing with sin does the same thing. Not only will it affect your thoughts, emotions and action, but in some cases it can affect your health as well. Make speedy confession part of your internal best before date.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you experienced that took control of your body? Leave your comment below.

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So . . . I’m Easily Distracted

Writing a sermon is a curious thing. I’ve been writing them weekly for over 17 years now and I still haven’t found a formula that makes the process easy and predicable. There are parts that I have systematized, but the actual sit down and write part, it’s like a new adventure every week.

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Let me give you a little insight into my week. I’m pretty regimented early in the week because I know if I’m not ready to write by Thursday, the end of the week will be a disaster.  And we don’t like disasters, do we?

When I first started to preach, I worried about staying up all night Saturday to get ready for Sunday morning. That fear was real because every paper I ever wrote from high school until the day I graduated with my degree, involved burning the midnight oil.

The day after a paper was due I was a zombie. I needed coffee bad – except I didn’t drink coffee, so I’d substitute Super Big Gulps to get me through.

There was no way I would be able to sustain a weekly routine like that for very long. So I decided I needed to have a routine for preparing messages: I start on Monday and do a little work each day.

But I don’t start writing until Thursday or Friday and that’s when all the scheduling, routine, and systematizing goes out the window. It’s new every week. There are distractions, interruptions, unexpected issues to deal with.

But probably the worst issue of all is me. I need to be mentally and emotionally ready to write my sermon. And if I’m not, oh baby, it’s going to be a long day.

That’s what it was like this week. I had a great Thursday, finished my outline, even wrote the introduction to my message. But Friday … I just couldn’t get my mind to settle down. I might have ADD – but in my day the medication for that was a slap on the back side of the head and a scolding of “PAY ATTENTION!”

So Friday I was on my own with no chemicals or synthetics to bring my mind into sync with my sermon. My mind even had the added bonus of a few interruptions to my day that lured it to wander in unnecessary directions long after the interruptions ceased.

By the afternoon, everything and anything was a distraction. The lint that glistened in the light streaming through my window caught my attention for a while. I read an email that lead me to a website which led me to watch a video debate on science versus creation.

My message is not on creation this week. It was interesting, but I couldn’t even extract an illustration to work into my sermon. I was so distracted that I forgot I had brought a lunch to work, so I went out and bought my noon meal, only to come back and see my lunch sitting on a table in my office!

It came in handy because I worked so late I ate that forgotten lunch for dinner and kept working.

Here’s the thing: You may not get distracted like me, but every one of us runs into distractions of some kind. When we get distracted from serving God or spending time with Him, that’s when it’s time to employ a strategy to deal with those distractions and get back on course.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you been distracted in the past?  Leave your comment below.

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Signs

Currently I’m on vacation some where near a sandy beach, on Lake Huron.  While I am away I am featuring a guest blog about once a week.  Today’s blog comes from Adrian Greyling who is a financial planner,  husband to Shawna, and father to Leah, Ian and Avery.

“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind

Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?”

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Driving home from work one day I noticed the plethora of signs that literally litter the side of the road.  I started counting them to get an idea of how many I pass by on a daily basis going to and from work.  I had to stop as I closed in on 100.  (Not just because I was getting near the end of my ‘counting ability’, but because counting signs while driving is probably just as dangerous as talking on a cellphone.)

And what an amazing assortment of signs too.  Plenty are advertisements for everything from plumbers to restaurants to dog walking services.  Others are just informative, like: Glenmore Blvd.  (You know, the street you just drove by that you were supposed to turn left onto.)

Some are pretty fancy, with beautiful typefaces and eye-catching colours.  Others look like they were painted by a 3-year old who was in too much of a hurry. There are hand painted signs on cardboard, “animated” neon signs, as well as those on plain old wood or plastic.

Many signs offer warnings too.  (It’s always helpful to know which way you should be driving on a one-way street.)  Most signs are helpful, but occasionally you find signs that are downright confusing.  For example, what exactly was this sign trying to say? (It was outside a secondhand store.) “We exchange anything – bicycles, washing machines, etc.  Why not bring your wife along and get a wonderful bargain?”  Here’s another example of a sign that isn’t terribly informative:  “The Town Hall is closed until opening.  It will remain closed after being opened.  Open tomorrow.”  (Huh??)

God also posts signs for you and I.

They’re not necessarily 30 foot billboards with neon lights on the side of the highway.  Sometimes they’re much more subtle and it takes real effort to recognize them.  God posts His signs for you and I in various ways; through His Word, through good advice from reliable Christian friends, and sometimes through “gentle whispers”, (as He spoke to Elijah).  And thankfully, God speaks to us in ways that aren’t ambiguous or contradictory.

God never points us in the wrong direction, but every time He says “Don’t!”, He’s saying “Don’t hurt yourself”.  And every blessing we enjoy is God’s emphatic “Yes!”  His plans often unfold in unexpected ways and follow a timeline we wouldn’t choose, but God never makes empty promises.  To put it bluntly, God’s signs are ultimately reliable.

Following God’s signs won’t get you lost or misinformed.  In fact, God’s signs often point towards a future hope.  I’m reminded of Jeremiah 29, when the children of Israel were in the midst of a 70-year captivity.  Even in the midst of being judged, God offers a comforting signpost to His people:  “For I know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV))

I can almost see Jeremiah’s billboard:  “This way to a brighter future!”  That’s what God is advertising to you and I today; a brighter future.  Look for God’s signs and embrace them!

Adrian

Question: How do you recognize God’s signs? Leave your comment below.

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Moose on the Loose!

Currently I’m on vacation some where near a sandy beach, on Lake Huron.  While I am away I am featuring a guest blog about once a week.  Today’s blog comes from Lily Silcock.  Along with being my wife, Lily works for SureWx as an executive assistant. She volunteers at Kingston Alliance Church and does all the editing for this blog.

Sometimes I shake my head at the situations I get myself in and the things I’ll do for my kids.

After a long work week a few weeks ago, I found myself exhausted and boarding a plane to Regina. Why Regina, you ask? Well, that’s where our daughter wanted me to meet her for our road trip back to Ontario … Not beautiful Calgary to be of assistance in helping her pack up her earthly possessions to move. Not in Edmonton – her first stop – where I could visit some dear friends, but Regina where there’s nothing and no one!!

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So I flew in to Regina, all eager to spend some quality time with Karlie as we drove back to Ontario. What I didn’t realize was that I’d almost need to ride on the roof for lack of room in her little Hyundai Accent! With bags at my feet and no room to recline the seats even an inch, we left. But that was ok; we were spending time together.

Our first day, we planned to drive from Regina to Dryden ON – a very do-able 940 km. What we hadn’t planned on was no vacancies at the hotels in Dryden at 7:30 pm. “No problem”, we said. We could go another 4 hours and easily get a place. After all, Thunder Bay’s a sizeable city.

I was tired but Karlie was happy to keep driving … until we passed the first “Moose on the loose” sign, followed almost on cue by a humongous moose standing on the shoulder of the road! And just as I was trying to assure her that that was probably a fluke, we passed another one!

Well, that ended any chance I had of catching a nap. I had to spend the next 3+ hours sitting bolt upright (not a problem since the seats weren’t reclining anyways), squinting and scanning the dark landscape, on the lookout for moose on the loose.

But I didn’t mind … I’m a mom and we do those things for our kids. Besides, I was looking forward to a nice, comfy hotel bed down the highway.

Little did I know that when we finally made it to our destination at 1 am, there would not be a single hotel bed available in that city either! Who knew that the national diving championships were being held so far up north this year?

Our only option at 1:30 am was the stuffed-to-the-gills tiny car we’d already spent the last 16 hours in. It’s a good thing my daughter and I are both vertically challenged!

After 4 hours of contorting in our seats, trying to get comfortable, laughing at the insanity of our predicament, and maybe getting a total of an hour’s shuteye, I laughingly announced, “I’m too old for this! Let’s hit the road.”

As exhausted and stiff as I was, I didn’t mind. It was a pleasure to be on a road trip with my daughter. I love her like crazy! Really, when it comes down to it, I’m a parent, and I’ll do just about anything for my kids … willingly.

It’s not surprising then that God calls Himself our Father. He willingly gave it all for us. We can count on Him, His help, His support, His company. He loves us like crazy!

Lily

Question: How have you gone the extra mile for your kids or loved ones? Leave your comment below.

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It’s Raining

Currently I’m on vacation some where near a sandy beach, on Lake Huron.  While I am away I am featuring a guest blog about once a week.  Today’s blog comes from Dr. Munier Nour who currently lives with his family in Calgary. He and his wife, Mary, have been married for 7 years and have two young sons aged one and three. Munier is a subspecialist in the field of pediatrics. He and his family lived in Kingston and attended KAC until 2010.

I’ve struggled to write this blog entry for a few weeks now. I’ve started writing a few times and have always just thrown it away. I think I’ve wanted a neat and tidy package of a story to tell people. I want to share a story of resolution and pack in a quaint lesson learned. But as much as I’ve tried that’s not a story I can tell… yet. Mine is still a work in progress.

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Despite putting this task aside for the last time this morning my confirmation came this evening that I need to articulate my struggle – if for no one else, then for my own benefit. We spent the evening in hospital with our youngest son for the third time in the past few months.

A year ago I had a neat little plan for our family. I had finally finished my ridiculously long medical training, we had our two healthy children, and my dream job was about to become available. It looked like I couldn’t have planned it better. I would quickly interview for the job, get it, we’d move into our new home and life would be in cruise control from there on. I had it all figured out. God had different plans.

In a series of seemingly rapid fire steps all my hard work and planning for a care free life seemed to come undone. It started out with our youngest son getting quite sick and being hospitalized with breathing difficulties when I was on the other side of the country. If narrowly missing an ICU admission wasn’t enough, he went on to repeat the process not two weeks later (and again tonight). Weeks later we were told that he also had another rare issue. It seems he had suffered from a perinatal stroke before he was born, a condition previously called hemiplegic cerebral palsy. While he has only shown mild symptoms it has been very difficult to understand and grasp this as parents wanting nothing but the best for our child. Following these medical events, I received the news that my prospects for work would go to another applicant – leaving me with essentially with no options of work in my field in the entire country.

It’s at this point that I feel the need to say something quaint or cliché. Something like ‘everything happens for a reason’ or ‘God’s got something bigger and better in store’ or ‘God will never give you more than you can handle’. While these are all good intentioned, the fact of the matter is I don’t really want to hear them right now – plus I’m not sure they even necessarily apply.

When I turn to passages like the story of Jesus calming the storm (Mark 4:35-41) my tendency is to look down on the disciples. How could they not realize Jesus was in control? How could they not understand that they were still safe? How could they have so little faith? In the midst of my storm, I wish I could say I was different from them.  I feel the rain starting and I run and panic.

As I’ve begun to navigate this small storm – while it is not easy – I am comforted to know I am not alone in this boat and that He commands even the winds and the water.

Question: When the storms come in your life, where do you turn?

 

When everything is wrong
The day has passed and nothing’s done
And the whole world seems against me
When I’m rolling in my bed, there’s a storm in my head
I’m afraid of sinking in despair.
…
‘Cause I’m a child of little faith
I feel the wind and forget Your grace
And You say, “Peace, be still.”

Teach me, Lord to have faith
In what You’re bringing me will
Change my life and bring You glory
…

There on the storm, teach me God to understand
Of Your will that I just cannot control.
There may I see all Your love protecting me
I thank you Lord, You are the calmer of the storm.

  —  “Calmer of the Storm” by Downhere
http://youtu.be/Z5gqZHifyQM

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Happiness

Currently I’m on vacation some where near a sandy beach, on Lake Huron.  While I am away I am featuring a guest blog about once a week.  Today’s blog comes from Wendy Lehmann who is a work from home mom with two boys, ages 10 and 6. She has been married for 17 years and originally hales from Winnipeg.  Though being a mom is primarily her main “job title”, she runs a small side business sharing tea with friends.  She is presently working on starting a blog which should go live September 1st.  You can check Wendy’s blog out then at www.taketime4tea.com

To begin I am going to say that I am first and foremost a mother of two very active, and very boy-like boys.  There are other areas of my life that I enjoy, but none as much as I enjoy my kids.

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One of the best things about being a parent is seeing my kids being happy.  Kids can be happy to a level that we as adults rarely achieve.  I have wondered why that is and I think it is because they can be happy without thinking about being happy, they just are.

There are some rare occasions when you can see your kids reach a level of happiness that is above and beyond the run of the mill, get to stay up later than usual type of happy.  You know what I am talking about; the Christmas morning type of happy; the get to stay home from school type of happy; seeing grandma and grandpa type of happy.

We recently took a family vacation to visit friends and I got to see my kids reach that extra level of happy, and I loved it!  Our friends live in Wisconsin, so we decided to take a road trip.

Now, some of you may think that is crazy, driving for 17 hours with a 10 year old and a 6 year old to visit friends for 4 days, but we haven’t seen them in a couple of years, so hey, why not?!

On our way down we noticed a Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World store.  For those of you who have never seen one of these stores they are VERY impressive. Just imagine a store the size of Costco filled with anything you could ever imagine needing/wanting/buying-if-you-won-the-lottery for fishing, hunting or camping. There are 8 aisles of fishing lures, 200 reels to test out and more fishing rods than you could possibly count.

Now imagine being 10 and 6 year old boys who live and breathe fishing.  When we first walked through the front doors they just stood there in awe, and then it sunk in and they were off!

They did not know what to look at first. They went running up to look at the 25 ft floor to ceiling fish tank, then realized there was a 40 ft floor to ceiling tank with salt water fish at the other end of the store.

They went on the glass elevator at least 5 times so they could see the possum hanging in the tree. The boys took pictures of every taxidermy specimen from a moose to a family of foxes.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that this is not my “cup of tea” at all.  I am a vegetarian and cannot get excited about fishing, and definitely not hunting.  But, do you know what?  I was so happy to be in this store to be able to experience it with my kids.

Truthfully, I should say I was there with 3 kids because my husband was almost as excited as the boys. To be able to see that look in their eyes when they saw a wall full of fishing lures or tried out a cool new rod and reel was a really fun moment to be a part of.

As a parent we learn to read our kids, their moods, good and bad. We can tell when they reach that uber-happy level.  I’ll tell you what, I saw that level of happy that day.   What made me realize they were truly happy was when they could not stop thanking us for taking them to “that super awesome store”.

It is through their gratitude that their true happiness was revealed.  Both of them thanked us for days for making that stop on our trip, which made us want to do more of what makes them happy.

God, as our Heavenly Father, wants us to be happy; he also wants us to be thankful which is how he knows we are truly happy.

When thinking about the last time you were happy, truly happy, were you thankful to the One who is always thinking about our happiness?  Leave your comment below.

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Get Out Of The Line!

Last weekend I took part in a funeral. It all went very well until it came time for the interment. Getting to the cemetery meant a twenty minute drive through the city and in the country.

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Only family and close friends attended, while most others opted not to take the drive … probably a good thing because they never would have made it.

You see, most people don’t follow other cars very well, driving too far behind the person they’re following. It’s like they’ve watched too many TV detective shows and they try to follow so the lead car doesn’t know they’re on their tail.

I once had a person follow me to a destination they had never been to, yet they kept going slower and slower and falling farther and farther behind. At first, I slowed down to make sure they wouldn’t lose me, but then they slowed down even more! Finally, I just decided to drive and let them keep up to me. They never made it; they got lost and went home.

In a funeral procession, people really need to drive close to the car they’re following, especially through intersections. Personally, I like to get close to the car in front of me so the vehicles traveling in the other direction see that I’m part of a procession and don’t T-bone me when the light changes green for them.

Those other drivers on the road can be a real problem. Most of them act like they have no clue what’s going on. They see the hearse, the flashing lights, the long line of cars with little flags on their hoods like it’s a diplomatic motorcade, and they STILL try to jump into line like they want to be part of the parade! After all, their shopping trip to the mall has been timed down to the last minute, and they didn’t calculate running into a funeral procession.

There was a time when cars pulled over to the side of the road when they came upon a funeral procession – like we’re supposed to do with emergency vehicles. But then again, some people are not good at that either. I’m not sure whether people drive without looking around or whether they just don’t understand the unwritten rules of the road.

When our procession of cars got out of the city, some cars pulled over to the side of the road, and two ladies who were walking stopped and just stood as the line of funeral cars went by.

But most cars just kept going and even drove around the cars that had pulled over.  These people were both young and old – I know because I looked at them, trying to stare them down!

We finally made it to the cemetery, with no accidents, and only missing one car with several of the family members in it. They arrived late because some car cut into the line and then didn’t go through and intersection with the rest of the procession.

Going home from the cemetery only took about 10 minutes … there were no funeral processions to stop for.

Here’s the thing: In a funeral procession, you need to keep up and others need to pay attention. If you don’t keep up, other cars don’t know there is anything to pay attention to. In your Christian walk you need to keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) so that others will pay attention and see a difference.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you find difficult about following someone?  Leave your comment below.