create

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When Creative Juices Flow, Don’t Stop Them

One should never let their creative juices dry up. It doesn’t matter in what way you are creative, the important thing is never stop being so.

When creative juices flow don't stop them

Creativity is the spice of life. It’s what makes ordinary things fun, exciting, heart-pumping. 

Last year my brother and I bought scooters for using up at our cottages in the summer. We turned some heads in our sleepy little summer town of Sauble Beach … not because we were riding electric scooters, but because we are in our late 60’s bombing around at 30 km/h on these two-wheeled platforms. (Read about it here.)

To be honest, I think we started a little bit of a trend in Sauble because I’ve seen a lot more adults riding scooters since we started.

Not only are electric scooters fun to ride around on, but they are also practical.

Our cottages are in a park that has a few designated structures to take garbage and recycling to. Instead of walking our bags and recycling containers to the garbage barns, we can now zoom over to them on our scooters.

However, sometimes there is too much to carry on a scooter. Sometimes things get a little precarious – like taking my recycling container to the barn. I have to place it on the platform of my scooter and squeeze my knees against it so that it doesn’t fall off and spill everything out.

Even more difficult is getting a 30-pound propane tank refilled at the station. Just imagine pressing both legs against a round tank going about 20 km/h. It takes some skill … not that we can’t do that, because we have on multiple occasions. 

… And that is where the creative juices comes in. So when they start flowing, you can’t stop what’s produced. 

My brother, John, and I recently got the idea to make trailers for our scooters. … I know, it sounds rather funny. Still we get smiles on our faces thinking about it.

We started imagining how to make them, watched some YouTube videos and came up with a design. We used pvc piping, thinking it would be cheap and easy. … Let me just say that all those T-joints and elbows really add up ($$), not to mention that the wheels ended up being a lot more expensive than we thought!

We figured out a way to attach the cart to the scooter and then began cutting the piping and dry-fitting all the joints and elbows together. When it was all together, we tested it out and it worked. 

Then came the hard part of gluing all the pieces together. The gluing wasn’t difficult, but keeping all those pieces in correct alignment when we glued and set them was. We couldn’t make any adjustments or tweaks after about ten seconds.

Now when we drive by, people are not just smiling at the two old guys on scooters, they are doubled over laughing! 

Here’s the thing: When you look at the world around you – trees, rivers, lakes, sunsets, mountains, fields – you know they point to some amazing creative juices at work. And while no one laughs when they gaze at them, they do think they are amazing. That is what God has made, not random, not by chance, but by design. Discover God through nature and learn about Him in the Bible. 

That’s life!

Paul

Question: What gets your creative juices flowing? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I Couldn’t Find One, So I Created It

There are times you have to create something because you can’t find what you’re looking for anywhere.

Have you ever needed or wanted something but just couldn’t find the right thing? … Maybe it was an item of clothing or a tool, but no place had the right colour, or style you were looking for. You couldn’t find what you had in mind.

Maybe you needed a tool to do something that it wasn’t designed to do and you couldn’t find one that was.

It’s in those moments that you get an urge to create, to make something that will work for your need. Maybe it’s not a total new creation but an adaptation on something that already exists. You feel the need to design something different.

Well, that happened to me the other day.

I was building a new trail to bike on (you can read about that here) and I needed some kind of a scraping tool – a tool that would take the top layer of pine needles and half-decayed leaves away to expose the dirt below.

The logical tool was a rake. But how do you carry a rake with you on your bike when you are traveling through the woods, going up and down hills and around tight corners?

It’s just not practical. I needed to create a tool that would work for my application.

I first looked for options online and found I could purchase such a tool. It had a telescoping handle but was still too long … and it only cost $240.

I thought, “Wow, that’s a lot of money for a rake!” but there was more: you could also attach a saw or a shovel to this handle.

The price for the whole kit was over $600!

You’d have to be a paid trail maker to buy one of these kits. Building trails would have to be a full time job for you to justify paying that much money.

I needed a simpler solution for my trail building, so off to the hardware store I went.

I found what I thought would be perfect. It was an 8-inch wide plastic rake with a 12-inch handle.

The rake part was great but even a 12-inch handle was too long for me to put in my backpack.

An idea came to me to use the forest’s resources.

I was set. All I needed to do was take the handle off the rake. Then when I got to where I was building the trails I could find a tree limb, insert it into the rake and somehow secure it.

After several tries, the use of a drill, screwdriver, pliers and a heat gun, I extracted the handle from the rake.

I got a few drywall screws and a couple of plastic washers and off to the trails I went.

Everything fit in my backpack perfectly. And when I got to my spot, I had a whole selection of handles for me to pop onto my rake.

My new tool works great and the cost to me – just $8.50!

Not a bad creation. … Now I just need a patent.

Here’s the thing: When you find yourself in a place where you need something that you don’t have the resources for, know that you have a God who is the greatest creator there is. He has the solution to your need if you will seek Him, listen to Him and act on what He provides.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you been in need of lately that might require some kind of creation? Leave your comments below.