devotions

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How Driving Around Potholes Is Good For You

I’ve never been into monster truck racing, but lately I kind of wish I owned one. In the aftermath of winter – not that I’m saying it’s over, but it better be – I need to be driving something a little more substantial than my Hyundai Accent.

potholes

The road conditions in my town are like a war zone. My apologies to those who actually live in war zones; I’m sure it’s nothing like it. But from my perspective, I’m dodging bomb craters every few minutes.

It’s our crazy winter that has created these conditions, and if the city doesn’t soon get the road crews out there fixing the potholes, the mechanics in my town will be rubbing their hands together with sinister smiles on their faces. I think my car might already need new shocks or something.

I feel like a rally driver bobbing and weaving around land minds that want to take my car out. I’m not even using the double lanes to pass cars any more. I need that other lane just to get around the missing pavement so I don’t have to drive into oncoming traffic.

I’m sure in other Canadian cities the state of the roads are the same as they are here. … Now I’m starting to worry about an asphalt shortage!

I’m not sure that it’s even possible for us to have an asphalt shortage but I can see the construction companies starting some rumours to drive up the prices. We’ll all be paying for that if it happens.

I’m also predicting a tax increase this year. The bill for road work is going to be astronomical and I’m afraid it will take them until next winter before they make all the repairs that need to be done.

When I was a kid winters were harsher, but the roads seemed to last longer. Maybe they are skimping on the base of the roads. Is it possible that they are using cheap crushed stone from China under our roads? Maybe that’s why our roads aren’t holding up as they should be.

I’m in favour of starting a “buy Canadian gravel” campaign if it will help us drive on smooth pavement.

It could be that they are using a thinner layer of asphalt. They should lay that stuff down as thick as they do for airport runways. Those planes weigh tons more than my little car but those airstrips seem to last and last.

One area that is holding up are the speed bumps they put on some roads to encourage slower speeds. I haven’t seen any missing sections in them. I have, however, been secretly wishing the snow ploughs would push them off to the side with the snow.

No one would notice in the winter. Not until the snow melted would anyone see the piles of black top on the side of the road. They wouldn’t be able to replace them either with all the work they have to do filling potholes all over the city; there’d be no time.

Well, here’s hoping my vehicle will make it on another rally car race to work this morning!

Here’s the thing: In life there will be potholes. We can complain about them; we can blame others; and we can blame God. We can ask God to fill them, but most likely He will help us and guide us around them. We just need to stay alert to God’s direction in our life.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are the road conditions like in your city, in your life?

I would love to hear from you; you can leave your comment below.

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Three Lessons From The Men’s Gold Medal Game

I know hockey is just a game, but we can learn some things from what went down on Sunday morning. Like millions of other Canadians, I was up to watch the game.

olympia-Canada hockey-gold

I had a slight twinge of pity for those living in British Colombia who had to get up at 4 am, but everyone who got up to watch is glad they did. What a game!

Team Canada dominated the play throughout and, like every other game they played in the tournament, the only thing that made it tense was their lack of goal scoring. That meant a crazy bounce, a little mistake, or a fluky play could sink them at any time.

But in the end, it all turned out just as I had thought.

And that leads me to the first lesson: When you have a feeling, a sense, or some kind of inkling about what’s going to happen, don’t keep it to yourself. Announce it!

It may be because I’m a Canadian, or maybe it’s just my lack of confidence, or perhaps nothing more than a nutty superstition, but I often keep my hunches to myself.

On Thursday morning when our lady’s curling team won the gold, I had this feeling (or call it what you will) that we were going to win both golds in curling and both golds in hockey.

Thursday afternoon I almost thought I was wrong, but then our women’s hockey team came back like Canadians to rip the victory from the USA team in True North dramatic fashion. My gut feeling was intact.

However, I said nothing of what I thought until the horn sounded to end the men’s hockey final on Sunday. But announcing then that I had this feeling Canada would win those four golds meant nothing.

You have to go out on a limb and state your convictions or predictions before they take place.  You can’t be a Don Cherry wise guy any other way.

The second lesson to learn is that it is far less stressful watching the gold medal men’s hockey game a second time. That’s right, for some reason CBC replayed the game Sunday afternoon and I found myself watching it again. I yelled up to Lily that we scored when we got our first goal.

During the first watching, I was a bit of a wreck. I didn’t talk much, I was nervous, I couldn’t look away from the TV. I enjoyed how well our team played, but my stomach was in knots.

On the second watching, I was at ease. I even did some work on my computer trying to get my email inbox to zero (but that’s another blog).

When you know the outcome of something, it takes all the nervous stress away.

Then there is one more lesson to learn from this game, and it’s this: no one should be late for church ever! I got up at my regular time, had my devotions, and showered before the game began. I finished my breakfast by the time the players had finished handing out those little trinkets before the game. Lil and I even had time after the game to watch interviews.

And we still made it to church before the puck dropped … I mean the opening song.

Here’s the thing: If you’re a Christian, you know how things end. Don’t be shy; announce it to your friends. Because you know the outcome, you don’t have to be nervous. Be confident about the future. And come prepared and expectant into God’s house to worship with your family, friends and fellow believers. It’s awesome!

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What did you learn from watching the game Sunday morning?  Leave your comment below.

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How Darkness Causes You To Stumble

I’m wondering if you can become more klutzy as you get older. I wouldn’t say that I have the greatest hand eye coordination but I’ve always been able to negotiate my way around things.

Falling-down

But not last night. I was working at the church and had gone out to run an errand. When I came back, I didn’t turn on any lights except for in my office. So, by the time I was done for the night, the church was pitch black dark.

The church foyer is pretty open so I made my way across it to the stairs. I started down the stairs and right near the bottom something caught my eye. It may have been a reflection or something but I looked up and then missed the last one or two stairs.

Well that was it – it would have made a great video! I sprawled out, my computer bag went flying, and I landed hard on both knees, which are not the greatest to begin with.

I rolled on the ground for a second, waiting for the pain to subside, then stood up, grabbed my bag and left. No harm, no foul. No one saw my wipe out. I didn’t suffer any kind of injury. But I felt pretty dumb.

When I was in my teens my bedroom was in the far end of our basement. There were two flights of steps to go down, and to get to my room I had to walk through two other rooms.

Instead of turning on a light at the top of the stairs, then turning on a light in my room and going back to the top of the stairs to turn that light out again, I would just make my way to my room in the dark.

I not only had the stairs to contend with, but I had couches, lamp stands, and any number of other objects that would be in my way. But I made it; I never fell down the stairs, never banged my knee into a door frame.

What happened to me last night, I don’t know. I’m just glad I wasn’t chewing gum at the same time; it might have been a disaster.

I know some people would try to tell me that I should look where I’m going. But really, I’ve been walking for well over 50 years! I think by now I should be able to cheat on that a little bit and get away with it.

Every morning I walk down a dark hallway, turning a Q-tip in my ear, and so far I haven’t jammed my elbow against the wall and sent that Q-tip clean through to my other ear.

Maybe my fall was an isolated incident, some kind of fluke that won’t happen again. Or maybe it’s the start of a clumsiness that will find me in traction drinking through a straw!

I guess I will just have to see what happens.

Here’s the thing: In the dark, even a glint of light catches our attention. Our eyes are drawn to it. But in the light, these little glints aren’t even noticeable. God has given us a great light in the Bible, and if we will read it, know it, and use it, all the little theories, fads, and ideas won’t distract us and cause us to fall.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is your greatest source of distraction? Leave your comment below.

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Sleepless In . . . Kingston!

I just had one of those nights where you find yourself wide awake at 2 am. I’m not sure if this kind of thing is contagious, but a friend of mine was telling me the day before how he had had a sleepless night.

insomnia

The very next night, like someone had sneezed right in my face, I rolled around in my bed like I was doing laps at the track.

It makes you crazy when you can’t stop thinking about something, even though you can’t solve it. It just hangs on in your mind. And even when you try to redeem the time by thinking about something else, you always come back to that unrelenting, unpleasant thought or issue.

And, after a while, you realize that unless you do something, you will not be able to sleep at all.

When I get to that stage, I just get up. I need to change my position; I need to get away from the heavy breathing of someone deep in sleep beside me.

So, the other night I got out of bed, went downstairs and started to work on my sermon for the next week. So what if it was Monday morning at 2 am? I have some of my best and most creative thoughts at that time of night.

I worked on my sermon and made great headway until about 3:30 am when I thought I’d better try to sleep. Even though I was still very awake and stimulated from my late night study time, I grabbed a blanket, laid down on the couch and turned the TV on.

If there is anything that will put me to sleep it’s the TV – not those infomercials though, they get me thinking of things I could make or buy. (I think I wrote once about the ab-dolly my son and I made after watching an infomercial.)

No, I need some kind of drama. In my flicking through the channels I came across a TV show I like, called “Castle”. It’s a detective show where a mystery writer helps the police solve crimes.

But the only crime I wanted solved was catching the guy who stole my sleep so far that night! And don’t worry, I won’t give away the show’s ending – only because I can’t … I was asleep in probably 15 minutes.

Actually, all I need is two things to put me to sleep: TV and being horizontal. It works every time. It works for Sunday NFL games, TV shows, and for romantic movies my wife sometime cons me into watching with her.

In the morning it was Lil who woke me up. I had slept through three alarms and never heard one of them. She came down wanting the room for her workout. So I trudged upstairs, and crawled into bed. But by then the day had started in my mind and it wasn’t long before I was up and moving.

… Maybe a little slower than normal, mind you.

Here’s the thing:  Sometimes we are awake because we’ve seen or experienced something that has shocked us. Sometimes it’s just indigestion from bad pizza late at night. But one thing you can do to redeem the time is spend it with God. In those quiet hours, when nothing is moving except your mind, take the time to talk to God. He may have something to say to you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What can trigger a sleepless night for you? Leave your comment below.

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If A Placebo Can Change The Weather, I Want It!

This week I read an article on the placebo effect. You know, it’s when the doctor gives you a pill, you think it’s a miracle drug, but really it’s made up of nothing more than sugar.

placebo-effect

From what I read, it works for some people in an amazing way. Because they believe something to be true, it actually starts a chemical reaction in them that begins healing in their bodies.

I realize I’m over simplifying it but I really don’t care how it works. I’m just interested in it if it works. And if it works, we need to apply this to way more than just our health!

I wonder if we could apply this mind-over-matter to things that we don’t have control over in nature, like say, the weather.

My daughter believes she brings bad weather with her. She lived in Calgary for six years and they probably recorded the six worst winters on record. One year, she said they had snow or hail in every month of the year.

Now she’s moved back to Ontario, and I hate to tell her this, but Jonah got thrown overboard just for causing rough water for a bunch of sailers. What are we going to do with Karlie if, in fact, she’s responsible for this brutal winter weather that never seems to end?

I wonder if we could all try this placebo effect and start to get our minds to believe that we are having a warm, sunny winter here. You know, gang up on Karlie’s mindset of “I bring bad weather”.

I can’t imagine that Karlie’s the only one that is causing the extreme winter conditions we are experiencing this year. But I figure there has to be a lot of people who would be eager to apply their mind to something like this.

If we could start believing it’s warm outside, maybe we could bring back global warming to this part of the country. I would really appreciate it if the glacier in my front yard would start to recede a little right about now.

To train our minds for this we could scrap the free flu shot clinics … those scientists are so bad at predicting the strain of flu each year, they’re worse than weathermen! What we need instead is free psych clinics. If the government just paid all the sports psychologists and regular psychologists to put on free clinics, I really think we could get our minds moving in the right direction.

If this worked well, we might even be able to create a tropical winter experience right here in Ontario. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about planning a vacation to somewhere warm.

So, how about on the count of three – no, two – we all start thinking about palm trees, white sand, blue water, and sunny skies and see what happens . . .

Hey, I don’t think enough of you are doing it! – there’s still a blizzard outside my window. Or maybe my daughter’s attitude is really powerful. She was pretty strong-willed as a child.

Here’s the thing: God has created us with amazing minds that can do more than we even know. And He has created a world that has elements so powerful we have no control over them. When you think about it, there are so many mysteries around us, it only makes sense to look to God for wisdom, guidance, and help in everything.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How has having a positive attitude changed something for you?  Leave your comments below.

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A Restaurant Service Disaster

I am wondering if there was a restaurant servers’ work slowdown last Sunday and no one made it public. It seemed like just another Sunday to me, that is, until my wife, Lily, and I went out for lunch after church.

bad service 2

We had a busy afternoon ahead of us, with some hospital visiting, so we thought we would grab something to eat at a restaurant rather than going home first.

In deciding where to eat, we didn’t really want fast food, but we didn’t really want to be a long time in a restaurant, either. We were kind of in a hurry. So where do you go when you want an upgrade from burger and fries but don’t want to wait half an hour for your food? Swiss Chalet, of course.

So we got in the car and headed right there. Swiss Chalet was a perfect choice because you know what you are going to order before you enter the restaurant (at least one of us does).

When I was growing up, their entire menu could be boiled down to three options: You could order a quarter chicken white meat, or a quarter chicken dark meat. And if you were really hungry, you could order a half chicken meal.

Now they’ve added a number of other items like ribs and salads and a few others that my eyes kind of gloss over when I look at the menu.

So, when we pulled open the doors to the restaurant, I was ready to tell my waitress exactly what I wanted on my plate. Except when we got through the doors, we realized there were several other people waiting to be seated.

I was a little surprised at this because it was after 1:00 pm, so the noon rush should have been over by then. But I thought, “This is no problem; it’s Swiss Chalet. This line will clear out in no time.”

And sure enough, we didn’t wait more than about 5 minutes before we were shown to our table.  However, on our way to our table, I noticed there was a whole section that was empty, and in the back of my mind I wondered why we had to wait to be seated.

We sat down and I did my usual thing of turning the pages of the menu, not really looking at anything, and then closing it again … because, of course, I already knew what I was going to order.

It was about then that I noticed a few things. There were no waitresses in sight. No one came to ask us if we wanted something to drink. I started to get a bad feeling that if we stayed we would be there all afternoon.

We actually decided to try another restaurant. Others stayed, but we left – no waitress had noticed us come in anyway. The crazy thing was, on our way out there was another line up of people by the entrance waiting to be seated.

If only they knew there was just a hostess working that day, and there wouldn’t be anyone to take their order.

Here’s the thing: We can get conditioned to just accept things in our lives, even things that are wrong in God’s eyes. Don’t just accept those sins as things you can’t do anything about.  Recognize they are wrong and make a move to get rid of them.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is something that you have just put up with in your life?  Leave your comment below.

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How Snow Can Keep You From Facing The Inevitable

When I woke up this morning there was a cottony layer of snow on the ground and my heart sank a little.

snowy day

It sank partly because we just got rid of a barrel full of the white stuff from about two weeks ago. Even though I only saw the snow through the blinds – it looked like the fuzz that grows on a man’s face after about three days of no shaving (like I would know) – something told me this stuff is here to stay for the season.

I should have been prepared. Yesterday, I watched two NFL games that were played in blizzard-like conditions … it was inevitable that the storm would move up to Canada and get us.

I like the usual debate we have around here at Christmas time. As it approaches, we start asking, “Do you think we will have snow for Christmas?”, or, “I wonder if we’ll have a green Christmas this year”.

Everyone wants those thin flakes that look like coriander seed and taste like wafers made from honey … oh, no wait, that’s manna that God sent the Israelites in the desert.  Our while flakey stuff is tasteless and has to be shovelled!

We all want it, but we’re fine if it only falls on Christmas Eve, or even really early Christmas day. That way it looks like Christmas but we haven’t had to dig ourselves out of it yet.

This snowfall, however, is coming a little earlier than I had hoped. There’s a chance it might not stay with us. We miraculously got rid of the last batch with some mild weather, some rain and a day of +10 celsius (that’s 50 degrees fahrenheit).

But they’re calling for snow for the next five days. I think I have to face it that winter is here to stay. There will be no guessing about a white Christmas this year; it’s a lock that we’ll have snow.

Then again, you never know. The weather could turn. And look! … Well you can’ t look, but I can – it’s now raining here on the other side of my window and the snow is rapidly disappearing. That might make for some slippery roads tonight if the temperature drops.

That also means we can still play the game of “Will we have snow for Christmas?” The odds are not in my favour though. They (who are they, anyway?) are calling for about 10 centimetres of snow this week.

There’s just no way to escape it, that is, if I’m going to stay here in Kingston. Snow is what we face every year, and even with the crazy weather patterns and global warming (it’s not happening fast enough), a snowy forecast is in my future.

Here’s the thing: There are so many things, like the weather, that are completely out of our control, yet we spend time thinking about them and hoping for something else. We don’t really want to face what is inevitable. It’s best, however, if we just prepare for it.

We can do that with God, too. We can hope that the Bible is wrong, or that He will be accepting of everyone in the end, but that’s not facing the inevitable. It’s just best to prepare for meeting God, by beginning a relationship with the one that Christmas is all about – Jesus Christ.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you dislike most about winter? 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.

stereo system

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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How To Pay Attention To The Alarms Of Life

Alarms go off around us all the time. Some are not that noticeable, others are unmistakable.

The other day, Lily bought a new alarm clock. She wanted something a little more modern, a little smaller, a little more stylish. My question is, do you want the alarm clock to wake you up? If so, what the alarm sounds like is the first concern.

timeindiglo.001

Lil’s new alarm does a couple of things to wake you up. It glows in changing colours when the alarm goes off. And believe me, the glow is pretty bright. It cycles through several colours.

You may wonder how I know this. Well, the other day, rather than getting up out of bed to read the Bible and do my devotions, I decided to do them in bed.

There I was sitting up in bed with my iPad, hoping the glow from it would not wake Lily. I shouldn’t have worried. When her alarm went off, I waited for her to click it off but nothing happened. She didn’t move, and for two minutes I watched the light change colour to green then amber then blue … etc.

There was an audible alarm that went off as well, but it wasn’t a loud noise. This alarm has sounds, and the sound Lil picked was a babbling brook. Other than the fact that I felt like I needed to go to the washroom, it was a very nice sound.

… It didn’t wake Lily, but it was soothing. This two minute routine happened three times over the next 20 minutes until I gently woke her up by saying, “You need a new alarm clock.”

She immediately thought it had not gone off. But I assured her it had gone off three times with her face basking in the glow of the alarm’s changing light each time.

It doesn’t matter how nice an alarm clock looks, or what kind of features it has, an alarm clock – to be worth anything – has to wake you up!  If it doesn’t, it’s no good.

Personally, my alarm has to be loud enough and annoying enough to wake me up. Over the years that’s not always been enough for me. I’ve had to put the alarm far from my reach so I had to almost get out of bed to shut it off.

I could never use the snooze button either or I’d keep hitting it for hours. I have to get right up. No music for me; I would enjoy it too much in my half woken daze and just stay in bed.

No, for me an alarm has to startle me, rattle me, make me jump … like the security alarm we have at work. When I’ve mistakenly set it off, it blasts so loud your heart jumps out of your body, your heart dings a bell in your head, and your pacemaker restarts itself. It’s frightening.

Lily either needs to turn up the sound on the babbling brook alarm clock so that it’s a crashing wave sound, or look for an alarm that will do what it’s supposed to do … wake her up.

Here’s the thing: God often uses alarms to get our attention. Sometimes the alarm doesn’t start out to be very loud and we don’t hear it. Then, when it becomes a little annoying, we are tempted to hit the snooze button. But don’t hit snooze; rather, listen intently to God’s alarms.  React to the alarm by getting up and following what the Lord wants you to do.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What kind of an alarm do you need to wake up to? Leave your comment below.

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Why Aging Gives You New Perspectives And Opportunities

What goes around comes around, and when it comes to aging there is a lot of that going around. I just started playing hockey at 6 am Saturday mornings (there are still a few spots if anyone’s interested), and believe me, I didn’t think I would like it … but I do!

aging_process_man

Back when I was growing up, 6 am games were the worst. I hated having to get up in the dark, still half asleep, barely able to put my equipment on in the correct order. Those games were murder.

Then, as a father, I hated having to take my son to 6 am practices – mid-week, if you could believe it – adding the hassle of trying to get him to school on time after practice.

Part of the reason I hated 6 am games or practices was I didn’t like being stirred from my warm, comfortable bed, only to be jolted awake by the cold of the arena.

I never minded playing late at night; in fact, it didn’t matter if there was ice at 10pm, midnight or 1 in the morning – I was up for it. But now I don’t like playing hockey at night. It gets to be around 8:30 pm and I start debating whether I really want to play or not.

You have to understand it’s not as simple as playing the game, coming home and going to bed. No … it doesn’t work that way. You are so juiced up on adrenaline after a game that you are way too wired to go to bed.

In my late teens, my brother and I would come home from hockey practice at 1 am and sit in the kitchen making milkshakes and discussing the practice for another hour.  That’s a killer, for getting up in the morning.

A couple of years ago, I relented on my “no night hockey” policy because I had a chance to play with my son, Mike. The games were only at 9 pm but we weren’t getting to bed until after midnight. Morning came awfully early.

With this 6 am hockey now, somehow waking up at 5:15 am to get there isn’t that big a deal for me. It’s way easier than thinking about playing at nine at night.

This morning, for instance, I played and was home before 7:30 am. I had a full day ahead of me, though I did take a bit of a nap later in the morning.

I’ve gone full circle. I used to hate morning hockey and now I love it. And it’s all because of aging. It’s given me a new perspective on when to play hockey.

I talk to lots of people who are down on getting older. They warn me of the hazards and hindrances (I’ve even experienced some), but I’m trying not to look at my life from the perspective of when I was a young adult. My current perspective has opened up some new opportunities for me.

Here’s the thing:  As you age, you may not be willing to serve God the way you once did. Our tendency is to look at service from the perspective of the past and think we are done serving.  But with age comes a new perspective and that will open up new opportunities to serve God in ways you never before thought of as possibilities.

That’s life!

Paul

Question: How has your aging changed your perspective on what you do or how you serve God? Leave your comment below.