devotions

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The Bugs are Really Bugging Me

It’s just the end of May and the bugs are really bug’n me! It’s probably not any worse than other seasons, but I’ve had a few more run-ins with them this year than in the past.

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Last week while biking, we stopped for a few minutes to catch our breath, but the mosquitos were so bad we had to keep moving. Fortunately, those little creatures don’t try to keep up with us while we are riding or it would be torture going over a log or around a sharp turn swatting at the little varmints.

This past week, my wife and I were driving in the country, noticing the beautiful scenery of trees and lakes at almost every bend in the road. At one point, we thought it was raining, but there were no clouds in the sky or rain drops on our window.

We then, realized it was a swarm of bugs that had made the sound of rain on the windshield when we plowed through their impromptu gathering in the middle of a highway. (They were probably deciding which holiday weekend campfire they were going to hit next!)

When we got to our destination, the front of the car, the backs of the side mirrors, and the front grill area were literally carpeted with dead bugs. I think the Lepage’s glue company should look into using a bug formula for their glue because these insects stuck on the car like crazy glue!

Then last night we were parking our car by the harbour in town. We found an empty spot but as we pulled in, we realized why no one was parking there. There was a swarm of bugs all around the car!

As the chivalrous guy that I am, I kindly backed the car up to let Lily out away from the swarm. Then I drove back into the spot AND the swarm of bugs and parked. Squinting and holding my breath, I fought my way through the cloud of black insects, only sustaining a mere flesh wound.

But these instances are minor compared to bug infestations of the past. I remember as a young teenager in Toronto going to the store and seeing the store owner with a broom, sweeping up thousands of dead June bugs all around the door of his store.

I remember walking through a playing field out west in the 80’s and thinking the grass had an odd brown colour to it, only to discover that with every step on that field a cloud of grasshoppers would fly up.

Bugs really know how to bug us, don’t they? I’m glad I have arms and hands to whack them and get them out of my face. I feel sorry for animals like horses and cows who have to stand there and take it because God didn’t make their tails long enough to reach their faces.

Here’s the thing: When we meet up with a swarm of bugs, our immediate reaction is to close our mouth and eyes. We don’t even have to think about it; we just do it. It’s an instinctive reaction and that should be how we are with prayer. When we come into a cloud of trouble, our first instinct should be to pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and help. It should be the first thing we do, and we shouldn’t have to even think about doing it.

That’s Life!

Paul

 

Question: What bugs you the most in life? Leave your comment below.

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I’ve Had It With Falling Off My Bike

I went for a mountain bike ride today and noticed a few things that I’m not crazy about. It was my first time riding this trail this year and it has lots of technical and rocky sections to it.

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Though I know the trail well – I’ve been biking it for years – I found myself stopping, and falling off my bike more frequently than I normally do. One time as my tires slipped, I clicked out of my peddle to put my foot down, and what I thought was moss covered rock was actually moss over a hole. I step down into it hard.

The whole ride I felt a little clumsy. I started to think, “I didn’t have this trouble last year. What’s up with me?” Maybe, as we get older, we start to revert back to the junior high days of not being in control of our limbs!

Junior high kids are always tripping over their own feet or someone else’s. I remember when I worked with junior high kids and a kid would have a mark on his forehead. I would ask what happened and the reply would be something like, “Oh, I walked into a door.” He would say it like it was an every day occurrence, certainly something he’d done before.

I don’t really want to revert back to those clumsy days. I’m still in my fifties. If I’m starting to regress now, I can only imagine how bad I’ll be when I’m 65 or 70. I’ll have to be clothed in bubble wrap! … It will look strange and it will hamper my movements, but you can’t beat the protection. I wonder if I’ll be able to get it in blue and white?

The other thought I had was that as I get older maybe it takes a little longer to get my balance back for riding those trails that are cambered. If that’s the case, I better have my balance back the next time I go riding. I don’t want it to take half the season to get comfortable on that terrain.

Maybe it’s worse than that! Maybe it’s a combination of regressive clumsiness and faulty balance. I’ve known some older people who get vertigo; maybe this is just a real bad case of “clumbalansy” – that’s a new word I just made up to describe this medical condition that seems to be attacking my equilibrium.

I’ve never had anyone tell me that they have experienced this as they got older. My doctor never warned me that I might contract clumbalansy as I age. I wonder if there is some medication I could take to clear it up fast?

They have products to help junior highers with their acne – what about some ointment or pill for my clumbalansy? … I might just have to fight through this one on my own.

Here’s the thing: You would think that the older we get, the easier it would be to stay close with God. But what I’ve found is there are all kinds of reasons, pressures, interests that make it difficult to persist in seeking God. Growing as a Christian is something we do for life. It’s really becoming more like Christ, and that will never get easier. So we have to keep fighting through and keep seeking, keep drawing close to God, dedicated to becoming more like Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you find more difficult the older you get? Leave your comment below.

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Choose Your Socks Wisely

They say you never know what a day will bring, but sometimes you can sense a day is going to have a certain theme to it. It would be nice if you could go to a drawer and, like picking out a pair of socks, pick your day’s mood (and, of course, check to make sure there’s no holes in it).

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Some people get up on the wrong side of the bed. Others roll out of bed the wrong way and voila, their day seems to be magically selected for them. Fortunately for me, I usually roll out of bed feeling good about what is ahead for me.

Unfortunately, that feeling doesn’t always last very long. The sock drawer effect happens and I pick out a day of frustration to wear like a ratty, old pair of sweat socks.

That happened to me recently. For the first hour or so (getting up, doing my devotions, showering and having breakfast) everything went well. Then I was informed that I needed to drive my wife somewhere on my way to work.

Sometimes it just takes a little rewriting of the daily script to initiate “a day of interruptions” theme. … Oh, and believe me, that did it! Driving Lily to her destination, I was a little agitated. It detained me from getting down to my planned work.

When I finally got to work, in walked an unplanned, unscheduled, perfect illustration for my “interruptions” day. The man was seeking help but each time he had come the previous week, he had been told to come back as I had been on vacation.

The last time he had been told to phone first before he came in. Instead, he just showed up. He was in need of some financial assistance and though I am not a money lender, as a pastor I am used to trying to help out people in his position.

He needed food and the solution was to get him a grocery store gift card. However, after being put off a few times already, he was not in a mood to be put off again.

As I listened to his story, my heart went out to him. Yes, it would be an interruption for me to stop what I was doing to go buy him a gift card, but I felt that’s what I should do.

Unfortunately, he had a few restrictions. He could not go to the grocery store that was the closest to the church. The next closest did not have a store near where he lived.

That meant this interruption would take even longer. Half way there I remembered I had taken my wallet out of my pocket and it was still on my desk at church, so I turned around and went back.

I got the wallet, drove back to the grocery store, and bought the gift card only to notice that the store was affiliated with a grocery store that was close to the church. I could have purchased the card there and saved half the time!

That’s how my day went, one thing after another … until I got home and changed my socks.

Here’s the thing: You can focus on the frustration of each day and get all agitated inside. OR you can view the events of the day as things God brings your way and deal with them as opportunities to serve Him. Your choice.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is your biggest frustration?  Leave your comment below.

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You Can’t Beat The Real Thing

Though television and the internet have provided us with live images from around the world that we would never see otherwise, what they can’t do is give us a live experience.

Certainly television news tries to give us live experiences of wars and disasters. The commentary of the reporter is always dramatic. They somehow think that showing the same footage over and over and making the same comments seeps into our psyche so it becomes like an experience to us. … but it doesn’t really work.

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My wife, Lily and I took a trip to Atlantic City, for a week’s get away and to relax. No, not to gamble, though there are a plethora of opportunities to do that.

We aren’t even staying in one of the casino hotels. In fact, we are staying at the very end of the famous Atlantic City boardwalk. To be accurate, the boardwalk used to go past our hotel.

About six months ago, a hurricane came through and wiped out the part of the boardwalk that runs in front of our hotel. I’m surprised it didn’t destroy part of the hotel we are staying in as well.

I remember seeing the news reels on TV when the disaster took place, thinking that it was too bad. I even felt sorry for the people who lost homes and for the damage it caused them and the city.

But until yesterday, when my wife and I walked along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, and saw the remains of the portion of boardwalk that was lost during Hurricane Sandy, I had not experienced it.

It’s not that we experienced the storm, but our experience of being right at the site of the damage is something television and the internet can’t give us. For example, there’s something better about going to a live sporting event than watching it on TV – even though on TV you get replays and commentary and all kinds of extras.

It’s the same with going to a concert or performance of some kind. There is something better about being there live. If you are there, it is an experience. If you’re watching on television, you are only tuning in to it.

There have been major events that were so pivotal that we remember where we were when they happened: when President Kennedy was shot, when Canada beat the Russians in the 1972 hockey summit, or when the twin towers were struck.

The experience was not the actual event in those cases. The experience was with the place, the people and the emotion of where we were at the time.

For instance, I remember being in the library of my high school, with wall-to-wall people watching the game on three little TVs. I remember the place erupting when Henderson scored his goal. I remember everybody hugging and cheering and shouting (yes, shouting in a library) when the buzzer went. I watched the game live but my experience was in my school.

The point is, our experiences are with live events we are present for, not something we see on TV or the internet.

Here’s the thing: We can see something about God, read something about Him, even be with people who have experienced God. But until we personally engage with Him, meet with Him, or have some dealings with Him, we can’t say we have had an experience with God. We have just been looking on

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What event can you remember in detail as to where you were and who you were with?  Leave your comment below.

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From Plans To Reality

Some people are big planners; others are not. I don’t happen to be a natural planner. I HAVE to plan and so I do it, but it’s work for me. It takes considerable effort on my part.

In a perfect world, I would wake up every morning and say, “It’s a brand new day!” You have to say it out loud though, and with a Jamaican accent. And one more thing, you really have to roll out the “br” sound. Try it with me: “It’s a brrrrrand new day!” (Don’t forget the Jamaican accent.) … I know you feel better just saying it.

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That’s how I would love to approach each morning: every day a blank page, and me eagerly awaiting what will happen. The only problem with that is I have responsibilities and I have wants and dreams cluttering that wishful blank page.

This morning in my devotions I read Proverbs 16:9 which says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

That means all that I’ve done in my life so far is really the Lord’s doing. My plans, my dreams and my wants – all the things I’ve gone after – have only come to be because God established them.

That also means the custom platform shoes and knee-length coat with an 8 inch fur collar I bought in the 70‘s was because God established it for me (maybe not, but I really wish I could find a picture of that get up). It means that my plans and dreams that haven’t materialized or worked out are because God didn’t establish them.

I could be sad or angry that I haven’t gotten all I wanted, hoped or planned for, or I could take comfort that I did get what God wanted, planned and dreamed for me so far.

Going on from here, I could stop planning and dreaming, sit back and start each day with “It’s a brand new day” and see what happens, or I could try to figure out what God has planned for me and follow that.

But how can I know God’s plans in advance? And how detailed are God’s plans? Are His plans as detailed as what I will have for breakfast, or whether I should buy a new Apple product – it doesn’t matter what, anything will do. (I’d sure like Him to establish that plan!)

Maybe we can’t live that way. Instead, we have to keep making plans, keep dreaming and hoping but roll with what actually is established. I wonder if most of our frustration is just being upset that God changed our plans on us.

We would be happier if we were prepared for changes to our plans and pleasantly surprised by what He establishes.

Here’s the thing: To live a content life we need to be happy with what God brings our way. We need to be okay when He changes our plans. But we still need to keep planning, dreaming, hoping and wanting. If we stopped, we would probably be dead.

Thanks, Lord for ordering my steps. It’s just what you wanted, so it’s just what I want too.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How important are the plans you make for yourself?  Leave your comment below.

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I’ve Really Let Myself Go

Not very often, on rare occasions, every once in a while, I’ve seen a picture of someone and thought, “Man you’ve really let yourself go!” It’s like they just stopped caring about themselves and let age and gravity do their thing.

I feel like I’ve let myself go lately. It’s only been for the last couple of weeks so there isn’t much to notice. But the bothersome thing is, how easy its been to start letting myself go.

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There are a couple of things that have got me off my game lately: one is busyness and the other is sore body parts. Where I have let myself go is keeping up with my exercising and staying on top of my computer maintenance.

If you were thinking that I’ve gone all puffy, my hair was greasy and down to my shoulders and I hadn’t shaved in a week, you can dismiss that image from you mind (ha, maybe you can’t now).

My appearance hasn’t really changed. I’m still showering every day and shaving when I have to, but I’ve not been doing my daily walks, aerobics or weight lifting.  I know that it takes three weeks to make a habit, but I’m afraid that I’m forming a new habit in record time!

I guess, it’s natural.  When things are let go and unattended, they don’t get better. A lawn gets weeds, a car breaks down, food goes bad . . . when you let them go.

My computer has gone that way as well. My busyness has left me with 33 files and folders strewn all over my desktop, and emails mounting in my inbox. I’ve had too many other pressing things to keep up with.

It all started with a sore knee and elbow I somehow picked up from playing hockey. Nothing serious, but they were bothering me just enough that I thought I better rest them rather than push too hard.

After a few days of non-activity, I started to get pretty good at finding other reasons or excuses for not exercising … and that’s when I stumbled onto this busy thing.

The busy excuse has been working like a charm even after my knee started feeling better. I also found I could use it for a number of other things as well, like my computer.

Now here I am, two weeks into creating my new habit of letting myself go, and the things that were making me busy are completed. I don’t have an excuse now. I could say that I’m always busy but I know I’m not too busy to exercise and execute files and emails.

I’m thinking now that I have to stop creating a habit of letting myself go and start creating a habit of getting back to what I should be doing. But one habit seems so much easier than the other.

Even though I’m a little busy today – I have to travel out of town, and have a few things I need to do before I go – I’m going to get back to my exercises and clean up some files starting today.

Here’s the thing: Things come along to break up your routine of spending time with God.  Sometimes they are legitimate reasons, and they may be unavoidable. But it becomes easy to let them become excuses to keep you away from your time with God. Don’t keep using the same excuse or make up a new one. Decide today to get back to your time with God. He’s waiting for you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is your most used excuse to get out of things?  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.

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Santa Is Dead

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I don’t think Santa is coming back next year.

I am fully aware that it is March and we are far, far from that time of year when the jolly old fella usually shows up. However, I just happened to be driving by a house in a nearby subdivision and there was Santa lying on the ground. Pictures don’t lie … and the spears that have pinned him and his trusty helpers to the ground, don’t bode well for his return next December.

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No, I don’t believe in Santa Claus, but I do believe in keeping your decorations applicable to the season. I understand that some people leave their Christmas lights up all year long, but if you don’t look up too high you don’t even notice them.

Lawn ornaments, though? Come on! How hard is it to pack Santa up and put him a box? He’s already been deflated; there’s no HO, HO, HO left in him. I think the kids on the street would become a little suspect that Santa isn’t real when he is laying dead on your doorstep for three months.

As I have looked around the neighbourhood, I’ve seen lots of Christmas ornaments still on display. There was a plastic snowman on a lawn the other night with a light still shining brightly inside him. This weekend was St. Patrick’s Day – at least put a shamrock or a green scarf around his neck!

I’ll admit I’m not the first guy to take down his lights after Christmas. I usually miss the first warm day and end up taking them down when it’s freezing outside. But I get the job done by the middle of January at the latest!

Last year as I was walking around our neighbourhood, I noticed there were lots of people who still had their Christmas lights up in April and May. By looking at the condition of some of the lights, it was apparent they had been there for several years.

Maybe those people lost their ladder. Maybe their garage is so packed that the ladder is buried in there somewhere. Maybe they figure they don’t have room for lights in the basement or garage so they just leave them up.

I think that if you leave your Christmas decoration up all year you have to use them in some way, like maybe change the lightbulbs to pink and blue and white for Easter. Have your blow up Santa hold a big old Pysanka (Ukrainian Easter egg).

On Canada Day, change your lights to red and white and have your blow up reindeer sport Canadian flag saddles. On Labour Day, place them all working in the garden.

Maybe we should have a law that you get a $25 fine for having Christmas decorations up past February 1st. Here’s an idea: JUST TAKE DOWN YOUR CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we don’t deal with the sin in our lives right away. It becomes clutter in our relationship with God. We need to pay attention to the clutter or we get used to having it in our lives. The best way to take down the clutter or sin is through regular confession to God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What tends to clutter you home, yard, life? Leave your comment below.

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When The Couch Is Call’n

Sunday afternoons I like to take a nap on the couch. It’s not really that I like to take a nap, rather I NEED to take a nap. There is some kind of power that overtakes me and I can’t do anything about it.

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Last Sunday was a good example. I was up early at 6 am, had a busy morning, preached a sermon, greeted people at the door, and by the time we locked up and headed home from church it was about one in the afternoon.

After lunch I wanted to watch a little golf, but there was a hockey game on first, so I settled in to catch the last period. Lily came down to join me and show me something on Facebook.

I watched it and then, as we talked, I could feel myself slipping away. Lil noticed and started laughing, which stirred me a little. She said she was going to change the channel to something else. I said, “Don’t. I’m watching the game.” She simply grinned and replied, “I’ll wait 30 seconds ‘till you fall asleep.”

In a matter of a minute I could feel myself going. It’s hard to describe the feeling, but everything around me becomes a blur. The noise from the TV is nothing more than static white noise and I can’t make out what anyone is saying.

Somehow, like Sampson, strength leaves my body and my limbs become heavy and useless. There is also a sense like someone has hit the remote switch on my eyelids and they slowly descend over my eyes like having automated blinds on your windows.

Once that happens, I can’t give you any more details. I am gone, gone gone! And Lily freely changes the channel without any opposition from me.

What happened on Sunday was not the first time. This is a regular Sunday afternoon occurrence – one that I’ve practiced for years … too many years to count, in fact. I inherited this trait from my father and grandfather. For many years I watched them go through this same Sunday afternoon process.

Back then I thought it was wasted time, but somehow, somewhere in my 30’s, it showed up in my life. At times I have fought it and kept myself busy during the afternoon, but more and more I am embracing this phenomenon.

It may have something to do with my ability to sleep pretty much anywhere. If I can get horizontal or even semi-horizontal, there is a very good chance I won’t be entering into conversation for very long.

It’s clear that there is probably nothing I can do about the Sunday afternoon nap. It’s now a habit … and you can probably predict what I will be doing next Sunday afternoon!

Here’s the thing: There was a time when it seemed like work to try to fit even 5 minutes in my day to spend with God. But as my relationship with God has grown more and more, it’s almost automatic now for me to get up before anyone else in the house and spend an extended time with Him. So you can probably predict where I’ll be at 6 am most days.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has become automatic regarding your relationship with God? Leave your comment below.

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Stop Staring!

We had dinner the other night in a restaurant that looked like a hunting cabin. I’m not much of a hunter – never been hunting, unless you count picking off barn swallows with a pellet gun when I was about twelve. I’m also not much of a fisherman. I have fished but I found it to be a bit of a snoozer for me.

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I took our kids fishing on vacation a couple of times when they were little. I had to carry their rods, put the worms on their hooks, untangle their lines when they got too close to each other, and take the fish off the hooks (that part didn’t happen much). It didn’t leave me much time to fish, and just about the time I got my line in the water they were ready to call it quits.

… So having dinner in this place didn’t necessarily make me feel like I was in a familiar place.

Don’t get me wrong, it was very comfortable. We sat in high wingback chairs like the kind you would find in someone’s living room. And all around were reminders that humans are at the top of the food chain.

There were stuffed animals everywhere you looked. These were not the fluffy kind you buy your kids at Toys R Us, but rather the dead kind you buy from the taxidermist.

I kind of wondered if you could order a meal by just pointing to an animal on the wall and grunting a bit. But when I looked at the menu, it didn’t offer any otter, but there was one on the wall!

The whole place was kind of rustic. There was a big old fireplace in the middle of the room and the walls looked like the inside of a log cabin which is what the outside of a log cabin looks like too. When we were shown to our table, I found myself sitting directly in front of the fireplace, above which was huge moose … not a whole moose, just a head.

This moose head came out from the wall a long way, and I couldn’t tell if he had a happy look on his face because he was friendly or because we all looked like a late night snack to him. Apparently, mooses (as I like to call them) are vegetarians so I guess he was glad to see us.

But still, it looked like he had an eye on me. Every time I looked up I saw old Bullwinkle gawking at me. I tried to avoid his stare but something about him commanded my attention.

One time, I said something funny to my wife and then looked at the moose to see if he also got it. He was still smiling so maybe he did. By the end of dinner, I was used to him watching me. I felt like we were buddies, even though he never said a word.

Still, I didn’t turn my back towards him till I got out the door. See ya next time, friend.

Here’s the thing: There is nowhere you can go where God is not present. There is nowhere you can be that He doesn’t see you. It should be comforting to know God is always there … unless you are somewhere you shouldn’t be, and then it should be unnerving.

That’s Life!
Paul

Question: How do you feel about knowing God sees you all the time? Leave your comment below.