experiences

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Are You As Well Rested As You Should Be?

For the most part, we are good at talking about getting rest and needing rest, but we are not that good at actually getting the rest we need.

We starve ourselves of rest in two ways: We don’t sleep enough and we don’t rest from our work like we should.

Some say they need eight hours of sleep a night; others say they don’t need to sleep more than a few hours a night.

But all sleep is not rest. Many people turn sleep into a serious workout. Some snore like thunder. Some stop breathing as if they keep dipping below the surface of the water.

Those people have to wear a splint or put on a breathing machine. From what I understand, if you didn’t sleep all that well before, your quality of rest plummets even more with those apparatuses. The only good thing is that you will be sure to keep breathing.

But maybe breathing is over-rated.

When we brought our daughter home from the hospital for the first time, we had her sleeping in a bassinet beside our bed. I’m usually a sound sleeper but Karlie breathed so erratically that first night, I kept waking up to see if she was ok.

In the morning, I said to Lily, “She’s got to learn to breathe on her own. She’ll either figure it out or not, but she’s got to do it in her own bedroom, because I can’t sleep with her here!”

That was 26 plus years ago … Karlie figured it out.

But that’s only part of the rest we need. We need rest from our regular work. The Bible says we should take a Sabbath each week: one in seven.

However, with work, activities in the evenings, and shopping available seven days a week, it’s hard to take that rest. There is always some work to do, always somewhere to be, always something we need to obtain.

We say we take a day off but the truth comes out when we are exhausted at the end of the weekend, when we don’t have the energy we need to do all that we want to do, or when we find ourselves too tired to be as productive as we should be.

I’m a pastor. I should be a promoter of this rest, since it’s God’s idea and He actually made it one of His commands to us. But sadly, I end up working on my day off like most other people.

The key to this rest we need is not to do nothing. Rather, we are to do something we enjoy, something that we look forward to, something that invigorates us.

For me that might be a day of playing sports, watching some professional sports and chowing down on some hot wings with a glass of Dr. Pepper to wash them all down.

For someone else it might be completely different. But the end result should be that I feel rested and ready to get back to work the next day, that I’ve acknowledged God and given Him thanks.

This coming Monday, I’m going to get serious about taking a Sabbath.

Here’s the thing: It seems like the easiest one of God’s commands to ignore or excuse. In the course of a week it can slide by without any harmful side effects. But an unattended Sabbath can lead to serious health and relational complications. Don’t cheat yourself or God on your Sabbath; get serious about taking it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What makes taking a Sabbath difficult for you? Leave your comment below.

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Should I Wait Or Take Action?

I have a dilemma: do I wait or take action? Sometimes patience is the best policy, but sometimes it’s better to go ahead and get it done.

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About two weeks ago, I came home from work to find little flags on my lawn. I’ve seen things like this before.

I’ve seen people put pink flamingos on a lawn where someone has turned an unsettling age. There have been ornaments on lawns where a significant event has happened like a retirement, anniversary or birth.

But when I saw these little flags I knew they weren’t for any of these reasons. For one, I’m not close to a birthday or any other special occasion.

What really tipped me off was the words on the wee flags – words like “gas”, “Bell”, “utilities”. I wasn’t the only one on the street to have these flags either.

Every house on the street had them. I wasn’t special; I was the same as everyone else.

When I came in the house, Lily informed me that we also got a notice in the mailbox. It explained that Bell would be coming around to put in new lines on our street.

The notice assured us that, though they would have to dig up our lawn, they would make sure the lawn was put back the way it was.

It was a nice notice, a comforting notice, but there was no date as to when they would do this.

It’s now been two weeks and all there is is spray paint and wee little flags on our lawn.

I figure I need to cut my grass one more time before the frost puts a halt to its growth. So if they don’t hurry up and put these new lines in, they will need to cut my grass for me in order for them to put my lawn back the way it was.

Well, it’s either that or I need to cut grass and do a little contour mowing around the flags.

Since the temperatures are to soar up to summertime heights this week, it would be a great week to do one last pass of the lawnmower over the grass for the season.

On the other hand, I don’t want to muck up their work and confuse them by accidentally taking out a flag or two.

I can just see them digging away and “up through the ground comes a bubblin’ crude, black gold, Texas tea, oil that is”.

Well, in my case that would be natural gas, but who cares, it’s all fuel of some kind.

I don’t want to make their job harder. I don’t want to make them have to remark my lawn. But I do want to give my lawn a trim before the snow flies.

I think I’ll give them until Wednesday, and then if they haven’t started digging, well, maybe I’ll have a new career as an oil baron … I mean gas baron (same diff).

Here’s the thing: God has little flags on many different parts of your life. And that means there will need to be some digging and replacing. You shouldn’t ignore the work He’s doing or going to do, but you also shouldn’t just sit back, do nothing and wait. Don’t neglect your spiritual life. God will make sure it all gets put together for the better.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you put off doing in your spiritual life? Leave your comment below.

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The Secret Behind Staying Disciplined

There are people who are highly disciplined and then there are those who aren’t. Disciplined people seem to be able to set their minds or wills to something and follow through time after time.

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But there are times when even disciplined people find they don’t have the discipline to keep to their normal routine.

It’s like their discipline has vanished.

Now I’m no expert on discipline, and I am certainly not a highly disciplined person, but I am able to discipline myself to regularly follow certain rules, habits, and plans that I have set for myself.

For instance, I know that in the early morning I am the most alert, creative, productive, and focussed. So I get up at 6 am every day, and during those early hours I spend time with God; I study, I read and I write.

I do not vary from that routine, and I am able to discipline myself to work at these things daily. I don’t take appointments in the morning, and I avoid getting involved in other activities in the morning.

There are other things that I can discipline myself to do, but sometimes I just don’t have it within me to keep to them. It seems that I’ve lost my discipline and have no will power at times in the eating and exercise departments.

I need to stay away from junk food and fast food, and I need to exercise thirty minutes a day. Just reading that last sentence over, I should easily be able to do that!

But even though I have all the equipment at home to ensure I do thirty minutes of exercise,  lately I’ve not been all that consistent.

I don’t have the will to do it … or something.

Even though I know I’ve gained a few pounds, and even though I know that for my health’s sake I should be on this, the discipline to do it is not there.

The little thing in us called our will is key to turning this around. I believe our discipline is built on our will. If our will is set on something, then discipline is easy.

So getting your will to want something, like a healthy body, is the key to being able to discipline yourself to eat right and exercise.

Your will is based on your wants and desires, and if you want something bad enough, you will be able to discipline yourself to do what it takes to get it.

The only problem with that is we are geared for immediate gratification over delayed, long-term gratification. So wants and desires that I can achieve right now are more powerful than wants and desires I have to wait for over the long-term.

For me to be able to see my long-term wants as most important, more desirable, I need to be able to look forward to something immediately after I keep to my discipline.

… Last night it was pizza after I had worked out on the bike and rower for thirty minutes.

Here’s the thing: Spiritually speaking, when we find it hard to stay disciplined, when our immediate wants and desires (temptations) seem so powerful, we have additional help. We have God who will provide what we need to stay disciplined. You might not know what He can do to help you, but all you have to do is ask. Call out to Him, “Lord I need your help right now”, and let Him work on your will, your desires and wants.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you do to keep disciplined? Leave your comment below.

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Real Time Adjustments Keep Life Enjoyable

I’ve been thinking lately about my body, and how it has changed since I started taking medication. It’s been three and a half years of swallowing foreign substances and I figure that will continue the rest of my life.

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I realize that I need to take the concoction of pills I down every morning. They are helping my body – at least they better be helping!

I never took medication until I was 56. I used to like filling out medical forms and checking “no” beside all the questions. I very rarely took even an aspirin.

But the other day at the dentist’s office, the hygienist was updating my file. She asked if I was taking any medications; my response was, “Oh ya; I sure am”.

Compared to many people, I don’t take that much, but to me, I feel like I’m taking a ton. It’s four pills a day, but I like to call it 3 1/2 because I got my doctor to reduce one pill in half.

For all the good these little formed chemicals do for me, there are a few drawbacks. One of them is with my muscles.

When I play sports – especially hockey – I feel that the circulation in my legs and feet is restricted. It was really bad at first. I couldn’t skate for more than a minute without feeling like I needed to sit down and allow the blood to flow through my veins again.

When I mentioned it to my doctor, he looked at me like I was making it all up, but told me to take a break from one of the pills for a week and see what happened.

That week I had no symptoms at all; it was great. I concluded from that experiment that it was my cholesterol pill that was creating the problem.

When I went back on that pill the symptoms didn’t return as strongly as before. I began to notice that how tight my equipment or my skates were made a real difference to how I felt on the ice.

So I didn’t tie my skates as tight, and I was gentler when it came to wrapping shin guard tape around my pads. It made a significant difference.

But this year my feet are in great pain when I come off the ice. I can’t sit down they hurt so much. But I noticed that about halfway through the game my feet stop hurting.

I’m realizing my skates naturally give a little the longer I am in them. Possibly what’s happening is that my skates get looser.

So, for the next outing, I won’t tie my skates as tight and see how that feels.

It’s little adjustments that I find I have to make to keep me doing the same things I’ve been doing and not give up on some of the things I like in life.

Here’s the thing: As natural as it is for us to have to make adjustments for our bodies as time goes on, in order to keep doing things that are meaningful to us, we also have to make adjustments to our time with God as life stages and circumstances change. These adjustments are necessary to keep us having a meaningful time with God. Don’t give up or hope to get back to God later. Make adjustments now and keep your relationship with Him fresh and enjoyable.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What adjustments to your quiet time with God have you made in the past year? Leave your comment below.

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Strong Beliefs Bring Out Strong Emotions

Whatever we believe strongly in creates waves. It doesn’t matter if it’s politics or sports or religion, topics like these bring out emotion in people.

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I just have to say, “I’m a Toronto Maple Leafs fan”, and that will elicit feelings in some people. Right now, some are considering making this the last sentence they read!

… They may not have even finished the sentence … emotions are so strong, they could stop people in mid-sentence.

In my office I have paraphernalia from the Toronto Blue Jays and the Leafs hanging on one wall, and I get two very different reactions. The general consensus is the Toronto Blue Jays are okay; we are all on the same band wagon. But not so much with the Leafs.

Strong support for something brings out a reaction in us that we can’t back down from, that causes us to raise our voice or take a stand.

The most easygoing person turns into a stubborn, obnoxious, hammerhead when he is pricked by something he strongly believes in.

It’s just how we are; it’s in our nature. We can try to control ourselves when our emotions have been summoned to attention, but for the most part, they are sent into battle before we can call them back.

This week we elected a new government … Emotions get pretty high when you start talking about political parties and leaders.

In the heat of this political battle, there were many emotion-raising statements made by all the parties. But there have been a few that crossed over to another strong belief in some people; yet these comments didn’t elicit the kind of emotion from people that you might think.

Justin Trudeau stated that Christians need not apply for leadership in the Liberal party, and Mulcair has said that Christians are anti-Canadian.

Some of you are thinking these statements are not that bad; they are not the emotion-seeking missiles that other comments are, that they are really nothing more than duds.

But let’s just change one word in each statement: What if Trudeau said LGBT’s need not apply for leadership in the Liberal party, and what if Mulcair said LGBT’s are anti-Canadian?

Those statements would start a war! There would be accusations of homophobia, hatred, and legal action would be set into motion.

Emotions would storm these parties and would create such a tidal wave of negativity that retractions would be made and positive concessions would have to be promised. The focus on the election would have turned squarely onto these statements.

These statements made about Christians, though being hate language and Christian-phobic in nature, passed by without the firestorm that should have accompanied them.

Maybe everyone knew these were just barbs thrown out in the heat of an election. Maybe the authors of the statements don’t really believe what they said.

OR maybe there is little or no voice in Canada that would raise enough emotion to call out discrimination when it shows itself. Have Christians become like gays in the 50’s and 60’s, where they could be abused and no one cared or did anything about it?

Here’s the thing: It’s okay to become emotional about faith. It’s not different than the emotion that rises when we talk about our sports teams or our political party. Christians must voice their emotion, and not become complacent. Don’t throw up your hands; take a stand for what you believe.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you feel about the comments made by these two political leaders? Leave your comment below.

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Have You Become Desensitized To Life?

Have you ever thought that you may have become desensitized to something? Have you got to the place where you don’t notice something or it’s not as effective as it once was?

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For instance, if you walk into the house when someone has just cooked up a batch of fish, the fish odour is overpowering. You want to plug your nose, try not to breath more than you have to. But after a while, if you stay in that environment, you don’t smell the fish any more; you become accustomed to it.

This same thing can happen in our bodies. If you take a certain penicillin for a long enough time  it doesn’t have the same benefit for you. Your body becomes desensitized to it and you need to find something else to help you get better.

It happens all the time and every day. We just don’t appreciate what’s around us.

Take, for instance, the beauty of the trees turning colour. We can be driving through rural Ontario during the height of the colour change of the trees yet not really notice it. We’ve seen those colours so many times that we don’t “ooh and awe” around every bend in the road.

This week it happened to me in another way.

We had a guest at our church who came to give us a report on a ministry he was involved with. Just before the service, as usual, the worship and tech teams gathered in a corner near the front of the church to pray. I then went to sit down with our guest and the worship team took to the platform.

Just as they hit the first few notes of the first song, our guest turned to me and said, “You have a really great team there”.

I said something like, “Ya, they are a great bunch”. But then I looked at them – no, I really looked at them.

As the music started to emanate from their instruments and their voices blended together, I started to have a new appreciation for our worship team.

I got a little proud of that group up front.

It’s not that I didn’t think they were great before our guest made that comment, it’s just that I had become accustomed to them being up there. I was desensitized to what they bring to the service, to how good they sound together, to the skill with which they perform.

It was great because, as we continued with the worship, it was like I was experiencing it for the first time, all over again.

It wasn’t new, but it was like it was new, fresh for me again … like the first time in the fall when you see a maple tree with its leaves turned bright read. Your senses are awakened and you soak it all in.

Here’s the thing: We can become pretty complacent at church, so much so that we focus on the negatives: I don’t like the songs; the sound wasn’t right; I didn’t like the topic; the people weren’t that friendly; there were too many people, or not enough people. (Feel free to add your personal favourite complaint of church.) All of that comes from being desensitized to the wonder, the beauty, the goodness that’s around you. The great news is that you can be re-sensitized to it all so that it’s fresh and new and amazing again. Just step back and reset your senses and then take in all the beauty of the colours of the landscape before you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you find you get desensitized to most easily? Leave your comment below.

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Is It Really Time For A Change?

Apparently it’s time for a change in our country. That’s the mantra floating through the air in Canada this last month.

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I hear it in every commercial for the Liberals and NDP. It’s either time for a change or it’s time for real change. Even the media have been telling us the voters want change.

I’ve heard people say the Conservatives have been in power too long so it’s time for a change. The government is not doing enough for some people; certainly they want a change – a new government who won’t do enough for a different group.

Sure, this election seems like it’s all about change, but is change really what the election should be about?

When I go to McDonald’s and order a Big Mac instead of a Quarter Pounder, I might say that I feel like a change. I might not even have a reason for the change; I just want something different.

But that’s called a craving; I don’t need a reason for a craving.

It’s fine for hamburgers, but is it good for an election? Let’s face it, the parties who want change, who want us to vote for a change, just want us to pick them.

For the opposition, change is good because it gets them what they want. They may try to disguise it to look like they really want what’s best for the country, but the bottom line is they just want to replace the government with themselves.

If they can get us to believe we want a change, a hankering for a new party to lead the country, that works in their favour.

But hey, it’s not like we’re all pregnant with whimsical cravings for pickles and ice cream or a minority Liberal government with an NDP opposition on top.

Choosing a government means we have to think of what’s best for the country as a whole. That also means it won’t be the best for every segment of the country. Some groups will not get what they want.

The bottom line is the government has to do what’s best for the country at large.

That’s why I question the Liberals wanting to run a 10 billion dollar deficit. Sure, the arts will get more money, as will other groups, but someone’s got to pay for it. It won’t be the richest 1% either, because they have lots of ways to reduce their income.

It will be the middle class … it’s always the middle class.

The NDP think they can spend their way to a balanced budget. They will take care of the environment, pay for daycare, fix our medical system, and give you what’s behind curtain number three (hint: the car is never behind curtain #3).

So that’s why some parties want us to believe it’s time for change. Because if we thought about what they really want to do, we wouldn’t want to change.

There isn’t a perfect party, and there is no government that will make everyone happy. But if we focus on what’s best for the whole, a stable and secure country is what we all really need.

Here’s the thing: Every day we’re tempted to do what’s wrong over what’s right, and choose bad over good. When we give in to our whims and our desires, we’ll give in to the temptation to sin. We won’t consider the consequences, or the pain it might cause, just anticipate an immediate gratification. If we think through about the temptation instead of reacting to it, we will choose not to sin more often.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How are you going to think through your decision this election? Leave your comment below.

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The Real Focus Of Thanksgiving

Everyone knows that Thanksgiving is all about turkey. Well, it’s all about family and being thankful, but we do all that while eating turkey.

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Maybe it’s because we are thankful that, at some point around the table, the topic of stuffing comes up. Every family seems to have a few people who are really thankful for stuffing – not stuffing in general mind you, but their particular stuffing.

Theirs is the best, better than the in-laws, better than store bought (can you buy store bought stuffing?) … better than the stuffing you had last year at your best friend’s home.

Stuffing is always passed down from generation to generation. It’s never your stuff that you make, but it’s mom’s stuffing, or grandma’s, or granny’s, or baba’s stuffing. Notice it’s never Grandpa’s stuffing?

The biggest ingredient that I can figure in stuffing is bread, but after the bread it gets fairly specialized from there. Often there are some ingredients in the recipe which make it distinctive and more delicious than any other stuffing you’ve ever tasted.

I have to jump in here and make a confession: I don’t like stuffing. There have been a few times in my life that I’ve tried it, mostly because someone has begged me to try it on account of it being so amazing. To me it’s all much the same.

But in our house you don’t really make that view public, like I’m doing here. You see, anyone can cook a turkey and it will generally taste the same. But oh, the stuffing is unique, and it must be of an exact consistency with a taste that leaves the patron wondering, “What does she put in that stuffing? I’ve just got to know.”

But you also know that there will be ingredients in that stuffing that will not be revealed because they are secret. You would have to be locked in the basement, chained to the pool table for at least 35 years if it was ever discovered you had found out the secret to the best stuffing in the world.

Personally, I think stuffing makers think way too much about their stuffing. Let’s all remember it is just flavoured bread, jammed up inside a turkey for about six hours, while it gets all steamy, sweaty in there.

We rave over stuffing but nobody is asking to smell my gym socks after sitting in my gym bag for a day and there’s a few similarities there.

But that’s okay, keep your secret ingredients, keep your little smirk at the table when people try to probe you for information. I’m not going ask; I don’t really care. I’m not even going to try the stuffing this year.

I’d share some secrets in this piece but I don’t want to potentially be passed over for what I’m really looking forward to, that being the turkey. Because after all, when I sit down to the table on Thanksgiving, it’s the turkey, not the stuffing, that I’m thankful for.

Here’s the thing: Spiritually we can get sidetracked so easily from the main thing. We can focus on good things, and put a lot of our effort into really good things, things we have come to appreciate and view as important. But the main thing is that we are growing in our relationship with Christ. Christ is who we should be thankful for and focused on. If we are not focusing our efforts on being more like Him, then we are concentrating on good things that taste good to some people but missing the real focal point of our lives.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What gets you sidetracked from the main thing of being more like Christ? Leave your comment below.

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How You Can Tell It’s Really Fall

Go ahead, say it, it’s officially fall. The weather has turned colder, we’ve lost the humidity, and I got my first cold.

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I was really hoping for summer weather to last right through to the end of October, but sadly the air has a feel of fall to it. Even on warm days, it’s a fall warm and not a summer sizzle.

Temperatures through the night dip a lot lower now. It’s brisk out when I’m leaving for work in the morning. The thermometer gets a bigger workout at this time of year with all its ups and downs. The weather is more unpredictable.

Conditions outside are one thing, what concerns me most is the condition of my body. I could blame it on the weather with its hot and cold effect, or I could blame it on some late nights and not getting the rest I need.

But I’m going to blame it on my wife! Lil has been saying she thinks she’s getting a cold for the last few days.

It’s hard for her to tell at this time of the year because she has some killer allergies that really put a strain on our Kleenex supply in the house.

But there were a few signs like the body aches and the congestion that gave it away.  Unfortunately for me, I didn’t know soon enough because I’m pretty good at staying clear when she’s under the weather.

That’s right, I’m not the greatest nurse in the world. My policy is if you’re sick, you’re on your own and it’s your responsibility to keep a distance of several feet from me.

I know you are probably thinking that I have a double standard when it comes to sickness, but I don’t. I don’t want people hovering around me; I don’t want anyone trying to give me special treatment either.

My motto while I’m sick is, “Leave me alone and stay clear”.

I’m having a little easier time living up to my motto today because Lil is away right now and I’m alone. There isn’t anyone around to stay clear from; there’s no one to offer special treatment.

Though I want to be left alone when I’m sick, I don’t like the fact that she took off after infecting me with her disease.

But there is nothing I can do. I have to accept the fact that I’m sick and I need to ride it out or try to do something about it.

My son has a cold busting solution that he uses, called the Cold FX bomb. It’s about a three day cycle of pumping your body with various doses of Cold FX medicine.

I don’t like drugs. What works for me is to sweat it out. I’ve got rid of a cold in one day with this method. And today is perfect – I have a day off, and I’ll be going to the hockey rink for a little pick up.

I’l wear a few extra layers under my equipment and hopefully, by the end of the game, the aches will be gone and tomorrow I’ll be a brand new man.

Here’s the thing: There are many things in life that can negatively influence us towards God. We need to be vigilant to keep ourselves away from them. But when we slip and recognize that we have been influenced negatively, we need to take bold steps to rid that influence from our lives. Today I read Psalm 119:7. The message was this: Keep an upright heart before God while you learn your righteousness … Good to keep in mind.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are the influences you have to keep an eye out for? Leave your comment below.

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When The Wind Is Against You

This afternoon I looked out our front window and the scene that faced me got me humming a song from 1968.

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I was looking at our 30 foot high maple tree, blowing in the wind like it was being beaten into submission by an angry UFC heavyweight.

It’s remarkable that in an instance you can be transported to a song you haven’t heard in dozens of years. Oh, the song? It was “Windy” by the Association.

The song describes two sides of the wind: there’s the “Who’s tripping down the streets of the city, smiling at everybody she sees” side of the wind, and then there’s the “And windy has stormy eyes” side of the wind.

Now, I’m almost certain that the song is about a person, a girl I would wager, who has huge mood swings. She can be great to be with, or she can be your worst nightmare.

Well, the wind today in my corner of the world has all the makings of a horror show … just add some dark skies, lightning flashes and the stage is set.

Earlier in the morning, I experienced the force of the wind personally. I rode my bike in a “Ride for Refuge” fundraiser. It was a 25 km loop during which I affirmed why I like to ride off-road.

For one thing, the trees make a great buffer for the wind. Secondly, it is so boring riding in straight lines with only the pavement and the gravel shoulder to look at.

And then there was the wind – yes, the kind of wind with stormy eyes. Some of the gusts were so strong that if you stopped peddling you would just stop, no coasting.

I wanted to keep about a 20 km/hr average speed, but when the wind was against me, I could,  at times, only muster about 11km/hr.

But when the wind was lambasting me from the side, it literally pushed my bike sideways, so that I had to over-correct my steering.

I made it though. Once the road changed direction, it was clear sailing and I made up for the time I had lost going against the wind.

When I turned into the parking lot at the end of the ride, I was glad to be getting out of the wind for good. The wind hadn’t beaten me; it didn’t put me into any submission hold, but it didn’t make me feel like I had won either.

I knew I had been in a battle and I had a healthy respect for my opponent. In fact, the next time I ride the road I want the version of the wind that’s “smiling at everyone she meets”. I don’t want to do battle again … well, at least not for a while.

I’m a little tired; I need a rest.

Here’s the thing: Life circumstances can smile on you or they can have stormy eyes. Though we all would love to have a life filled with smiles, like the wind that’s so temperamental, so are the situations we find ourselves in. With God’s help we persevere through the gusts against us, and we thank God for the tailwinds that propel us along. This push and pull in life strengthens us like muscles that are stretched and then relaxed. It’s all part of how God seeks to build us into the women and men of His design.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What kind of wind do you find yourself in right now, and how is God assisting? Leave your comment below.