The Connection We Don’t Want To Miss Out On

Have you ever had one of those days where you just couldn’t make a connection?

the connection we don't want to miss out on

That was my morning today. I say that it was only my morning because I’m hoping that the rest of the day doesn’t go like my early morning did. I missed connection after connection. 

We’ve all had times when we missed connections. 

There was the time I was traveling from Toronto to Regina and missed my connection altogether. I had the wrong time for when my plane was leaving and I never checked my ticket. 

That was a bad one. 

Then there are the regular missed connections with our phones. 

You look at your phone and realize someone had tried to call you, but you didn’t notice because your phone was on vibrate … or you are talking to someone while driving through a dead zone and lose the connection altogether. 

Missed connections happen all the time. They are frustrating and annoying, but we have to put up with them.

I remember once going to meet up with a friend at Tim Horton’s. We said we’d connect at Tim’s on Princess Street. The problem was there were four Tim Horton’s on Princess Street and the one I thought we were going to meet at was not the one he had in mind. 

We were both waiting at different Tim Horton’s and missed our connection. 

Over the last little while we have been selling off some old furniture we didn’t want anymore. Lily has been great at posting the items and selling them on Kijiji or Facebook. We’ve connected several pieces with people. 

We still have one thing we can’t seem to make a connection on. We’ve had some bites, some interest; a few people have made some inquires. But we can’t connect this desk to a new home.

Sometimes making the right connection seems impossible.

This morning at hockey my team couldn’t make a connection for any amount of money. Passes were not getting to the player they were intended for. I made four or five passes right on the tape of players’ sticks and they bobbled the pass and the puck got away from them.

One time I just stepped on the ice and the play was right by me. Our defenseman made a good play at the blue line to check the puck off the opposing team. He then shoved at the puck to get it to me so I would have a clear breakaway.

Instead, the puck clipped the edge of a skate and deflected away from me right to a player on the other team. He took the puck in on our net and scored. 

For our team, the whole game was about missed connections. 

When I got home, I felt like I should go back to bed and get up an hour later to shake off the failed connection trend I was on. 

Here’s the thing: As some point in our lives we need to make a connection with God. We need to connect with Him in a relationship. If we don’t, we will miss that connection and end up in hell for all eternity. God wants to make a connection; all we have to do is be available. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What connections have you missed out on lately? Leave your comments and questions below. 

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Ripped Off Because I Missed It

Fifty years ago I got ripped off, but not this time. Tonight on TV was a show called “The Beatles: The Night That Changed America.”

heyjude

There was no way I was going to miss this one! On February 9, 1964 I was at church during the first time the Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan Show.

I tried to stay home. My younger brother faked some mysterious sickness so he wouldn’t have to attend the evening service and got to remain home with Gram.

But not me; I had to go. I remember John telling me how he saw a music group on TV; I don’t think he could remember their name. Then the next day at school everyone was talking about the Beatles.

Sure, I saw the Beatles other times they were on the Ed Sullivan Show, but I didn’t get to see them the first time they performed in North America. And now that there are only two of them left, I had to see them for what will probably be the last time Paul and Ringo do something on a stage together.

I once had a chance to see Paul McCartney at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1976 for the Wings Over America Tour. I still kick myself to this day that I didn’t go. I didn’t go because, well, Paul McCartney and Wings weren’t the Beatles and I didn’t have the $16 (I think) for the ticket.

Ya, I know. It was only $16 – what an idiot! That amount seemed like a lot of money to me at the time and I really had no means to pay anyone back, either.

Tonight’s Beatles show was vastly different from the ’64 show. For one thing, it was in colour. I’m not sure if the Ed Sullivan Show was broadcast in colour back then, but we only had a black and white TV so it wouldn’t have mattered.

This time there were all kinds of artists singing renditions of Beatle songs, while the real Beatles watched and applauded. It didn’t really matter to me who was singing because I was drowning them all out singing away to every song that was aired.

The program was about the same length as a hockey game. In this case, they put the two stars on the stage at the end of the game and they scored a couple of goals by singing a few of their hits individually and together.

The last song was, “Hey Jude”, the longest song on the radio in its time. It was the song that opened the way for hits to be longer than about two and a half minutes long.

I knew the song well. My brother got me the single for Christmas in 1968 … actually, before Christmas. He couldn’t wait till Christmas morning, so he told me, and we actually played it a couple of times before it was wrapped and put under the tree.

The TV show ended with everyone, musicians and the whole audience, singing along. I didn’t miss out on it this time . . . na, na, na, na-na-na-na!

Here’s the thing: There are many things that we will miss out on in life. For one or more reasons we will wish we had been there, tried this, seen that, or in some way experienced something we didn’t. Any of those things, while they might have been great, don’t come close to missing out on heaven. We can only get to experience it if we have a relationship with Christ. Don’t miss out on it by put off beginning that relationship.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you missed that you really wish you had experienced? Leave your comment below.