Author: Paul Silcock

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Commercials Are Interrupting My Routine

Lately I’ve been wondering if they are putting more commercials on TV than they used to. 

commercials are interrupting my routine

It’s hard to tell because in one hour you have about fifteen to eighteen minutes of commercials. You can hardly get into watching a show without being interrupted by commercials that seem to go on and on. 

And because some of the commercials are only fifteen seconds long, they just seem to keep coming at you. 

The reason I’ve been wondering this is because I’m getting back to working out regularly. And I watch TV while I work out.

Usually the best programs to watch are sports events because they fit commercials in when there is a break in the action, and not at perfectly timed intervals designed to thoroughly annoy you. 

Movies are second best to watch because they have a few less commercials than regular TV programs. 

The whole thing with the television and working out is that it distracts you from what you are doing. 

I have a rowing machine – it’s the same motion over and over again. Believe me, it is boring. There is nothing you can do to make it fun. But if you can watch something that takes your attention away from what you are doing, you can just keep on rowing.  

The time goes by fast.

The problem with commercials is that they don’t grab my attention … well, unless I’m watching my daughter’s commercial and then I’m engaged (watch it here).  

But the majority of the time, the only thing commercials do is cause me to notice how long I’ve been rowing. And how much more time I have to go. 

The little screen on my rower shows me how hard I’m rowing but it also shows how long I’ve been on the machine. Believe me, it never tells me I’ve been on as long as I figure I have.

Without commercials getting in the way, you just get lost in the action of the sport or the story of the show. Before you know it you are done working out.

So the other day I decided to watch some football, thinking it would be perfect, that I’d just get into the game. I wasn’t rowing long before the team lost possession and they went to commercial. The game came back on, but after the very next play there was an injury so they went to commercial again. 

They were only back from the commercials for maybe three minutes when the two minute warning sounded … and they went to commercial again. 

Normally commercials during sporting events are only about a minute. Not these; they broke from the action for about two to three minutes each time. To top it off, they kept showing fifteen second commercials so I had to row through eight or more commercials every time.  

It was like I was at a game. I was yelling at the TV like I would a referee, only I was yelling at the commercials to stop. I couldn’t take it any longer. 

I’m just glad I finished rowing by half time – there are way too many commercials then.

Here’s the thing: There are things in our life that may be causing an hindrance, disruption or frustration to our growth in Christ, or the quality of our relationship with Him. From time to time it’s a good idea to ask yourself what those things might be and then move to eliminate or diminish them. You will then find you enjoy Christ more.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What might be an interruption in your life right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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All The Leaves Are …. Almost Gone

I looked out the window this morning and the leaves on our big maple tree are almost gone. Our tree looks like a guy who’s lost most of his hair, except for a ring of it just above his ears.

all the leaves are ..... almost gone

I watched for a few moments and more leaves gently floated to the ground, sometimes after a little gust of wind. But there were other times when there seemed to be nothing plucking the leaves off their branches; they just came off anyway.

By my estimate there will be no leaves on the tree by this time tomorrow. 

Watching the leaves reminded me of a song and I started to sing the first line. It’s an old song by the Mama’s and Papa’s called, “California Dreamin’”.  

The line goes, “all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey”. … The sky right now is actually blue and the sun is shining, but the leaves are brown and yellow. 

The song talks about a winter’s day. I only wish that the weather would still be like this in winter. 

But here where I am it’s only fall and the leaves are brown and already off the trees … which brought me to another thought: I need to collect those leaves. 

This might be a great day to do it with the sun shining, the leaves lying still on the ground, all naturally piled up for me.

Sometimes cleaning up leaves is like herding cats. The wind keeps blowing them around and every time you think you have them in a nice pile a wind gust scatters a few of them.

That is not the case today. 

The leaves are dry, there is no wind to bring life to them and they are neatly piled. “Neatly” is a relative term because how neat can a pile of old dead leaves really be?

This afternoon when I bring out my leaf mulcher, I’m pretty sure the leaves that are still on the tree will try to stay on a little longer to avoid being shredded like their fallen brothers.

It won’t matter. Soon they will all be gone, sucked up by the mulcher or blown over to the neighbour’s yard. And I will be longing for spring to come instead of the cold winter we are facing – all too soon for my liking.

That’s what the song California Dreamin’ is all about – wishing to be in a warm climate rather than a frosty one. 

But I’m not worried about that quite yet because the weather man is calling for double digit temperatures next week. There may not be any leaves on my tree or any left on the ground, but at least I won’t have to sing, “been for a walk on a winter’s day”.

It will be in January and February when I am California Dreamin’.

Here’s the thing: There are times when you know what is coming, like when you see the leaves fall off the trees. It’s a sign of where we are heading. Right now there are signs all around us of where the world is heading. It might be soon, but on the other hand it may take a while. Still the signs are there, calling for us to do something. You can either prepare now for what is coming or you can be unprepared and only dream of what could have been. One day this world will come to a critical point and Christ will return. I urge you to be ready for that now. Don’t be left wishing for something you can’t have. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you see coming that you could prepare for now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I’m Trying To Lose My COVID 19

Somehow COVID has caught up with me and I’m trying to lose it now. … I guess saying it that way is better than saying that I have COVID 19.

I'm trying to lose my COVID 10

Let me clarify. 

The other day when I was playing hockey, I came back to the bench exhausted and frustrated with my play. As I settled into my spot on the bench, I said “I have COVID 19”, to which another guy on the bench responded, “I’m doing better than you; I only have COVID 15.”

We were talking about how many pounds we’ve gained since the whole COVID thing started.

I remember when I was in college, there was a running joke called “the Freshman 15”. It referred to how the freshmen girls gained about that many pounds on a steady diet of cafeteria food.

Some of the guys thought it was funny; not so much the freshman girls.

For me and my 19 pounds – which is pretty close to accurate – it’s been a steady incline. 

At the beginning, there was the loss of sports available to play, coupled with a nagging knee problem that kept me from working out in my home gym.

But as time when on, and the underlying pressure to isolate continued, I really lost my motivation to stay fit. 

It was too easy to have that extra Dr. Pepper during the week – well, maybe two extra. 

And I remembered just how good a Big Turk chocolate bar tasted. 

And those Twizzler commercials looked so fun, I had to have some liquorice.

After a while I lost my motivation all together to work out at home. I found that I was more tired than normal.

And all the time my COVID went from 7 to 10 pounds. 

There were days that I was determined to get back to exercising. But when I would get home from work, I would just look at the equipment, shake my head and grab a Twizzler while I watched TV.

The more time went by, my COVID started rising to 13, then 17 pounds. 

There were a couple of T-shirts that I didn’t wear this summer because, well, they were just too tight and I didn’t want to look like a “person of Walmart”.

But now I think I’ve turned a corner and I’m trying to lose my COVID 19.

I’ve exercised every day this week and I’ve refrained (for the most part) from stuffing my face with chocolate, chips and ice cream.

As hard as it was to turn the lights on in my home gym and to sit down on my rowing machine, I did it. I did it once and that made it easier to do it again. It got easier each day.

I’m not sure what it was that got me motivated. It might have been how sluggish I’ve felt playing hockey. 

It might be a fear of my body getting out of control. And I know there was some concern for my health.

I don’t want another heart attack. 

It’s probably all these things that came together to spur me on to lose my COVID once and for all. 

Here’s the thing: Many people are confronted with the claims of Christ. Some are convinced. Yet they still fail to follow through and commit to Christ. If that is you, ask yourself, “What will it take to motivate me to place my faith in Christ and follow Him?”

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need motivation for right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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A Tale Of Two Cities … Or Something Like That

Today I have a tale of two cities. Well, that book has already been written so mine is a tale of two arenas.

A tale of two cities ... or something like that

In the book, the story is played out in the two cities of Paris and London. In my tale, there are also two cities but, to be fair, one is a city and the other is a town. … Just the same, the story plays out in these two places.

That is the only similarity between my tale and the well-known Dickens’ novel, but there is an equal amount of intrigue and mystery to figure out. 

I live in the city of Kingston – an old city by Canadian standards. It was even going to be the capital city of Canada until the Queen of England stepped in and declared Ottawa the capital … there’s some drama right there. 

I’ve been playing hockey in my city for 24 years at a number of arenas, with largely the same group of guys. We played at noon several times a week, for one hour and twenty minutes.

Since COVID, things have changed dramatically. 

There is now only a couple of arenas open; several others don’t even have ice in them.

I’ve written about having to come to the arena dressed to play (you can read about that here). I’ve basically been putting on the majority of my equipment in the rink parking lot. And as the temperatures drop, this will get more and more uncomfortable. 

But recently some of the guys I’ve played hockey with over the years started playing in a town just down the road. It’s literally 20 minutes from where I live. 

At the arena in that town – Napanee – you can get dressed in the change rooms and you can even leave your equipment bag there. You can even take a shower after you finish playing. 

You still have to where a mask before and after hockey, and you do have to clear the dressing room 15 minutes after the game.

Two cities: 20 minutes apart – different rules. 

In my town, we can’t even leave an equipment bag in the dressing room while we play. We have to take everything to the bench. 

You might think that these two different cities make their own decisions, but both places are within the same health unit. And right now it’s the health units that call the shots on what can and cannot be done for the health and safety of its citizens.

One town looks at the rules and guidelines laid down by the health unit and has determined how they can abide by the rules, yet still make it viable for people who want to play hockey. 

The other city looks at the same rules and guidelines and determines how uncomfortable they can make it for people to play hockey. 

Guess where I’m playing hockey these days?

Here’s the thing: We all live under rules in this life. We can either interpret them our own way or follow how God has set them out for us. Either way we get to live life here on earth. But just like putting hockey equipment on in the parking lot will become unbearable as the weather gets colder, there will come a time when following your own interpretation of life’s rules will become unbearable. Don’t wait until then to follow God because that option won’t always be available. Choose to follow Christ now. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What change do you need to make right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Closing Up Shop Is Never A Pleasant Experience

Closing up shop is usually an unpleasant experience for me, although sometimes it isn’t as unpleasant as other times.

closing up shop is never a pleasant experience

When you close something down, there is always a process you go through. 

When I leave the office at the end of the day, I shut down my computer, pack it up, turn off lights, lock doors and make sure the alarm code is set.

Some people have a closing up shop routine when they go to bed at night. You know you make sure the lights are off and the doors are locked. If they have kids in the home, they take a quick peak to check that they are sleeping soundly.

The worse case scenario for closing up shop is when a company is going out of business. When it is winding down its operation. Every step of that process is unpleasant.

Every time we leave our cottage, we have a closing up shop check list.

We go through the list of things that need to be checked off so that we can leave the place safe and secure until we return. 

 We don’t want to leave the refrigerator on if we are not going to come back to the cottage for a month. And it’s important to make sure we’ve locked the shed before we go so no one has access to it.

Closing up shop takes time to complete, but it’s necessary. 

The closing up shop routine that I dislike more than any other is when we leave our cottage for the last time before winter. I dislike it more because there is more to do. It’s a bit like a final closing up shop. It will be five to six months before we come back so it has to be done right. 

One of the things we do to close the cottage up – the last thing before we lock the doors – is to blow out the lines. Water can do a lot of damage if it’s trapped in the lines and then freezes. 

We use an air compressor to push air through all the hot and cold water lines. It flushes the whole system of water so there is nothing to freeze. 

I wish this was a quick process, but with our unusual set up, it takes time. Our system doesn’t have a hot water tank bypass, so as we blow out all the lines, the hot water tank gets flushed as well … and that takes time.  

So as we close up shop, and check off everything on the list, the one thing I’m not looking forward to is blowing out the lines … because once that is done, it really settles in that we won’t be back for a very long time. 

Here’s the thing: It’s nice to keep things open. Closing up shop is unpleasant; there is some finality to it, even if it is temporary. At this particular time, when some people are not attending church because of COVID, be careful not to close up shop on church. It’s not usually a simple decision but a process where you slowly check things off you are done with until finally it’s a done deal. Keep actively participating in church and ministries in person or online. Don’t close up shop.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you closed up in the last few months? Leave your comments and questions below.

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A New Star Is Shining Brightly These Days

We have a brand new star in our family. And the light from this star has just started to shine brightly.

A new star is shining brightly these days

Have you ever looked up at the sky at night? 

If you live in the city you might not think to do it because the city lights wash out the stars in the sky. But if you go to the country, far enough away from the glow of the city lights, the sky lights up with stars in an incredible way. 

One time a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to see the sky through his telescope. I jumped at the chance and one night drove out of town to his place. 

I didn’t know what to expect, but what I discovered was not some little telescope set up on a tripod that you could get for cheap at Costco.

When I saw it, I gasped. It was huge. My friend said it belonged to a group and was the largest telescope in the region. In order to look through the eye piece, you had to climb about an eight-foot ladder.

We looked at many different star clusters and constellations. Near the end of our time, he pointed the telescope at the moon. It was particularly full that night. 

The moon was so close, I could see the craters on its surface. It was so bright that it hurt my eyes; I had to keep looking away.

And the moon is not even a star; it just reflects light. Can you imagine how bright stars would be if they were closer? … Our sun is a star and you can’t look directly at it without hurting your eyes.

Well, the star in our family is not that kind of a star, though she is shining quite brightly for a person. 

Our daughter was just featured in a commercial for GoDaddy websites (you can watch it here).  

It’s not because I’m a proud father that I’m calling her a star. That’s what the GoDaddy people called her in their press release to the major networks in Canada that picked up their campaign. 

Karlie isn’t an actor and she didn’t even pursue this commercial. GoDaddy asked her to submit an entry to a competition they were running. 

People on the set were surprised to find out that she wasn’t an actor, but rather a real business owner. 

They say that everyone gets their fifteen minutes of fame. In Karlie’s case, it’s fifteen seconds of a commercial. 

However, if the campaign goes as long as they say, and with her picture on a billboard in downtown Toronto, maybe it will all add up to her fifteen minutes of stardom.

All I know is, as a proud father, I’m basking in the light of the new shining star in our family. 

Here’s the thing: The Bible talks about us as being shining stars. In Philippians, Paul says we shine like stars by reflecting the glory of Christ in our lives to other people. In that sense we are more like the moon. But the fact that Christ lives in each believer makes us more like stars. So if you belong to Christ, shine. Especially at this time, shine bright as stars to the family, friends and acquaintances around you. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Who could you shine the light of Christ to this week? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Dramatic Change Is Coming Soon

We make many changes in life. Some changes are dramatic.

dramatic change is coming soon

The other day we helped move our son into a new apartment. At just under 30, he’s lived in more places than I’ve lived in my entire life, though we’ve both lived in the same number of cities.

This new place is not too far from his last, but it does have a few dramatic differences. 

His view is one of those dramatic differences. In his last apartment, his living room window faced an old factory building turned into offices. There was not much to see and the building wasn’t much to look at – just old brown bricks.

A view isn’t everything, but in an apartment you can’t step out into your backyard and move around. A view is pretty much all you have. In his old apartment, the other building was so close you couldn’t even see down to the ground.

The one thing it did have was quiet. I think the concrete structure made the building not only quiet from other apartments below, above, and to the sides, but it was also quiet from the outside. 

The new place? …

Well, the view is a killer. He’s 17 floors up and from his living room window he can see Lake Ontario and a vast array of tall buildings, short building, a park, and the Gardiner Express way. 

Oh, did you read that? That’s right, the highway that doesn’t sleep at night. 

That’s the other dramatic difference. This new place has a traffic hum that is constant, 24 hours a day. 

I’m sure that after a very short time it all becomes white background noice, but you can hear the traffic all the time. 

… I haven’t decided whether the dramatic view outweighs the dramatic noise, but I won’t be spending enough time there to determine which is better. 

I will say that I got a killer time lapse the other night of the expressway and all the lights from the surrounding buildings. 

Also, I can’t wait to look at the time lapse I took in the morning of the city waking up, going from night to daylight.

One thing I know is you pay a premium for being in the heart of the city. He’ll have to be very strategic about where everything is placed because it’s not a big apartment. 

When I was his age, I moved into my first apartment. It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a working wood fireplace in the living room. 

I wish I could remember how much the rent was back then. I think you could multiply my rent back then by 5 to reach what he pays now. 

But that view … wow, it is an amazing view! 

I always tell Lily she is living in a fish bowl when I come home in the evening and find the lights on in the living room and the curtains open. 

In Mike’s new place, with no curtains yet, he really is living in a fish bowl. He can see the world from his vantage point, but the whole world can see him.

Here’s the thing: Life brings changes, and some of those changes are dramatic. They may be dramatic in regards to space, health, relationships or scenery. But the most dramatic change one can make is going from death to life. That is what happens when one puts his or her faith in Jesus Christ. That person goes from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive. It is a dramatic change that doesn’t just last months, a year, or even a decade. This dramatic change lasts for all eternity. Be sure you’ve made that change.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is the most dramatic change you’ve made this year? Leave your comments and questions below.

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My First Turkey Dinner Was Amazing

I had my first turkey dinner the other day.

My first turkey dinner was amazing

I mean, there has to be a first for everything, doesn’t there? 

There was the first time you tied your shoe laces. Maybe you even remember that time. 

I still have a faint memory of me sitting on the steps by the back door of our house when I shouted, “I did it!” And my mom came running to look.  

That had to be about sixty years ago that I tied my shoes laces for the first time. 

I’ve had many firsts since then. We all have.

One really memorable first for me was skating on an outdoor rink at a school yard. 

I was alone; it was probably about 9:30 pm. There were no lights, only the light of the moon reflecting off the ice.

It wasn’t the first time I had skated, but it was the first time I had skated after having surgery to repair an artery in my leg. 

I had injured it playing hockey and was now carrying a six inch, eighteen stitch scar at the top of my leg. I wondered if I would be able to skate again so I headed to a school rink late at night to test it out. 

I remember skating around that rink in the dark, being so thankful that I was alright and that I could skate with no pain or restriction. 

I remember just thanking God over and over and over as I buzzed around the rink taking slaps against the boards.

I guess in the same way that skate was my first, yesterday my turkey dinner was also the first of a kind. 

You see, it was the first time that our daughter cooked turkey dinner for Thanksgiving. 

And she did really well – delicious, I might add!

There had to be a first time, and the situation presented itself this year. This was it. 

Over dinner we talked about the first time Lily had made a turkey dinner. She and I had been married just a couple of months. She thought she would do it all from scratch … except for raising and feeding the turkey herself. 

She even made pumpkin pie from scratch. After making the pie and commenting on how hard it was to cut up the pumpkin, and how time consuming it was to cook and prepare it, a friend informed Lily, “You know you can buy cooked pumpkin in a can for the pie filling.” 

Lily responded, “Wait. What?!”

She’s never made it from scratch since. 

Well, Karlie had her mom’s experience to guide her in making her pumpkin pie and first turkey dinner. 

A “Griswold Christmas Vacation” it was not. No exploding turkey. 

Everyone raved at how good everything was … even the stuffing – an old secret family recipe that some say Karlie made better than her mom. 

I guess this means that we will be eating turkey dinners for years to come.

Here’s the thing: Often our prayer time ends rather abruptly. We get to the end of what we want to say to God and we wrap it up quickly with an “amen”. Let me challenge you to try something for the first time: Linger after you’ve finished your list to God. Ask Him a question and just wait. Listen for what He might bring to your mind. Your first time might turn into many more times to come.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What “first” have you experienced in the last year? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Just Change One Thing And Nothing Else

I have a rule that I follow with most things and it is this: only change one thing.

Just Change One Thing And Nothing Else

When you need to make a change to something, anything, it doesn’t matter; just make one change. 

If you just make one change, you can see the impact of that change and can then figure out the next change to make if there needs to be one.

A good example is when I’m in the car with my wife, Lily, and she says it’s too hot or too cold. She will immediately reach for the temperature dial and move it and, at the same time, adjust the fan.

I tell her all the time that’s she’s doing too much, and we will invariably very soon need to adjust the temperature in the other direction.

Of course, that next change will be too much as well, so we just go back and forth. 

It is better to adjust one thing – like only the fan – and then wait to see if that will bring the desired result. If not, then move the temperature down one click of the dial.

And again, wait. It’s the way to tell what affect the change is making.

If you make more than one change, you don’t know which change did what and you don’t know what to do to correct it. 

It’s simple and it works well.

Today I signed up to play shinny hockey for the first time this fall. I played hockey a few times last month on rented ice but this was the first with city-run shinny.

There are new rules with COVID and I wrote about that experience in a previous post. You can read about it (here). 

For the sake of arena staff safety and social distancing, there were a number of changes that have been put in place. 

I was fully prepared that those changes would be the same for shinny as for rented ice. I figured I would still have to get my hockey gear on in the rink parking lot … no big deal. 

But they did something else – that extra change that makes it impossible to see if their first change was enough.

What they did was reduce the time allowed on the ice from one hour and twenty minutes to fifty minutes.

Why?! 

City shinny has been one hour and twenty minutes for the last twenty-four plus years. Why make that change? 

How would that help with COVID? How could it add to the safety of anything? All they needed to do was the one thing to make it COVID safe.

When I went to shinny there were only three skaters. Last year at this time they had to turn people away. 

So why were there only three people? We don’t know whether people don’t like the COVID restrictions or whether they don’t like the reduced time. 

They should have made one change only.

Here’s the thing: When we ask God for something, often we will still try to handle it ourselves. If you don’t give God time to answer your prayer, when the answer comes you won’t be sure if you brought the answer or God did. That will lead you to miss seeing God’s desire and ability to answer your requests. If you want God’s help, just do the one thing: ask. Then be patient. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What issue in your life do you just need to do one thing for right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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It’s Too Quiet For My Own Good

Is it possible for an environment to be too quiet to be helpful?

It's too quiet for my own good

I asked myself this question the other day because I’ve been working alone now for about seven months. I’m wondering if I’m too alone.

Some people like noise and can focus and concentrate even when they are surrounded by all kinds of sounds and activities. For me, that just wreaks havoc with my ADD. With every little sound, voice or music – especially music – I turn to look.

I’ve tried working in a coffee shop. There is something about the general noise level that makes any specific sound indistinguishable … but I still get distracted. 

I work best when there is no noise, nothing to distract me from what I’m working on.

With even the faintest sound of instruments or base beat, I find myself tapping my feet and getting lost in the melody or rhythm. 

So when COVID shut our office down, it was the perfect place for me to go to study. 

There were no taps on the door, no chatter in the foyer, no whirl of machines. It was silent. 

I liked it … at least for a while. 

Now I’m not so sure I like it being as quiet as it is. Even a mouse might be a welcomed sound.

I know that I still need things quiet when I study, but when the quiet goes on for too long, it can become a discouragement. 

Maybe there is a sense of quiet loneliness that creates a want for something, someone, anything to break the silence for a little while. 

The silence is so dominant that it has actually reversed its appeal. 

If the only thing you can hear is your own tinnitus, it’s too quiet.

I know that some people put on white noise to go to sleep … maybe I need some white noise in my day. 

I could turn on a fan in another room and let it oscillate back and forth. I’m just afraid that after an hour of that I might find myself trying to guess when the fan is moving from left to right or right to left. 

I once had an assistant in the office beside mine who studied best with music on in the background. That used to drive me nuts. 

I got him to turn it down when I studied, but he had a subwoofer that I swear sounded like it was touching the wall between us. All I could think of was boom … boom boom … boom … boom boom. 

I sometimes went to another room to study because I couldn’t concentrate.

I don’t want that noise, but maybe if I just knew there was some activity in the building it would be enough to give me a sense of being around others. 

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I’m going to have to start trying something.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes our quiet time can be so silent that we don’t hear from God.  You’ve probably experienced that at some point. You read the Bible, you pray and when you get up, there has only been a one-sided exchange of thoughts and words. It might not be that it is too quiet, it might be that you have not quieted your mind and heart enough to be able to receive anything from God. Find the right balance of quiet by clearing your mind of your agenda and purposefully listening for a respond or quiet impression that enters your senses. Once you’ve experienced it, you will want to create that kind of quiet every day. Listen for the Lord.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Do you need more or less quiet right now? What will you do about it? Leave your comments and questions below.

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