Author: Paul Silcock

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So It’s Christmas – Say It Isn’t So

I’ve been thinking, “Is it really Christmas when the family is not present?”

so it's Christmas - say it isn't so

This was the first Christmas where our kids weren’t at home on Christmas morning. 

We have probably had a longer run at Christmas time than many families. But still, it seemed a little off not waking up to a house filled with our children.

And it’s not like there are little ones running around. Our kids are grown and live in other cities.

But still, part of me thinks that at Christmas you revert back to the days when you were all together all the time … maybe because it was tradition, and traditions are hard to let go of. 

There’s nothing wrong with making new traditions, and we have done that over the years.

When we lived in Edmonton, we would have a Christmas Eve meal at the revolving restaurant atop the Chateau LaCombe hotel. When we moved to Kingston we realized they didn’t have a revolving restaurant. For that matter, Kingston and all its restaurants close at about 6 pm on Christmas Eve.  

We needed a new tradition.

We started having a family fondue after the Christmas Eve service. That became our new tradition. It was an easy switch; the family was still all together.

This year things were much different.

There was no one getting up early. There was no dragging anyone out of bed to open Christmas stockings.

On the other hand, there was no “wife saver” brunch thingy that Lily used to pre-make that we never really appreciated.

But this year Lily and I were not really excited to restart an old tradition of doing Christmas with just the two of us. Those first four Christmases were many years ago. 

Back then they may have been special, just the two of us, but we’re not sure we are ready to go back to that. So we decided to stop time for one day. 

Our kids arrived later and much later on Christmas Day. So we had our Christmas on Boxing Day. That’s the new Christmas for us … well, at least for this year.

John Lennon sang the words, “So this is Christmas.” … Yes it is. It’s not what it was, not what it should be, but this is what it is.

The day after we got up, opened stocking and presents and later had Lily’s side of the family over for a meal. 

It’s like Christmas Day came one day late. 

In all that shifting and adapting, I realized that really to me Christmas is all about family. Family has replaced the central focus of the day.

There is nothing wrong with family, but this day – Christmas Day – is about the birth of Jesus. 

The idea of any birthday is to focus on the one who is celebrating his or her birthdate. I’ve come to realize that I’ve replaced that focus with my family. 

I need to rethink Christmas from the ground up. 

Here’s the thing: We celebrate Christmas because it marks the time God sent his Son, Jesus, to us. The reason we celebrate the birth of someone who is not part of our family is because of what He did. Jesus grew up and died on a cross to pay for our sins. Then He rose from the grave and offers us forgiveness for our sins and a relationship with God. Just as we have a connection with our family members, we can all have a connection with what Christ did for us. We just need to take Him up on His offer and put our faith in Him. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What Christmas tradition do you need to rethink or make next year? Leave your questions and comments below.

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Getting Old Is Not Just A State Of Mind

I think I figured out a new way to tell that you are getting old … and it has nothing to do with counting wrinkles or loss of hair.

getting old is not just a state of mind

I know that some people might be thinking, “Well, if it’s not those things, it must be all the aches and pains, or the mystery ailment that can’t be explained.” 

These are all traditional signs that we might be aging, but I just discovered a new one. 

From the earliest memory that I have, I always had a long list of things I wanted for Christmas. 

When the Sears Christmas catalogue came out, I would scour it for ideas of toys that I could put on my Christmas list. That “wish book” was always a good source of inspiration for the dreams that would keep me awake on Christmas Eve. 

My son, Mike, also loved that Sears catalogue. 

When he was quite young, I came home from work one day and my wife, Lily, handed me the catalogue. All she said was, “Take a look at what your son wants for Christmas.” 

I began combing through the pages, starting at the toy section. He had circled every single toy in the book! Literally, there was not one toy that Sears sold that he didn’t want. 

On the one hand, it made it pretty easy for Santa to come up with a present for him. But on the other hand, how indiscriminate can one be?

… And maybe that is one of the signs of youth. There is no consideration for cost, size, use, even appropriateness. They just want it. 

Not that I should pick on my son too much – I’ll do it anyway – but there was a time when we were at Disney World and he saw some venders selling turkey legs. Then he saw people eating those turkey legs. 

He wanted one bad! 

Those hunks of meat were about a third of his body mass. They reminded me a little of the ribs that Fred Flintstone ordered at the drive through in the closing credits of each episode. The ribs were so big that they tipped over his foot-driven car. 

Well, there was no stopping Mike from wanting a turkey leg. And when he did get it, it became a community exercise in eating it. We all had to have some just to put a dent in it.

I guess what I’m saying is that when you are young, you want lots! 

But there comes a time when you don’t want as much … maybe because you have so much. 

When Christmas comes around and older people are asked what they want for Christmas, they all have the same answer: “I don’t know; I don’t need anything.”

I never thought I would get to that stage in life where I wouldn’t have an answer to the question of what I wanted for Christmas. But this year, I don’t know what I want. I don’t really need anything. 

… Wow! I guess I’m old now.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes the desire for material things is so great that we overlook or don’t even realize the other needs we have in our lives. We can be so fixated on and striving for what we see that we don’t consider our spiritual needs. There are two wants or needs that we all have – whether we realize it or not. We have the need to understand our purpose and the need to know our eventual destiny. The only answers to both those needs come from God in Christ Jesus. Receive His gift of salvation and He will meet those two great needs. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you hoping for this Christmas? Leave you comment and questions below. 

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The Trigger That Ignites Your Interest

You need a trigger to create excitement for something you haven’t really cared much about. 

the trigger that ignites your interest

You can get interested in something that you wouldn’t normally be focused on, but you first need something that will peak your interest. 

Way back in high school the TV was a magnet for me. I would come home after school, grab three or four cookies from the tin my mom had hidden, and flop on the couch to watch television. 

We only had a black and white TV so I was not watching in “living colour” as NBC advertised. One of my favourite shows was Perry Mason, so it didn’t matter that we only had a black and white TV. That show was filmed in black and white. It was a who-done-it show where Perry Mason, the lawyer, defended the cases. He always won.

At some point they changed the time of the show to a half hour later. Instead of coming home and doing homework, or something crazy like that, I just watched whatever was on before my show. 

I had never seen a soap opera before, but with a half hour to kill before Perry Mason, I started watching the “Edge of Night” …  da da da dum. 

Something I had had no interest in suddenly caught my interest and, for a while, I religiously followed the Edge of Night and knew all the characters.

The trigger for me was that I had time to kill before watching what I really wanted to see. I got sucked into watching what was before it and I got hooked – interested. 

The same thing has happened to me with the FIFA World Cup this month. 

When I was in college, I played soccer … or football as they say in the rest of the world. In fact, my college team won the Saskatchewan Provincial Championships in 1984. We went on to play in Toronto at the National College Championships. I was injured most of the season that year but I did get in a little action in one of the games.

So I know soccer. Also both my kids played some soccer and I watched them play in high school. 

… But I have to tell you, it’s not my favourite sport. 

I didn’t mind playing it, but watching it is tiresome. The biggest reason is they don’t score enough goals. The goals that are scored are often spectacular and the skill is amazing, but they just don’t score enough for me. 

So I’ve never really gotten too exited or interested in the World Cup before.

But this year is a different matter. Canada had a team in the tourney and, all of a sudden, I’m into soccer. 

I’m watching highlights of games. I’m watching games that Canada is not even playing in. 

Basically it took Canada making it into the World Cup for me to have enough interest in the game to get excited about it.

Team Canada was my trigger.

Here’s the thing: Life is full with all our activities, work and interests. If God has not been part of your life from an early age, it might be hard to get excited about Him. But there are triggers that can cause us to consider God and then become interested in knowing more about Him. Triggers like discouragement, trouble, heartbreak, sadness, stress and other things can cause us to look for help outside ourselves. Some of these things will come to all of us at some time in our lives. Be sure to seek God for help and comfort and you will find you want to know more about Him and His love for you. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has triggered your interest lately? Leave your comments and questions below.

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New Christmas Lights Have Been A Challenge

Bringing something up to a new standard always presents its challenges.

new Christmas lights have been a challenge

It doesn’t matter what it is, upgrading or moving to a new system is never smooth, such as going from analogue to digital – it’s a process. 

I was looking at a number of home movies we shot years ago when our kids were little. I had brought home the big, massive VHS video camera from the church, plunked a regular-sized VHS tape into the unit and shot birthday and Christmas events.  

… That was great while VHS players were a thing. Now VHS tapes and players are a thing of the past. 

The change in technology makes it difficult to save those memories for the future. I’ve almost lost the window to transfer those tapes to a digital format. But I still have a VHS player and I think one of my old video cameras can be plugged into it to transfer the recordings to digital.

I remember upgrading how I wrote sermons, from pen and paper to typing them onto my computer. I’ll admit I sometimes had a hard time reading my own writing. 

But when I forgot to hit “save” and my computer crashed, sometimes I lost pages of type … and you can’t even try to decipher what isn’t there anymore.

I learned the painful lesson that you should hit the save button every time you pause to make sure you don’t lose anything.

Well, last week I tried a new upgrade with our Christmas lights. 

I’ve been forever using the same strings of lights to give a Christmas feel to the outside of our home. But now our incandescent strings of lights are wearing out. Some of the sockets no longer work and lightbulbs are always going out.

I decided to go LED all the way. 

I headed to the store thinking it would be seamless to replace the four strings of lights I put on our house, only to find that the new strings are not 25 feet long like the old ones. They are 16.1 feet long.

My quick trip to the hardware store turned into a half hour of humming and hawing over what strings to buy. 

I also had to buy all new clips to attach them to our house.

I ended up getting five strings, but two of them had five colours of lights when I only wanted two. It took some time to swap out the colours I didn’t want.

When I finally got them all up, one string didn’t work. Sure enough, it was one of the multi-coloured strings. I had to switch the lights back to the originals and return them to the store. 

The new set I bought worked when I got them home but, by the time I’d swapped the lights out, the string didn’t work. I took that set back too, plus the other matching set that had multi-coloured lights. 

The time I spent on this project was as much time as I’ve spent over the last three years putting up and taking down lights. 

It’s all good now … but the updating was a royal pain. 

Here’s the thing: It’s never easy to make changes to your life. But if you don’t, at some point you will be unable to make changes or you might think it’s too hard and miss out. Jesus came to earth to pay for your sins and enable you to have a relationship with God, now and forever. Yes, the change may cause some challenges but, in the end, giving your life to Christ will be far better for you. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to update or upgrade this Christmas? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Am I More Observant Now Or Just Nosy?

What some people call being more observant, others might call being nosy.  

am I more observant now or just nosy?

Retirement has been interesting. Though I have not had a shortage of things to do these last almost two months, I’m now doing them from home. That’s a big difference. 

I’m not sitting in my living room eight hours a day looking out the window though. In fact, I spend most of my time in the basement working at my desk or sorting papers.  

But I come up for air periodically and it’s then that I have occasion to look out the front window. And, when you do that a few times a day, you can’t help but get a little bit of the pulse of the street. 

I remember back in Edmonton we lived next door to a fireman. He was the eyes and ears of the street. He knew what everyone was doing, their schedules, what they brought home and when they went on vacation. 

Working the kind of shifts that gave him several days off in a row, he had time to stay on top of the street happenings. 

It was a little comforting too. 

We knew that someone was watching our place if we were away. If a package was put by our door, no one was going to come along and take it. It was better than having a door cam. 

I wouldn’t say I’m the eyes and ears of our street – well, at least not yet. There are a couple other retired guys who fill that spot. But I’m noticing things … my neighbours got new vehicles and some on the street don’t use their composter. 

And then there’s the guy behind us across the road. He is the most interesting.

For the last two months, I’ve noticed he gets a newspaper of some kind dropped on his driveway once a week. The paper comes in a plastic bag … which is a good thing because it remains there, near the end of his driveway, all week! 

Depending on where the paper lands, it will get driven over several times during the week. No one picks the thing up. 

I first wondered if he was the only one getting this paper, but then I noticed last week that his neighbour gets one too. However, contrary to this guy, his neighbour takes his into his house within a couple of hours.

Last week we got some sloppy snow and this guy’s paper not only was driven over, but it got wet and ground into the driveway. 

I know that this is none of my business and that I shouldn’t care a second about the paper that is on this guy’s driveway – right now, by the way – but I want to know what is going through the guy’s head. 

Why doesn’t he just pick up the paper and throw it into his recycling bin?

My observations have turned into story lines that I have been creating in my mind. I wish I could get to the bottom of it. 

Here’s the thing: We can’t know what goes on in someone else’s mind. We don’t know what they are thinking and believing, but we can present them with the knowledge and opportunity to believe in an eternal God who loves them, sent His Son to die for them, and desires to show them His love and acceptance.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What gets you curious about others around you? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I Was Oblivious To What I Already Knew

Sometimes you can be oblivious to a reality even though you’ve been informed about it.

I was oblivious to what I already knew

… That statement might need a little explanation. 

Recently I needed to see a doctor. Though there is lots of news concerning the deficiencies in our medical system, it didn’t hit me until I tried to use the system.

In my previous post I wrote about poking myself in the ear with a Q-tip (read here). Well, after several days – a week, to be precise – I decided to make an appointment with my doctor.

I thought it would be as simple as phoning the doctor’s office to make an appointment – boom, done. Instead I was told I couldn’t get in to see my doctor for a couple of weeks! 

The receptionist and I thought maybe I should try a quicker solution, but it wasn’t an emergency so going to the hospital didn’t seem like the right approach. 

The decision was made to try the after hours walk-in clinic my doctor’s office is connected to. Even though the words “after hours” didn’t have a good ring to them, at least I could go that day. I was told to go right when it opened to make sure I got into the clinic. My wife, Lily, then warned me to get there even earlier. 

When I arrived twenty minutes before the walk-in clinic opened, I was fourth in line. 

I had twenty minutes to kill standing outside in line to get in to see a doctor.

I‘ve stood in lines before. One time back in 1974, I stood in line on Yonge Street in Toronto outside A&A Records to purchase tickets to see Elton John in concert. Now that was standing in line! We were about ninth in line and waited from 9 pm to around 7 am the next morning when the tickets went on sale. 

… The stories of that night could fill a few blog posts. But that was late summer and warm outside.

Not the other day, standing twenty minutes outside in damp, 0° Celsius weather. 

The line of people grew and there were several parents with children, young children and babies, lining up to see a different kind of rock star – a doctor.

I couldn’t help but think that the sight was something you would see in a war-torn, third world country. Sick people were standing out in the cold to get treatment for their sicknesses. 

I used to stand in line to play shinny hockey, but at least we could stand inside the foyer of the arena in a climate-controlled temperature. 

When they did let us in – one by one, after we signed in and took a number – you really got a sense of how sick some people were. There was a constant noice of babies, children and adults coughing and sniffling. 

I don’t think sick people should have to wait outside in the cold to get medical help. There has to be a better way.

I’d heard that there are deficiencies in our medical system but, until yesterday, I didn’t really get it. 

Here’s the thing: We can hear about God, about what Christ did on the cross, but still be oblivious to it. It is when we take the time to investigate the reality of what God has done for us that we really are able to get it. Seek who Christ is and what He has done. Then let that knowledge impact your life.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you know about but don’t really know? Leave your comments and questions below.

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A Lesson Learned Is More Valuable Than You Know

There is a lesson to be learned from almost everything in life. Some of those lessons are enriching and guide us going forward.

a lesson learned is more valuable than you know

Other lessons, well, they are difficult and they challenge us to be better, to do things differently.

One of the lessons that has stayed with me my whole life was learned when I was about four years old.

I was colouring in a colouring book in the back seat of the family car. We had just arrived at home and, before getting out of the car, I turned the page to start colouring another picture.

My dad, who was watching, said to me, “don’t start colouring another picture until you finish colouring the picture you are on.” 

That little sentence has stayed with me my entire life. The lesson I learned was “finish what you start”.

There have been many lessons learned along the way. Many have not been as impactful as that lesson my dad taught me that day. 

Some of the lessons have hurt. 

For a while I had difficulty with sharp instruments – like hand saws and utility knives. People were even hesitant to let me hold a knife with a sharp edge. 

I had cut myself sawing off the bottom of a door … while propping the door up with my knee and my left hand. When the door slipped, I almost severed the tendon of my index finger. 

About three months later, I took five stitches to the top of the same finger while using a utility knife to cut some fiber board for a sliding door.

I learned that I should have the proper tools and properly secure an object before I cut it. 

But that is nothing like the lesson I just learned.

I was using a Q-tip to clean my ears. … I have been using Q-tips on my ears for decades, so really, what could I possibly learn about cleaning my ears? 

Ya, I’ve seen the commercials about the special screw-type ear thingies that remove ear wax like an auger. But I like Q-tips; I’m proficient with them. And I get the originals. I don’t settle for some cheap ear swabs that basically feel like you are using a stick in your ear.

Well, the other day, I had a Q-tip in my left ear when I noticed that some hair on my head was out of place. So I swiped at the hair … and literally drove the Q-tip into my ear. 

Oh, baby, that was painful!

After reeling for a few moments, I had to leave for an appointment. On the way, my ear still felt sore and, when I put my finger in my ear, I realized it was bleeding.

The last two days I’ve been picking dried blood from that ear. I may have to see my doctor to make sure there isn’t any permanent damage. 

So what was the lesson learned? Well, that’s simple: don’t use a Q-tip while looking at yourself in the mirror. That’s what got me into trouble.

Here’s the thing: With so many experiences in our life time, we need to wisely learn the lessons that will benefit us as we journey on. The greatest lesson we can learn is that we all mess up and sin, but God will forgive us if we will place our faith in Jesus Christ. We get tons of practice to learn this lesson. The question is will we learn it? 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What life lessons have you learned lately? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Once Is Enough Or Should I Keep Up With It?

If I can do things once, I will work very hard to make that happen. 

once is enough or should I keep up with it?

I think I’ve always been a “once” kind of guy. 

When I’ve had some dishes that needed to be carried to the kitchen, I’ve loaded myself up. 

At other times I’ve taken so many clothes downstairs to be washed that I’ve dropped some along the way. 

… But that has never stopped me from trying to do it the next time. 

Years ago, when I was working as a youth pastor out west, there were times the church was asked to help someone in the congregation move.

This was always an assignment for the youth pastor and the college and career pastor. Dave and I had a motto back then, “Dave and Paul – the one trip movers”. 

That was our handle because, if it was up to us, we would cram everything in that house into the truck so we didn’t have to go back for another trip.

There have been so many times that I have been overloaded, using my body, chin, knees to get things from point A to point B. 

It’s just who I am. It’s part of my make up. We are all made differently and some people would never try to do the things I do. They don’t care if it takes two trips; so be it. 

Not me. I want to get it done once. Let’s not take longer; let’s not do this again. 

So that is why I’m having a little dilemma right now. 

I look out my front window and see a good-sized pile of leaves out there. I’m pretty sure my neighbour is wishing I would quickly scoop them up. But that goes against my grain because half the leaves are still on the tree.

At this point the tree looks a lot like my hair. On the outset it looks like I have a full head of hair, but really it’s thinning. The tree has lots of leaves, but you can tell it’s getting rather thin on top.

If I go out there and collect the leaves on the ground, they will only be replaced in the next couple of days with a completely new set of fallen leaves … which means I will have to go out and mulch leaves a second time. – I don’t even like writing that sentence.

If I wait a little longer, I will only have to do it once. The pile that is already there will also get blown around. Some leaves will stick around but others will land on other people’s lawns and I won’t have to deal with them at all.

Right now I have a couple of days of really nice weather to decide the fate of the fallen leaves. 

I used to be able to blame this decision on my schedule. These days, other than biking, golfing and doing a chapel talk, my schedule is fairly open. … Decisions!

Here’s the thing: We tend to not want to deal with our sin. If we do, we would prefer to only deal with it once, like when we ask Christ to forgive us of our sins. The problem with not regularly dealing with our sins is that they cause us to grow cold and distant from God. To keep your relationship with Christ warm and close, you need to confess your sins when they happen. Stay on it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to do now, instead of waiting for later? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Decisions On What To Keep Are Never Easy

When you have too many of one thing, you have some decisions to make. 

decisions on what to keep are never easy

Right now I have too many desks. If I had too many hockey or baseball cards I could trade my duplicates to someone. … But you can’t really call traders on desks. 

One time we had too many cars, so we gave one away to someone who needed a car. 

But each of my desks are different and it’s tough to decide what I should do with them. One thing for sure is that I can’t keep them all.  

Desks are not like shoes. My son collects running shoes. If he had his way, he would have a whole room for his running shoes, just like the guy in the movie “The Italian Job” dreamed of.

The thing about running shoes, or any other kind of shoe, is that you can only wear one pair at a time. You can’t even mix and match them, like wear the left shoe of one set with the right shoe of another set. That just doesn’t work … though I have seen guys wear two different coloured hockey socks on the ice and think that is cool. 

I’m of the philosophy that you only need one pair of shoes for each occasion. 

You need a pair of dress shoes for when you wear a suit, a pair of running shoes for when you are running or doing something sporty, and a pair of casual shoes, or as I call them “everyday shoes”. 

That’s pretty much it. I don’t go out and buy more shoes unless one of those three pairs is worn out. … and I sometimes even wear them past when they’re worn out. 

So I only really need one desk. Although for the way I work, I can get away with having two. 

Right now I have my dad’s old desk set that is made of yew wood, whatever that is. My dad thought it was special. The desk set is pretty special because it was my dad’s, but I don’t really need it. 

I also have my grandfather’s roll top desk. I am particularly drawn to that. I’m not sure what it is about them, but I like roll top desks. 

The third desk I have is a stand up desk. This is the desk I use the most. I find that working standing up is way more productive and enjoyable for me. 

I could keep one sit down desk and the stand up, but I don’t need two sit down desks. 

The question is, which one will I part with and what will I do with it?

I’m leaning towards getting rid of my dad’s desk and at least part of the other pieces of it, and just keeping my stand up and roll top desks. 

But before I do anything with these desks, I first need to clear them from all the junk and stuff that accumulated on and in them. 

That will be job number one. 

Here’s the thing: Many, if not most of us, are collectors – just google how much the average household pays in storage fees. We collect because we don’t want to make a decision; we want to keep our options open. What if we want that thing some time in the future? We can also do that spiritually. We keep things in our lives we don’t need, that may be holding us back from making breakthroughs with God. It’s time to part with those things. Focus your attention on Christ and live solely committed to Him. 

That’s Life!

Paul

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

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A Dinner To Remember And Reflect

It was a dinner to remember and reflect on the past decades. Sometimes you just have to take time to reminisce.

a dinner to remember and reflect

We probably have all done this. It seems I’m doing it a lot more lately. 

It’s good to reflect on the past year, or years, and recall what you did, accomplished, or should have done differently.

Now that I’m retired, I’m doing a lot more of that. 

In our family room right now, there are eleven boxes of files and memories from the past almost four decades of ministry. I’ve started sifting through them and some of the files go back to when I first started in ministry. 

There are a ton of things like old youth event calendars that Lily or I made, or Graham one of our youth designed. He was a master creator.

But with each calendar, form or contact list that would cross my eyes, I had to pause. People and events needed to be reflected on before I could dispatch them to a keeper file or the trash. 

Some of these files I will never use again but I need to keep a sampling of them because they help when I go back and remember the past. 

This summer Lily and I spent a couple of hours with an old and dear youth leader, Audrey. We’re so glad we did because she passed away just a few months after our visit. 

When we arrived at her house she had a file for us to see. In it there was a list of the names of students who’d attended a certain retreat. 

We spent a lot of time just looking at those names and talking about each student and our memories of them.  

It was a special time.

You can’t just erase the past and start fresh; you need some hooks to remember the past. Sorting through my files will provide me with a point of connection to the past the next time I take a trip down memory lane. 

Two days after my last day of work, Lily and I went out for dinner. It wasn’t just dinner at a restaurant; we ate at the revolving restaurant at the top of the CN Tower in Toronto. 

It was significant and reminiscent of years ago when we would have dinner after the Christmas Eve Service in Edmonton. We would eat at the Chateau LaCombe Hotel, in their revolving restaurant that overlooked the river valley and city. 

Seeing the sights of Toronto as the landscape slowly changed before us reminded us of those days. 

At dinner we talked about ministry at our churches and the people who have walked through our lives, enriched us and encouraged us. We spent time reflecting on what we have experienced over so many years. 

After dinner we strolled around the observation deck and, as we looked out at the night and the lights that glimmered and sparkled, we talked about our future. 

Looking ahead capped off a perfect dinner of remembering. … for there is no point reminiscing if you don’t also look ahead.

Here’s the thing: Reminiscing should spur us on to what is next. When you recall your past, be sure to recall the times God provided, answered your prayer, supplied your need, protected you, gave you wisdom and helped you make decisions. When you do that, you will boldly continue to move on with Jesus as your guide and strength. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When will you take some time to reflect and remember? Leave your comments and questions below.

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