Author: Paul Silcock

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A Taste Of Something Good Is Never Enough

We’ve all experienced a taste of something and then wanted more.

a taste of something good is never enough

Sometimes you can get more, but there are times when you are left with only a taste. 

That’s frustrating.

Recently when I was at a wedding reception, the waiters brought around appetizer finger foods while we waited for the bride and groom to show up.

I got to try one item that was offered me and it was very good. But as quickly as the waiter brought the little morsel, she disappeared with her tray and those bites of whatever they were. 

To be fair, it was getting near dinner time and I was a little peckish. A one-bite of anything was not going to cut it for me. But I sure liked those little, crispy, rolled things dipped in a sweet, tangy sauce.

Shortly after my taste buds had been perked, I spied another waiter with a tray. I moseyed over, but she had some asparagus thing wrapped in a seaweed-like twine.  

I passed on that one and kept looking for that one waiter who had the food that I wanted more of. 

Have you been there? You got a taste of something but really wanted more? 

A little over a month ago I got an inflatable stand up paddle board for my birthday. About a month later, after some anticipation, I finally got my paddle board up to our cottage. I inflated it and was excited to take it down to the beach and get it into the water.

That first try was great. I got tossed off the board multiple times – some spectacular wipeouts – and it was probably a little too wavy to try for the first time, but I didn’t care; I was having fun. 

We all gave it a shot, I tried it, my daughter, Karlie, and her husband and Lily all gave it a go. We had a wonderful afternoon on the water. 

I would have gone back the next day, but I had gotten a little too much sun so I needed to press pause for a day or two. In the mean time, I had to figure out where I would store this giant surf board that is fifteen feet long. 

I bought some hooks and mounted them on the side of our deck. I had no sooner placed the board on the hooks and turned around to get something when I heard a loud balloon-like pop. … Well, it wasn’t a balloon; it was my paddle board! 

One month waiting to use it, one day of using it and I was left with a taste of something that I wanted more of. 

Now I couldn’t have more. 

Replacing it meant hours of driving and more waiting, but we finally got a new one. 

I sure hope I don’t get just another taste, but instead get the full experience. 

Here’s the thing: There are times when we truly experience God’s love. We feel it, sense it, can even describe it. But then the hardships of life come and we wonder where God’s love is. We want to feel more of it, not just a taste of it. God is not far off. He is with you no matter what hardship you are experiencing. Keep seeking Him and giving yourself to Him and you will find what you are looking for – more of God’s love.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you hoping for more of? Leave your comments and questions below. 

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Write Things Down Or You Will Be Sorry

You should just write things down when you hear them or you may lose them forever.

write things down or you will be sorry

… I know some of you are thinking that you have great memories and don’t have to write things down to recall them later. But it is true that when you get older your memory fails at times. 

Writing things down makes up for the reduced functioning of our older brain cells.

Even younger people with good minds at times can’t keep track of all the things they need to do. That’s why we have to-do lists and to-do apps.

Sometimes there is just so much to keep track of that our brains can’t juggle all those balls without dropping one or two of them. And if you’ve ever seen a juggling act, when the juggler loses one or two balls, all the balls go flying.

For me I have a running to-do list – actually I have an app that contains many things I have to do on a repeated schedule.

I can look at the app and see the things I have before me. I can also add to that to-do list and it can keep me focussed on accomplishing the things I want … without having to rack my brain to remember what else was on my mental list for the day.

However, there have been times – and we’ve all had them – when we forget to do something because it didn’t make it to the list.

There have been times when I’ve been late paying a bill because I forgot to give Lily the invoice. I thought I could remember to do it later in the day but I forgot and then it was gone from my memory. 

Before I started writing things down, I would sometimes forget promises I made. 

One time a guy came into the church looking for some food. I told him I had to go out at noon, would pick up a grocery store gift card then, and he should come back later in the afternoon.

Well, I forgot to write it down and when he showed up, I had no card. I drove him to the grocery store right then and got him a card. 

Now I write things down so I’m not caught in that situation again. 

But the other day something happened and Lily said to me, “That’s a great blog idea.” 

I thought, “Ya, I could write a blog about that.” 

Well, I didn’t write the idea down; I thought I could remember it. But three days later, I’m writing a blog post about not writing things down.

I can’t remember what that idea was. And Lil? She can’t remember either. 

She even washed her hands of it. She said “I mentioned it to you because I knew I would forget about it. And once I told you, I let it go from my mind.” 

It was a really good blog idea, but it is gone forever. You all are missing out on a good one.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes you can read a verse in the Bible that really speaks to you. It was like it was there just for you, at that precise time. Don’t trust your memory to remember that important word from God. Write it down, record what God said to you, so you can recall it later and benefit from it again and again. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to write down right now before you forget? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Your Reaction May Not Be The Best Reaction

Sometimes the best reaction to something is no reaction at all, to not get worked up one way or the other. 

your reaction may not be the best reaction

Now, of course, there are times when a quick reaction to something is required.

When you are told of a horrible accident, you react right away with emotion that fits the situation. If someone falls down, you react quickly to help them up.

A few years ago while I was playing hockey, one of the guys went down around the net. By the way he fell down everyone could tell this was no trip or fall. The guys immediately poured off the bench and went to his aid. 

He was having a heart attack and you should have seen the reaction – it was instantaneous. Guys started working on him immediately, others went looking for the defibrillator paddles. Someone grabbed a phone to call 911. 

That was a visible, quick reaction … but there are times you can’t tell someone’s reaction.

During covid when everyone was wearing masks, it was really hard to determine reactions when talking to people. You had to look at their eyes to see if possibly there was a smile behind the mask. It was very difficult to tell.

I wonder if during this time people were less funny or less dramatic because they couldn’t tell another person’s reaction to them.

Then there is something that always causes a reaction but should never produce a desire in us to react: weather forecasts. 

Weather people are trained to give us the information to get a reaction.

These people want us reacting to good weather like we just scored a goal, high-fiving everyone around. They want us to be down in the dumps if the weather is not going to be very good.

They want us in a puddle of despondency over a forecast of rain and high winds for the next seven days. 

But really, the best way to react to the weather forecast – on TV or an app or on your phone – is to just have no reaction.

They are wrong so often it not worth the effort to react one way or the other. You get yourself all excited or all upset for probably nothing. 

This week our daughter and her husband were planning to come to our cottage for a couple of days. 

My wife, Lily, checked her weather app to plan our time together. The forecast was for rain the whole time they were scheduled to be here. 

Lily was immediately disappointed. My response was, “Don’t worry about it; just wait.” 

Sure enough, there was no rain that night and we woke up the next day to sunshine and warm temperatures. 

If the weather people knew we were not reacting to their weather information maybe they would stop trying to play with our emotions and just focus on getting their weather predictions correct.

Here’s the thing: When something bad happens in our lives, we are quick to look for who to blame. A lot of the times God gets the blame. We ask God a lot of “why” questions, with a whiny, “poor me” attitude. Don’t be quick to react to the bad things in your life. Take them in stride, take them to God and allow Him to inform your reaction. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you been reacting to lately that you shouldn’t? Leave your comments and questions below.

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The Last Time Had Some Mixed Emotions

The “last time” are words that signal the end of something.

the last time had some mixed emotions

Sometimes the last time is pleasant because we know we don’t have to do that again. 

… Like when you are moving furniture, it’s been hot and you’re all sweaty and tired. You’ve been bringing boxes and furniture into the house for some time. When you walk into that moving van for the last time, it’s a good feeling that it’s the last time. 

But there are times when the last time is not such a happy thing.

… When your vacation is coming to an end and you look out of the window of your Airbnb at the ocean and beach before you. You wish you had an extra week or even just a few more days, but this is the last time you are looking at that emerald blue water and that fine white sand. That is not as happy a last time.

But then the last time can be both sad and happy all at the same time. 

… A funeral of someone who lived a good life and had strong faith in Christ Jesus is one of those times. There is much sadness that can’t be denied, but there is also a joy of knowing that that old saint is with the Lord in heaven. When one walks away from the grave site for the last time there is mixed emotions of sadness and joy. 

Last week my wife, Lily, and I attended our denomination’s General Assembly. We gather every two years to conduct business, elect leaders and committee members. This year Assembly was in Alberta in the city I started pastoring in.

This was probably my last time attending this conference. As I will be moving into retirement sometime soon, I most likely won’t be back. 

For Lily and I, it was a week of last times – possibly the last time we will get out to Edmonton, or last time we will see some of the colleagues we’ve pastored with over the years, including some who we went to school with. 

It may be the last time we ever visit our first church, Beulah Alliance, and see the faces of the people who enriched our lives, brought us joy and made us smile so many years ago. 

But unlike leaving a vacation spot earlier than you want to, we have the joy of memories that fill our hearts and will never leave us. 

To reacquaint ourselves with those we shared life with a long time ago was pure joy. To see how some have blossomed and some have aged well like fine wine was a delight. It will fuel our memories for years to come; pictures, videos and social media posts will just fan the flame of our memories to new heights. 

When you really think about it, the last time for something is never really the last time. It might be in a physical sense but we have experiences that we shared and those memories don’t ever leave us. 

It was so good to make that trip out west last week. 

Here’s the thing: With your own life, you don’t know when the last time will be for you. To ensure that you have joy, hope and no regrets when that last time comes, be sure to give Jesus control of your life. Not only will you have peace knowing that heaven lies ahead, but your loved ones will have comfort knowing where you will be.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What recent “last time” has brought you joy? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Knowing Why Really Helps Us Make Decisions

There are times when you are presented with something and you only have one response – WHY? 

knowing why really helps us make decisions

It’s because whatever you’re presented with doesn’t make sense or it provides no help or purpose.

The other day I was handed a ham sandwich (that was delicious, by the way). In the sandwich, along with the ham and the lettuce, there was cheese. The particular variety of cheese in the sandwich was brie. 

As I was eating the sandwich, I asked my wife, Lily, what kind of cheese it was. When she told me, I said, “Why would they bother to put that cheese in the sandwich? It doesn’t have any taste.” 

Some may say that the cheese added texture to the sandwich, but really it didn’t make any difference to the sandwich whatsoever. 

I like to know the reason why people do things or why something is the way it is. In fact, it is always good to know the reason why … although one can get carried away. 

I once was trapped in a car with a five year old asking his father question after question without stopping. This boy’s questions were random, concerning everything his eyes gazed on inside and outside the car we were traveling in. 

When the child asked his dad why the sky was blue, I realized then that I was not the only one in the car who was tired of the incessant questions. 

The boy’s father answered him, “Just because, Richard; just because!”

And, with that, the questions stopped. 

I couldn’t help but think, “Why didn’t he give that kind of answer to the third question instead of the 20th?!” 

There is something inside us that wants to know why – why things exist, why we do things that way. 

I remember hearing a story about a woman who always cut off the end of the roast when she put it in the roasting pan. Her daughter grew up and one day asked her mom why she cut the end off the roast. Her mom answered, “I do it because that is how my mother cooked it.” 

So they asked Gramma why she used to cut off the end of the roast before putting it in the oven. Gramma replied, “because it was too big for my pot”. 

It’s good to know why; it helps us make decisions. 

This past week we rented a car while travelling. They gave us two sets of keys. When they handed me the keys, they were joined together by a wire that would require wire cutters or a bolt cutter to separate. 

We got two sets of keys but could only use them as one. 

If they didn’t want us to separate the keys, why not just give us one set? If we lost one, we’d lose both. 

Personally, one set fit better in my pocket than two. Having two car keys was a pain. 

I saw absolutely no reason to keep those keys together.

When I asked the guy at the rental counter, he didn’t really have an answer. He just shrugged his shoulders and gave me a wry smile. 

… Maybe he should ask his grandmother. 

Here’s the thing: There are many things in this world that we do not have the answer to. We don’t know the why. But we do know why Christ came to this world and gave His live for our sins. It’s because He loves us. We should remember that “why” when we think of our response to Christ and His offer of salvation. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What “why” question is bugging you right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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My Stuff Has A Diabolical Plan To Take Over My Life

It’s not hard to grasp how easily stuff can pile up and become a problem.

my stuff has a diabolical plan to take over my life

We’ve probably all seen those shows about hoarders. People who only have paths through their homes because their stuff is piled up in every room.

It certainly hasn’t come to that in our home, but I’m seeing how stuff can begin to take over. I’d like to say it’s just at home, but honestly stuff is spilling over at my office as well. 

Some people are naturally neat. They just put things away after they use them. They have a place for everything and it always goes back there. It’s possible that these people have attained to a higher state of being than the rest of us, but it’s more likely that they have other issues that compel them to do what they do. 

For me it happens slowly, one thing at a time. The clutter begins when one thing doesn’t have a place or I don’t have time to put something away. 

I’m not making excuses here, just observations. 

Once one thing doesn’t get back to where it belongs, it kind of opens the door for more things to hang out where they don’t belong. 

In my office, it starts when I don’t know where to put a piece of paper. I realize I’ll need it later so I leave it out as a visible reminder. 

Sometimes I don’t have a file for it or know what I would file it under. The end result is it stays on my desk … and the pile or piles begin. 

On my computer, I’m sometimes in a hurry and don’t put documents I’m working on in a folder … which means they sit on my desktop. Before too long my desktop is filled with un-filed documents, pictures, pdfs and more.

Because one piece of paper or one document doesn’t look messy, you don’t see the disaster that is coming. 

Right now I’m looking at my family room and there is an amplifier for my son’s guitar sitting in a corner. … My son hasn’t lived here for six years, plus he now has an apartment-sized amp for his guitar. 

I originally thought that I might plug my acoustic guitar into it, but that has only happened a few times in those six years. So there it sits and, on top of it, a mic and a few cords. 

That’s just one thing. 

As I scan the room, there are several things – my stuff – that need to be put away, disposed of in some way, or I need to find a place to store them. 

And then there is my roll top desk. That is where I secretly hoard old computer stuff. In this secret place I have hidden away hard drives, cords, cables, disks, CD’s and many things that can’t even plug into a computer anymore. 

If my roll top desk is ever opened up, I am concerned that it would take over the whole basement and I would be left walking on paths to get around my stuff.

Here’s the thing: Not only can we keep physical things hanging around so that they pile up in our homes, we can also keep hurts, sin, unforgiveness and anger piled up in our lives. Just like you have to take action to clear the clutter from your computer, you must take action with the stuff that builds up in your life. The best way to deal with all that is to take it to God and allow Him to help you get your life uncluttered. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you most need to un-clutter right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Prioritize Or You Will End Up Picking Up The Pieces

We sometimes underestimate the time little tasks take and, therefore, fail to prioritize them.

prioritize or you will end up picking up the pieces

Maybe it’s just me but, when I’m not working on a significant project, I’m easily pulled away from the secondary work I have to get done. 

This week I didn’t have to write a sermon, which is normally a major weekly project. For that, I am pretty protective of my time and I manage it through the week. 

I don’t know what it is but, when I don’t have a major anchor like a sermon to structure my week around, I’m not as protective of my time. 

It’s like a high school kid on summer vacation. He wakes up every morning and his parents give him a bunch of things they want him to do before they get home from work. Any plans or ideas of what he wanted to do now come under the new assignments he’s been tasked with.

This past week’s disaster is mostly my fault; I just needed to guard my time better. 

Someone called and needed help with something. I was only working on little tasks so I left what I was working on to help them get their task done. 

That happened two or three times this week, and because I felt like I had some extra time, I also worked on a couple of other things I had not planned on. 

We’ve all seen jugglers who have about five balls in the air and then get someone to throw another ball into the air for them. Often they incorporate that extra ball into their routine seamlessly. 

But there are times when the ball that gets thrown in arrives too high or low or too hard. When that happens, the juggler doesn’t just miss or drop that extra ball. All the balls he has circling in the air also get dropped. 

The balls scatter.

That’s how I felt at the end of my week. I still had a bunch of little details and tasks to do that were all scattered around me.

When I was in high school, we liked to see how many pennies we could catch. 

… Remember those things? 5 pennies were equal to a nickel, and 100 of them made a dollar – I mean a loonie.

We would bring one arm up and rest the back of our hand on our shoulder so we could stack a pile of pennies on our forearm just before our elbow. 

Then we would snap our arm forward and catch the pile of pennies in our hand. We got up to catching 20, 30, even 40 or more pennies in as many as 4 piles on our forearm.

You had to snap your arm forward really fast to catch all those stacks of coins. But if you missed, you had pennies flying everywhere. (Don’t try this at home, kids.)

Today, I’m picking up pennies – I mean, tasks – that I just didn’t give the priority to that they required. 

Here’s the thing: When you don’t prioritize God in your life, there will be other things and other people that fill your day and keep you from having much or any time with God. When that happens, your life will tend to be a little scattered. You will lose the directional focus you need.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you failing to prioritize these days? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Didn’t Fully Prepare For This One

There are times when you can’t fully prepare for an upcoming event.

didn't fully prepare for this one

You want to be completely ready; you know you’ll do well if you’re fully prepared, but you don’t have the time to do what is necessary.

Not that long ago I participated in cleaning up the sand left on our church parking lot from the winter. I knew it was going to require a lot of sweeping and I also knew that I hadn’t been doing much work with my hands. 

My hands are not tough – no calluses – so I didn’t expect it to be easy. I had full intention of bringing a pair of work gloves to give my hands a break, but forgot. I finished the day with about five blisters distributed over both hands. 

Even though I held the broom in different ways to change up the pressure, I couldn’t avoid the beating my hands received. 

Sometimes you have to face the consequences of not being as fully prepared as you wanted to be.

When I preach, I read over my sermon six times before I preach it. But sometimes I just run out of time or my schedule on Saturday doesn’t allow me to spend all the time that’s needed. Usually that means I will be looking down at my notes a lot more than usual.

Sometimes you just don’t feel as prepared or ready as you would like to be.

This week I will be going golfing with a couple of buddies, but I have yet to golf this year. In fact, over the last couple of years, I haven’t golfed much at all. 

I’m running out of time. I don’t have time to play a couple of rounds of golf before the match. I don’t even have the time to play one round prior to our game.

The only thing I can do is go to the driving range. I can hit balls. I can practice my swing … but it will only partially help. 

I can hit 80 – 100 golf balls at a range in less than an hour. Oh, it will help me be consistent with my shots on the course, but in that hour of hitting all those balls, I won’t move more than a few feet. I don’t have to walk to get to my next shot. I simply reach my club out and roll another ball towards my stance.

Without playing the game, I won’t be able to build up my stamina to walk that 6500 yards and hit the ball without any fatigue setting in. I won’t be able to practice hitting a ball out of a sand trap, or staring down an eight foot putt, accounting for a ball and a half break towards the hole. 

I’m looking forward to the game this week, but I will not be at my best. I will not play the way I want to play; I will not score to my potential. 

I’m just going to have to settle for what I can do to prepare between now and my golf game … and be happy with that. 

Here’s the thing: You may think you have not reached the place in your spiritual life that you should have. But if you are working at it to the best you can, with the time you have left, God is good with that. You can be happy with that.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What could you spend more time preparing for? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Lead With The Truth Over Covering Up Something

It’s better to lead with what you have than to try to cover up what you don’t have.

lead with the truth over covering up something

Maybe you’ve gone to a restaurant and right on the menu they list the items they have at the time. Sometimes the server will tell you, before you order, what items on the menu they have run out of. 

The worst is when you are given a menu and you zero in on something you want. By the time the server comes to take your order you have your heart set on it. Then when you tell him what you want, he says, “Oh I’m sorry; we ran out of that a little while ago.” 

You then have to get your mind and taste buds reset all over again … that is, unless you had a pretty good second choice picked out. 

There is a website that I order glasses from about once a year.

On the order form I can choose a number of things like the strength of the lens, whether I want a case and what colour I want the rims to be. But I also have to give them a second choice on the colour, just in case my first choice is not available. 

So before I place my order I know that I might not get my first choice, but I’ve chosen an alternative that I will be satisfied with. 

Just imagine going to a restaurant and, after you made your menu selection, you anticipate sinking your teeth into a thick juicy steak. But when your meal comes to your table, the server says, “We were out of steak, so I’ve brought you grilled salmon instead.” 

No thanks.

It’s best to just be upfront and say what you don’t have and not lead people along. 

The other day I went to Swiss Chalet to pick up some chicken dinners for four people. The meal comes with fries and a bun. 

The girl at the take out window asked me if I would like white buns with that. I always get white buns, so I said “yes” right away. But then I thought the others might rather have whole wheat. So I said, “No, make it two white and two whole wheat.”

The cashier looked at me completely serious and said, “We only have white buns.”  

I chuckled out loud and replied, “Well, I guess I will have white buns then.” 

I figured my reaction of chuckling at her might change her approach next time. It didn’t. 

The very next person was asked the same question: “Would you like a white bun with that? The woman replied, “No, I’ll have the whole wheat.” 

The server reiterated, “Oh, well, we only have white buns.” 

Girl, find new approach! Maybe lead with, “We only have white buns right now; is that all right?”

I wish I could have stayed longer to see how many more times she used the same approach, but they called my name and I left with my order … including my four white buns.

Here’s the thing: When King Solomon finished building the temple in Jerusalem, God said, “If you follow my statutes and rules, you will always have an heir on the throne in Israel.” That’s how God is with us. We know what He expects and wants from us. There is no guessing, no surprise response from Him. God always leads with what He expects. He never covers it up.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When are you tempted not to say what you expect? Leave your comments and questions below.

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The Wait Is Over And It Was All Worth Waiting For

Though it was a long time coming, the wait was worth it. Sometimes we can wait so long for something that we lose the joy and excitement of it. Sometimes we lose interest in it all together. 

the wait is over and it was all worth waiting for

I’ve had the same putter for forty years. There have been a couple of times that I’ve thought of getting a new one, but I waited, thinking that it might be a birthday present that someone would want to give me. 

At one time you could buy a nice putter for thirty or forty dollars. Now a good putter can run you into the hundreds. I thought of saving my money for one, but by the time I had enough money to get one, I decided I didn’t really want a new putter any more. 

Then there are times when you want something for a long time and you never lose interest during that long wait. 

Almost from the time we moved into our house, I wanted to get a pool table. But our kids were young and a pool table would have taken up a lot of playing space for the kids. 

Years went by, but my desire to get a pool table didn’t wain. 

When the kids were older and that space in the basement was no longer being used for a hockey rink, football field or wrestling ring, I started to get serious about getting a pool table. 

But they are expensive and I had to wait. I even took masking tape and outlined the shape on the rug in the family room so I could see exactly where it would go. 

Though the wait was long, I never wavered and eventually got that pool table. 

Well, last weekend, two years and two months after our daughter, Karlie, and her husband, Matt, got married before an audience of eight, they did it again. 

This time there were 160 family and friends who showed up to celebrate their marriage. We had a full wedding ceremony and reception. 

I thought that maybe after the long wait, the event would be anticlimactic, that it would seem lame because it was so after-the-fact. I wondered whether people would take the time to come because, after all, Karlie and Matt were already married. 

And there had already been two previous attempts to have this public celebration. 

They had rescheduled their celebration for a few months later in 2020, hoping that COVID restrictions would be over … but that was not the case. We didn’t even begin planning that one because it became obvious very quickly that it would not be possible. 

They again made plans to walk down the aisle one year after their wedding … but that didn’t work either. 

So two years and two months later, the wait was finally over. 

And our daughter’s wedding was just as exciting and joy-filled as if it was the first time! 

Here’s the thing: Christ will be coming back again. The wait has been long that some have lost interest, some think He’s not coming. The long wait is because God is patiently waiting for us to respond to His love offer. So don’t lose interest; get excited about Christ’s return. The wait will be worth it all. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you been waiting a long time for? Leave your comments and questions below.

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