Author: Paul Silcock

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An Early Birthday Present

I got an early birthday present this year.  I was going to be away on my birthday, so my son thought it best to give me my present early – either that, or he wanted to get it out of his trunk to free up some space.  So what was it, you ask? … It was a new golf bag.  But not just any golf bag – it was a Taylormade, Toronto Maple Leaf golf bag!

I know some of you are thinking, “But the Leafs play hockey, not golf.”  And some of you are thinking, “That makes sense:  the Leafs are the best golfers because they get an early start each year.”  I’m not sure if my Maple Leaf golf bag means I’ve jinxed the Leafs to miss the playoffs for another 3 years or not, but I’m willing to take the chance.  The bag is pretty sweet.  Way to go, Mike – great present!

I also received another early present and this one reminded me of the presents I used to buy my Mom when I was a teenager.  When it came to buying presents for her, I always looked for things that she might be able to use … you know, necessity kind of things, like household items.

I’m not sure how many times I bought her drinking glasses, but it was more than twice.  Our juice glasses were so small you barely got a good taste of the orange juice in them.  I calculated that if I bought bigger glasses that would mean more juice.  My mother applied another formula that the bigger the glass, the larger the gap between the juice and the top of the glass.

I thought I was getting her great presents, things she’d really like.  She was always appreciative, but now that I think about it, they weren’t really presents.  Those glasses were more like necessities, items you’d go out and buy yourself because you didn’t want your teenage son drinking out of the carton any more (like that stopped me).

Those memories came back to me because my other early birthday present was tools for our trailer. It was great to get the tools, but I would have purchased them as necessities.  Why waste a good present on something I need?  And that’s when it dawned on me:  those are the kind of presents I used to give my Mom!

You know, I wonder sometimes if we do this with God, as well. We come to church to worship. We sing songs about Him, and listen (intently) to the preacher tell us how we can know, love, and serve God better.  And we think we are giving God a great present.  “I’m worshipping You, God.  Isn’t that great?  Aren’t you pleased with my present, God?”

However, worshipping God is one of those necessity kind of things.  The Bible says that if we don’t praise Him, the rocks will!  When we worship God, whether it’s by praying, serving, singing, reading or listening, we are just doing what we ought to do.  It’s a necessity.  We should never think we are giving God something He doesn’t require from us.

That doesn’t mean God isn’t pleased when we do worship Him.  He is always appreciative when we give Him glory … just like I really was pleased with the tools I got as an early birthday present.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: In what ways do you give God worship?  Leave your comment below.

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Who Else Wants To Be Blessed

In my devotions today I read 2 Samuel 12:13 that says “Then David confessed to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan replied, ‘Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin.’”

When you think about it, David did a lot of bad things in his life, but God still blessed him despite all that.  Though we tend to think of King David as someone God really blessed, the reality is David had his share of suffering and hard times:  he had some serious family catastrophes, spent time hiding from people who wanted to kill him, and he was always at war. Still, I think David was one of God’s favorites.

This morning I found myself comparing my life to King David’s …

 In the sin department, I’m not sure whether he “out sinned” me or not – it’s probably too close to call.  Yet God has forgiven me just like He has David.

As for hardships in life, David had to live with some troubles and personal tragedy for long periods of time.  I, too, have had hardships – maybe not to the same depth of sorrow and hardship as David had, but still, I’ve had my share.

As for blessing, David sure was blessed:  victories in battle, crowned king of the country, wealth and riches.  He lived life at the top!  As for me, my wife is amazing, my family loves me unconditionally, I have a church that supports and cares for me, I live comfortably, and I enjoy life and what I have.

Conclusion:  King David and I come out pretty much tied in all these areas.

So, why do I look at specific (and sometimes small) things to determine if God is blessing me?  In the comparison I just did, I have to admit, my life is just as blessed as David’s was.  But I don’t feel it – even now, I don’t feel it.

You know why? I think it’s because I want someone else’s blessing without their sin or hardship.  I just want blessing.  I only care about being blessed, and the blessings I have received don’t seem to count when I look around.  I just want a blessing I don’t have.

When I read about David, I think, “Wow, God really loved him!  David was really special to the Lord.”  But the fact is, I’m as blessed as David was.  That means God really loves me, and I’m really special to Him, as well.  David isn’t in some elite class all by himself. God treats me the same way.

So why am I not satisfied?  I think it comes down to the fact that I’m a taker; I’ll take all I can get.  I’m really not all that thankful – just bring me more.

This morning, after thinking about David’s life and blessings, I found myself praying:

“Thank you, Lord for all you bless me with.  Thank you for being with me in the times that are hard, and for not walking away from me when I sin.

Forgive me, Lord for being selfish and completely unreasonable in wanting blessing.  Forgive me for having a one-dimensional view of blessings (that it’s all about me).

Lord, help me to take great joy in your blessing.  Help me not to compare others’ blessings with my hardships.  Lord, may I see myself as You see me, just as I picture David.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: How do you measure the blessing of God on your life?  Leave your comments below.

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Coupons Can Lead To Trouble

The other day I was in a bulk food store with my wife Lily. We needed to buy more oat bran cereal for me.  I cook up oat bran every morning and have it with half a grapefruit. I enjoy the grapefruit and I tolerate the oat bran. I’ve been doing this for years (apparently it’s very healthy) … not very tasty, but healthy.  But, I’m getting away from my story.

We were in Bulk Barn, and Lily had a discount coupon but had to spend $10 to use it.  We started looking in all the bins and I started salivating.  The candy looked SO good.  We could have spent $10 in about 30 second and been out of there. I just kept saying, “Hey, these would be nice”, and Lily just kept on walking.  I was gravitating towards the chocolate covered almonds, or the wine gums, but then the chocolate covered raisins, and even the allsorts looked appetizing.

Lily, realized she had to get me thinking in another direction fast because buying candy seemed to be the only thing on my mind.  She started suggesting chips instead, but not chips that any normal human being would like.  She pointed to the kale chips and the hummus chips!  Now, I haven’t tried them – and I never will – but what amazed me was how those products could even get to market!

When it was all said and done, I settled for some honey-roasted peanuts … not my first choice, but I was going to buy something and this seemed to be the better choice:  tasty, but not too damaging.

Here’s the thing:  I have this sin nature in me that pulls me toward sin.  I could blame it all on Satan but the fact is, I’m pretty good at sinning on my own.  Like the candy at the store, there is a pull towards it.  In order to keep me from giving in to that temptation I need some kind of help, like Lily whispering in my ear, “No”, to the strawberry marshmallows.

That’s what the Holy Spirit does; it’s His role.  He is with us all the time, but He won’t overpower us.  We can ignore Him or say “no” to Him very easily.  The key for me is to listen to Him more, discipline myself to hear Him, and follow what He tells me.

It’s not easy at times; my wants can be strong.  But the more I listen to what the Holy Spirit says when I want to sin, the greater the chance I have of avoiding giving in to my sin nature.  This battle will always be with me, but I will get better at it if I can make a habit of listening to Him.

It comes down to one temptation at a time.  Just win that one and then another.  And if you can discipline yourself to win a few – even a few in a row – you will start a pattern of giving in to the Holy Spirit instead of your wants.

Back in the Bulk Barn, even the Popeye Cigarettes started to look good to me.  (They now call them Popeye “candy sticks” so the kids don’t get the wrong message, but they can’t fool me, they’re the best tasting cigarettes you can buy.)  Anyways, at least I managed to leave the store without them.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: What do you find to be most difficult about listening to the Holy Spirit?  Leave a comment below.

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That’s it . . . I Quit!

They say a pastor shouldn’t make any major decisions on Monday.  Rick Warren, the pastor at Saddleback Community Church, says he feels like resigning every Monday morning.  I’ve heard of a lot of pastors feeling that way.  Maybe that’s why so many pastors take Mondays off.

Personally, I’ve never felt that way, and so, for most of my 27 years of being a pastor, I went to work on Mondays – even now, I study Monday mornings.  However, this Monday morning was different.  I can’t really put my finger on why, but I had this growing feeling of depression. My mood reflected the weather outside – cloudy with 60% chance of rain, with the percentage increasing throughout the day.

I didn’t just feel bad all of a sudden.  It started with little things that came into my mind and kind of built up from there.  I began thinking of things I needed to do, and then some things that I should have already done.  Then I started thinking of the service on Sunday and what things could have gone better.  I even started second guessing some things I had said.  Then I read something that triggered thoughts about a family issue and I started to feel weighted down some more.  Before I knew it, I was feeling really bad.  I had my own personal rain cloud over me and I was getting soaked … much like Eeyore of Winnie the Pooh fame .

This all took place in a matter of about 45 minutes.  Now, this doesn’t happen to me very often.  I am more of an upbeat person.  I mostly see the good in life and people, and so I normally wake up feeling good about what the day is going to bring.  But by 7 am this morning, I felt like my day had already been ruined, and maybe we should just take Mondays off the calendar!

I don’t know if you ever feel that way, but I’m sure glad it doesn’t happen to me often. Anyway, for some reason I pulled out my iPhone and opened a weather app to the present day weather forecast. The app showed the temperature in front of a picture of clouds.  And that’s how I was feeling:  all cloudy.  Then I went to the map and saw that it wasn’t overcast everywhere; in fact, in Toronto, only 3 hours away, it was sunny.  Next I checked the 10-day forecast and noticed there is sun in the forecast in the days ahead. And that got me thinking of something that’s coming up that I’m looking forward to.  That helped my mood a little.

Then I started to pray, and told God all the things that were weighing me down. Some things I couldn’t do anything about; I just asked Him to deal with those.  For the things that I needed to do something about, I asked for His help and made a list.  For the things that were coming up, I thanked Him.  By the time I was done, the weather outside hadn’t changed at all, but the weather in me had.  I’m glad I can go to God any time, especially when I’m down.  I guess I won’t quit today, after all.

Until next time!

Pastor Paul

When the weather in you is cloudy, how has God brought some sun?  Leave your comment below.

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Camping Trip Gone Bad

This morning, as I was thinking about the Bible passage in my devotions, I thought of something that happened when I was in my late teens.  It was a camping trip with a large group of friends on a very hot summer weekend.  We weren’t exactly model campers by any means. We were a bit noisy . . . well, maybe a lot noisy. We played our music too loud, talked too loud, laughed too loud; we were just way too loud, too late into the night.

Several times that night, park rangers visited our sites to give us warnings.  But we just carried on. The next morning, a park ranger told us they were keeping a close eye on us. There were a few more minor complaints during the day and by afternoon it seemed like they were targeting us. As it turned out, they were.

 A few of us made a trip to the park office that had a huge map of all the sites in the park. The park was full that weekend and each site on the map had a mark indicating it was being used. There were over 500 sites in this park, but the most noticeable ones were the 4 sites that had big black “X” marks through them. Those were our sites. We asked what the “X” marks indicated (as if we needed an explanation) and were told that the next complaint would mean eviction from those sites.

Those marks stood out.  Your attention was drawn to them as soon as you looked at the map. The park rangers knew exactly where the trouble was. I probably don’t need to say it but, late on our second night in the park, someone complained about us again and this time they kicked us out – at midnight!

The verse I read in my devotions this morning was Psalm 25:7 that says, “Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth. Remember me in light of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O Lord.” (NLT)

When I first read this verse I thought, “I’m with the Psalmist.  I sure don’t want God to judge me on my rebellious past (or black “X” marks).  God, just remember the good parts of my life.”  But the verse doesn’t say that. It says “Remember me in light of your unfailing love.”

That means, even with my life as it is now, the good parts aren’t good enough to be remembered as something worthy.  All of my life is not much more than a black “X” on the map to God.  In God’s view, my whole life has eviction written all over it.

The big black “X” marks on our camp sites stood out so much the camp finally, and rightfully, had to act on them (though, at the time, I didn’t think they should). But, here’s the thing:  having placed my faith in Jesus as my Saviour, God no longer acts on the black marks of my life.  Rather, He remembers me by His unfailing love and mercy – not even by the good I do, or the best parts of my life.  No, He remembers me by His unfailing love and mercy.  That make me glad He is God … and not a park ranger.

Until Next time!

Pastor Paul

Question: How do you personally view God’s love for you?  Leave your comment below.

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Pizza

Recently my wife Lily experimented with making pizza in a more healthy way for me.  She used pita bread instead of dough (and I just found out now, turkey instead of ham!).  I like ham and pineapple pizza so she made an individual sized pizza for me and then got creative with the one she made for herself.  She was pretty thrilled with the combo of ingredients she put on hers and offered to let me try it.

Now, there’s something you need to know about me and that is, I don’t really like sampling other people’s food.  I eat what I ask for or what I order when I’m at a restaurant because that’s what I feel like eating. I always say to Lily, “If I wanted some of what you are eating I would have ordered it.” There may also be an “I don’t want to have to give you any of mine” attitude in there too.

Lil was pretty proud of the pizza she made for herself and really wanted me to try it … like somehow I’d be completely taken by this new concoction and wouldn’t even want my ham and pineapple any more – fat chance that’s going to happen! So I gave her my standard line when she asked me to try it:  “Lil, I like my pizza; I don’t want to try yours.” This time she put on the pressure: “Please try it; it’s really good; I think you’ll like it.”  “No”, I said, as I took a big bite into my pizza and savoured the mixture of sweet and tangy in my mouth. But she wasn’t finished and kept asking me to try hers.

Usually I don’t give in.  But this time it seemed very important to her for me to try it, so I took a bite. I don’t know what was on her pizza (you’ll have to ask her) but it was no Hawaiian grade pizza, that’s for sure. She asked, “What do you think? Do you like it?” She also threw in an “Isn’t it great” just to help me with my answer. I thought for a moment and said, “It tastes like you would really like it.”  At that moment she remembered whom she was asking to try her food. She simply smiled, shook her head, end of conversation.

God seeks to get us to try new things. It might be a new ministry to serve in, or a new way to connect with him like through journaling. It could be to take a leap of faith, or maybe to seek help for a problem. Whatever it is, God wants to take us from our comfort zone into something better.  However, often we’re stuck in what we like and are comfortable with, and we don’t take God up on his offer. Or, we don’t give the new idea enough of a try to get to like it.  We should be more open to God leading us and not so stuck in our ways, because, unlike pizza that is a personal preference, God is always going to lead us into something great.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

(Disclaimer: in no way am I saying Lil’s pizza is better than mine.)

How has God pushed the boundaries of your comfort zone? Leave a comment below.

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Amazing Grace

Let me give you a little insight into my world. Grace is big in a pastor’s life. Most people think pastors are official grace givers at any event.  At dinner, about 98 percent of the time, people will look to the pastor to say grace.  At wedding receptions, banquets, barbecues, family gatherings, dinner out with friends, anywhere food is being served, probably the pastor will be asked to say grace.

Sometimes I can see the whole thing unfold. Just before the meal the host will scan the room.  At this point, I can read their mind: they’re thinking, “Whom can I get to say grace?”  Then they spot me, their eyes get big, the expression on their face changes from concern to relief, a smile appears, and then the head nod that says, “ah yes, the pastor. Why didn’t I think of him before?” Then they make a b-line to me.

Actually, I count it an honour to say grace in public.  A few years ago my old high school celebrated its 50th anniversary (not that I was in high school 50 years ago). I received a phone call asking if I was planning on attending, and if so, would I say grace at the gala dinner banquet.  Based on their knowledge of me in high school, they would never have asked me, but now that I’m a pastor, saying the grace was a perfect job for me.

 There are some people who think the pastor has a corner on grace and not just saying it.  I’ve had many people ask me to put in a good word for them with the “Big Guy”. There have been times where people have made a comment like, “well, you know, he has God on his side.” I could go on, but you get the idea:  people think pastors are grace sayers and grace receivers.

The other day I had something different happen.  We were at our trailer, opening it up for the year, and a neighbour who heard I had had a heart attack said to me, “You having a heart attack? You have to wonder about that.”  He said it as if he didn’t think bad things happened to pastors, or he was questioning what I did to get God mad at me. It’s even possible he was thinking that my heart attack proved there is no God.

That bothered me because usually people see pastors as being on the good side of grace. I wanted to say, “Wait a minute!  The fact that I’m still here, standing and breathing is a sign I’m on the good side of grace.”  But the opportunity didn’t arise at that moment.

Grace is an amazing thing. It can be spoken as a thanks to God, it can be used as a name (I have a niece named Grace).  It can be given, as undeserved favour, and it can be withheld as punishment or, at the very least, as being uncaring.

But the real amazing thing about grace is that we are ALL on the good side of grace.  God sent Jesus, His only son, to us as an instrument of grace.  What we need to do is make sure we have received God’s grace by believing in Jesus and claiming him as Lord … and then, live out our days knowing that nothing we have done, said, thought or contributed has any merit towards us being recipients of God’s grace. It is God’s unmerited favour on us.  That is truly amazing!

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

What ways do you see the grace of God showing up in your life?  Leave a comment below.

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The Birds

We have had some trouble with birds at our house this spring. Birds must think we like them.  And it is not just this year either.  Last year we had a duck make a nest in our bushes and lay 13 eggs and then abandon them.  Then, a few days ago, we went to barbecue and there was a bird nest right on the grill of the BBQ.  We had left it uncovered for a few days and what can I say, the birds like us. You know what it means when birds are making a nest in your barbecue . . . you’re not barbecuing enough!  We’ll be correcting that problem immediately.

The greatest evidence that birds are ready to move into our place, should we decide to vacate the premises, was the nest they were building right outside our front door. I went to get the newspaper one morning and there were bits of dried grass and twigs on our front step.  I looked up and saw a partially constructed two story with attached garage bird house on our porch light.

 I don’t mind if birds decide to use the tree on our front lawn or our shrubs to build their homes in but, our porch light is a little too over the top.  We decided we would encourage them to build their home somewhere else by removing their building materials from the site.  You’d think that would solve the problem.  But, no . . . it wasn’t long before the birds were delivering more material and equipment and the nest was well underway again.  We cleared it away once more. But, again they returned. For some time we played this game with the birds of them putting up nest material on our porch light and us taking it away.

We finally decided that just clearing away the material was not going to do it. So we found some of our son’s old cologne (AXE, if anyone is taking notes) and sprayed it all over the top of our porch light.  Why did we use cologne? I don’t know, it just came to my mind as a good deterrent. The amazing thing was that it worked.  No more bird nest. We did, however, have a few 21 year old girls show up at the door looking for Mike for the next few days (just kidding).

Satan works on us a lot like those birds did. He is persistent, tempting us to sin time and time again. His hope is that we will give up and let the nest (sin) take up residence in us. It can be really frustrating to, time and time again, battle the same temptation, thinking you have dealt with it only to have it come back – sometimes in the exact same way.

We have to be as persistent as the enemy when dealing with temptation and not give in to sin. However, sometimes we need to do something a little more drastic.  We have to alter something so the temptation can’t come back the same way (like we did by spraying the cologne on the porch light). In this way, we mess with Satan’s plans and our own human nature in making sure we keep sin from making a nest in our heart.

I’ll keep you posted on other tips and tricks to use on birds.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

What have you found successful when dealing with temptation and sin?  Leave your comments below.

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On the Other Side of the Clouds

On a recent plane trip, I became fascinated by two very different realms that exist in our world. There is the realm below the clouds and the realm above the clouds. On the plane ride home from Calgary we flew above the clouds with the sun shining brightly all around and into the cabin of the plane. I noticed how some people shut their blinds so that they could sleep or to cut the glare on their TV screen while they watched a movie. Looking out my window the sun was unhindered and I found myself squinting to shade my eyes as I looked out.

Below the plane was this white base that seemed firm and as I focused on it, in my mind I could envision a vast landscape of mountains and valleys. It was pure white, clean and bright, inviting. On our descent, the clouds looked softer and billowy and certainly not solid like before.  They morphed into a wispy cottony substance as we enter them.

 This particular day, the cloud cover was thick and it seemed that we traveled a long way to get through the clouds.  Everything out my window was grey and it resembled thick smoke when it is whipped up by the wind. At one point, I thought, “How long are we going to be in these clouds?” I was surprised how thick they were.

When we finally got through, the scene was vastly different from above the clouds. Though it was only 1 pm, it looked like it was late in the evening.  The realm below the clouds was dark and grey, rainy and dull.  It was a complete contrast to the realm above the clouds.  The realm below was sun starved and I felt an immediate dip in my spirit.

Though this was the realm I live in, there was something about the realm above the clouds I wished was present.  Despite my familiarity with the terrain and the landscape, I had a longing for the bright warm and inviting sun.

So here’s my thought: When life seems rotten, when we’re down and things are going all wrong, internally we are in a realm much like I found myself in below the clouds.  In reality though, the sun is still shining – shining as bright as ever, providing warmth and light and goodness.  It just seems as if the sun is absent.

I envision the sun as God’s goodness and blessing shining on us.  For me to experience that once again, I turn to prayer.  I can’t break through my realm (through the clouds) to the realm above, but my prayers can.  Some times the clouds are thick and it seems to take a long time for my prayer to make it through them.  But that doesn’t mean God’s love isn’t shining down.  In the book of Daniel, he once wondered why it took so long for God to answer his prayer.  Look up Daniel 10:1-14. The angel tells Daniel his prayers were received right away but that he was delayed in responding, like there was a battle going on in the clouds.

Sometimes we have to pray for a long time before we see a break in the clouds, and the sun shining again in our lives.  But what I need to remind myself of is that my prayers are received by God instantly, and regardless of how long it is before my prayers are answered, God’s love and grace is shining down on me as bright as ever – even when I can’t see it. And that’s good to know.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

What are your thoughts on delays in answered prayer?   Leave your comments below!

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Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day isn’t all its cracked up to be. Sure, Mom gets a few good things out of the day.  However, I heard a few stories yesterday from a couple of moms who received breakfast courtesy of their young children. The image this creates in one’s mind is nice but the reality is, there is going to be unwanted food that needs to be consumed and a huge mess that will need to be cleaned up.  Of course, Mom is probably the one who will end up doing that task, so you have to wonder, was this breakfast a true blessing?

You would think that when kids get older things would get better.  While they can make a breakfast Mom would want, as well as clean the kitchen up afterwards, the problem is they can’t get out of bed early enough to make that breakfast for Mom, unless she wants it at about 2 in the afternoon.  In some cases, the grown child doesn’t live close enough to do anything for Mom except wish her well or send a card.

Don’t get me wrong, I think moms really enjoy what they do get from their kids.  I know Lily was thrilled with the card she received from Karlie, and the video chat they had in the afternoon.  And our son, Mike, came through nicely too – he bought flowers for his Mother and gave her a card she will treasure. He even made a restaurant reservation for lunch on Mother’s Day. He didn’t pay for lunch, but he made the reservation.

 Here’s the thing: by the end of lunch, Mother’s Day is essentially over.  But what Mom really wants is time with her kids and family adoring her, catering to her needs all day long, and not just until the noon meal ends.  Often Mother’s Day isn’t much different from April Fools Day, which only lasts until noon. (I really don’t want to make any more comparisons with that day right now.)

By the afternoon, things get back to, “Hey Mom I need this.” or “Can you do that for me?”, or worse, everyone’s falling asleep watching some sporting event on TV.  Mom is left either catering to the family needs or she is ignored as the family does their own thing.

I wonder if God feels that way sometimes. We give Him a couple of hours Sunday morning and then do our own thing the rest of the day.  We get busy napping or playing or working on projects around the house.

I don’t think we have to stay in our “good clothes” all day like I did as a kid (to prevent me from doing things that would cause me to exert myself).  However, in the things we do, instead of ignoring God, we should include Him. And when I say “include” what I mean is acknowledge Him in what we are doing.  This might take a bit of thought on our part, some intentionality, but doesn’t God deserve a little more than just a Sunday morning?

Oh and by the way, Lil, next Mother’s Day, I won’t take that afternoon nap like I did yesterday.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

How do you try to intentionally include God in your Sunday? 

Leave a comment below.