Author: Paul Silcock

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Guaranteed to Cure the Common Cold

If you want to know how to get over a cold really quickly, I have the secret remedy. You may have to buy hundreds of dollars worth of hockey equipment to do it, but I swear by this method. I’ve been doing this for years and the results speak for themselves.

Johnson And Johnson Recalls Children's Cold Medicines

The other day I woke up with not the beginnings of a cold, or even the sniffles. I woke up with a full-blown, about a 2 days in cold, without any prior symptoms. I have no explanation for it other than it’s my wife’s fault. She must have given it to me.

There is a slight possibility that my late nights this past week have weakened my immune system, but I really think it was Lily who gave me this cold. She may not have had any symptoms herself, but I think she’s sometimes a carrier for these types of germs.

So there I was, sneezing every fifteen minutes, blowing my nose every ten minutes and coughing in between. My body was a little achy but I was more chilled than anything. I even hauled out my Grandma afghan, and when I do that, I’m sick!

I tried to get a good night’s sleep but I tossed and turned all night. I woke up the next morning not feeling any better. Mind you, my alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. and NO ONE feels at the top of their game at that hour!

I had a decision to make: roll over and go back to sleep, or drag my achy, chilled, sorry-looking body out of bed for hockey. It was a quick decision I made – I had to! If I thought about it for even a few seconds, I would have pulled the covers up over my head.

I had gotten out my hockey equipment the night before, just in case. But if I was going to play, I needed something else: the secret remedy/weapon to blasting a cold out of your system. I needed a sweatshirt, the thicker the better.

This remedy involves all my regular hockey equipment, but I wear a t-shirt AND a sweatshirt under my hockey sweater. This allows me to – how can I put this delicately? – sweat like a pig. Oh, I sweat when I play hockey, but with the extra layers, I get to the point of overheating and that’s the condition you need to be in to gain the desired results.

Just to make sure my method was going to work, the group that was coming on the ice after us needed a few extra bodies. I decided to stick around and keep the perspiration flowing.

When I was all done, I was pretty tired. By the time I changed and showered, I was feeling achy and chilly again. So I came home and jumped into bed for a couple of hours. When I got up, voila! I was better! – aches gone, chills gone, the need to blow my nose … well, I’m still going through Kleenex at a rapid rate, but I feel better.

Here’s the thing: For many of the requests we have of God, we just pray. It might be a nice, calm, logical prayer of what we want or need from God. But there are some things that require us to sweat it out with God, to get on our knees and pour out our hearts and souls to Him. That’s the tough work of prayer. You shouldn’t neglect that kind of prayer.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Have you found yourself in need of sweating out your prayer with God?  Leave your comment below.

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We Need To Connect

Something has changed in my family that I’m not really excited about. There are a host of changes I have been thrilled about over the years, like being done with diapers, and driving the kids everywhere, whenever. But this new change doesn’t thrill me.

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The other day was my wife’s birthday (not the change I’m referring to) and she received the usual greetings via the telephone from family members who live out of town. If you answer the phone when these calls come in, you know they just want to talk to the birthday girl, so you try to quickly pass the handset off to her.

But when our daughter calls, usually we all get into the conversation a little bit. It’s like we are all together again as a family. There have been some years when our daughter (who has been out west for six years) has video chatted during birthdays: we have set a laptop in her normal place at the table and then met as a family for birthday dinner.

That didn’t happen this year. I didn’t even talk to my daughter on my wife’s birthday.  It was like she wasn’t part of our birthday celebrations; she just had an insider conversation with her mom.

It’s partly my fault. I should have told Karlie what our plans were for the day and then had her join us for part of it. I missed not having another voice to tease my wife. When the three of us gang up on Lily, it’s even better than when just my son and I do it!

Maybe this is just a change that’s inevitable and there is nothing we can do about it. Maybe it happened because my daughter used up her data plan in the first two weeks of the month and is now internetless (new word) until the first week of May.

At any rate, Karlie was missing from the celebration this year … and that’s a change I don’t really like. I’ve noticed that changes in the family just seem to happen. You don’t really anticipate them; they just sort of slide in on you and you deal with them.

… Like when your son decides to move in with some buddies downtown for the summer. You don’t preplan to turn his room into a home gym because he may be back by the fall.  But when the room is empty for a while, the thought crosses your mind for a second … or two.

To be honest, I like change. I’ve enjoyed watching my kids grow up, face new challenges, and transform before my eyes into full fledged adults (mostly). But for some reason, I like my family to remain the same around special occasions.

Maybe that’s weird; maybe that’s trying to hold on to something that keeps the family members from truly becoming their own individuals. But to me, it seems with the technology we have today, if we used it to maintain family gatherings, it could keep the family closer.

Here’s the thing: We are able to travel great distances at a moment’s notice. And that can take us away from the special occasion of meeting with God’s family at church on Sundays. We can even get used to being away from this special occasion on a regular basis. But we miss out on celebrating with the family when we aren’t present. We have technology to keep us connected. We should make sure we do what we can to remain close to our church family.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you remain close to family when you’re not present?  Leave your comment below.

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From Plans To Reality

Some people are big planners; others are not. I don’t happen to be a natural planner. I HAVE to plan and so I do it, but it’s work for me. It takes considerable effort on my part.

In a perfect world, I would wake up every morning and say, “It’s a brand new day!” You have to say it out loud though, and with a Jamaican accent. And one more thing, you really have to roll out the “br” sound. Try it with me: “It’s a brrrrrand new day!” (Don’t forget the Jamaican accent.) … I know you feel better just saying it.

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That’s how I would love to approach each morning: every day a blank page, and me eagerly awaiting what will happen. The only problem with that is I have responsibilities and I have wants and dreams cluttering that wishful blank page.

This morning in my devotions I read Proverbs 16:9 which says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

That means all that I’ve done in my life so far is really the Lord’s doing. My plans, my dreams and my wants – all the things I’ve gone after – have only come to be because God established them.

That also means the custom platform shoes and knee-length coat with an 8 inch fur collar I bought in the 70‘s was because God established it for me (maybe not, but I really wish I could find a picture of that get up). It means that my plans and dreams that haven’t materialized or worked out are because God didn’t establish them.

I could be sad or angry that I haven’t gotten all I wanted, hoped or planned for, or I could take comfort that I did get what God wanted, planned and dreamed for me so far.

Going on from here, I could stop planning and dreaming, sit back and start each day with “It’s a brand new day” and see what happens, or I could try to figure out what God has planned for me and follow that.

But how can I know God’s plans in advance? And how detailed are God’s plans? Are His plans as detailed as what I will have for breakfast, or whether I should buy a new Apple product – it doesn’t matter what, anything will do. (I’d sure like Him to establish that plan!)

Maybe we can’t live that way. Instead, we have to keep making plans, keep dreaming and hoping but roll with what actually is established. I wonder if most of our frustration is just being upset that God changed our plans on us.

We would be happier if we were prepared for changes to our plans and pleasantly surprised by what He establishes.

Here’s the thing: To live a content life we need to be happy with what God brings our way. We need to be okay when He changes our plans. But we still need to keep planning, dreaming, hoping and wanting. If we stopped, we would probably be dead.

Thanks, Lord for ordering my steps. It’s just what you wanted, so it’s just what I want too.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How important are the plans you make for yourself?  Leave your comment below.

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The Season I Hate The Most!

When we think of seasons, we think of spring, summer, fall and winter. But there are other seasons too, you know. Some I really look forward to, like golf season, biking season, and hockey season that is nearing an end. Then there are seasons I don’t really like – tax season is one of them.

Seasons all have prevailing weather patterns associated with them. Tax season definitely has a weather pattern: prevailing dark clouds with an 85% chance of rain!

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It starts in January when you get your T4 slip (Canada), charitable receipts etc. You also start to think about making that late RRSP contribution before the end of February deadline.

The information starts to churn in your stomach and nag at the back of your mind, reminding you to get moving on your taxes. There are also constant promptings in the malls, with partitioned booths set up everywhere offering to do your taxes for a fee.

I should be glad for tax time because I get a refund. But the thought of a sunny refund is clouded over by the thought of having to prepare my taxes in the first place. It’s like a clash of high and low pressure fronts creating barometric pressure that would give anyone a headache!

My wife wants me to get someone else to do our taxes, but I don’t like the idea of spending my money, just to get my money back from the government.

I wouldn’t say the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) picks on me, but about every two years I get a letter asking for more information or they will take some money back. I would think there are other people who make a lot more money than me with possible errors to hunt down.

I have completed my daughter’s taxes for her and she is now experiencing the bright, warm weather of a coming refund … even though Calgary is facing spring snow and cold temperatures.

I’ve got all the paperwork together to do my wife’s and my taxes. I’ve even started to enter in some of the information. There’s just one hitch: my son. He’s keeping the clouds from moving on. I need him to do his taxes before I can complete mine, so I know what I can claim for his education.

So here I sit under an umbrella in my own house, trying to stay dry, trying to put on a happy face in the midst of my depression and looming tax clouds!

I know tax season will be over soon; I know there are sunny days ahead. But I must have a bit of farmer in me. I feel like heading down to the coffee shop to chew the fat with the boys. You know, complain that if it doesn’t stop raining the crops aren’t going to be any good this year.

Hey, I’ll make it through.

Here’s the thing: We can stay in a state of hopelessness because of circumstances or sin. We can complain about it, worry about it, even fuss about it to others as to how we are hard done by. Or we can take our sorry state and do something about it. Take it to God, and allow Him to work on it for you and with you. … Maybe I should take my taxes to H&R Block.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you tend to complain about instead of taking action towards? Leave your comment below.

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King of the Hill

It’s not often that I gawk at an accident. In fact, I purposely try not to slow down too much when I pass one, because it bugs me when people hold up traffic trying to rubber neck and get a good peak at the wreckage.

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But the other day, I was cruising through a parking lot and came across an interesting sight. I chuckled to myself when I saw it, but per my conviction, I kept driving past. Then  I thought, “This is too good to pass up!” so I turned around and parked the car.

This blue SUV was hung up on a mountain of snow. I was already laughing when I got out of the car and started to walk over with my iPhone. I had no intention of calling for help; I wanted a picture!  Do you know how hard it is to get a good picture when you’re laughing?

As I was getting the vehicle in my cross hairs, the woman who was driving the SUV saw me and blurted out, “Oh no! You’re not going to put this on YouTube, are you?” She was embarrassed, which just made me laugh harder, and for a moment I thought I should be taking video rather than still shots.

I circled the site and I wondered how in the world she could have gotten her car on that pile of snow. There was no snow around in any direction. It was the only snow mountain in the parking lot and she found it!  Maybe she wanted to conquer it … which she sort of did.

When I was a kid we used to play “king of the hill” on the huge snow pile the snowplow pushed into the middle of our cul-de-sac. It was always the big guys that could stay up on top the longest. This vehicle was on top and it was staying there, so I guess she won.

I think if she had have called a dealership they may have given her some money for leaving the car there. It looked like it was on one of those fake bolder structures you see at car dealerships. It would create some attention.

After taking 3 or 4 pictures, I had to know how or why she did this. She told me she turned her head to look at a parking spot and drove right up the mountain. But why not stop when you feel the resistance? Or better yet, when you turn down the row, look what’s ahead before looking for a parking spot!

My theory – and it’s only a theory – is that when she hit the snow, she thought, “I can get over this”, and stepped on the gas. It was, after all, a SUV: Sports Utility Vehicle. Don’t they make them for rough and rugged terrain, and … for climbing up snow mountains?

When I left the scene, the tow truck was on its way. About 20 minutes later, I drove by that parking lot again and noticed the snow was still there, but the vehicle was gone, and that woman was no longer king of the hill.

Here’s the thing: There are obstacles we have to deal with in life only because we didn’t pay attention to God warning us to stop, or go around them. If we learn to listen to and heed His guidance, we can avoid some of the mountains we face.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question:  What obstacles have you avoided because you paid attention? Leave your comment below.

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I’d Rather Take The Stairs

Does anybody like to climb stairs anymore? Has anybody ever liked to climb stairs? I’m just wondering because it seems like people try to avoid them if they can.

The other day, I was doing a hospital visit and my wife Lily was with me. As we got close to the elevator, she said, “We are not taking the stairs, are we?” I looked at her and replied, “You take the elevator and I’ll meet you on the 6th floor.”

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She answered that she didn’t want to climb the stairs because she was in high heels and a heavy coat. I’ve never climbed stairs in high heels before, but as I recall, my heels don’t normally hit the ground when I climb, so it should be a moot point.

Lil isn’t a wuss so she took the stairs with me, but she was lagging behind a little. I would chock it up to those darn high heels but her huffing and puffing gave away that she was really just out of stair climbing shape.

For the last year or so I’ve been taking the stairs more often. It’s not because I like climbing stairs; it’s because it helps me get closer to my daily walking goal. And I’ve learned a few things in taking the stairs over the elevator:

One thing I’ve learned is if you dislike crowds and being in close quarters with people, take the stairs – you’ll have the place to yourself! When I take the stairs at the hospital, 90% of the time I never encounter anyone else. The other 10% I just see hospital staff.

If you want to sing or whistle while you get to your destination, take the stairs. Not only will no one hear you, the acoustics in the stairwell really make for a rich, full sound!

If you need some quiet to think, take the stairs. The only sound you will hear is your own heavy breathing as you round the 5th floor.

I’m not petitioning for more people to take the stairs – I like to whistle undisturbed when I climb. I’m just saying there’s more to taking the stairs than giving you a heart attack.

There are some people who like to climb stairs. In Toronto, at the CN Tower, they’ve been running a fundraiser stair climb for 23 years. They get about 6,400 people walking up the 1,776 steps (that’s 144 flights!) every year. I know a guy who’s done it.

For the most part though, multi-floor buildings promote the use of elevators and escalators. The stairwells are usually in out-of-the-way places reserved for emergencies … and then good luck finding them!

Of course, the older we get, the more we start looking for those elevators. I’ve heard that 70 year olds can spot an elevator at 60 paces, but still not be able to read what button to push without their glasses!

I figure I’m not there yet, so I better keep using the stairs.

Here’s the thing: We gravitate to what’s fast and easy until that is all we can do. Becoming more like Christ takes time and work. If we’re always looking for the fast and easy, we may never look much like Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you do the hard way just to not give in to the easy? Leave your comment below.

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I Got Me A Hankering!

Sometimes I get a hankering. It just pops into my head like an idea that won’t go away. The other night, for example, it was getting later in the evening and I suddenly felt like some popcorn.

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After Easter and all the candy I had to inhale during that holiday, I needed a break from sweet snacks. I was looking for something that would satisfy and I was thinking of watching a movie … the two kind of go hand in hand.

When I go to the theatre I still have a natural instinct to purchase a bag of popcorn. It doesn’t matter to me that I have to draw on my line of credit to afford a bag, there is something inside of me that urges me up to the counter.

Personally, I don’t even like theatre popcorn anymore. I used to get it with extra butter, but now it is a hot petroleum bi-product, I think. Whatever it is they put on the popcorn, I find it sits in the bottom of my stomach and begins to re-pop about half way through the movie.

I don’t like microwave popcorn either.  How can something that can be left in a bag for 10 to 15 years be any good? It’s quick and you can’t really mess it up, but it tastes like the chemicals they use to preserve it – probably the same ones the Egyptians used to  wrap a mummy!

I much prefer the popcorn we make at home with our air popper. I’m pretty good at getting the popper out, filling it up with corn kernels, and getting a bowl out for the popcorn to fall into. But that is about where I like to stop.

I’ve completed the process before, but if my wife Lily is around I like her to put the butter and salt on.  There is an art to it, and she has a special touch. It may go back to her college days when making popcorn in her dorm room was a nightly ritual.

When I do the butter and salt there’s always a fear that I’ll use too much or not enough.  But with Lily, it seems she gets it perfect every time. The other night I convinced her to help me. The popcorn was perfect. Good popping on my part!

Then I found a movie to watch and proceeded to pretty much devour the bowl of popcorn all by myself. I’m not sure it was any better for me than a hunk of my Laura Secord cream-filled egg or a handful of brightly coloured jelly beans, but it satisfied … glad I acted on that hankering!

Here’s the thing: Like I got a hankering for popcorn, sometimes a name of someone or an idea pops into our heads. Many times we dismiss it and go on doing what we are doing. But it may be that God has put that person on our minds. And, like any good desire, we should act on it. It just might be the case that God is calling you to pray for that person or contact them.

That’s life!

Paul

Question: Have you ever had a name pop into your head and it turned out that the person needed prayer right at that time? What did you do?  Leave a comment below.

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I’ve Really Let Myself Go

Not very often, on rare occasions, every once in a while, I’ve seen a picture of someone and thought, “Man you’ve really let yourself go!” It’s like they just stopped caring about themselves and let age and gravity do their thing.

I feel like I’ve let myself go lately. It’s only been for the last couple of weeks so there isn’t much to notice. But the bothersome thing is, how easy its been to start letting myself go.

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There are a couple of things that have got me off my game lately: one is busyness and the other is sore body parts. Where I have let myself go is keeping up with my exercising and staying on top of my computer maintenance.

If you were thinking that I’ve gone all puffy, my hair was greasy and down to my shoulders and I hadn’t shaved in a week, you can dismiss that image from you mind (ha, maybe you can’t now).

My appearance hasn’t really changed. I’m still showering every day and shaving when I have to, but I’ve not been doing my daily walks, aerobics or weight lifting.  I know that it takes three weeks to make a habit, but I’m afraid that I’m forming a new habit in record time!

I guess, it’s natural.  When things are let go and unattended, they don’t get better. A lawn gets weeds, a car breaks down, food goes bad . . . when you let them go.

My computer has gone that way as well. My busyness has left me with 33 files and folders strewn all over my desktop, and emails mounting in my inbox. I’ve had too many other pressing things to keep up with.

It all started with a sore knee and elbow I somehow picked up from playing hockey. Nothing serious, but they were bothering me just enough that I thought I better rest them rather than push too hard.

After a few days of non-activity, I started to get pretty good at finding other reasons or excuses for not exercising … and that’s when I stumbled onto this busy thing.

The busy excuse has been working like a charm even after my knee started feeling better. I also found I could use it for a number of other things as well, like my computer.

Now here I am, two weeks into creating my new habit of letting myself go, and the things that were making me busy are completed. I don’t have an excuse now. I could say that I’m always busy but I know I’m not too busy to exercise and execute files and emails.

I’m thinking now that I have to stop creating a habit of letting myself go and start creating a habit of getting back to what I should be doing. But one habit seems so much easier than the other.

Even though I’m a little busy today – I have to travel out of town, and have a few things I need to do before I go – I’m going to get back to my exercises and clean up some files starting today.

Here’s the thing: Things come along to break up your routine of spending time with God.  Sometimes they are legitimate reasons, and they may be unavoidable. But it becomes easy to let them become excuses to keep you away from your time with God. Don’t keep using the same excuse or make up a new one. Decide today to get back to your time with God. He’s waiting for you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is your most used excuse to get out of things?  Leave your comment below.

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There’s A New Fixer Now

If you’re a dad, you’re a fixer. If you’re not good at fixing things, you become good, because as a dad, you get lots of opportunities.

Requests for your assistance come from all kinds of sources and for all kinds of fixes.  As a dad, you have to be a generalist fixer, not a specialty guy. One minute you can be fixing a dishwasher for your wife (it’s still broken), and then asked to fix your son’s latest gadget or your daughter’s computer.

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Sometimes the fixing is more like doing things no one else can do, like unscrewing the lid on the pickle jar, or raising the basketball net, or untangling a necklace. When you think of it, dads are really miracle workers.

As a dad, you fix things for so long that you never think that there will be anyone to take your place. You look at the potential and all you can see are people who need you to fix things.

But there comes a time when the mantle of fixer changes hands. It’s not a quick hand off, mind you. There is training that comes into play, until slowly a new fixer is developed. I witnessed the beginning of that development this past week.

My son got an iPhone 5 on Wednesday. On Thursday night at his work, he plugged the speaker system into his phone but no sound came out. He didn’t think much of it until the next day when he couldn’t hear calls that were coming in to his phone.

When he looked into it, he discovered the tip of the sound jack from work was stuck in the earphone hole of his iPhone. The iPhone reacted like there were headphones plugged in it so its internal speakers weren’t activated.

When I got wind of this, I went right into fixer mode. I looked at the phone, got some tools out and started to work. I got on the internet and researched if this had happened to anyone else. Surprisingly, it’s happened often.

I found a couple of solutions that I tried without any success. But there was one solution I didn’t want to try. I didn’t think it would work and felt it was too risky. We all got busy and, for a couple of days, Mike was only able to text his friends.

But then one day we were mulling over what to do about the phone. Mike decided he was going to try crazy glue – the solution I thought was too risky. I wasn’t convinced, but it was his phone, so I gave him a couple of tips and he went at it.

He used a Q-Tip, took the cotton off and filled the hollow end with crazy glue. He carefully put the Q-Tip into the earphone hole and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then he pulled on the Q-Tip and, unbelievably, the end of the earphone jack came out.

The iPhone was fixed and this house has a new fixer! He’s not ready to take on this responsibility full time yet, but I’m confident that with more coaching and lots more opportunities, this guy will be able to fix anything … just like me … well, almost.

Here’s the thing: We may get confident fixing iPhones or dishwashers, but God is the real fixer. He’s the one we need to take our brokenness and problems to. There’s nothing He can’t fix.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When was the last time you turned to God to help or fix something in your life?  Leave your comment below.

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I Need A New Toy

There was a home show in town this past weekend. It was advertised as the home, cottage, boat and power show. I thought, with a title like that, there had to be something for everyone! So I went.

My wife was away for the weekend so I took in the show by myself. If I had been with Lily, we would have focused on ideas for our cottage. But on my own, I ended up focusing my attention on the boats.

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I’m not an experienced boater. I’ve never owned one, and rarely ever driven one, but there is something about boats that attract me. For many years, I’ve thought my brother and I should buy a Seadoo and share it between us. It’s our wives that are keeping us from turning that thought into something we can sit on and jump the waves of Lake Huron with!

At this show, I had no one dragging me to some booth that was selling a showerhead that made you feel like you were in the rain forest. I didn’t have to spend any time listening to someone tell me about how I could clean the siding on my cottage with their miracle product. I didn’t even have to check out all the crafty booths that made things we could – but never would – put up on our walls.

I went straight for the boats. They had all kinds: paddle boats, but they weren’t fast enough; fishing boats, but they were too plain. They had a few Seadoos that caught my attention. But the real attraction was the large inboard motorboats, especially the ones with cabins below the deck.

I had to take my shoes off before I climbed in, but I didn’t mind at all because, if I was buying one of those bad boys, I didn’t want shoe prints all over it. On the other hand, I wasn’t too crazy about having other people’s smelly feet all over my boat (just using my imagination here).

I went right for the driver’s seat, to get the feel of being a skipper. I could imagine the wind blowing my hair back, and envision me yelling to the person sitting beside me just to have a conversation.

After a while, I let someone take my spot behind the wheel. He looked like he could handle it, even though he was only about 13 years old. I decided to check out the cabin. It had everything you would want: a bed, bathroom and kitchen.

Though it was really amazing and beautiful, I now know why people spend most of their time on deck. They can’t stand being down below for all that long! It’s so small! I’m not a big guy but I thought I might have to go on a diet just to get into the bathroom! I pictured all the accidents that would happen in the little kitchen as we’d bump into each other.

Right then I realized, it’s a nice dream – the kind of dream that should stay a dream! I’ll keep the cottage. As I came out of the cabin, I turned to the 13 year old in the captain’s chair and said, “Keep her on course”, and then walked off the end of the boat.

Here’s the thing: We can spend our lives chasing down things we become attracted to, only to find out they’re not all we hoped them to be. We should continually seek to renew our attraction to Christ, because He is more than we could ever hope Him to be … He’s perfect for us!

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you stay attracted to Christ? Leave your comment below.