How To Fix Things The Hard Way

I needed to be born wealthy. It’s not because I have expensive tastes; it’s because I lack the skills to fix things.

maxresdefaultI’m not great at working with my hands; it doesn’t come that easily to me.

If I was wealthy I wouldn’t have to fix things, or make things, or put things together. I could hire someone to do all that!

I’m not saying that wealthy people never fix things themselves. Some are handy, so they use their money in other ways. I would use money to hire out jobs around the house.

Reality for me, however, is I have had to learn to do things that I’m not particularly adept at.

Like this week when we had three taps that all leaked. There were two in the laundry room and one up in the ceiling of our family room that led to an outside faucet.

I sized up the work involved, took pictures and set off for the hardware store. The guy at the store looked at my pictures, listened to my explanation and then handed me a small package of washers.

He said there was a small washer at the end of these taps, and all I had to do was just remove the tap, use a screwdriver to remove the washer, replace it and put it back together.

I was encouraged. It sounded like a 15 minute job – half hour at best. Easy.

Well, it would have been easy for a handy guy … not so easy for me.

I won’t go into all the details but I had a lot of trouble loosening the screws. They were like frozen on. I guess over the years, having had water on it every day, it got stuck in place.

Well, let’s just say 5 jabs to my finger later – 3 with a screwdriver and 2 with an utility knife – I was no closer to fixing those taps.

I went to the same hardware store twice, and then didn’t think I could show my face there again.  I ended up going to two more hardware stores … not all in one trip. There were four separate trips to hardware stores!

At one point, I just sat down in the family room and watched TV. There wasn’t anything on. It was the middle of the afternoon but I needed something to take my mind off the fifteen minute job I couldn’t complete.

As I sat on the couch, I thought, “If I was wealthy, I’d have a guy in here right now. I’d be able to chat with him while he completed the task.” … But that’s not my lot in life.

I didn’t change the washers out on all the taps and they still leaked a bit. That’s when I looked at my bank account and decided I was richer than I thought.

So I purchased three new taps (they come with washers already in place) for 300% of the cost of the washers. It took me about 20 minutes to get them installed and the leaks were gone.

Why didn’t I just do that in the first place?!

Here’s the thing: Not being handy is a lot like us having to deal with temptation. We are not that good at it. It’s difficult work and we don’t do well much of the time. We get hurt or hurt others in the process. As difficult as it is to keep from sinning, there is coming a day when the riches of heaven will make temptation a thing of the past. Keep doing the hard work in the mean time.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What makes temptation hard work for you? Leave your comment below.

When It Rains, Make the Best Of It

I know the rhyme that goes, “April showers brings May flowers”, but I can’t say there is ever a time I like the rain.

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If I was a farmer, I’m sure I would change my tune. I understand that we need rain for things to grow, but given my life, rain doesn’t really fit into the picture that often … at all.

It especially doesn’t fit into my plans when I’m on vacation – it puts all kinds of restrictions on us and creates the need for extra planning.

That’s where we are right now – on vacation in the rain.

Sometimes you can associate a place with the kind of weather you experienced there. Like when I was about seven, my family took a vacation to the east coast of Canada. The only things I remember were cool days, overcast skies, rain and the smell of dead fish.

Needless to say, that over 50 years later, I’m still not eager to take another trip to the Bay of Fundy. The rain took all the fun out of the bay for me.

I don’t want my trip to Quebec City to be etched in my mind the same way. And that’s where I am right now, listening to the pitter patter of the rain on the window, as I contemplate the day ahead.

If it rained only at night that would be awesome. We could do all our sightseeing and traipsing around in the sun and be inside at night. I could live with that. It’s still April; it’s not going to be that warm at night anyway.

The best would be if it never rained, but the dew from the night would be enough to give the earth the watering it needed. That’s that way it was before God brought the flood.

If it hadn’t have been for Adam and Eve and their relatives ruining what God had originally made, it’s possible that no golf course would ever need a sprinkler system to water its course. It would all happen naturally at night.

Well, we know we’re not headed back in that direction, so rain is what we are stuck with. We need it, but we dislike it. It gets in the way of what we want to do, but if we didn’t have it, we would be crying for it.

So on our trip to Quebec, it’s umbrellas for sure! it’s planning our day around the rain and it’s making the best of what we have.

We are looking for those windows of sunshine to visit the places that would be miserable in the rain. And we are planning those indoor sights during times when it doesn’t matter how hard the rain comes down.

So far so good. Yesterday we managed to manoeuvre our sightseeing around the rain like we had a degree in meteorology.

No, that’s not true – weathermen are never right – more like a farmer who has an arthritic left knee.

Here’s the thing: We should make the best of what we have. Look for what we can do, instead of what we can’t. We should see the possible, not the impossible. There is something in us, however, that is drawn to the negative. We remember it so well. When that emotion starts to take over, seek the God of hope, who is with us, so we don’t lose hope in our present situation but believe God has a plan that will negotiate any condition we find ourselves in.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What typically has the power to get you thinking negatively? Leave your comment below.

I Was Driving Myself Crazy

I came to realize about a month or so ago that my driving was leaving much to be desired. It’s not that I can’t negotiate a left hand turn, or parallel park my car. The handling of my automobile is just fine.

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It was my attitude behind the wheel that left much to be desired. I found I was getting too upset when I drove; other drivers did things that literally were driving me crazy.

But that wasn’t healthy for me, or for others on the road, and it wasn’t showing me to be under God’s control either. So over the last month or so, I’ve taken some measures.

I’ve slowed down, and consciously thought, “I don’t need to race to where I’m going”. I’ve started to allow more room between my car and the vehicle in front of me.

Life’s been good. Well . . . that is until the other day when I found myself behind a car with a bumper sticker in the shape of a stop sign that read, “STOP TEXTING”.

My wife will tell you that I’m not very good at texting and driving, though that’s just the back seat driver in her talking.

But seriously, I try not to text while I’m driving. I use a bluetooth speaker to make and receive calls, so when I read the bumper sticker, it didn’t dawn on me that the sticker was shouting out at me.

However, after following the car for only a few seconds, the sticker was actually shouting out at that car’s driver. I found myself reading the sticker and then looking in disbelief at the driver through her rear window.

She wasn’t paying attention to the road! When the way was clear to make a right hand turn, I could see her head bent down. She crossed the line a couple of times, again doing what looked like bending down to get something.

One car beside her had to move over for fear of getting sideswiped.

I read the sign again, “STOP TEXTING” and said (in a calm voice, because now my attitude was in check), “Ya, stop doing whatever you’re doing and drive”.

Eventually I pulled up in the other lane and passed her. I thought it might be better if she was behind me rather than directly in front of me … FAR behind me.

I took a look at her as I went by; she seemed oblivious to how she’d been driving. She didn’t look like a texter. She had grey hair – the majority of her hair was quite grey. Enough said.

I don’t think she was texting. I do think that she believes it’s very dangerous to text while driving and that it angers her to see someone doing it.

But after driving behind her for a few minutes, I wished she had a sticker on her car that read, “KEEP YOUR EYES ABOVE THE DASHBOARD”, maybe even a bobble head sign that sat on her dashboard.

As I glanced behind me, I realized my blood pressure hadn’t risen a bit. Now that’s progress!

Here’s the thing: We might get upset with those that text and drive because it’s distracting and dangerous. Whatever she was doing was also distracting and dangerous. … It’s easy to see the sin in other people. But if seeing their sin gets you angry, then evaluate yourself. There’s a good chance you are harbouring a similar sin. Deal with your sin, and you will find compassion to help others deal with theirs instead of judging them.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you learned about yourself by watching others? Leave your comment below.

The Cashier Read Me Like A Book

The cashier rang my purchase through and said “Cheerios and chocolate milk – nice.” I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was visualizing my breakfast meal for me.

checkout cashier

She was pretty much right on. Most days of the week my breakfast consists of a half a grapefruit and a small bowl of hot oat bran cereal. However, Saturdays I really go big with breakfast.

I indulge – I mean, I  splurge – and typically that entails my half a grapefruit, a small bowl of Chocolate Cheerios and a piece of toast with peanut butter.

The lady on the cash at Metro this morning was pretty sharp to connect the dots of my morning ritual, especially since it was still the early part of the day.

The chocolate milk was a random thing; it happened to be on sale and my wife, Lily had it on the list to buy for our son. I decided to take advantage of the sale myself, score a litre and use it with breakfast.

It’s quite possible from the way she said it that the clerk took the same combo of products home with her after her shift. Her comment had a, “hey that’s a good idea” kind of emotion to it.

And believe me, it is a great combo. The Chocolate Cheerios are a perfect balance of whole wheat goodness (I got that from a commercial, I think) and chocolatey sweetness. When you add a little chocolate milk into the mix, it enhances the flavour of the cereal, while providing a richer taste experience than just plain white milk.

I’d recommend it to you but only for occasional use. There is a sugar factor in this concoction that, by some means unknown to scientists or chemists, supercharges your blood stream with a high concentration of blood sugars.

For a lady who was going to be standing behind a cash register for several more hours, I wouldn’t be surprised if on her mid-morning break she cracked open a box of Chocolate Cheerios, drowned them in chocolate milk and allowed the energy high she got from her fix to carry her through the rest of her shift.

For me, I have to be careful that I don’t get a hypo-glycemic reaction where I get all weak and shaky when I come down from my sugar rush. Lily better have lunch planned for right at 12 noon because this morning I’m not going to last much past that time.

It’s the price I have to pay for the enjoyment of having a breakfast that tastes like something. My regular breakfast doesn’t taste like anything. The grapefruit is good and tasty, but the oat bran is on the bland side of bland.

That cashier had me all figured out with my purchases this morning … only she didn’t have a clue what my usual morning breakfast is like. It’s hardy and would keep her going throughout her whole shift, but satisfyingly tasty? – not a chance. She better choose the Cheerios.

Here’s the thing: We can read into people’s lives and guess what’s going on. Usually we don’t know if we are right or not. But we can know what God wants for us by reading His Word. We won’t be guessing what He’s thinking either; we will find His will and plans for us as we apply His scripture to our lives and circumstances.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What insight from God for your life have you discovered lately? Leave your comment below.

Winter Time and Snow Tires

Today I’m appreciating a decision I made this winter. For the first time, I put snow tires on my car. Up to now I had no intention, no desire to do it, but circumstances helped me make the decision.

snow-tires

A few years ago, I was given a set of old tires on rims but after time they were worn out.

So I had a set of good-for-nothing tires on rims just waiting to be used for something … I contemplated turning them into planters but I’m not the gardening type so I didn’t pursue that Idea.

The tires were no good but the rims were in decent shape. They were too good to use as a fire pit, so I just kept them in my garage … until this January.

Apparently, the farmers’ almanac said we were going to get lots of snow this year and I remembered that snow was in plenty supply last year as well. So I decided it was time to do what I had always been against … and that is to get snow tires.

I hadn’t driven a car with snow tires since they outlawed studs on tires back in the 70’s. I liked the clickity-clack of those studded tires as they danced along the 401, chewing up the asphalt in their wake.

Back then the answer to the removal of the studded tires was all-season radial tires. That’s what everyone bought for the longest time. I never heard of anyone putting winter tires on their car.

The only one who even advertised them was Canadian Tire and, with a name like that, you can understand why they would. But in the last ten years there has been a push to sell snow tires again.

It’s a pain because you have to store them somewhere. If you don’t have an extra set of rims you have to take them to a tire shop to have them put on and taken off.

My biggest complaint is, “What’s wrong all of a sudden with the all-season radials that we’ve used for so long?!”

I had noticed that the traction with my radials wasn’t what it used to be, but I drive a standard and the “slip-slidiness” only made driving a little more fun.

Still those rims were staring me in the face every time I entered my garage. So now I’ve been driving with snow tires on my car for the last month.

I’m not ruling out that the reason we have so much snow right now is because I got winter tires but I’m blaming the weather man – they’re used to taking the blame for every kind of inclement weather.

I have to say, I’ve been pleasantly surprised how well my car performs in the snow. I don’t spin my tires as much when the light turns green, and my car feels way more secure on the road.

And the bonus is I still have a little slip-slidiness to keep my driving interesting.

Here’s the thing: I resisted getting winter tires for years. I’ve had good excuses, like the cost, the storage, the hassle. But having snow tires is worth it. You may have some good excuses for keeping your devotional life the same, but things like making some changes, adding more time, changing up the questions you ask as you interact with scripture, will present you with a refreshed approach to meeting with God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What changes could you make to your devotions? Leave your comment below.

It’s My Bread And Butter

This week I attended a lunch at our church for our Evergreen group – it’s a monthly meeting for those 55+. Centring a meeting around food is always a good idea … we all have to eat, so why not do it together?

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This week we had soup and bread. Now the soups were homemade and very good. I only had the one because the other was a butternut squash soup, and the problem with that was the word “squash”.

I don’t eat squash, and it doesn’t matter how you serve it, I’m not going to eat something that has squash in the name … except squash pie, but that’s only because my grandmother tricked me once and fed it to us as pumpkin pie. Only after we had eaten it did she tell us what she made it with.

I did smell the butternut squash soup and it actually, surprisingly smelt very good … but I still wasn’t about to let it touch my lips.

The soups were good and healthy, but the other part of the meal was bread.

I know the maker of the bread, and I’ve tasted his bread before and it tastes great. He makes a fine bread, and it’s a healthy bread, but you can’t eat bread without butter and that’s what was causing me the anxiety.

If I’m going to eat bread I have to put butter on it. Bread doesn’t taste the same without butter.  And don’t get me started on margarine! I don’t care what they call it. They can call it “I can’t believe it’s not butter”, but I believe it – margarine doesn’t taste like butter.

My mother spent years trying to fool me with different kinds of margarine in my sandwiches and she finally gave up. I don’t eat something that has squash in the name and I won’t eat margarine either.

So I had my bread at the Evergreen lunch and there were several different kinds so I had to try them all. Some of them I liked more than others so I had to try them a few more times.

And each time I tried a piece, I also laid down a layer of butter over the surface.

Even though the bread was healthy, the butter wasn’t. It contains saturated fats and salt … I could feel it going straight into my bloodstream and narrowing my arteries.

Yes, I know you can buy un-salted butter, but you might as well eat the bread dry. Why waste your time spreading something on it that doesn’t add to the flavour?

It was a bad combo: lots of bread (though healthy, it sure wasn’t in the quantities I was eating) and  butter … I’m sure I maxed out on my salt content and saturated fats for the next three days, or weeks!

This was a seniors’ lunch. I almost thought there was a devious plan behind it all.

Here’s the thing: There are things about spending time with God that we enjoy more than others. Maybe it’s the prayer, or Bible reading. It could be the devotional guide. All these are good and are part of a good balanced time with God. But too much spend time in one area breaks the balance. For many people prayer is what gets short-changed. We bulk up on the devotional reading and it leaves us full and out of time for much prayer. Keep prayer a main staple, you might have to cut back on something else that you like a little too much.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What gets in the way of you praying more? Leave your comment below.

Our Expressions Don’t Lie

Our expressions reveal our emotions and, without a mirror in front of us to monitor our expressions, sometimes our emotions leak out for others to see.

Richard Sherman expressions.001Mind you, some people are better at keeping their expressions in check that others. We call those people “tough to read”; it’s difficult to know what they are feeling or thinking.

I’m not that particularly difficult to read apparently, at least according to my wife. I can sit down with a plate of food in front of me and within a millisecond she knows what I think of dinner.

I don’t have to poke the meat with my finger or even pick up a fork – the look on my face tells her everything (eww, it’s stew).

I would probably make a pretty lousy poker player; everyone would know if my hand was good or bad.

I’ve even seen professional poker players on TV hide their expressions with sunglasses or hats shielding their faces.

The other day watching the Super Bowl, there were some pretty good emotions. Camera men are particularly good at zeroing in on faces when something in the game goes bad or good.

Early into the second half, after Seattle had scored to take the lead for the first time in the game, the look on the Seahawks’ coach’s face was, “I think we have this game”. He looked pretty confident.

His face didn’t show the same easy smile later in the game, however, when in the last 3 minutes the momentum of the game was moving up and down like a roller coaster at Canada’s Wonderland.

When New England scored and there was still three minutes left in the game, the Patriots’ quarterback sat on the bench and couldn’t look up. There was too much on the line.

Seattle started moving the ball. Then a long pass, that at first looked incomplete, turned out to be a reception as the receiver bobbled the ball a few times and grabbed it while falling on his back on the 5 yard line.

Wow, the looks on both benches was telling. Only a minute to go in the game, Tom Brady (New England’s QB) had a look of, “No way! You’ve got to be joking!”

… One play later, the ball is on the one yard line. It is a guaranteed touchdown for Seattle. The game is over; there is no hope for New England. But Seattle decides to pass the ball and throws an interception.

The emotions go wild again. Brady is now jumping up and down on the sideline with his hands raised. The coach raises his arm in the air signalling victory.

Over on the Seattle sideline the emotions are prolific. One player will have his mug in the news for days as his facial expressions went from joy to sheer horror in a matter of seconds.

… The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Here’s the thing: As poor a job as we do hiding our emotions for others to see, it is impossible to hide our emotions from God. He sees everything; He knows our emotionally-charged roller coaster life. So instead of dropping the visor of your hat to cover your expressions when you pray, simply tell Him what you are feeling and thinking. He wants to hear, and He can help.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When do you have a hard time keeping your expressions in check? Leave your comment blow.

Distracting Conversations

One of my weekly events this year is to take in a Kingston Frontenacs’ home game. I usually go on Friday nights; it’s mostly been a date night with my wife.

Kingston Fronts action

It’s been a pretty cheap date too … I get comp tickets because I’m the team chaplain and Lily doesn’t usually want many snacks. We park far enough away so I get a few steps in and there’s no cost for parking.

Man, I’m cheap! Most nights it doesn’t cost me a thing … I hope Lily likes the hockey and me pointing out the guys on the team who come out to chapel.

However, last night I couldn’t get complimentary tickets – the game was sold out. But I was able to pull some strings and pay for a couple of tickets they made available at the last minute.

And since our daughter, Karlie, was in town on a day off, I took her.

There was lots of hype for the game. The number one draft pick in this spring’s NHL draft was going to be on the ice. I guess this 18 year old is filling up rinks in every city he plays in.

The night before, his team, the Erie Otters, were in Peterborough and they had their biggest attendance all year.

It was going to be a good game; I was really looking forward to it. Our seats were at the top of the arena and there was standing room directly behind us.

During the first period there were two women and a man talking rather loudly, not about hockey, but about their work. Personnel issues seemed to be on the highlight reel of their conversation.

I didn’t look behind me but I sensed by the way they were talking, they weren’t even looking at the game. At one point I overheard the following:

“Who are you cheering for?”

“Who’s playing?”

“Kingston and some other team.”

“I guess I’ll cheer for the other team.”

Give me a break! They were standing so close to me and talking so loudly that I could keep up with their play-by-play better that the play that was on the ice.

Fortunately, after the first period the corporate firm moved somewhere else and we didn’t have to suffer through a second period of listening to their possible sales forecast for the next six months.

I’m not sure how they got tickets or why they were even at the game, but since tickets were so scarce, I know there were more deserving souls who would have appreciated what was happening on the ice.

At least for me, it was a good time with my daughter, and you have to take advantage of those times when you can.

In contrast to the first period business commentary, we got to chat between periods with an NHL scout, who kept the conversation about hockey.

Here’s the thing: Spending time with God is so important and we may, with good intentions, want to add to that time to make it even richer. However, we need to be careful that we don’t add things that will complicate or distract from our time with God. For the most part, we need a Bible and a journal to record what God tells us. Reading devotionals and other things, though they can help, can also distract us by getting us focussed on their commentary instead of God’s Word.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What commonly distracts you when you’re spending time with God? Leave your comment below.

I’m Not A Games Person

We have a cupboard in our family room that’s brimming with games, but my family is not a games family. We’ve tried to be a games family over the years …

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When our kids were little we played games. Everyone was happy when playing … except one family member if he wasn’t winning.

It never went well when that scenario was in play.

Every family has one person who has a tough time losing, or, in this day and age, we should probably say “underwhelming in his game potential”.

Well, we might not say that, but we have to use some term to avoid, not point out, or shed any light on the fact that someone lost. We wouldn’t want anyone to think that they didn’t win.

We’re not a games family because we only have one games person in the family and it’s Lily.

Lily is up for any kind of game: board games, tile games, activity games, even puzzles. Puzzles are her favourite. And puzzles are probably the least loved activity by the rest of the family.

She builds them alone.

So when we have company over, Lily usually suggests we play a game. Often I can talk her out of it. But the last time we had guests over she really pressed for us to play a game and, going against my better judgement, I conceded to her wishes.

It was like I lost the game of trying to get out of playing a game. So I knew that things would not go well.

We had several guests so we played an activity game – a game where you act out words for you team, and they have to guess what you are acting out. The game is called “Guesstures”.

Somehow the non-gamer got to bring the game out and set it up. At that point, I think Lil was just rubbing it in that she won and I … well, I don’t even want to say the word but I’ll tell you I sensed I had a large “L” on my forehead.

So we played, and it was the girls against the guys, which in my thinking sets up the girls to win in this kind of game. Women are more expressive and freer in their body movement than most men which gives them a decided advantage.

We are just not that flexible or demonstrative.

So we played the game and to my great surprise the guys were holding their own through the first three rounds. Then it was my turn.

With all the pressure on me, and feelings just below the surface of “I really don’t like playing these games”, I played to my underwhelmed potential. I got one point out of a possible 12.

Oh ya, that game isn’t coming out again for a long time!

The next few rounds went not too badly for the guys. They had to dig us out of the hole I got us into. In the end we pulled it off and beat the girls.

That’s right, we won. You can say you won, you just can’t say they lost. Oh, I guess I said that too. The girls lost.

Here’s the thing: When it comes to developing a relationship with God, if that’s not something you are good at, or have a hard time staying committed to, then get some help from a friend, or mentor. You’ll find that assistance can make developing a relationship with God a winning experience.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What could you use a little help in accomplishing? Leave your comment below.

New Year’s Eve Plans

Wow, the end of another year! It came up quickly and we had no plans as usual.

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Well, I guess we did have plans; they were the same plans we have most years on New Year’s Eve: we hang out, snack a little, and watch some New Year’s Eve countdown show on TV.

That’s pretty much it. There have been a few years where we’ve varied our pattern but this is the regular “no plan” plan for the end of the year.

But I was leaning away from that plan this year, and it was all because of a TV advertisement for a New Year’s Eve show this year.

I saw an ad for this year’s New Year’s Eve show on ABC called, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”.

The problem with this show is that Dick Clark is no longer with us. In fact, he’s been gone for over two years now. What kind of a New Year’s show is it when the host of the show is not really ringing in the new year with you?

How great a new year can it be if the host isn’t joining you in the celebration?

There is just something wrong about it, that almost says there’s nothing worth looking forward to in the new year.

Maybe the executives at ABC are getting older and don’t have the same optimism as they used to, so why not have a deceased person’s name on the advertising? Nothing spells excitement like that!

I had in mind we should change things up this year. It was kind of late to be making plans with only three days to the big day, but I thought we needed to make the night a little more interesting and add a little hope to the evening.

The problem with putting more effort into NYE is that it happens so often that you blink and it’s here again. And you start to think, “Didn’t we just have New Year’s not that long ago?”

That’s what age does though; it speeds up time for you. A year for someone in their 50’s is like a year and a half for someone in their 20’s.

When you’re in your 20’s you can barely remember the last new year’s, and so it’s a big deal every time it comes around.

But when you get a little older, you feel like you just booked your dinner reservations for last December 31, and now you have to do it again already.

When you’re young, a new year offers all kinds of new opportunities and hopes, but when you’re older you just hope things will hold their own in the new year and there won’t be any surprises.

When you think of it, New Year’s Eve is really for the young, or the young at heart.

After some thought, we changed up our plans and went out … but still made it home in time to watch “Dick Clark’s postmortem New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”

Here’s the thing: If the sound of giving in to getting older doesn’t seem all that good to you, then fight to stay young at heart. Get out of your rut and breathe some hope and excitement into your routines like New Year’s Eve. And while you’re at it, take a look at your relationship with God – have you gotten safe, comfortable, boring with God? Look at this new year as an opportunity to enhance your relationship with God. Consider how you can engage with God in more hope and opportunity.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What did you do on New Year’s Eve this year? Leave your comments below.