my experiences

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It Feels Good When Something Works Out For You

It feels good when someone comes through for you. When it happens it kind of makes your day, makes you feel like you won something.

it feels good when something works out for you

It can happen with anything – someone able to book a tee-off time for you, a friend getting you into a restaurant that was booked solid for the next week, or your kids sending you on a trip across the country for your 35th anniversary … well, that’s another story.

This week I was the recipient of someone – actually a company – coming through for me. 

In a recent blog post I wrote about waiting to find out if I would get a replacement frame for my bike. (You can read that here.)

This is what happened …

I’ve had my current mountain bike for about seven years. I really enjoy it and have no need or wish to get a new or updated model. 

One day on vacation, however, with my bike up on a stand for some maintenance, I discovered I had a cracked frame. It was right at the joint where the crossbar connects with the upright bar that the seat post comes out of.

I probably should have seen this before. Now that I think back, my bike has made a little creaking sound when I ride it. In fact, this year I’ve noticed the creaking sound increasing more and more. 

The crack in the frame has probably been there for quite some time, but now it goes almost right around the joint. 

I still rode it for a while after I discovered the crack. In my mind I tried to determine if it snapped off, if I would do an endo over the front handle bars or if the bike would collapse under me and I would go straight down. … I never found out what would happen. 

To replace my bike now with the same model would cost $3500 – certainly not something I wanted to pay. Thankfully, my bike company has a lifetime warranty on its frames. 

So when I got home from vacation, I took my bike into the bike shop. They took pictures and sent them away to Giant, the bike manufacturer. 

I waited for about two weeks and then, just before Lily and I were heading to Vancouver (remember that anniversary gift?), I got a call telling me my new frame came in. I dropped my bike off at the bike shop the same day we were leaving town for our trip. 

When I got back this week, my bike was ready. They had transferred all my bike parts to the new frame and now I pretty much have a new bike … and I didn’t have to take out a loan to pay for it. 

I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I would actually get a new frame at no cost to me, but my bike company came through and, man, it sure feels like a win for me!

Here’s the thing: We pray for a lot of things. It’s worth taking note of the things you pray for, otherwise you might forget when a prayer gets answered. If you write down what you prayed for as a reminder, when God answers a prayer, you can acknowledge that He came through for you. Not only does it bolster your faith, but it also feels like a win. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you praying for right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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People Are Never Far From You

I discovered again this week that we are never far from people we know.

people are never far from you

We can have friends and acquaintances who we once saw on a regular basis and who were part of our world, but when we move or they move, our worlds change. New friends or acquaintances come into our lives and fill them up. We tend to be engaged with the people who are right around us.

It is very much like leaving one world and entering another. We have new scenery, new people and new experiences with those people.

It’s almost like the original Star Trek television series – well, minus Captain Kirk and the Klingons. They had a five year mission to explore new worlds. 

When we move or change our setting, we end up exploring a new world. 

When you travel to a different country, there are sights you’ve never seen before, different people, customs and languages. It’s like a new world. You may have heard of that world before, but when you travel there you get a new perspective of that land and those people. 

I remember traveling to Israel eleven years ago. Though I had never been there before, I had read through the Bible many times and had an idea of what the land was like. 

I was shocked at how my perception of the country was different from actually being there. My world collided with the world of the Bible and I came away with a new, richer understanding of that land.

When the world we are in is different from the world we have left or are going to, sometimes those worlds collide for a short time. 

This week Lily and I took a trip to Vancouver on the other side of the country from us. It was a new world in a lot of ways.

The scenery is so different from home. Though the people speak the same language, in a way there is a difference that is hard to pinpoint. 

Though we were there in that other world for a short time, our two worlds collided in an interesting way. 

Each day of our trip we had the opportunity to collide with old friends and acquaintances. 

One day it was an old high school friend of mine … and when I say old, having looked afterwards at the pictures, yes, we are getting old. 

Another day we met with a mentor couple of Lily’s and mine. What was interesting was, though we are regularly mentored by them, it was the first time Lily and I together had been in their presence. 

The next day we met with my uncle, aunt and cousins. On our last day, we met up with some friends from our years in Edmonton. 

Each time our world collided with their world. And it is those collisions that keep us connected even though our worlds are so far apart. 

You really can’t go anywhere without finding someone from a world you once were part of. 

Here’s the thing: It always astounds me that wherever I go there is some kind of connection to my present or my past. It shouldn’t astound us then that no matter where we go or where we are, God is always there. We can never move away from Him, never go to another world. God is always part of our present; He is always part of home. Run to Him and maintain that connection. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What kind of connection have you recently made? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Perfect Timing Is Always Amazing When It Happens

There is something about perfect timing that’s, well, just perfect.

perfect timing is always amazing when it happens

We use that phrase “perfect timing” when something happens at just the right time, or in every and any situation that presents itself as working out. 

When a baseball player leaps at the warning track and catches the baseball as it’s going over the fence, we say that’s perfect timing. 

When you show up at a restaurant and are first in line to be seated and look back to notice a large line up forming behind you, you say to yourself, “We got here at the perfect time!”

Even when my wife, Lily, is ready to leave the house at the same time I am, I think it’s perfect timing. … That doesn’t occur very often so it is even more remarkable when it does happen.

And maybe that’s why we notice something when it happens at just the right time. It’s not a regular occurrence. Rather, it is more of a one-off, something that only happens from time to time. 

I remember years ago when our daughter was little and she was bouncing on the couch right beside me. I was looking across the room, talking to Lily, when out of the corner of my eye I saw Karlie bounce right over the arm rest of the couch. 

Without looking, I reached out and caught her by the ankle as she was diving head first toward the floor. 

That was perfect timing, and all I could say to Lily was, “Did you see that catch? Did you see that catch? It was perfect!”

Well, the other day I was driving home from our cottage. I was about a half hour into my five hour drive, when I got a call from our son. He was in Kingston and was going to be leaving to go home to Toronto. 

I had to pass through Toronto on my way home so he suggested that if it worked out, we should meet for dinner along the route between Kingston and Toronto. We agreed to check in when it got closer to the time he was going to leave Kingston. 

I continued on my trip for three plus hours. I had to go through Toronto … which is always a wild card. I got stuck in stop and go traffic from the west end to the middle of the city before things started moving again. 

I was on track to get home at about 7 pm without any stops.

So I called Mike once I got through the traffic, but could only leave a message. When he called back, I told him approximately when I would be passing through the next three cities before I got home. 

We decided he could make it to Belleville around the time I would be getting there, which was still a good 45 minutes from where I was at that moment. 

I figured that one of us would get there and just have to wait ten or fifteen minutes for the other one. 

Well, I rolled into the restaurant parking lot, stepped out of my car, checked something in the trunk, and turned around to see Mike pulling into the lot.  

Perfect timing! Being that far away, coming from opposite directions and arriving under two minutes apart was amazing. 

Here’s the thing: Perfect timing is when two things come together at just the right time. When God answers your prayer, or speaks to you through a verse, or when you become aware of who God is, that’s perfect timing. Pay attention to it and be amazed.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Recently, what has happened perfectly for you? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Not In Shape And I Didn’t Even Know It

I am not in shape, but until yesterday I didn’t know it. 

Not in shape and ai didn't even know it

Most people know when they are not in shape. They can feel when they have gained a few extra pounds. They know when they haven’t been exercising that their muscles and cardio are not where they should be.

This week I played hockey for the first time in five months. I had also come off of a month of vacation during which I ate more than I exercised. I knew going into the game that I was not going to be in great shape. 

The good thing was that many of the other guys who were playing were in the same boat as me, so I didn’t stick out like a sore thumb. But I certainly did know I was not in shape. 

Physically it’s easy to know when you are or are not in shape.

When it comes to other things, it’s not always the case. 

During our vacation I did not play pool. For a while before we left, I had been playing a bit almost every day.

I had been working on a few shots, figuring out how to hit them correctly. I was starting to get to the place of being fairly consistent with making those shots. 

But after a month of no pool, it was like I had taken a few steps backward. In other words, I was not in pool shape. I had to once again practice those shots I’d been learning, just so I could make them consistently.

When we get out of the rhythm of doing something, we will become out of shape for that activity. We’ll get rusty and need to polish our skills again. 

This week I learned something else I’m not in shape for: being back at work. 

I was not in shape for work but I didn’t realize it … well, until this morning, that is. 

I’ve been working as a pastor for 36 years. I’ve been the pastor of my present church for 25 years. A little vacation was not going to cause me to get rusty at the skills or tasks that I do. My vacation from work didn’t make my muscles flabby. 

In fact, it didn’t matter how much junk food I ate during my vacation, it had no affect on the shape I’d be in for work.

I worked my first week back, got the things done that were on my agenda and preached on Sunday. Nothing seemed to be different. It was all the same as it had been before my vacation.  

I didn’t miss a beat. 

… Except I napped Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening and slept in Monday morning. Ya, I’m a bit out of shape and I didn’t know it. 

Here’s the thing: There can be a lot of things that we are not aware of. We don’t realize it until something exposes those things. Many of us have been away from physical community with other Christians for a long time. Take some time to think about how out of shape you are with attending church and being with your brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s time to do something about it and get back in shape.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: In what way are you out of shape right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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My Wait Time Doesn’t Seem To Get Shorter

Our world is moving at a fast pace, but I still have wait times which don’t seem faster.

my wait time doesn't seem to get shorter

The thing about waiting is that it doesn’t matter how little or how long you wait, it still seems like an eternity.

I can’t imagine 150 years ago what it must have been like to wait for something that had to come from another continent. It must have seemed like a lifetime of waiting. But then again, in those days everything moved at a slower pace. 

Now we have things that are immediately available. 

If you are hungry today you can be eating in a matter of minutes, no matter where you are.  There is fast food and convenience stores on every corner. 

Years ago a meal took time to prepare, unless you took some berries off a bush or something. 

Hey, maybe they had raspberry bushes and apple trees on every corner … though, too bad if they were hungry in the winter.

No matter how fast things are made available, we still have to wait and that wait time is so hard.

Amazon is amazing with its delivery service. There have been a couple of times when I ordered something one day and it was delivered the next. I couldn’t believe how they could get that product to me so quickly. 

But even still, there was a wait time. It’s not like going to a store and being able to purchase that item on the spot. There is no wait time there, except for waiting in line to get to the cashier to pay for said item.

Waiting is part of life and there are studies that tell us how much time we will spend waiting in our lifetime. One such study says an average person will spend six months of their life waiting in line for things.

That’s a lot of waiting! 

Think of all the things you could do in that time. You could take a long trip, an extended vacation, or learn a new skill. You could build a project … except you might have to wait for some of the pieces to arrive. 

No matter how fast life is, waiting seems like an eternity.

Recently I was waiting for three things. 

I ordered something from Amazon and waited for my two-day guaranteed delivery to arrive. It was only two days but I kept checking online to see if it had shipped yet. 

I was also waiting to hear back from an associate about a position I have been volunteering in. Things have changed and I was waiting to hear if I was still needed. 

And I’m waiting to hear back if I will get a new bike frame.  

I cracked the frame of my mountain bike, but the company has a lifetime guarantee on their frames. My bike store has sent in pictures and my receipt. Now I’m just waiting to find out what they will do. 

Wait time is never fast; it’s never easy. And it is something we will never get away from … no matter how fast life becomes. 

Here’s the thing: Though we will never get away from waiting, there is one thing that we never have to wait for. We never have to line up or wait on hold to talk to God. He is never too busy for us right now. There is no place we can be where we can not reach Him immediately. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you waiting for that you could speak to God about right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Ask Questions To Become More Inquisitive

I’m not usually one who likes to ask questions, but I think I will try to be a little more inquisitive from now on. 

ask questions to become more inquisitive

There are some people who like to ask questions, especially to question things that seem obvious. They like to push the envelope. When the sky is blue, these people ask why it is blue.

… I’m not sure why, but I don’t like to ask more questions.  

Apparently, women are more likely to ask questions than men … maybe I’m just normal. 

We’ve all been told how most men when they are lost will just aimlessly try to find their way on their own. They will refuse to stop and ask someone for help. Women are more likely to stop the first person they see to ask for directions. 

I’m not sure there are statistics on this phenomenon but it certainly has proven to be true in our family.

There is just something about asking questions that I have a hesitancy to do.  

But maybe I need to change. Maybe I need to ask more and not just take what I see as obvious. 

The other day Lily and I were in Home Depot. We were browsing around, looking at a few things. But I had something specific on my mind. 

I wanted to get a folding table and was hoping that maybe they would have something in the size I needed. I had been to their website and found absolutely nothing. Now I planned to go up and down every aisle to see if there was some hidden section of the store that I didn’t know about. 

In my investigation I found they did in fact have an area with folding tables. But there wasn’t the one I was looking for. I wanted something small and adjustable in height. 

Then Lily saw a label on a shelf for the very table I was looking for, but there was none to be found. They had 48 inch long tables but they were all out of the 20” x 30” tables. 

That bugged me even more than if they didn’t carry them at all. To come that close to getting one and then being shut out was a real disappointment. 

Lily simply said, “Let’s ask someone.” 

“Why do we need to ask anyone? It’s obvious they don’t have any. The shelf is empty.” I replied.

She continued, “Maybe they have them somewhere else.” 

I thought it was a lost cause, but Lily decided to ask anyway. 

She found someone with an inventory checker and, sure enough, the system said they had sixteen – ya, not one or two or none; they had sixteen! 

Well, after some digging, the Home Depot guy found them. 

I got my table … and made the decision to ask more questions from now on. 

Here’s the thing: We face many things in life that we take for granted. Maybe we grew up believing something, or maybe we have been told something so many times we just take it to be the truth. But, when it comes to God and eternity, we need to make sure we ask questions. Don’t just write God off; ask Him to reveal Himself to you in some way. You knowing God and what He has provided for you is the only way to unlock spending eternity with Him. Don’t be afraid to ask. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to ask more questions about? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Your World May Not Be As Colourful As Usual

My part of the world is not as clear as it normally is and there is nothing I can do about it.

your world may not be as colourful as usual

I’ve heard people talk about having cataracts. They say that everything looks a little cloudy or muted, that colours are not as vibrant. 

I find that to be true when I wear sunglasses. If I’ve worn them for a while while driving, sometimes I need to pull them down to see what things really look like, if conditions have changed since I put my sunglasses on. I may not have noticed that the sun is no longer as glaring as it had been.

In some ways you miss out when you are wearing sunglasses. You don’t see the world in all its explosive glory.

I get that we need to protect our eyes from the rays of the sun and, frankly, sometimes the sun is just too bright.

I remember when I worked for a delivery company years ago. There was one day a week that I began my day at 7:30 am, travelling east on the 401 to Oshawa. In the summer months, at that time the sun was rising above the horizon. 

Traveling on the highway was dangerous without sunglasses. 

First there was the intense, yellow ball of fire that was shining straight in your face like one giant high beam headlight. It was so intense you could barely look at it. 

It was blinding.

But then there was its glare on everything else – other vehicles, the road, any flat surface. 

It was hard to see the lines on the road. It was easy to mistake where the cars around you were. 

I had to be so careful during those trips. I remember that on those days, I couldn’t afford to forget my sunglasses. 

But that is not the case right now in my area.

For the last week or so, the world famous sunsets at Sauble Beach have been rather mediocre.

Usually you never go a day or two without seeing some kind of spectacular sunset over Lake Huron. 

When I scroll through the photos I’ve taken over the years, there are large portions with bright, rich, jaw-dropping sequences of colour that flash by as I scroll.

They are my sunset photos and I have a ton of them … because almost every night I can snap some pics of a sunset I’ve never seen before. 

Now, however, there have been some fires in Northern Ontario. Though we don’t notice much in the daytime, at night, around sunset, the sun is not as bright. 

It’s like the sky has cataracts and its colours are muted – like in the 80’s when pastels were in. 

The rich oranges, pinks, blues and purples have been replaced with softer versions that kind of fade as the sun goes down. 

They are not transforming the sky like they normally do.

Here’s the thing: Our world has been muted over the last year or so. It has not been the same. We all feel like it’s temporary, this muted world of ours. We don’t know when it will end, nor does it seem to be coming to a close really soon. There doesn’t seem to be much we can do. There is one thing, however, and that is to turn to the Bible. The Bible can clear away the particles in our world that keep it muted. God’s word can give you a clear picture of what is to come and how to prepare. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What part of your life seems muted to you right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Obstacles Don’t Have To Keep You Out

Obstacles, whether they are physical or mental, need to be cleared in order to proceed.

obstacles don't have to keep you out

Some obstacles are so glaring there is no doubt what is keeping you from where you want to go. But then there are other more subtle obstacles, that we might not even be aware of, that are blocking us.

It could be something from your past, maybe some trauma, that raises its head when you find yourself in a certain situation. 

Let’s say that when you started learning to drive you had a really bad experience driving. That bad experience frightened you so that years later you find that you are afraid in certain driving conditions. You don’t know why, you just feel anxious. 

Well, maybe the obstacle in your way is that you never resolved or got over that frightening experience you had when you were first learning. Maybe you have forgotten all about it, but the obstacle is there and you don’t know how to get past it. 

It’s in your way, but you turn away from it, go back or go another way instead of dealing with it.

This week I was mountain biking and came to a part in the trail where there were some trees that had fallen across the path.  

My way was blocked by these obstacles. I had to get off my bike and lift my bike over them … and, in one case, crawl under them and drag my bike under with me.

The one tree was small – maybe only 5 or 6 inches in diameter. I decided that I would bring my compact saw with me the next time I rode. 

On my next ride, I easily cut through that tree and rode on. 

But then I came to the next tree.

It was much bigger than the first one – maybe 12-14 inches in diameter – and where it crossed the path was about 3 feet off the ground. 

It was a pain to get around. But there was no way I was even going to attempt to cut through it because of its size. 

You see, about 10 years ago, I came across a large tree that crossed a path that I rode all the time. I decided to cut through that one. 

But after cutting part way through it, I got impatient and tugged on it real hard.

When I tugged, however, I threw my back out. I spent three days on the floor in lots of pain every time I moved. 

So this week when I looked at this larger tree, I had flashbacks to my back pain. I didn’t even attempt to cut through it. 

On my next ride, however, I decided I would just try to start sawing it. 

It turned out that this tree was pretty old, dry and dead. I cut through it in about 15 minutes. Then I removed the blockage from my path. 

Obstacle will prevent you from moving on … but they don’t have to.

Here’s the thing: In your life you will come up against physical and mental obstacles. They need to be cleared. Seek God’s help with those obstacles. He can provide you with healing or the right perspective to resolve them so you can keep your way clear. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is your biggest obstacle right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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You Can Do More Than You Think You Can

You don’t know what you can do until you try. 

you can do more than you think you can

We often assume or think we can’t do something we have not tried. It’s sort of our go-to determination. 

We might see someone riding a skateboard and our immediate thought is, “I can’t do that”.

I remember when I was a teen talking to my grandmother about skateboards. Back then they were a very crude iteration of what they are now. 

She had been watching us from the living room window when I said, “Gram, you could try out my skateboard.” 

Her response was quick and decisive: “Oh, I’d land on my head.”

… Granted she was in her late 80’s at the time and probably would have if she had tried. But there was no consideration on her part. It was simply an automatic response that she could not do that. 

There are many things we see each day and make that same kind of instant determination that we could not possibly do that. 

Maybe it’s making something with our hands, or working some kind of machine. It could be coordinating colours in a room, or designing a landscape in a back yard. 

We just don’t think we can do it. 

But how do you know you can’t do something if you have never tried? 

Sometimes we base our judgement on our results of doing something similar. We may have tried something years ago with poor results so we think we can’t do anything similar now. 

Drawing is one of those things. It takes some talent to draw and most people don’t think they can draw very well, so they only draw stick figures.

I’m not even talking about drawing a picture that you would consider showing to others. I’m just talking about drawing something that looks like what you were trying to draw. 

When I was in high school, I listened to music a lot. Sometimes I would look at the cover of an album and get inspired. I started to draw the faces of some of my favourite music artists. 

I’ve never taken art classes, so I don’t know how to properly shade something. When it comes to pen or pencil strokes, I know nothing. I just tried to draw what I saw. 

I never showed anyone what I drew, but you could see the resemblance from the pictures. 

Well, recently I got a new iPad along with the Apple Pencil. I decided I would try to draw something with it … after all, it’s only been 45- 50 years since I did it last. 

So I took a few photographs and tried my hand at drawing parts of them. 

When I showed my daughter, her response was, “Hey, Mom is artistic and can draw. Dad, you can draw. What happened to me? I’ve got no talent to do any of that.”

My only thought was, “Give it a try. Maybe you can, and you just think you can’t.”

Here’s the thing: We often make quick determinations when it comes to God. We think, “He won’t do this” or “He will say no to that”. Before we even ask God, we’ve written Him out of the picture. Maybe if you weren’t so quick to count God out, He might respond to your request. But you will never know unless you get past that automatic response.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you believed God would not do so you’ve never asked? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Your Advice Is Not Always Welcomed

your advice is not always welcomed

It’s good to listen to your spouse when he or she gives you advice.

Though this is a very valid statement, it isn’t true all the time … but it was for me last night. 

We had been out for a walk and arrived back home at about 9 pm. As Lil looked up to the sky she said, “You should get your drone and take some video of the sky. It’s beautiful.”

I kind of balked at the advice because we could only see a small section of the sky and, though it was colourful, we couldn’t see the full horizon. What I could see didn’t seem that impressive. 

There is also another thing that happens when my wife gives me advice: I automatically challenge the idea. 

Now don’t get me wrong here. There are many times Lily gives me advice and I readily receive it and act on it. But when it comes to something that is my domain, something that I do and she doesn’t, well, that’s when I kind of push back. 

It happens the other way as well. There are times when I give Lily advice that I can tell she is immediately dismissing what I’m telling her. She will have many reasons or arguments for not wanting to follow my advice. 

It goes both ways. 

It is the belief that, hey, this subject, topic, activity, whatever, is my expertise. It’s what I know or do; don’t try to barge into my territory. 

I remember my father-in-law took a course based on a book his instructor had written. My father-in-law noticed a few grammatical errors on the first page and the instructor was quite appreciative. He even invited him to check the rest of the chapter for errors. 

Well, the next day my father-in-law showed the instructor all the red marks in the first chapter and it was clear the instructor was not appreciative of the advice given. This book was his baby; he’d put a lot of work into it. He didn’t like the fact that someone was pointing out its flaws and giving advice.

I think it might be human nature to resist the advice of someone who is poking their nose into an area that you feel you have ability in. 

No one likes the guy who walks by while you are planting a garden and tells you should really lay down landscaping cloth to keep the weeds out. 

Well, as it turned out, I had to put something away when Lily and I arrived home. She went into the house and I had time to think. 

As I thought about it and looked back up at the sky, I decided I would take Lil up on her advice. I got my drone and took some very colourful video and images from about 350 feet in the air.

The image in this post is one of them. It’s pretty sweet when the sunset cooperates and when you take someone’s advice. 

Here’s the thing: Our world is filled with advice. Often we just tune out the advice we don’t want to hear. But if that advice is correct and wise, we miss out and it can end up causing us grief. God has advice for us if we will take it. It’s found in the Bible. His greatest advice is to take Him up on His free gift of salvation that comes by placing your faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What makes taking advice difficult for you? Leave your comments and questions below.

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