my experiences

by

My Lists Just Keeps Getting Longer

At this time of year more people are carrying around lists. Christmas time is probably the “king of lists” – mine just keeps growing. 

list, getting longer

Most people set out to make a list and then work at checking the items or actions off the list until they have completed everything. 

My lists are getting longer and longer. We are getting closer and closer to Christmas but my lists are on pace to keep me going until well into the new year. 

My Christmas “things to do” list is similar to my kind of grocery list. While some people will methodically plan their route and cross off the items as they put them into the cart, I see something and add it to the list as I place it in the cart. 

… Oh I cross it out, but by the time I’m finished, I’ve added quite a few things that my wife, Lily, didn’t request and often really didn’t want in the house. 

I feel that my list of tasks this Christmas is much like that. Every time I go to cross something off the list, I have to add one or two more things. 

What makes matters worse is that Lily is adding things to my growing list. That should not be allowed; you keep your list to yourself. Everyone has his own list(s) and shouldn’t need to be helping someone else cross items off her list … especially at Christmas. 

I remember a time when I couldn’t wait to look at a list. The coach would post those who made the team and if your name was on the list, you were in. We would practically climb over each other’s backs to get a glimpse of the names on that list. 

The lists I’m making now don’t hold any of that anticipation or excitement.

I don’t like pulling out my list now, unless it is to check something off … and then I want to do it really quickly so that I don’t think of something else I need to add to it. 

I make my lists electronically these days. I can make a list on my computer and be able to see it and update it on my phone or iPad. I am never without it.

In the days when I used to make paper lists, sometimes I would have to remake them, so that I would be writing out the same item several times if I didn’t get it checked off soon enough.  

I had a list once that was in my pocket for a good week or more. It was so long that it resembled a child’s Christmas toy list. 

I kept at that list, checking things off one by one. By the time I got to the end of the list, the fibres in the paper had changed. The list felt more like it was written on a Kleenex tissue. And no, when I crossed off the last item, I did not blow my nose with the list. 

Right now I wish my current list would magically disappear.

Here’s the thing: There is a list that is really important and it’s a list that you want to get your name on. The Bible says that after Christ returns, He will bring out the Book of Life and it will list everyone who will join Christ in heaven. I want to be on that list, and you will want to also. Placing your faith in Christ is what is needed to get on that list. Add that to your Christmas list this year if you’re not already on Christ’s list. 

That’s Life! 

Paul

Question: How important is completing your list this Christmas? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

We Want To Know and Be Known

Have you ever known you know someone, but you didn’t know them all at the same time?

to know and be known

I’m sure this happens to every one of us and it happened to me the other day. 

I greeted someone in our church and, as I shook his hand, I knew that we had some kind of connection. There was something familiar about him but I didn’t know what. 

There was one time I was in a mall and spied a person from my church. I went up to him and said “hi”. And though he said “hi” back to me, I could tell he didn’t know who I was. 

This man had been in our church for years!  

Later I found out that he didn’t recognize me because he had only ever seen me at church and in a suit. The context was all wrong for him and, though he knew me, it just didn’t compute with him at the time. 

Well, it was a similar kind of setting for me the other day. I could tell by looking at this man’s eyes that this was not the first time we had met. He recognized me, but right then and there I just had no idea who he was.

What made it worse was that there was no time at that particular moment to try to explore our previous relationship. I just had to go back to my seat to wonder and ponder who this man might be. 

Nothing came to me. 

Then I got up to preach and, every time I looked his way, there was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t figure it out. 

My brain was working like one of those TV crime show identification computers. You know the scene: they get a picture of a suspect, pinpoint some markers on his or her face and then run it through their database. All the faces flash repeatedly on the screen until they get a hit and they identify the criminal. 

That’s what was happening to me on the platform, only there was no hit. The computer wasn’t turning up any useful information on this guy. 

My only hope was to do investigative work the old fashioned way. 

After the service I saw him standing in the foyer with his son. I went to shake his hand again. This time I could tell he knew that I didn’t know who he was, so he mercifully told me his name. 

And then the computer in my brain got a hit and all his information came rushing into my memory banks. 

… I really need to get my old computer checked out; it should work a little better than that. 

What made it more embarrassing to me was that ours was not a quick meeting or greeting that we had had once upon a time – I’ve had this man speak in our church on two occasions! 

But once the connection was made, it was amazing how familiar he seemed and how our conversation flowed because we knew each other. 

Here’s the thing: In a world of 7.5 billion people, you might expect that you are not much more than a number to God, that God really doesn’t know you that well. In reality, God knows everything about you. And you can be sure that He will never have a time when He knows He knows you but doesn’t know you at the same time. God knows you right down to the hairs on your head; He knows you intimately. Make sure you know Him in the same way. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What can you do to become more familiar with God? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

The Right Size Shouldn’t Be Hard To Find

Finding the right size of something that you want to buy shouldn’t be all that complicated. Yet that is what I’m experiencing.

right size freezer

We’ve had a freezer for about 28 years. It’s one of those appliances that you put in your basement and never think about replacing. They seem to last forever. 

Sadly, however, our freezer is showing signs of its age. Ice builds up under the lid and it’s not as efficient as the new ones are. Plus it’s just the two of us at home now so we don’t need a freezer that is as big as what we needed when both our kids were around. 

I’m also concerned that my wife, Lily, will sometime reach down to the bottom (because that’s where all the food is) and accidentally fall in! 

So we are in the market for a new freezer – a more “our sized” freezer.

But it’s not as simple as purchasing a slightly smaller one. The capacities are different with every brand, and the size of the freezers are surprising us. 

We want a freezer that has an inside capacity of about ten cubic feet. 

We thought that this would be a much smaller unit overall than the freezer we have now, but it’s not. Some models have the same outside dimensions as our present one with far less capacity! 

When you shop at Costco you know that if you want a bottle of Ketchup you are going to have to buy a monster size tub of it, or a multipack that will add up to the same amount as that monster tub. 

If you don’t want that size, you go to the regular grocery store where they have small, medium and large sizes to choose from. You won’t have to buy a massive container of Ketchup to only hold a medium amount of the stuff. 

Yet when it comes to freezers, we could buy a freezer that is five cubic feet smaller than the one we presently own … and it will take up more space in our basement! 

… Maybe it’s like toilet tanks. In the 90’s they started putting a layer of foam in the tanks so that they would hold less water and reduce the amount of water used per flush, all the while keeping the toilet tank dimensions the same size.

Maybe the walls and insulation on these new freezers is really thick. Maybe there are secret compartments inside these new freezers that you could use as a safe … or hide a stash of chicken wings that you bought on the sly that you don’t want your wife to know about!

We are just looking for a smaller freezer, one that has a smaller capacity AND a smaller footprint. 

I don’t think that should be too hard to find, but, for the life of me, we haven’t found one yet.

Here’s the thing: As we go through life we have a tendency to collect baggage. Whether that baggage comes in the form of work heartaches, relationship fails, sins, hurts, injury or sickness, our life’s footprint seems to get bigger with every new chapter of our lives. God wants to relieve us of that excess. The latest, newest chapter of your life can be the leanest if you will trust Him with all the bulk you carry around. Give it up to God and find a perfect fit.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What baggage do you need to give over to God? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

Sometimes Being Counterintuitive Is Best

I’m always surprised when I do something that seems counterintuitive and it happens to be just the right thing to do.

counterintuitive

When you are hot and the sweat is pouring off you, your first reaction is to try to make yourself as cool as possible. 

After I have worked out in my home gym, I often take my t-shirt off because it’s wet, I’m hot, and I feel that I will cool down easier if my skin can breathe better. 

It makes sense … but not always. 

There have been times that I have had a cold or flu and have been running a fever. My head feels like it’s going to explode, I’m all stuffed up … you get the picture. 

I’m a bit of a mess.

Instead of getting under the covers and laying low, sometimes I have gone out and played hockey. In fact, I will wear an extra shirt under my pads and zip it up to try to sweat the cold or flu right out of my system.

I know that doesn’t sound like it would work, but it does and has … some of the time, on more than one occasion. There are times I’ve been just too sick to sweat it out. 

And when I have a cold, I will purposely go to bed in a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I’ll put an extra blanket over me with the hopes that by morning I will have broken my fever. 

My clothes may be drenched and I might be sweating, but many, many times I feel better when I wake up.

Sometimes doing the opposite of what you think you should do works in your favour.

The last couple of days I’ve had a stiff neck. I think a few muscle in my neck have been waging a little revolt on me for some reason. 

It’s sore. But rather than keeping my neck still, I’ve been doing exercises to stretch and compress the muscles that are in mutiny right now. 

It seems to be working, but let me tell you, I’ve gotten some strange looks from people when I’ve chosen to do these stretches in public. 

It looks odd to people when you are walking in a mall and are trying to bend your head in such a way as to get your ear to touch your shoulder, or at least move in that direction. 

It’s hard to see the road when you dip your head down and try to touch your chin to your chest. … I don’t do that one too often when I’m in the car.

This morning I played hockey. And even though my neck was sore before I started, as I played things began to loosen up until I didn’t even notice that my neck was stiff or sore.

We’ll see how I fare the rest of the day. Will my neck stiffen or become even more flexible?

Here’s the thing: The natural thing to do when you wrong someone or hurt someone is to stay clear. You pull back and try to avoid them. We do that with God, too. Maybe we are embarrassed; maybe we think He won’t forgive us, or that He will punish us. But doing the counterintuitive thing works best. It is amazing how apologizing to the person you’ve wronged or hurt actually makes it better. When we’ve sinned and go to God, He is waiting with open arms.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to do this week that seems counterintuitive? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

It’s Fall – No Wait, It’s Winter

We were in the middle of enjoying some nice fall weather when, out of nowhere, winter broke in. 

Fall, Winter

Maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but not much (note: I wrote this a week ago, so no, I’m not exaggerating). We were regularly experiencing temperatures in the teens a week ago, but now the mercury won’t raise to double digits.

It really hit home to me last night, but it’s been on my mind for a few days now. 

My wife, Lily, and I were at a hockey game last night and parked our car several blocks from the arena. It was cool walking from the car to the rink, but nothing like the walk back at 10:30 pm – that was bitter cold! It didn’t feel all that windy but the cold air was ripping right through us.

The worst part about it was that it was only -2 C outside, which should still be fall jacket weather.

But not last night. That -2 C felt like it was about -12 C or more.

Some regions don’t understand this, but here, whenever the temperature is given on radio or TV, it always comes with a caveat.

It goes something like, “The temperature in Kingston right now is -2, but with the wind chill it feels like -12”.

The temperature is never given without the “but with the wind chill …”

In the summer, they replace “but with the wind chill” and say “with the humidity, it feels like…”

We can’t get an actual temperature reading. Going by the thermometer just doesn’t do it here.

… Which also means that when Lily asks me EVERY time she leaves the house “what’s the temperature outside?”, it really doesn’t matter because that’s not what it feels like.

It’s like watching the national news on CTV or CBC. After you’re finished watching it, you know we were not given the truth, but you don’t know what the truth is. 

With our weather you literally have to go outside and stand there to get a real sense of what you will be facing when you actually leave your premises.

And that’s one of the differences between living here in Ontario to, say, Saskatchewan or Alberta.  

When you leave the house there you know what you are going out into. There is no guessing. 

Here you walk about twenty feet outside and you just have to make a comment on the weather,  like we did last night: “Man, it’s bitter cold out here!” 

Why didn’t I know that before I walked outside? Why did it take me by surprise? 

It’s because of that wind chill factor, that’s why. 

Wind chill is like the carbon monoxide or Radon of the outdoors. It’s colourless, tasteless, odourless, and it’s deadly. 

Oh look – I’m writing this blog post on November 10 about how winter has been sprung on us, while my grass is still green! 

I haven’t even collected the leaves off the lawn yet. 

If climate change is here, I’d like to know who’s benefiting from it … because we sure aren’t!

Here’s the thing: Sure, God has given us the Bible as a guide to living. He shows us His plan for this world and where it is all heading. We can see the provision God made for us all in Christ Jesus. But God also gave us the Holy Spirit. He’s like wind chill – you can’t see Him or feel Him. And you must be paying attention and listening to Him to receive guidance for your daily life. Be sure you recognize and pay attention to the Holy Spirit. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question:  What do you need more guidance regarding? Leave your comment and questions below.

by

I Was Wrong But It’s Not Irreversible – Part 2

In my last post( read here) I wrote that doing something wrong is not irreversible. I had been doing up the straps on my knee brace in the wrong order for about twenty-nine years.

was wrong

The brace is still a saviour for me when it comes to sports – especially hockey – but for the last several months my knee has not been feeling very good. It’s been sore and sometimes a little swollen. 

But since I discovered the proper order to tighten the straps on my brace, it has made a huge difference. 

For the last while, I needed at least a day after I played for my knee to feel good enough for me to consider playing hockey again. Now my knee no longer feels sore, unstable, and tender for a period of time.

Not only have I corrected the wrong I had been committing for nearly thirty years, but in correcting that wrong I have seen an improvement in my knee’s stability. 

It is never too late to consider correcting something you have, for a long time, been doing wrong. 

When we elect a government, that year after year puts the country into a deeper and deeper debt position with seemingly uncontrolled spending, it is still correctable. 

We’ve seen it in the past. Where a government has been in power for years and an election has brought a new party into power, that change has brought the country back into fiscal responsibility. 

It’s also true with your conscience. 

We all have one. It’s that little inner sensation that tells us when we are doing something wrong or doing something right. 

Time after time we can go against our conscience in doing wrong and, after a while, we won’t have any sensation regarding that wrong. We will become numb to it; it won’t even register in our conscience any more. 

This can go on for years – just like all the years I was doing up my brace in the wrong order. 

But it is not irreversible.

If we admit we’ve done wrong – even though we don’t have a sensation about it from years and years of doing it – we can still correct it.

And when we start to correct the wrong, the amazing thing is that the sensation starts to slowly come back. Our conscience has never left us; it just grows quiet when we silence it. It can come back, be renewed, and be healthy again. 

I have a friend who smoked for years and years. He never thought anything of it, never considered anyone around him who didn’t smoke. 

Finally, after decades of smoking, he quit. Now he can’t stand the smell of cigarettes; he can’t bear being in a space where others are smoking. He thinks it’s insensitive of them to smoke with others present. His sensitivity came back. 

A long history of doing wrong is never irreversible.

Here’s the thing: You may have turned your back on God for years. Maybe you’ve never considered Him, never cared for Him. Don’t think your years of neglect and possible abusiveness towards God is irreversible. No, you can decide to reverse your wrongs by believing in Christ to save you from all the wrongs you’ve done for however many years you’ve been doing them. The Bible says you are then a new creation. It’s reversible. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question:  What have you previously been thinking is irreversible for you? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

I Was Wrong But It’s Not Irreversible – Part 1

Don’t ever think doing something wrong for a long time is irreversible.

was wrong

When you do something wrong for long enough, one has a sense that it will be permanent.

It’s probably true with some things that if you set a pattern, and that pattern is in place for a long time, it will not be broken. So if the pattern is wrong, that’s just what it will be.

Recently I was checking the knee brace I’ve worn for almost three decades. I wear it when I play sports, and particularly sports that require some side to side movement. 

I don’t wear my brace when I ride my bike or play golf, but I do for most other active sports – it gets lots of use.

Since I’ve had this brace for years, and my knee has been bugging me for several months now (I’ve written about that here), I decided to do some checking. Maybe it was time for a new brace. 

I looked up on the internet the company that makes my brace and found some instructional videos on their website. I clicked on one that was specific for my particular brace. 

The video was about how to properly put on the brace. I almost clicked it off because I certainly knew how to put mine on. But since it was such a short video, I watched the whole thing. 

What I discovered was that I’ve been putting on my brace the wrong way for almost 30 years! 

Now the brace is sophisticated – it’s custom made to my knee – but it’s not hard to put on.  

… But I’ve been doing it wrong all these years.

I’ve been doing it wrong in the order I do up the straps. There are only four straps but they need to be secured properly and in the right order. 

I was stunned that I had been doing them up incorrectly all this time. 

The next day at hockey I followed the order from the video. I secured the strap under my knee and then the strap at the bottom of my calf. Then I moved to the strap just above my knee but didn’t secure it quite as tight as I normally would have. I finished with the strap around my thigh, done up a little looser. 

Wow, what a difference! My brace felt so much better while I played and it seemed to stay in place without moving down my leg. 

It was amazing.

Who would have thought that, for all these years, I have gotten away with doing up my brace incorrectly? Yet the brace didn’t break and it still provided some support to my knee. 

I would not have been able to play hockey or baseball or volleyball without it. I would not have been able to ski without wearing that brace … but I’ve been using it incorrectly this whole time. 

I have more to share on this in my next post, but …

Here’s the thing: It’s not that surprising that we can be doing something wrong for a long time and not really have any repercussions. This happens with some sin. We can live in a sin for a long time without seemingly suffering any ill effects from it – no repercussions, no judgements. But there will be a judgement day. As long as you are breathing, you have time to right your wrong.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you been doing wrong for a long time that you should change? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

Goodbye End; Hello Beginning

The end has come, but the beginning will start soon. … I never would have said those words years ago, but they are fitting today.

Goodbye end; hollow beginning

Today we close up our cottage for the season and we won’t be back until the end of April or beginning of May – that is six months from now. 

… The end of the cottage season has come to a screeching halt. There will be no more trips up here for six months. 

Today I will put the finishing touches on the close. The final task before turning off the power and locking doors is blowing out the water lines. 

They say that everyone has the same amount of time, that we all have 24 hours in a day, and 365 days in a year. 

We all work within those time constraints, but I tell you that time seems shorter for me these days. That 24 hours for me is not like 24 hours for a 7 year old. 

I remember being young and trying to savour every bit of my birthday because the next birthday seemed forever away. 

I remember thinking that grade two was never going to end and that grade three would never happen. Well, that’s partly because I repeated grade two.  

But there was this sense that, in some cases, time seemed to stand still. 

When the summer was over, it wasn’t coming back any time soon.

But that is not the case now. Today we will lock up the cottage and walk away from it for the entire winter … but that time seems to go so fast now. 

It won’t be long before we are back at this place. The leaves will be budding on the trees and not falling off as they are now. Everything will be turning green, new and fresh, and not brown, yellow, red and orange. 

Now all the foliage is decaying – I filled three big paper yard bags full of shredded leaves yesterday. When we come back the grass will be growing at a rapid rate.

Between now and then, the same amount of time passes as it always has. But the time seems to pass more quickly.

I know this because it doesn’t seem that long ago that we were making our first trip of the season to the cottage. 

And that time has gone so quickly!

Yesterday I shot some video with my drone – sort of my way of saying goodbye to our retreat place (you can check it out here).

That video will stay on my YouTube channel all winter long and through the spring. But any time I look at those clips I will not be thinking of that day, but about the days to come. 

Maybe that is why time seems to go so fast. We are looking forward to what is coming up ahead. 

Children live in the moment and time seems to stand still for them. Adults look to tomorrow and time seems to move at lightning speed.

Maybe we need a little balance between living in the moment and looking to tomorrow.

Here’s the thing: Christ will come one day and this life we have had here will seem like it was a flash in time. The eternity that lies ahead of us, what we have anticipated for so long, will stretch before us as endless days to be savoured moment by moment. We will be able to live in the moment AND look forward to tomorrow … provided that we have here and now made the commitment to follow Jesus and submit our lives to Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How would living in the moment help you? Leave you comments and questions below.

by

It Was Flat But I needed It To Rise

There are times when you want things flat and times you want things to rise.

flat bread

Certain things are better flat – like paper outside in the wind. You want it to lie flat.

I remember doing a wedding outside when there was a bit of a wind. I just wanted the pages of my wedding notes to stay flat, but the wind kept causing them to rise up and turn on their own.

If you are going to have pancakes for breakfast, you certainly want them to be flat and not to rise like a muffin or a loaf of bread.

One of the things I’ve always liked about my MacBook Pro is that Apple keeps trying to make them flatter and thinner than big, bulky PC’s. 

It’s caught on because I see more and more PC companies selling laptops that are flatter and thinner every year. 

There are just some things we want to be thin and flat.

On the other hand, there are some things we don’t want to be flat at all – like tires for instance. 

I always feel bad for the person on the side of the highway with their trunk open, hauling out their jack to fix a flat rear tire.

I know the feeling. I’ve been on the side of the road fixing a flat tire, with the cars and trucks whistling by, creating a wind that shook my vehicle.

But for some things, the benefit of either flat or risen depends on the situation or the time period. 

I remember in high school having a pair of platform shoes made for me. The heel had about a three inch rise and the sole of the shoe a good inch. 

In the mid 70’s platform shoes were in style big time. Mine were awesome and I wish I still had them kicking around … just to show off; not to wear.

On the other hand, if a junior high boy likes a junior high girl, and if they are going to be seen in public together, it’s best that the girl wears flats … because she’s probably taller than the boy anyway. High heels would only accentuate the height difference.

Having said all this, some things need to rise. 

This morning I got up to find that my wife, Lily, had thoughtfully pre-programmed the bread maker so I would have fresh bread ready for my breakfast. 

However, when I checked if it was done, it didn’t look like there was anything in the machine. I mentioned it to Lily and when she looked, she realized that she had forgotten to add in the yeast.

There was a hockey puck shaped lump of bread at the bottom of the bread maker. 

So unless I was leaving Egypt with the rest of the Israelites, or celebrating the Passover, flat bread was not going to cut it this morning! 

Here’s the thing: In the Bible, yeast is mostly associated with sin or evil. The reason for the unleavened bread at Passover is that it is a symbol of the absence of sin. That unleavened bread also points to Jesus who is called the bread of life – that is to say, He had no sin. Because Jesus had no sin, He could save you from your sin so you can rise with Him to heaven one day. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What’s the yeast in your life that you need to be rid of? Leave you comments and questions below.

by

You Say Goodbye; I Say Hello

Yesterday I said goodbye to some friends who were moving away – friends I was used to seeing on a weekly basis, and whose home I was in every other week. … Now I won’t see them for at least a few years.

say goodbye, say hello

This morning I was reflecting on that. 

I’ve said goodbye to many people in the past, mostly when they have left my town. But there have been a few times when I’ve left town.

At the time of saying goodbye there’s usually lots of business to attend to, other people trying to say farewell, etc. There really is no time to think and contemplate about leaving, about a goodbye.

The goodbye is also not equally the same for both those leaving and those staying. 

For the ones who are going away, they leave for something new, something different. Their leaving comes with an element of excitement, unknown, even nervousness.  

But there is none of that for those who are staying and are saying goodbye. Everything stays the same for them. There is just the loss of someone leaving.

It’s kind of like eating your favourite ice cream cone. (For me, that would be a scoop of Rocky Road ice cream on a sugar cone.) 

As you take a lick, a good sized piece of ice cream comes loose and falls to the ground. If you’re like me, you hate that because you want to eat every bit. You’ve be anticipating it; you’ve been savouring the taste of that ice cream. And then to lose a piece of it, it’s hard not to be disappointed. 

Ever thought of somehow licking up that ice cream from the ground even though it’s past the 5 second rule? 

The reality is you still have most of that cone to enjoy and to delight your taste buds with. You are only losing out on a small piece. … But still the thought of missing even a morsel of that favourite ice cream borders on a deep feeling of loss. 

The experts say that the world has shrunk with technology and with travel being so accessible, but that is merely conceptual. The reality is distance changes everything. 

I remember when we moved from Edmonton to Kingston. Two weeks after we arrived our son turned five years old. 

When we discussed with him what he would like for his birthday he said he just wanted his friend, Joel, to attend the party. 

Well, Joel lived in Edmonton, but Mike couldn’t understand why his parents wouldn’t just drive him over, or put him on a plane so he could be there for his big day. Mike didn’t make the connection that it took us five days to drive across the country, staying in hotels each night. 

So until someone actually invents the Star Trek transporter, distance will not been circumvented. When you say goodbye, there is an element of missing one’s presence that lingers.

Here’s the thing: Though we will say goodbye to everyone in our life, even if it is only for an hour, we never say goodbye to God. He is always with us, even when we move. No matter where we go, He is there. So don’t act like there is a distance between you and Him. Speak to Him regularly throughout your day. Don’t treat Him like He’s gone away. And certain don’t pretend like He is not there with you. With God you always say “hello” and never “goodbye”.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Who would you like to say hello to today? Leave your comments and questions below.