my thoughts

by

Go All The Way In What You Do

If you are going to do something, or be involved in something, you should go all the way.

Go All The Way

You should be all in.

When you do something halfway or half-heartedly others can tell … and you know yourself that you didn’t put the effort in that was really required.

This applies to individuals and groups, teams as well as businesses, organizations and network television. 

One of the highlight events on television every year is the Super Bowl. 

Even people who don’t watch football, don’t care about football, and don’t know who’s playing in the game still watch the Super Bowl.

There were over 60,000 people in the stadium in Miami on Sunday night to watch the game. There was an estimated 100 millions viewers watching the game on television.

And even in Canada it was a huge draw. About 4.5 million people in our country tuned in to watch the spectacle called the Super Bowl.

I, for one, had a group of hungry … well, I shouldn’t say fans, but hungry people over to watch on our TV. And one of the things we were looking forward to seeing were the commercials. 

Companies were paying about 5 million dollars for a 30 second commercial during the Super Bowl game. And when you spend that much money on air time, you are going to spend a wad of cash on making that commercial spectacular.

I even had little bingo cards made up for my guests to daub when a commercial for a certain product with a particular celebrity occupied a square on their card.

It was perfect for my group of less-than-eager football fans. 

But not in Canada you say? 

For some reason the CRTC and CTV decided they would run Canadian commercials in place of the high priced star-studded commercials in the US. 

CTV didn’t get into selling that kind of commercial space. They just ran regular commercials. In fact, they didn’t even have that many commercials. More than anything else, they ran ads for shows on their network.

If you have an audience who’s all geared up for a big game with all the hoopla – like big expensive commercials – then you should go all in.

Do it up right! 

You either get advertisers to make interesting and outlandish commercials or you just show the ones that they are showing south of the border. 

CTV and TSN should have done it right!  

I had 10 people with bingo cards and I barely could get one person yelling bingo the whole game. 

I went all in: I had the cards, explained the game, got prizes for the winners … and then we watched how Downey can make sweaters soft when you wash them in their detergent. 

I’m not buying it. I don’t mean that I don’t believe Downey will make a sweater softer, I’m just not going to buy the product. 

When a network buys the rights to air something as big as the Super Bowl, they should fight the CRTC to the limit so they can go all in and broadcast all the Super Bowl goodness. 

Oh, and by the way, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20.

Here’s the thing: When Christ came to earth, He was all in. He left all He had in heaven, took on human frailties, and went all the way to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus was all in. In exchange He calls us to be fully committed to Him. Don’t be half-hearted with Christ; be all in. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is your commitment level to Christ right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

My Life Is Like A Sprint, But I Wish I Could Slow Down

In running a sprint, a fast start is ideal … but it’s not always advantageous to get a quick jump out of the starting blocks. 

Like A Sprint

I followed a hockey game last night where, in the first period, the visiting team got scored on early and often. After the game, the losing team and the media talked about how fast the winning team started.  

It’s so important to get a good start because it can set the tone for the rest of the game. 

We’ve just entered a new year and I feel like, right from the start, I’ve been going at a very fast pace … and I’m not all that excited about it either. 

I’d like to slow it down a little. I think I need a breather. 

The other day I overheard someone saying they were leaving for a vacation in the south and I immediately had a vision of me sitting on a beach, not doing much at all except watching the waves lap up at my feet on shore. 

White sand, blue sky, emerald water …. ahhhhh. There I go with another vision. 

My start to 2020 has kept me from being able to enjoy a day off. I think so far this year I’ve worked every day. 

It all started with Christmas. Maybe because the big day came in the middle of the week, it made it hard to find extra time to relax. The entire holiday season, I could never string together more than one day off in a row. 

Since the new year, I’ve had extra meetings, a couple of extra speaking engagements, and I can’t remember what it’s like to slump on the couch. 

Life is not supposed to be like a sprint, but more like a marathon. 

I’ve seen those marathon runners from Kenya with their long, rhythmic strides, seemingly floating inches above the ground. Their movements look effortless. 

That’s how I imagine a new year should start. 

But my 2020 has so far been more like a 100 metre sprint, where the runners explode out of the starting blocks and run at a frantic pace until they almost collapse at the end of the track.

I remember ten years ago that we started the year with a Caribbean cruise. We flew to Miami on New Year’s Day and were on the ship the next day. Every day we got some rays, exercised a little, ate way too much, and every night watched college football on a gigantic screen.

Now that was a great way to break in the new year! 

I haven’t been able to start a new year that way since. But just thinking about it, with the images of that vacation scrolling across my mind, I get a vision of a completely different pace than what I’m experiencing right now. 

The rock group, Smash Mouth, recorded a song back in 2002 called “Holiday In My Head”. My life might not slow down but maybe I can slow down my mind just a little. 

Here’s the thing: We can physically be moving fast – which will quickly exhaust us – but, while that is happening, we can slow our souls down by spending extended, quality time with God. As our souls slow down, we will be in a better place to deal with the physically taxing pace we might find ourselves in at the start of a new year, or any time.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you slow your soul while your pace is so fast? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

Why The Older You Get The Harder It Gets To Keep Going

This post is republished from January, 2014. I hope you enjoy it.

This morning I played hockey at 6:30 am and, as I reflect on it, I am feeling older. Both my elbows are sore. I’m not sure whether I have tennis elbow or some other injury, but I think I just have to live with it, if I want to keep playing.  

older

This was my first game since before Christmas so I’m still a little winded right now, lounging on my couch in our family room writing this blog. I haven’t done anything active for a while (except shovel snow) so I wasn’t at the top of my game.

There were younger guys playing who had lots of energy. I used to have energy, loved to skate hard and could go forever. Now my hips get tired if I go for too long, so I have to coast a bit or go back on defence.

I notice I’m playing defence a lot more these days. I used to hate being a rear guard, working behind the play, throwing the puck up to the forwards and watching the play develop.  

I was always in the middle of the action. I was quick to break out and always went to the net. I still play with that sense and urge, except now I don’t mind taking a turn initiating the play and watching it unfold as I coast up the ice catching my breath.  

Don’t get me wrong, I would never want to be a full-time defenceman – that’s not me. It’s just that I need a change of pace from skating hard and crashing the net. 

I was a little surprised this morning that my knee felt pretty good. I wear a custom-made carbon fibre brace on my left knee, to give it support because of a torn ACL. I’ve been wearing this brace and it’s predecessor for the past 23 years.

This thing has been a lifesaver. With it, I’ve been able to play baseball, hockey, snow ski, and water ski. Without it, I doubt I would have been able to do any of those things.  

But even with my brace, in the last while my knee has not felt as stable. It feels like it is deteriorating a bit and I may need to have it scoped again some time.  

Being a pastor, I’ve done my fare share of visiting people in the hospital who’ve had hip replacements, knee replacements, and open heart surgery, and their stories stick with me. I hope I won’t be in their place one day.

However, with all my aches and pains, I can’t rule that out. I never saw myself as having parts that would wear out. Now I wonder about that.  

My right elbow has regressed, it feels like it did about two weeks ago. It hurts to even bring my hand up to my face. Oh well, I’ll play again on Monday and try to get myself back in shape. Once I start playing I don’t really think about my aches and pains. 

There’s something about being in the action that dulls all those twinges of discomfort.

Here’s the thing: It’s easy to let little annoyances and pains stop you from doing activities that are good for you. They can become a great excuse, and justify giving up. You find the same thing in your spiritual growth. Little things will try to keep you from continuing on the path of growth. Don’t give in, keep growing.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you find gets in the way of you growing spiritually? Leave your comment below.

by

Why Projects Always Take Longer Than You Plan For

This post is a repost from January 2014, I hope you enjoy it.

Maybe it’s just me, but all projects I take on turn out to be more than I bargained for. It doesn’t matter what it is, nothing is as simple as I think it’s going to be. Something I think will take 10 minutes will take a half hour.  

projects

The other day I decided to fix a broken standing pole lamp that Lily really liked.

I took some measurements and headed to the hardware store. I was hoping for an all-in-one-fix-your-standing-pole-lamp-diy kit, but though I looked everywhere, I couldn’t find one.

I scoured the electrical section and found wire that I needed. There were two gauges to choose from; I picked the heavier gauge. I grabbed a switch and a socket that looked about the same as the original ones and headed home.  

So I purchased three items and, as it turned out, all of them were different that the original items in the lamp. But for some reason, I figured they would work just fine … and that’s all Lily cared about. She wanted the lamp to work.

It’s like the instruction sheet mentality, where you think, “Who needs instructions? Just do it and don’t worry about spare parts; it will all work out.” 

Well, my first problem was in replacing the wire. The opening in the pole was tight; I should have bought the lighter gauged wire. But I was going to make it work! So I forced it in and, yes, it probably took 3X longer than I thought, but I got it done.

I was surprised that the socket went on really quickly. That should have concerned me. When something is that easy, it usually means I forgot to do something. But I was on a roll and moved on to the switch.

I realized that I bought an on/off switch when the original had been a dimmer switch. At that point I didn’t really care. Lily was going to have light, and when you have light, why in the world would you ever want to dim that?!

With the switch in place, I plugged the lamp in and flicked that switch. Voila, it worked! I thought this was one of the easiest projects I’d done in a long time.  

That’s when I went to put the lamp shade on and realized why the old socket was different from the new one. It was used to secure the shade to the lamp.

I had to take off the socket and use the old one, and that required me to use solder. … I can’t solder worth a darn and it took me forever to make the change.  

When my project was finally complete, I didn’t stand back and think, “Great job, Paul. You did it again.”  

I placed the lamp stand in the living room, turned my back to it and walked away thinking, “I don’t want to look at that lamp for the rest of the night.”

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we want to fix our problems in life with ideas we’ve tried before or recycled approaches from some self-help source. The best approach, however, is to seek God for a fresh solution to your problem. Ask Him to apply His power to the problem at hand. He will use the right materials for the job.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What gives you the greatest frustration in problems or projects you have?  Leave your comment below.

by

It’s The Worst Part Of Christmas

What’s the worst part of Christmas? … I know it’s not what you would usually think of at this time of year, but I was faced with something I don’t really like and that’s when I started wondering. 

worst part of Christmas

I’m sure that everyone has their own idea of the worst part of Christmas. For some people it might be the stress of entertaining. For others it’s all the gatherings. For most children it’s probably the waiting.

For me, maybe the worst part of Christmas is the wrapping of presents. 

I’ve just never really liked it. Much like shopping, it seems to suck the life out of me. After spending an hour wrapping four or five presents, I’m tired and exhausted.

Yes, I know some of you are questioning what takes me so long to wrap presents.  

Maybe it’s my dislike of the task that drags it out for me. I just can’t wrap presents quickly.

I liked it about twenty years ago when people would put a present in a bag with drawstrings. It was like a hoody for presents! Wrapping took no time. 

Sadly, it seems that that fad has faded and we are left with the good old wrapping paper and tape.

When I was a kid, my aunt wrapped presents the best. They were perfect, and perfectly coordinated with the bow. … I can never seem to get the corners sharp or the paper tight around the present. 

Some people are able to do a nice job of wrapping a present, but they cheat. They use so much tape that it’s near impossible to unwrap their gift. Those people have lost the focus that it’s the gift and not the wrapping that is the most important thing. 

However, a well-wrapped gift is sure inviting … it’s just so painful to do. Sometimes you have to work with a subject that is an odd size or shape, making the task even more difficult and painstaking. 

At least the wrapping paper creators have done one thing that is nice. They have put little guidelines on the back side of the paper to help with cutting. There’s still skill involved because, even with the grid pattern, I can’t seem to cut a straight line.

And then there is the aftermath. After you’ve worked so hard and long at wrapping the gift, it is opened in a second or two … unless you doubled down on the tape.

I remember the days in the living room of the home I grew up in. Mom stressed with every present that was being opened, pleading, “Save the paper!” 

She was so ahead of her time, wanting to save the trees. What an environmentalist she was.

Now that paper hits a green garbage bag before the plastic shrink wrap is ripped off the box.

Wrapping presents – it’s the worst part of Christmas. Let’s bring back present hoodies.

Here’s the thing: I think the worst part of Christmas for Mary and Joseph might have been right after Jesus was born. I imagine they looked around at where they were, and at their baby who didn’t look any different than any other baby. It had been a hard and difficult nine months. Nothing seemed special about this child. Maybe they questioned the angel visits they had both had. But then the shepherds came in. They told the story of what the angels had said and sung about their little baby. And then looking at the face of Jesus, Mary and Joseph knew God had done this. They were actually holding this gift. Make sure you are holding God’s gift this Christmas. You can’t hold Him in your arms, rather hold Him in your heart. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Questions: What’s the hardest part of Christmas for you? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

I’m Not A Truck Guy – Maybe I Should Be

A truck is so convenient when you want to pick something up and take it home in your own vehicle. … I should have bought a truck. 

Truck guy, SUV

But I did buy the next best thing: an SUV. You can pack some serious loads in that kind of vehicle. 

When I think of it, I have always used my vehicles like they were trucks. Even when I had a two-door hatchback Buick Skyhawk, I used it like a truck. 

When I was in college, my brother and I shingled the roof of our parents’ house. We didn’t have a truck to transport the packages of shingles from the store, but we had the Skyhawk. My brother made about a hundred and fifty trips to deliver them. 

He learned really quickly that the shocks on the car couldn’t sustain more than a few packages of shingles at a time.

… But still I never thought of buying a truck. 

A truck was never something I wanted, even though I have driven home from the hardware store with wood resting from the dashboard in front of the passenger seat, through to the back seat, out the open rear driver’s side window, as I hung my arm over the wood, like I was trying to make a move on the planks.

When I was in need of a vehicle to move to Alberta to begin my first job as a pastor, I asked my dad what would be a good car for me. His answer was, “Why don’t you buy a truck?”  

I thought that was a crazy thought coming from him. My dad had never bought a truck and I could never see him owning one.

I asked, “Dad, why would I want to buy a truck?” and his reply was, “They all have them out there!”

I bought a four-door sedan.

Ya, I’ve never really considered owning or buying a truck, but I sure have used all my vehicles like they were trucks.

In this last month alone I’ve hauled a freezer and a treadmill in my SUV. 

Both times the back seats had to be folded down, the front seats had to be moved as far forward as possible, and I had to bungee the rear gate down because the loads were too long to fit inside my truck … I mean, sport utility.

I have loaded so much stuff in my vehicles over the years, strapped things to the roof, and used a red flag to warn people driving behind me that I had long cargo.

… Maybe some day I will just break down and buy a truck. 

But who am I kidding? My vehicles think they are under-sized, and under-classed trucks regardless. 

Besides, by not having a truck I get fewer requests to help people move.

Here’s the thing: There are a lot of people who get by in life with their skill, wisdom, personality, cunning and luck. Most of the time, this collection of attributes serves them just fine. They can do pretty much whatever they need. But there are times when they also reach out to God, whether they believe in God or not. They ask Him for help when they are in a tight bind. They will call out His name in desperation. They will even wonder where He is in certain situations. They don’t see the need for God most of the time, but they will use Him like He is one of their attributes. What is best is to give God your life and enjoy the full benefits that come with belonging to Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you recently called on God for that was beyond your capacity? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

I’m Having A Dilemma With My Medications

I’m having a little dilemma right now over when to take my pills. A week ago I had no issues of when to take my pills. Now, I’m in a quandary.

dilemma with medications

For most of my life I never took a pill for anything. The number of times I took an aspirin or Tylenol was probably in the single digits.  

But at age 56 I had a heart attack and that changed everything. I started taking 7 pills a day and then went down to 5 pills after three months. One year later I was down to 4 pills a day. 

I was making great progress. A few years later I even managed to cut one pill in half, so technically I’m only taking 3 and half pills a day now. 

But since I started, I have always taken them in the morning with breakfast. For almost eight years that’s been my pattern.  

It’s hard to remember back that far, but I think I just decided to take them all together, no matter what the instructions were. 

For me I knew that I could remember to take my pills once a day. But if I had to take some at one time and some at another, I figured I would forget sometimes.

As a result, over the eight years, I’ve only missed taking my pills maybe four times … maybe.

I’ve been very consistent. I put them in my hand, throw them into my mouth, and down a full glass of water. That’s it – don’t have to worry about them for the rest of the day. 

But this past week my sister had a heart attack and I was in the hospital room when they were going over her medications. She was given all the same medications that I’m taking … but they told her to take one of them in the evening. 

I don’t do that! 

Then my brother-in-law piped up that his pharmacist told him to take this medication in the evening as well. 

Almost eight years into taking a medication and now I’m concerned that I am taking it at the wrong time. I’m thinking I now need to figure out a way to remember to take this one lonely pill in the evening, that maybe it would be better for me to do that.

I’m feeling that I’m at risk right now taking the pill in the morning like I do.

So I’ve decided to start taking this pill in the evening. This morning I put it aside and took my other pills.

But now I’m concerned that I might have side effects taking this pill at a different time because way back I had a muscle problem with it (you can read about that here). Since then it’s been good but I don’t want to upset the apple cart and experience muscle pain again. 

So I’m having a dilemma as to whether I should just take the pill now or wait until evening. 

… Life was a little simpler a week ago. 

Here’s the thing: When you are considering giving your life to Christ, or if God is calling you to go deeper with Him, it will require changes. One thing you will have to consider is whether these changes will be easy to keep. Will they cause a disruption in your life? Will you like them in the long run? When it comes to taking pills, I can’t tell you for sure, but when it comes to God, you can be sure that God will only ask you to make changes that will be in your best interest. And God doesn’t make mistakes – guaranteed!

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What changes should you be considering right now? Leave your comments and questions below. 

by

My Pleasant Surprise Turned To Disappointment

Recently I had a pleasant surprise, but it’s all gone now. In fact, now I’m disappointed.

pleasant surprise

Pleasant surprises are nice – like when you didn’t study for a test and then it was postponed. 

…Or when you planned a golf game, then saw the forecast called for rain, but when you got up on the day of the game, it was bright and sunny. 

You are more joyful playing that game of golf than you would normally be, just because it was a pleasant surprise.

Well, back in the first week of November, I wrote about us getting a dump of snow and how cold it was (you can read about it here).

It was too early for the snow and cold. I even commented to people how this weather seemed more like it was the middle of winter – like January or February weather. It really had that kind of feel to it. 

Because the weather was so bitterly cold, and the amount of snow so great, I didn’t think we would see the grass again until the snow melted in the spring. 

I didn’t think there was any possible way for all that snow to melt, and especially the piles of snow created by the snowplow on the edges of the roads and parking lots.

One day my grass was green and then the next it was covered in snow. There was no process of watching the grass slowly turn brown before the snow came.

It was green, then gone.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised because, over the course of a couple of weeks, not only did the weather warm up again (we had some days in the double digits), but all the snow melted. 

… even the snow piled up on the edges of our church parking lot.

Gone. All gone. 

Even more than all that, the grass was still green. It hadn’t stayed cold long enough to turn the grass brown and yellow. 

It really was a pleasant surprise … but that all came to an end the other day.

Not only was the surprise over, but a disappointment set in. The first day of December we got a major snowfall.

It started in the afternoon and it just kept coming down. Traffic was snarled; there were warnings not to go out if you didn’t have to. Travelling on the major highways was treacherous with multiple car crashes and injuries reported. 

There was nothing good about it. 

Once again the grass went from green to being covered in a blanket of white. 

And disappointment has set in. 

It’s still too early to be fighting with shovels and scrapers. It’s too early to be carrying gloves in my coat pockets. 

Probably the biggest disappointment is that this time the snow is here to stay. 

Just like when you got that pleasant surprise of a test being postponed, it never happened twice. 

Well, the snow won’t melt again before the end of the year. 

All I can hope for is an early spring. … Who’s got a farmer’s almanac?

Here’s the thing: No matter how hard life might get, no matter how many disappointments you face, even if you have been defeated time and time again and don’t have much hope left, with nothing to look forward to tomorrow, remember that if you know Jesus Christ as your saviour, one day you will wake up and you will stand in the presence of God. It will be the most pleasant of surprises … and you will never be disappointed again.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has been a pleasant surprise for you lately? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

We Are More Renewable Than I Realized

There is a big emphasis in society to use renewable energy rather than just consumable energy. 

More Renewable Than I realized

The other day I realized that we humans are maybe the greatest source of renewable energy.

The idea of the energizer bunny that keeps going and going is a nice thought … good advertising gimmick, but it’s limited. They would like you to think that he never runs out of energy – or batteries, that is – but we know that batteries do wear down. 

If they are rechargeable batteries, however, they can renew and be used again and again and again. Still, they need a time out on the charger to keep going.

… Have you ever thought of how little down time you need to be renewed enough to keep going? 

I was playing hockey last week and we only had one sub. I went off the ice to take a break, but another guy needed to come to the bench no more than 30 seconds after I sat down. 

I didn’t hesitate to get back out there. Even a 30 second rest renewed my energy enough for another shift. 

There is no battery in the world that can renew or refresh that quickly!

But it’s not just physically that humans are incredibly renewable. 

Yesterday I was writing my sermon and around 2 pm I hit a wall. I was tired mentally, had trouble focussing, and found myself being distracted by little things. Even more than that, I was looking for something to distract me so that I didn’t have to keep working on my sermon. 

I decided to take a break. I sat and read something that had nothing to do with my sermon or the subject I was going to speak on. I answered emails. I even got sidetracked on a YouTube video that I subscribe to. 

When I looked at my watch, I realized a lot of time had passed. It was now late in the afternoon and it didn’t look like I would be able to finish my sermon.

I would have to work on it on Saturday … and I hate having to write my sermon on Saturday. 

I had just a little time left before I had to go to an appointment, so I thought I might as well see if I could get a little more of my sermon knocked off.

I began writing again, and thoughts started coming; I started typing fast. I felt refreshed and inspired as I wrote against a deadline. 

I still shake my head a little because, although I ended up being a little late to my next appointment, I actually finished writing my sermon. That break that I took from writing in the middle of the afternoon renewed my energy. 

Human energy is extremely renewable. 

Here’s the thing: As renewable as we are, we don’t compare to God in this way. God is with us all the time. He is always working; He never takes a break. God never needs a break. There is never a time when His energy is low, or that He is not able to give to you His complete fullness.  God is also the source of energy, so when we need to renew and refresh, we can be charged by Him. Think about each day plugging into God to supply you fully, renewing your energy every day. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you seek being renewed by God? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

An Amazing, Quick Turnaround

It is amazing how quick things can turn around. It doesn’t take much to get the mind going in a completely different direction.

Amazing, Quick Turnaround

Just over a week ago, the team that I chaplain in the OHL was riding an eleven game losing streak. 

I could see the frustration in the players’ eyes, hear it in their voices, and could tell they were losing confidence. They were wondering if there would ever be an end to the streak they were on. 

When you can’t buy a win, you begin to doubt yourself, your teammates and even your coaches. 

It’s like being on that teacup ride at Disney World where you are spinning at a dizzying pace. You just want off. You can’t control the spin of the cup you are in, and you want the operator to shut the ride down. In the meantime you keep spiralling downward, feeling sick as your stomach moves closer to your mouth.

I’m sure the team felt much like that. You lose hope that there is anything that will change your circumstances. 

I remember being on a team that went a whole season with only two wins. It was brutal. By the end of the season we were not even thinking of winning. All I could hope for was to maybe score a goal so I had something to feel good about.

But when you have been down for an extended time, you find you don’t have the hope inside you to even wish for a little thing that would be good.

If something small changes, however – even the slightest encouragement – it brings hope back like the tide coming in from the ocean. 

It’s like winter that can drag on and on, pushing you down and down. But when you see that first little bud on a tree, even though it’s still brown and shrivelled, or one blade of grass that is green, your hope of spring comes rushing back to you.

What was amazing about my team was that, just over a week later, they won four straight games and have had points in five consecutive outings.

They are riding on a huge wave of hope right now. They’ve even climbed out of the basement in their division. 

It started with a loss in overtime. They still got a point and could have easily won. That’s when their hope emerged. 

That hope gave them something to believe in the next night and they won that game. 

Their hope was alive, and it was like it had never left them. Their hope was new and fresh; it was bold. You could see it on their faces; you could hear it in their voices. 

And they kept riding that hope to another and another victory – four straight wins.

Hope – just a little of it – can spark something in us that keeps us going until something else comes along to increase our hope. 

It is amazing.

Here’s the thing: Wherever you are at in life right now – riding a crest of hope or scratching to find any semblance of hope – understand that true hope is not found in you or anything you can do, not even a fortunate happenstance. Hope is with you; hope is always with you. Real hope is found in Jesus Christ. And if you will seek Him, spend time with Him, speak to Him, He will show you the hope that you can have in any situation. Your mind can be changed in a moment. That’s truly amazing.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need hope for right now? Leave your comments and questions below.