That Decision Was Not A Good One

Bad decisions lead to more bad decisions if you don’t stop to evaluate your past decisions.

There are so many good things about Canada that I could just continually write posts about this country and never stop.

But that’s not to say that Canada doesn’t have some things that are not so good. 

Canada has been a leader in many ways over the decades, but there is an area we are not good in.

As a country, we did a lousy job picking a national animal. 

Apparently, every country has an animal associated with it – lions are a popular choice. Some have bears … big strong animals. Some countries have chosen birds – often powerful birds.  

There are some countries who have chosen animals I’ve never heard of before like the huemul, which turns out to be a type of deer. 

Oh, there are fictitious animals, too – the unicorn and the Chinese dragon.

But Canada chose for its national animal … the Beaver!  

No, not the Jerry Mathers “Leave It To Beaver”. We chose the furry, tree chopping, damn building, long-toothed beaver. 

With all the great animals we have in Canada, who in the world decided that our national animal would be the second largest rodent in the world?

If we were going with rodents, why not pick the largest rodent? 

It would figure that Canada only has the second largest rodent in the world. We had to settle for silver over gold once again. 

And what about the other animal that is associated with Canada? – the Canada goose.  

Here is a bird species that looks great when flying in “V” formation on its way to the USA for the winter, but to have them hanging around on your property is a disaster!

Canada geese must eat a lot because they leave a lot of large deposits on grass, in parks, and on golf course greens. 

Nobody wants to see Canada geese on the ground, and you better keep your eyes peeled if they are in the air! 

Who made the decision to choose animals like these to be engrained in our society and engraved on our coins as national symbols? 

If we wanted to be different or really stand out, we could have chosen Ogopogo or Sasquatch. There is a lot of mystery around these creatures, but at least they don’t do us any harm … at least as far as we know. 

A national animal is supposed to be a unifying image, chosen carefully, considering ecology and culture, among other things. 

When you think about Canada, you think of nice, polite people who are friendly and welcomed all over the world – except not so much in China right now. 

… Yet we picked animals that are a nuisance and destructive! 

I don’t know if there is any way we could form a protest group and get the government to change our national animal, but maybe we should try. 

We could choose the bunny rabbit because that’s more in line with our Prime Minister’s personality. It could be a cute, pink bunny. 

Look, our government is re-writing history in all kinds of areas; let’s re-write it in a way that makes sense. 

We need a new national animal. Sorry Beaver.

Here’s the thing: It might be difficult to change mistakes in the political realm. We have to live with them. But with God, if we are willing to own our wrong actions and decisions, there is forgiveness and a way forward, away from the past. We must first acknowledge where we’ve gone wrong and want to make a change. It doesn’t have to be difficult. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What bad decision do you need to own and then change? Leave your comments below.

Managing Your Energy Levels

Lately I’ve been thinking about how to best assess and manage my energy levels. … I should have been looking into this before now, but I guess it’s better that I do some research now than not at all. 

We need energy to do anything. And it seems like today almost everything requires some kind of energy to be useful.

Now-a-days we have more and more things that require renewable energy rather than constant energy. 

… Just so we’re all on the same page, when I say “renewable energy”, I’m talking about battery powered items – items that require batteries that must be charged when they are depleted as opposed to something that must be plugged into a constant energy source to function.

We humans run on renewable energy. We need to rest, and when we‘ve had enough rest we are ready to go again.

The problem with renewable energy is knowing when we need to renew it before it runs out. Otherwise, we may find we go to use an item and it doesn’t have enough energy in it to do what we want it to do. 

My watch does that sometimes. It can be 9 pm yet it doesn’t have enough energy to keep working until I’m ready to go to bed. 

They ran into the same problem on the Star Trek TV show. Captain Kirk would call down to Scotty in the engine room for more power. Scotty would yell back, “I’m givin’ her all she’s got. We don’t have enough energy to go into warp speed.” 

Sometimes it can be a quick fix when an item’s energy is low – you just slap in a new battery. 

I have several tools that all work with the same batteries. And since I have several batteries, I never worry if I’m using my grass trimmer and the battery dies. I just slap in one of my other batteries and keep on going. 

Some batteries come with indicators to how much energy is left in them – that’s helpful. 

I remember Duracell once had battery indicators on their double A batteries. You would press on two points with your fingers. There was a yellow line that would grow along the side of the battery. How long the line would end up was depending on how much energy was left in the battery. 

But sometimes I wasn’t sure it was measuring the energy in the battery or the energy I was employing to get that little line to reach the other side. My fingers were always sore after those tests.

Sometimes you can tell when your own energy is getting low. You feel it; you get tired and don’t function at your best. Measuring and knowing your energy level is pretty important when you are dealing with renewable energy. 

And as we get older, our energy levels are going to change. My energy is not going to last as long in my 60’s as it did when I was in my 40’s. 

So knowing how to assess and manage my energy levels is  something I need to investigate …before I run out of energy to do it! 

Here’s the thing: God never runs out of energy; He is a constant source of energy. When you are low, no matter in what area of your life, you can plug into God and find a power source to get recharged. Have you ever considered spending time with God for this purpose, that your time with Him recharges you? It does when you fully engage. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you manage your energy levels? Leave a comment below.

The Middle Ground Is Not The Best Ground

Taking that middle ground may be good for keeping the peace but it might also be holding you back.

It’s comfortable being in the middle: in an argument you have friends on both sides; in a hostile environment you have safety on either side of you. 

You are insulated being in the middle. You don’t have to stick up for yourself. 

But in a relationship, being in the middle actually holds you back. 

When I do counselling for couples who are getting married, I have them complete an inventory of their relationship. There are about 150 questions and five responses to choose from for each question. 

The middle response – number three – is indecision. I tell a couple before they do the inventory to try not to pick the middle answer because it’s really a non-answer. I tell them to think about the question and have an opinion. 

The middle is wishy-washy; it’s the lukewarm position … and we know what the Bible says about being lukewarm: Jesus tells a church that they are lukewarm and he is about to spit them out of his mouth (Rev 3:14-20).

Being in the middle in a relationship is not much more than indifference, and it shows you are not really committed.

To be hot or cold you have to commit.  

Mid July is when I first really go into the water by our cottage. We are on Lake Huron and the water is always cold. Even in mid August it is cold – refreshing when it is hot outside, but still cold. 

I rarely run into the water. I always walk slowly into the water until it is over my waist. I go slow to try to acclimatize my body to the water’s temperature. 

But you can’t do it forever. At some point you have to make a decision: Am I going to dive under or go back out? You have to commit one way or the other. 

And in going all in, it is clear you have made a choice; you have some passion. 

It’s also true with hot water. One time I was to do a baptism at church and somehow the hot water heater was left on too long and when I put my foot in the water it was scalding hot. 

From behind the curtain I could hear my senior pastor speaking to the congregation, preparing them for what was to take place in just a few moments.

I had a decision to make. I couldn’t tell the pastor to call it off from where I was. I knew that the water was going to burn and the high school student I was going to baptize was going to have to go all the way under the water. 

I had to make a decision. I couldn’t be lukewarm about it. It was yes or no, do or die. 

Let me just say that I was beat red from my feet to my chest for the next five hours. Poor guy I had to dunk.

Here’s the thing: We can stay in the middle with God, be lukewarm with Him, but that is just taking Him a little bit – just enough of Him for what you need, but not enough to involve Him in much of your life. It’s really indifference to Him so that your life is not totally affected or impacted by God. Being in the middle will hold you back in your relationship with God because you will be indifferent to what He wants for you. God would much rather you be hot or cold with Him. Have some passion, commit yourself to Him and dive into a deep, fulfilling relationship. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you indifferent about right now and how will you change that? Leave your comments below.

I Choose To Believe it

We believe what we want to believe, and if we can’t prove it we make it up.

We look for some small truth in the thing we want to believe and exploit it or exaggerate it into something that seems significant.

This week, at the women’s world cup of soccer, the USA woman’s team beat Thailand 13 to zero. 

That doesn’t even sound like a soccer score. That would be a high score for a hockey game. Baseball scores sometimes get up that high. 

For soccer this is extremely rare. In fact, I’d watch soccer more if they scored like that every game. 

In the first round of the tournament, out of 11 games, the average score was only 1.7 goals per game. And the US scored 13 all by themselves.

As a result, there was a furious rage against the USA for this game, with all kinds of bad press all over the world against them. How could they run up the score on a team like that? 

Now, the bad press directed towards the US was not as much about the score as it was about their celebrations after they scored each goal.

They cele’d hard, acting like they were playing in the world cup title match – BIG celebrations! … players holding up the number of fingers of how many goals they had personally scored … group hugs after goals. 

Thirteen times they did this! 

The USA took a beating by the press on the world stage.

Later in the week, I was listening to a Christian radio station that is based in the States. The announcers were talking about the game and the reactions by other media. 

They defended the USA team, saying it was good for the Thai team to get beat, because it will make them better. 

“I love it” one announcer said. “When my kids get beat in soccer, I cheer it. I think it’s great, because it calls them to learn and improve their skills …”

“… So way to go, USA. You did the other team a favour.”

I was steamed at this point! What bugged everyone was that the US team didn’t just beat up on the Thai team, they humiliated them. 

These announcers chose to ignore the truth and make something up that they could believe … because that’s what they wanted to believe. 

They made up a fanciful story to go with their belief.

I would love to see that announcer comfort her son or daughter the next time he or she gets trounced. I bet she doesn’t go off on her kid, saying, “This was great, Johnny! You learned so much today. You are a better player now.” 

The truth is, if the USA players had have gone out and played their game and not whooped it up, not tried to humiliate the Thai team, but just did their work, there would have been far less criticism from the press. 

… And the whole story would have slipped by those radio announcers unnoticed.  

Here’s the thing: We all have a propensity to believe what we want to believe and so we bend or mould truth to fit our beliefs. With your faith, be sure that you are not making up a story to support what you want to believe. Study God’s word so that what you choose to believe is based on what God says is true and not just what you want to be true.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When have you bent the truth to fit your beliefs? Leave your comments below.

Enough With The Regulations!

Regulations can protect, help and ensure quality, but we can also take them too far. And the government of Canada has gone overboard with this one … 

For the past two years, I’ve owned drones. I started out with one that I flew in my basement. From there I progressed to two outdoor drones that were not very expensive … and also not very good.  

Then last summer I bought a drone that would change droning for me. This drone could take great quality video and was a dream to fly compared to my other ones. 

I was in.

Since then I’ve been making drone videos and posting them on YouTube. (You can check them out here.) 

In January, however, our government announced that they would change the regulations for drone operations in Canada as of June 1st. 

They made two mandatory rules: First, you have to register your drone with the government, and second, you have to pass a test to obtain a license to fly it. 

There are two license categories: basic and advanced. 

It doesn’t cost much to register your drone or take the test to get your license, but to pass the test they recommend you take ground school … and that will run you between $200 and $400! 

I was able to pass my basic license test without taking ground school, but let me tell you, it took a lot of work and research to get all the information I needed to be equipped to write the exam.

But we are only a dozen days into the new regulations and I already realize this license I have is not good enough. 

I really need to get the advanced license, and for that I think I will have to take ground school. 

I remember back when I was a kid that fireworks were a big family thing during the Victoria Day weekend. In fact, on the Monday night of the holiday weekend, there were fireworks displays at the end of every driveway on the street. 

And it was the kids who were setting them off! – every kid did it.  

Fire crackers were awesome – they prepared young people for throwing grenades in the army. The Canadian military would automatically enlist a new recruit if he had two or more years’ experience throwing these little hand grenades … just kidding!

Fire crackers were eventually deemed too dangerous. But even though I set off my fair share of them, squeezing the end really hard and having them explode in my fingers, I still have all my digits.

The government first set age limits for buying fire crackers. Then the age limits kept getting higher and higher until they stopped selling fire crackers all together. 

My kids don’t even know what a fire cracker is, let alone what it does. They would never pass hand grenade training in the military.

My fear is the government is going to do the same thing with drones. The regulations will become so restrictive and complicated that they will just stop selling drones in Canada. 

Here’s the thing: Maybe it’s human nature to add regulations and make things more complicated. God, on the other hand, made having a relationship with Him so uncomplicated and easy – it’s easy if you will humble yourself and place your faith in Christ Jesus. Many people try to complicate this relationship with God. But really, God has made it so that we talk, listen, and follow His lead – it really is that simple. If you find yourself getting complicated with God, it’s you, not Him. Cut out the regulations and simply relate to Him as you would your closest friend or parent. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you put too many regulations on? Leave your comments below.

Unnoticeable In Plain Sight

There are times when things blend in so seamlessly that they are unnoticeable, even though they are in full view of everyone around them. 

In the animal world, they are called chameleons. These little creatures take on the colours of their surroundings. They look like they are part of the tree, leaf or rock they are standing on. 

When people blend in we call them wallflowers.

Objects can also blend in. Have you ever been looking for something, know you’ve seen it, but can’t locate it? It can be right in front of you, on the floor or table, but it takes you a long time to actually see it. 

Even though we know what we are looking for, and it is visible, for some reason – maybe distraction – we don’t see it right away.

It also happens when we are driving.

The other day I was driving home from Toronto (TO). It’s about a two and a half hour trip on the 401. For the first part of the journey there are lots of lanes and lots of cars. 

As you get farther away from TO, the road narrows to only three lanes of traffic in each direction.

At this point in my journey, I didn’t take much notice the 18 wheelers travelling in the same direction as I was. They have to drive in the far right lane and are allowed to pass other vehicles in the middle lane. 

Me, well, I was humming along in the middle and far left lanes, trying to make as good a time as I could without going too fast and drawing the attention of the police.

Eventually, however, about an hour and a half out of TO, the highway narrows again down to two lanes. … And all of a sudden I started to notice the trucks and how many of them there were on the road!

I noticed them because, with only two lanes, when they passed they had to move from the right lane to the left lane … where I was driving.

Normally, you pass a vehicle very quickly. But when a truck is involved, it takes forever to pass another vehicle!

You can find yourself stuck behind a truck for five minutes as it seesaws back and forth with the rig it is trying to get past. 

It is so frustrating. 

Before we narrowed to two lanes, the trucks were not noticeable; they were like chameleons in the lanes beside me. 

I never noticed just how many big rigs there were on the road. 

It is amazing how something that big – that long and massive – can become so unnoticeable with just one extra lane. 

Let’s make the 401 three lanes all the way to Montreal.

Here’s the thing: You can go a while and not notice your Bible sitting on your night stand. You can go day after day without paying any attention to the fact that you are not spending time with the Lord. But when you life narrows, when difficulties, health issues or family problems crop up, then you will notice you need to pay attention to God in your life. Learn to keep Him in your sights when your life lanes are plentiful and you will seamlessly notice God when life is hard.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Why has God become unnoticeable lately? Leave your comments below.

The Answer To An Age-Old Automobile Controversy

This post is from 2014. From time to time II like to republish posts I’ve written in the past.  I hope you enjoy it.

I believe I’ve uncovered the mystery to a controversy that has baffled mankind of a long time … at least since the passenger car was invented.

In fact, I feel a little like Banting and Best when they discovered insulin, or when a scientist discovers some kind of breakthrough that will lead to possibly finding a partial cure for a certain strain of a multifaceted disease that continues to develop into different strains.

Whoa, I got a little dizzy just writing that.  

Back to my discovery. I got in the car the other day and when I turned a corner the sun shining through the windshield almost blinded me. All I could see was a big red ball of light, so I quickly pulled down the sun visor to block it out.

When I did that, I stumbled onto something that could be a key to changing driving habits, all the way to changing insurance rates. 

When I pulled down that visor, I almost scared myself into the next lane of traffic. The shield covering the visor mirror was gone. I went from looking into the centre of the sun to looking at two eyes staring at me and it freaked me out.

Fortunately, I controlled myself and stayed in my lane. But not everyone is as composed as I am when they drive. And here’s my discovery …

The mirror in the visor is a driving hazard and the ones who are guilty of using it are mostly women. Because of it, they are causing untold numbers of accidents. 

Every time I look behind the visor, if my wife has been sitting in the seat before me, that mirror is visible. Imagine how many men have jerked the steering wheel to the left, when they’ve suddenly seen a pair eyes about six inches from their face. 

Or how about the light that reflects off a woman’s bleached white teeth, hits the mirror and like a laser pointer temporarily blinds some poor unsuspecting driver behind her.  Another accident.

Or what about the woman who’s putting on her makeup and drifts a little, causing the car beside her to swerve and careen into a light pole on the side of the road.

You see what I’m saying?  

Statistics says that “80% of collisions and 65% of near crashes have some form of driver inattention as contributing factors” (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2010).

I’m not saying women cause more fatal accidents. No, men are best at doing that. But statistics say that women are in more fender benders than men.

It’s that distraction factor, and a little piece of the solution could have something to do with the mirror that is on the back of sun visors. 

This is still an early discovery. Now I just have to figure out how to get Lily to place the cover back over the mirror when she’s done.

Here’s the thing: God is trying to teach us all the time, but often we are distracted by other things. Being attentive to little things can lead you to discover something amazing about God that you haven’t noticed before. You can learn much about God from life around you. Don’t be so distracted by something that’s right in your face that you miss learning about God’s character and how that relates to you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What discovery have you made recently about God? I’d love to hear from you; you can leave your comment below.

People Are Too Delicate

I’m afraid that we, as humans, have become too delicate. We’re not tough enough; we’re soft.

We have great fears for our personal safety that motivate us to make laws and restrictions that prevent us from just enjoying life. 

When we are born we don’t come with warning tags tattooed to our bottoms that read, “Warning: this package is fragile”, but we kind of treat people like those tattoos exist. 

The other day I was in a hockey arena change room and, for some reason, began talking about some of the stunts I pulled as a youth pastor back in the 80’s and 90’s.  

They were fun stunts that had some risks attached to them … but no one ever got injured too badly.

Having said that, in every city we ever travelled to, someone from my youth group visited a hospital … and never to give them a tour of the place. It was always a concussion, broken collar bone, asthma, infection or stitches related necessity.

These former students are all fine now, in their forties and with families of their own.

One time I had some of my youth play a game of chubby bunnies. My intent, however, was to make it as gross as possible. 

At the time I couldn’t think of anything grosser than brussels sprouts so that’s what we used. 

You know how the game chubby bunnies goes – well, maybe you don’t because, according to one guy in the change room the other day, they have outlawed chubby bunnies!

I’m not sure how “they” would do that. I’m not sure the police would raid a youth group because of a rumour that a game of chubby bunnies was going down at Beulah Alliance Church. But maybe church boards and insurance companies would frown on the game.

The game is played with contestants who each put a marshmallow in their mouths and say the words “chubby bunny”. They continue to add one marshmallow at a time, saying “chubby bunny” until their mouths are packed so full of marshmallows that they cannot say the words “chubby bunny” anymore. 

It’s really funny to watch and hear them say “chubby bunny”. 

Using slightly warmed brussels sprouts gave the added effect of green slime oozing out their mouths and down their chins when they attempted to say “chubby bunny”.  

It was awesome and hard to look at all at the same time.

But I guess we couldn’t play that game now because someone once choked on the marshmallows and died. 

It’s incredibly sad that someone died, but it’s also hard to imagine just how many people played the game and lived to laugh and talk about it. 

Today we try hard to protect against fun that comes with risk. 

But life is not safe: You can get hit by a car, trip over the sidewalk and hit your head, or fall off your chair to devastating results. 

Thankfully, that’s not most of the time. We are not that fragile and we shouldn’t treat each other as if we are. 

We should enjoy life; live it to the full. 

Yes, there will be some risks involved; some hospital visits may follow. But keep in mind that with every injury, every trip to the hospital, there is a great story to tell. Let’s not deprive one another of those opportunities.

Here’s the thing: Living for Christ is not without risk. Don’t try to live as a Christian risk-free. If you do, you will miss out on much of what God has in store for you. Living life to the full will come with risks, but oh what powerful stories you will have if you risk for Christ.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you been living life a little too safely? Leave your comments below.

Hockey Is Like A Drug To Me

The title of this post is not completely accurate – really it is the Toronto Maple Leafs that are like a drug to me … and not necessarily in a good way. 

To make this analogy work, hockey would be the needle and the Leafs would be the drug.

It seems like every year, come playoff time, I inject myself with this drug and I overdose. 

I’m not talking about watching too much of the Leafs, or watching too much hockey in general.  I’m talking about OD’ing with my emotions. 

You see, a drug is supposed to give you some euphoric feeling – like everything is groovy, everything feels more real, and you can be like superman. And I’m sure you’ve heard all the other descriptions of how some drugs manifest in an addict. 

I do call myself an addict here because I can’t seem to stop taking the drug. 

And like a true addict, I don’t admit that I have a problem at all, even when the symptoms are pointed out to me.

But the day of the game, I’m a little agitated. I can’t tell you why – maybe I got up on the wrong side of the bed; maybe I didn’t get enough sleep the night before.

Maybe it’s just that the Leafs are playing Boston tonight in game 4 of the playoffs … and the drug is flowing through my veins, rapidly making its way through my corpuscles to my heart. 

I know this because, by the time dinner rolls around, I’m not just a little hangry because I need food. There is way more going on than that.

I’m nervous like a junky who’s late for his fix. I can’t really sit still, so I pace between rooms, semi-listening to Lily tell me what has happened during her day, and trying to pick up on the predictions and analysis of the pregame show on TV.

I’m like a caged lion on the prowl … and it’s uncontrollable. 

When the game starts, I’m all tense. It’s like I have a rubber band around my arm and my veins are starting to pop for my injection.

And that is when I overdose. 

I never hit that high where everything is going to be all right. I never get that sense of sailing on silver clouds. … Maybe you get that reference, but it doesn’t matter. You know that this is a bad trip I’m on. 

And it lasts about two and a half hours. 

Well, that is not exactly true. If the Leafs lose, I go into a downer and then you might as well not talk to me, talk around me, or make comments, funny or otherwise. 

I’ve bottomed out.  

If the Leafs win, well it’s not like it was a great trip I was on. It’s just a relief that it’s over and I’m happy I’m still alive or that the Leafs are still alive in the playoffs. 

At any rate, I’m left feeling alone in my addiction. No one in my family really understands.

Here’s the thing: Two thousand years ago, Jesus was feeling much like I do. But His passion was for us – a love for everyone that He had in abundance – so much so that He endured all kinds of emotional and physical angst and pain. No one understood. He went through those agonizing hours to pay for the sins of the world – your sin, my sin – not just for a win, but for eternity. Christ died on the cross for you. Think on that this Easter.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has you all tied up but you can’t give up? Leave your comments below.

The Best Fans Are Die Hard Fans

A true fan is a die hard fan … that means they will cheer for their team no matter what happens.

In my last post, I mentioned that I would be writing two blogs about fans. You can check out the first post here. I wrote about how sneaky fans can be. They just show up and sometimes you have no idea who they are until they bring out their jerseys.

This post – like my last one – focusses on the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’s my team, what can I say.

They have fans everywhere. In every city and arena they play, you will find people cheering for the Leafs.

… And they will keep cheering. They will show up every time and they will take the abuse that other fans dish out. 

Leaf fans are die hard fans. 

The other night the Leafs were in Ottawa for a game, and the “Go Leafs Go” chant was definitely louder than the “Go Sens Go” chant.

The game was all Ottawa, which was surprising because Toronto is tied for the fourth best team in the NHL right now, and Ottawa is dead last. Yet the game looked like Toronto was headed to the first overall draft pick lottery instead of the Senators.

As a team, the Leafs know how to disappoint their fans like no other team. When you haven’t won a championship in over 50 years, you know there has been much disappointment. 

The jokes about the Leafs have circled for years: “Why are the Leafs the best golfers? Because they are finished playing hockey in April”; “It’s spring time – the Leafs will be falling”.  

I’ve heard these jokes over and over. And every time they lose, it just adds to the fan abuse we Leaf fans endure.

They have laws against physical abuse, verbal abuse, elder abuse … they need a whole new category for Leaf fan abuse. 

No other team has taken it on the chin like Leaf fans.

The other night when they played so horribly, I had a hard time watching. I had a few other things I needed to do, so I chose to do them in another room from where the TV was. 

I could hear when they were being scored on and I listened as the announcers commented on their horrible defence. 

But I just couldn’t get myself to watch it. 

Maybe that makes me a bad fan. But I’ll be tuning in to the next game with high hopes that this past week was caused by nothing more than team flu-like symptoms and that they are all better now. 

The thing is, all the disappointments, all the mockery that is heaped on Leaf fans doesn’t deter them from cheering for their team.

You see, there is this undeniable hope, this deep-seated belief that one day we will be proved Stanley Cup champions again. 

And no amount of hardship will dissuade these fans or deny them of the joy that is to come. 

Here’s the thing: This life brings with it, at times, much disappointment and hardship. There are dissenters everywhere, all around you. Yet, as a Christian, you believe in the return of Christ, and that one day the joy of being united with Him and all those who claim to be His will be uncontainable. Die hard fans never give up on their team and Christians never give up on their Saviour – no matter what the circumstances or conditions they find themselves in. Cheer on!

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What conditions make it hard for you to cheer on? Leave your comments below.