my thoughts

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He’s Got Your Back

When I was a kid, having a brother was great.  We played together; we always had a buddy to do something with.  On the other hand, we also fought a lot.  It was quite predicable:  one little thing like an innocent bump would lead to a push and then a harder push and a hit.  Then the fight was on.

My brother and I had some pretty classic fights growing up.  Some of our fights could have been on WWE (Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment).  People would have paid good money to see them!  On WWE they use chairs and tables on each other; we used hockey sticks and the threat of knives (just the dull ones you use at dinner).  When we got older, our poor mother would throw her arms up, and walk away saying, “You guys are going to kill each other!”

We didn’t, and we’re still great friends today.  The funny thing was, all those fights we had never lasted.  We would be playing one minute, then fighting, and then a couple minutes later playing together again.

One of the greatest things about having a brother was having someone to stick up for you.  Maybe you never had this feeling before, but having someone come to your side, and stand with you when there’s trouble is an amazing feeling.

One time when we were 10 and 12, we were with a bunch of friends when some other guys came up to us.  One of them was a couple years older, had a reputation as a fighter, and for some reason started picking on me.  My friends didn’t want anything to do with it and kind of backed away.  I’m sure they were thinking he would beat me to a pulp.

But my brother was there.  Though it’s always nice to be able to say, “I’m going to get my big brother and he’s twice your size”, my brother was two years younger and the same scrawny size as me.  It didn’t seem like a great advantage.

Still he was there and he didn’t back away like my friends did.  He got in there and basically the two of us laid a beating on that guy (I think it was all our practice that helped).  We were pretty pumped about what we did and how we felt about each other and we never had any trouble with that kid again.

Here’s the thing:  The other day I was reading Isaiah 41:10, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

As I read that verse the feeling that I got was that same feeling of having a brother come to your side in a fight. The trouble is not necessarily dismissed, but I have someone fighting with me, someone helping me in my trouble.

Reading that verse, I got this amazing feeling of how much God cares for me, to battle with me.  And because He’s God, we’re going to win in the end, and walk off arm in arm victorious together.

God isn’t off somewhere helping remotely; He’s right there with you, and He’s got your back.  God is watching out for you.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question:  When you are in a difficult place, how do you feel about God?

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I’m Messy; Deal With It!

I’ll admit it:  I’m kind of a messy guy.  It’s never hard to tell where I’ve sat at a table for a meal.  There are usually more than a few crumbs that escape my plate and leave clear evidence.  However, I’ve never seen crumbs form the word “Paul” so one could argue that someone else was sitting in that spot.

I’ve been messy as long as I can remember, and it may even be a genetic trait.  My dad was a notorious spiller.  I could share many-a-story of his spectacular spills – stories our family still gets a good chuckle over years later.  All I have to do is mention the word “marinara” and a smile appears on the face of everyone in my family.

My son has a good chance of proving the messy gene theory because, when we eat at the same table, sometimes it’s hard to determine who sat in what spot.  But my wife, Lily, says I’m messy because I don’t eat properly.

Somehow, in all my years, I never learned to eat right.  If you ask me, this is a major slam against my mother who, after all, was the one who taught me how to eat in the first place.  But the curious thing is, it also incriminates Lily because she’s the one who taught our son to eat … and apparently he hasn’t learned to eat properly either!

Lily says the problem is simply that I don’t have my plate close enough to me, and therefore, things spill.  I am either sitting too far away from the table or my plate needs to be closer to the edge.  In fact, the other day she actually pushed my plate closer to me … and I promptly spilled something on the far side of my plate.  If she hadn’t have moved my plate I wouldn’t have spilled.  I get the blame but I’m telling you, it was her fault.  I wanted to pick up the food I spilled and place it on her placemat, but I restrained myself.

And, by the way, placemats are overrated, especially for messy guys like me.  A hard, smooth surface is much easier to clean and to quickly hide the evidence (one quick swipe, if you know what I mean) than fabric where the crumbs get stuck and remain for the CSI team (Lily) to investigate.

It really doesn’t matter if I’m spilling something on my shirt (and becoming more like my dad every day), or if I leave a ring of crumbs around my plate when I eat, that‘s who I am.  I’m messy.  If I’m going to be eating at your house, you have to be prepared for that, or reconsider having me over.

Here’s the thing:  We like to change people, but the reality is we can’t.  We can get quite frustrated with people who don’t want to place their faith in God.  We can try to change them, but it won’t work.  We can just walk away and not have anything to do with them, or, we can just accept them as they are and allow God to work in them.  Who knows?  God might even use you to push the plate a little closer to them.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: How hard is it for you to just accept people whom you want to see changed?

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Don’t Let the Sun Go Down

It is interesting to me that every night people gather at the lake to look out and watch the sun go down. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like, if it’s cloudy, or even stormy.  They still show up at the beach, and gather like droids.  I know, because I’ve done it.

People line the beach with their lawn chairs, cameras, and video recorders.  They sit in the sand or just stand and stare as this orangey red ball slowly sinks below the horizon.

They’re mesmerized by a sight that happens every day.

It’s the same thing, you know – the sun always goes down.  You can count on it; it never does anything different.  It doesn’t’ go back a bit or stop and leave everyone in suspense like it did in the Bible once.  No, it does the same thing every night: it goes down and drops below the horizon.  Yet people come every night to see it happen, almost as if it wouldn’t happen if they didn’t come.

People don’t just do this at Sauble Beach (though it is pretty phenomenal there).  People do it everywhere, by oceans, lakes, mountains, even on cruise ships.  People stop and just watch, sometimes in silence, gazing at the sight.

The thing that is different, the thing that keeps people coming back each night is the sky.  On a clear night with no clouds, the sky is colourful.  But when you add a little bit of cloud – wow! – the sun does an amazing job of painting the sky in incredible colours and shades.  It’s like there’s a new canvas every night.

I personally have probably over a hundred pictures of sunsets at Sauble Beach.  I’ll take several every time because the colours, and the painting created on the canvas of the sky, changes moment by moment.  Even though there is a new picture every night, for some reason I, and many others, feel the need to capture the one we’re looking at so we can view it again and again.

Some people don’t care about capturing it.  They just take it in, are fascinated by the sky and then satisfied that it will be different and just as spectacular the next night.  Some people dream as they stare at it, while others get all romantic and want to hold hands (Lily).  Some linger and others turn and walk away, occasionally looking over their shoulder towards the sky and horizon.

Here’s the thing:  Every day we have opportunities to gaze upon what God has created, and appreciate it, think about it, dwell on it and acknowledge where it came from.  But how often do we take a moment to go beyond the beauty that we see to give a nod to God for it, to respond to Him for the million dollar painting before our eyes?  After all, the painter is the one with all the talent; the painting is just his creation.  I want to be a little more responsive to God and His paintings from now on.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: What grabs your attention, causing you to acknowledge God’s creativity in the world?  Leave your comment below.

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Living in Transition

I was thinking the other day that I’m not really living my life; I’m waiting in transition.  It’s not that I don’t feel settled in my home, work, or my relationships.  No, they’re all good.  But I still feel like I’m in transition.  And then it dawned on me, it’s my kids’ fault!

I’ve always been great at blaming my kids for things that have gone missing or stopped working, like when I couldn’t find the remote control, or when the car broke down just after they drove it.  However, blaming my kids for me feeling like I’m in transition takes me to a new level.

It all started in my devotions.  I was praying for my kids when I started to think about what I was praying for.  Basically, it was that they would get through this time in their lives and get settled in careers and all that goes with that.

Both my kids are in their twenties and I’m discovering that waiting for your kids to emerge out of this preparation stage of life takes way too long.  I never felt this way when Karlie and Mike were little, or in elementary school; I didn’t even feel this way when they were in high school.  But now, let’s get on with life already!  They have me feeling like I’m in transition, waiting for them to move into something more permanent, more settled.

I know that one day I’ll look back on this time and think it wasn’t very long …  although if my son stays in school as long as I did, it will be like forever!

Somehow I have to get through this and, as I was thinking about it, it dawned on me that they don’t necessarily feel like they’re in transition. They are just living life as it comes day by day.  So what I need to do is enjoy this stage of their lives and not try to impatiently endure it.

I’ve always enjoyed the other stages of their lives – except maybe teaching them to drive a manual transmission (that poor Honda Civic).  I need to embrace this stage as well, even though to me it seems like a transition stage and life will start when they are done it.  I prayed that God would help me live life with them and not get ahead of them.

Here’s the thing:  the verse in my devotions was Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”(NIV)

How God does all that (instruct, teach, counsel) is secondary to what He is saying about me in this verse.  He desires to patiently care for me; He’s concerned for me; He has high hopes for me.  God is not feeling like I’m in transition and wishing me quickly on to the next stage.  God is with me where I’m at, patiently caring, concerned, and with high hopes for me … at this stage right now.

That’s a good attitude to have with my kids as well.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question:  How can you model God’s outlook and actions with those you’re in relationship with?

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Life In The Slow Lane

Yesterday I realized how fast our pace of life really is compared to times gone by.  On Canada Day, Lily dragged me to watch the reenactment of the War of 1812 at Fort Henry in Kingston.  I wanted to see some bands play down in the park.

I actually thought we would be able to do both, but I forgot they were reenacting a war from 1812 and not from 2012.  Things moved MUCH slower back then.  We had to wait for the ships to come down the lake and they were late because of the wind.  I kept looking at my watch and thinking, “Not a chance we’re going to see the band I was hoping to see perform.”

When the ground troops finally got to shore, they took a long time getting into position to actually fight.  If I had have been alive back then, I think I would have gone home and waited for the next war.  It moved way too slowly!  It’s a wonder anyone died.  Bullets went about as fast and far as I can take a slap shot.  I think an average person could have ducked and easily gotten out of the way.

Time kept ticking.  Finally the Americans and the Canadians got close enough to do some damage.  You know that line in the movies, “Don’t shoot till you see the whites of their eyes”?  That wasn’t said to draw the enemy in – it was said because, with their accuracy, they couldn’t hit someone whose whites of their eyes they couldn’t see!

I’ve seen movies depicting great wars of the past.  They’re all fake – those battles never developed as fast as they portray them.  Seriously, you could go to the store, get some pop and chips (not that I would eat it), come back and still wait to see it all unfold.

The funny thing was, every time an American solider died, the crowd cheered.  And though the war was a real nail biter, in the end our troops won and the Americans surrendered.  So, I’m glad to report, we won . . . again.  We’re safe until the next reenactment.

When it was finally over, I looked at my watch and we had pretty much missed all the music in the park.  Thank you, War of 1812.  As we walked back to the car, Lily thanked me several times for enduring the event for her sake.  Interesting note:  we drove home (about 14 km) in less time than it took the talk ship to make its way past the downtown to the Fort Henry battle area (about 1 km).

Here’s the thing:  we don’t even realize how quickly we want things to happen, take place or develop.  And, we can carry that attitude into our time with God.  We want answers quickly.  We feel we need to keep our time with God short because we have somewhere to be, something to do.  We get bored reading the Bible and distracted praying.  But what we need to do is slow down, take a trip back in time to an era like, say . . . 1812 when everything was so much slower.  Just be in the moment, enjoy it, don’t rush it, and don’t look at your watch.  Don’t let our fast paced life rob you of a rich time with God.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: How do you slow your pace to take time with God?

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Pylons Make Me Mad

This week as I was traveling on the highway, I noticed a long stretch of roadwork.  You couldn’t help but notice – they had pylons lining all four sides of the divided freeway!  Apparently, they are repaving both sides of the road.  Actually, they were just paving a section on the other side of the highway but they figured they would prepare everyone for the nightmare to come.  (They do say there are only two seasons in Canada:  winter and construction.)

My first thought on seeing the pylons was that the company that makes them must be worth millions! – there were literally thousands of pylons lining the highway.  The rows of pylons were endless … and that was just for one project!

Then I started thinking about these pylons from different perspectives.  For me, as soon as I see them, I think, “Oh great.  We’re going to be forced into one lane, traffic will be backed up forever, and we’ll be traveling (well, we won’t really be traveling … more like crawling) at 10 km/hr.  From my perspective, there’s nothing good about these pylons.  Besides getting funneled to one lane, people will try to butt in (I never do that), there will be no end in sight, and I’ll be late getting home.

I’ll get annoyed with the people driving in front of me who won’t keep up to traffic, making it easy for cars to cut in line.  I’ll try to analyze the drivers in front of me, and if they’re wearing a hat (other than a ball cap) I know they’re going to be slow.  They’ll continue to bug me unless I get past them (sorry to any hat wearers out there).  … My friend and I used to call these people “lids”, and if we got behind someone who was wearing a hat and going slow, we would call out (sometimes in unison) “LID”.  Say no more, we both knew what was ahead.

But the other perspective on these pylons comes from the road workers.  They view the pylons as a buffer between them and the frustrated drivers.  They feel safe on their side of the pylons, and even have a sense of security there, without fear that a car will take them out (even though a car weighs 3500 pounds and can travel at high speeds compared to a pylon that weighs 20 pounds and is stationary).  That’s pretty amazing.

Here’s the thing:  You view pylons as either good or bad depending on your perspective. And, we can look at God’s laws as a barrier, frustration, and inconvenience that keep us from doing what we want, or we can look at God’s laws as a buffer from disaster, as protection that gives us a sense of security even though it doesn’t provide a physical shield.

I used to say it’s easier to get forgiveness than to ask for permission, but that’s just an excuse for doing what you want.  God’s laws are good and He made them for us, not against us.  But we will only appreciate them if we take the perspective of the road worker.

I find I still have to change my perspective on some things.  Maybe I should start driving wearing a hat (maybe not).

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: Which of God’s laws do you find yourself frustrated or annoyed with?

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On the Other Side of the Clouds

On a recent plane trip, I became fascinated by two very different realms that exist in our world. There is the realm below the clouds and the realm above the clouds. On the plane ride home from Calgary we flew above the clouds with the sun shining brightly all around and into the cabin of the plane. I noticed how some people shut their blinds so that they could sleep or to cut the glare on their TV screen while they watched a movie. Looking out my window the sun was unhindered and I found myself squinting to shade my eyes as I looked out.

Below the plane was this white base that seemed firm and as I focused on it, in my mind I could envision a vast landscape of mountains and valleys. It was pure white, clean and bright, inviting. On our descent, the clouds looked softer and billowy and certainly not solid like before.  They morphed into a wispy cottony substance as we enter them.

 This particular day, the cloud cover was thick and it seemed that we traveled a long way to get through the clouds.  Everything out my window was grey and it resembled thick smoke when it is whipped up by the wind. At one point, I thought, “How long are we going to be in these clouds?” I was surprised how thick they were.

When we finally got through, the scene was vastly different from above the clouds. Though it was only 1 pm, it looked like it was late in the evening.  The realm below the clouds was dark and grey, rainy and dull.  It was a complete contrast to the realm above the clouds.  The realm below was sun starved and I felt an immediate dip in my spirit.

Though this was the realm I live in, there was something about the realm above the clouds I wished was present.  Despite my familiarity with the terrain and the landscape, I had a longing for the bright warm and inviting sun.

So here’s my thought: When life seems rotten, when we’re down and things are going all wrong, internally we are in a realm much like I found myself in below the clouds.  In reality though, the sun is still shining – shining as bright as ever, providing warmth and light and goodness.  It just seems as if the sun is absent.

I envision the sun as God’s goodness and blessing shining on us.  For me to experience that once again, I turn to prayer.  I can’t break through my realm (through the clouds) to the realm above, but my prayers can.  Some times the clouds are thick and it seems to take a long time for my prayer to make it through them.  But that doesn’t mean God’s love isn’t shining down.  In the book of Daniel, he once wondered why it took so long for God to answer his prayer.  Look up Daniel 10:1-14. The angel tells Daniel his prayers were received right away but that he was delayed in responding, like there was a battle going on in the clouds.

Sometimes we have to pray for a long time before we see a break in the clouds, and the sun shining again in our lives.  But what I need to remind myself of is that my prayers are received by God instantly, and regardless of how long it is before my prayers are answered, God’s love and grace is shining down on me as bright as ever – even when I can’t see it. And that’s good to know.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

What are your thoughts on delays in answered prayer?   Leave your comments below!

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Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day isn’t all its cracked up to be. Sure, Mom gets a few good things out of the day.  However, I heard a few stories yesterday from a couple of moms who received breakfast courtesy of their young children. The image this creates in one’s mind is nice but the reality is, there is going to be unwanted food that needs to be consumed and a huge mess that will need to be cleaned up.  Of course, Mom is probably the one who will end up doing that task, so you have to wonder, was this breakfast a true blessing?

You would think that when kids get older things would get better.  While they can make a breakfast Mom would want, as well as clean the kitchen up afterwards, the problem is they can’t get out of bed early enough to make that breakfast for Mom, unless she wants it at about 2 in the afternoon.  In some cases, the grown child doesn’t live close enough to do anything for Mom except wish her well or send a card.

Don’t get me wrong, I think moms really enjoy what they do get from their kids.  I know Lily was thrilled with the card she received from Karlie, and the video chat they had in the afternoon.  And our son, Mike, came through nicely too – he bought flowers for his Mother and gave her a card she will treasure. He even made a restaurant reservation for lunch on Mother’s Day. He didn’t pay for lunch, but he made the reservation.

 Here’s the thing: by the end of lunch, Mother’s Day is essentially over.  But what Mom really wants is time with her kids and family adoring her, catering to her needs all day long, and not just until the noon meal ends.  Often Mother’s Day isn’t much different from April Fools Day, which only lasts until noon. (I really don’t want to make any more comparisons with that day right now.)

By the afternoon, things get back to, “Hey Mom I need this.” or “Can you do that for me?”, or worse, everyone’s falling asleep watching some sporting event on TV.  Mom is left either catering to the family needs or she is ignored as the family does their own thing.

I wonder if God feels that way sometimes. We give Him a couple of hours Sunday morning and then do our own thing the rest of the day.  We get busy napping or playing or working on projects around the house.

I don’t think we have to stay in our “good clothes” all day like I did as a kid (to prevent me from doing things that would cause me to exert myself).  However, in the things we do, instead of ignoring God, we should include Him. And when I say “include” what I mean is acknowledge Him in what we are doing.  This might take a bit of thought on our part, some intentionality, but doesn’t God deserve a little more than just a Sunday morning?

Oh and by the way, Lil, next Mother’s Day, I won’t take that afternoon nap like I did yesterday.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

How do you try to intentionally include God in your Sunday? 

Leave a comment below.

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Lawn Care

When we first moved to Kingston 16 years ago, keeping a nice lawn was a lot easier than it is today. Not that I was good at keeping our lawn looking nice, but it was easier. Now-a-days, with laws that restrict the use of weed killers that actually work, our lawn is no longer the eyesore it once was … it now just blends in with our neighbours’ bad lawns!

The other day I came home from work and looked at all the dandelions on our lawn and did my usual comparison of with our neighbours’ lawns to see if the ratio of dandelions to grass was any greater on our lawn than theirs. All I can say is, I was feeling pretty good about myself that day. Yes, we had those yellow blooms all over our lawn but our neighbours did too. And as I looked at our one neighbour’s lawn, I started to think of what it was like years ago.

When we first moved onto the street, our one neighbour had the nicest lawn on our little cul de sac. In fact, one year he entered his yard in the “Nicest Yards in Kingston” competition. In those days it was impossible to feel good about our lawn because his looked like a golf green. My big worry was that some of our dandelions would blow over onto his lawn. In reality, I shouldn’t have been worried because that neighbour was out there every day, and he would have spotted and removed any dandelion seed before it ever took root.

Things have changed, however. That neighbour moved away and since then we’ve had a couple of different families in that home. What amazed me the other day is how decay can set in so quickly. The lawn that was so nice, now might win the prize on the street for being the worst. As I snapped a couple of pictures the other day, I wondered how this happened. Sure, everyone doesn’t spend a few hours each day on their lawn like our first neighbour did, but how does grass that was so thick and lush get to the stage it is today, where there’s more variety of weeds than actual grass?

The answer, of course, is that constant care is needed to keep the weeds from infesting a lawn. And, you know, the same is true with our lives and sin. If we just live without taking time on a daily basis to meet with God, to read/study His word and pray, sin creeps in without us even realizing it. Without daily care of our spirits, we will not only allow more sin into our lives, we will start to defend them as not being as bad as our neighbour’s. We might even feel good about our sin-filled lives.

Here’s the thing: everything decays without constant attention. Your life is the same and so is your relationship with God. The question I want to keep asking myself is, “What am I doing today to care for my relationship with God?” A little care of my spirit each day will go a long way to keep my spiritual life growing strong and healthy and weed-free.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul