bad

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I Knew I Was Making A Bad Decision

Sometimes you know when you are making a bad decision, but you make it anyway.

I’m not sure why we do it. Maybe it’s because our desire or want or hope is greater than our reasoning at the time.

We do it frequently though, even if it’s just that extra dessert, or extra helping of potatoes that ends up sitting in our gut like a rock for the rest of the day.

There are times we are pressured into making a decision we don’t think is the best. We just can’t keep saying no, so we cave in.

But I think the worst is when we make a decision that goes against our better judgement with no pressure and lots of time to rationally think it through.

I did that a few weeks ago. 

One of the guys I play hockey with on Saturday mornings entered a team in a tournament … and I said yes to playing.

I knew that saying yes meant playing more hockey in one day than would be good for me.

I also was unsure how my knee would hold up playing all day long. I have a torn ACL that I wear a custom brace for. But as I have gotten older, I have found that my knee is not as strong as it was twenty years ago.

As a result, now I will not play hockey two days in a row, just to give my knee a rest. 

A tournament would tax it for sure. 

I discovered that we were guaranteed three games in this tournament and yet I still said yes. Even when I gave the organizer my money for the tourney, I said to him, “This goes against my better judgement.” 

What was I thinking?

I know what I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t thinking that I’m almost 63 years of age, and no longer have boundless, unlimited energy. 

I wasn’t thinking that I had a heart attack seven years ago and that hockey is not the greatest sport for the heart. 

The idea of playing hockey all day still resonated with my emotions, but my body and mind were screaming, “Who are you kidding, Paul?!”

I got myself so into the idea that when I heard we were going to have three full lines I was disappointed – disappointed because that would mean I wouldn’t get that much ice time. 

What was I thinking? Playing three games in one day, I’ll get all the ice time I need and then some. I will be so hockey-d out after three games that I will want to take a break from the ice for a couple of weeks.

The decision to play in this tournament was purely based in some recesses of my 25 year old psyche, that grabbed control of my 62 year old mind and wrestled it into a tap out hold that I couldn’t say no to.

At any rate, I was in and the tourney is just about to get underway. What have I done?(read about it here)

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we get pressured, played or simply convinced to do something that God would not approve of. Sometimes we just have a desire or want that leads us where we should not go. But sometimes we just walk head on into sin – no excuse, no one or thing to blame. We just make a bad decision. God can forgive those sins too. Don’t think you can’t go to Him and repent.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you done lately that you have no excuse for? Leave your comments below. 

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Stress Can Be Good Or Bad

There is a certain amount of stress that’s good for you.

If we didn’t have any stress in our lives we probably wouldn’t get anything done. We would resort to saying, “Oh maybe I’ll do that tomorrow” … and tomorrow would never come.

If there was no stress, we would procrastinate … and some of us would procrastinate more.

Stress keeps us on our toes; it moves and motivates us, makes us feel responsible, and gets us to the deadline. 

These are all good things; we need a little stress in our lives. When stress builds up in us too much, however, it’s not good.

This last week I went golfing with my family. We hardly ever golf together because some of us hardly ever golf.

My son, Mike, and I golf the most, and Lily golfs with me when we’re on vacation. Karlie hasn’t golfed in two years.

Mike had a week of vacation and thought it would be nice to get a game in with the family. We looked at a couple of courses that would be within driving distance for all of us.

We ended up choosing a course that would be better suited for Mike and I and not Lily and Karlie. We got a really good deal on it so we booked it. 

Shortly after the arrangements had been made, Lily told me not to get all stressed, because that would impact the rest of the family. 

I have to tell you, I tried not to stress about it. I even prayed about it. 

Back when I was learning to golf, I felt pressure to keep up, to not hold up other golfers, whether I was golfing with them or they were in the group behind me. 

So knowing that this course was a little long for my wife and daughter, and knowing we were playing early in the morning, by the time I got to the course I was already tense.

I was definitely not relaxed. 

Even before we teed off, I was concerned about how quickly the next group would catch up to us and if we would be holding them up. … and I felt this even though there was no group behind us! 

All I can say is my game didn’t get off to a fantastic start … and it was all downhill from there. 

I could not get myself to relax and simply enjoy some time with my family. I was tense and hit more bad shots in that game than I’ve hit all season long so far. 

I kept looking back for the group behind us. I felt responsible to watch where everyone’s shot ended up. I constantly kept telling Lily and Karlie what they might be doing wrong when they hit bad shots. 

The crazy thing was they all got better as the round went on but I got worse. And that group behind us never did catch up and have to wait for us.

Here’s the thing: We are told in scripture to give our burdens to the Lord … but stress is a difficult burden to let go of when you’re in the middle of it. So first stop and recognize the stress, what it is, where it’s coming from, and how it’s affecting you. Then tell the Lord you want to give Him that stress. Third, focus, embrace, enjoy, immerse yourself in the task at hand. Doing that will shift your emotions and allow you to let go of the stress. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How has stress got the best of you? Leave your comments below.

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End Well

Sometimes my wife just wears me down.  For the last sixteen years we’ve lived in Ontario, 2 ½ hours from Toronto, and Lily has said she would like to visit Casa Loma (http://www.casaloma.org).  I wouldn’t say she has insisted on going, but she’s suggested it with a really big smile, batting her eyelids and stretching out the word “please” for a long time.

It’s not like she’s never been, she just wanted to go again – together. I’ve put her off many times, but recently we were in Toronto for our anniversary and were looking for one more thing to do before we came home.

She had me at a weak moment.  I had very little options, no alternate plan, and if I wanted to keep those romantic anniversary feelings from crashing on the rocks, I needed to cave on this one.  In the end, it wasn’t a bad choice of activities.

If you know nothing of Casa Loma, it is this enormous home built at the turn of the 20th century.  It’s not a castle but it looks like it could be a castle. And if you owned it and lived in it you would feel you lived in a castle.  Now, however, it’s a great money-making tourist attraction for the city of Toronto.  The day we went they made thousands of dollars; there were people everywhere.

It has 98 rooms, secret passages, gardens, and an underground tunnel to the stables.  Still, I figured, if we went through the rooms quickly (the way I like to go through show homes when Lil gets the opportunity to drag me through them), we could be done in an hour.

But Lil wanted to get the self-guided tour with a phone-like device giving a commentary on all the features of the house – yes, all 98 rooms.  As soon as they slapped one of those devices in my hand, I knew we were going to be putting an offer in to buy the place.  This was not going to be a short in and out viewing!

What I found interesting from all the commentaries was the background on the owner, Henry Pellatt.  The commentary painted him as a generous, wealthy, kind man.  At one time he controlled one quarter of the wealth in Canada.  The home he built was supposed to cost about $500,000 but ended up costing $3.5 million, a hefty price for 1911.

Then one thing after another happened to Henry:  he lost a lot of money when the government took his electric power company from him without compensation; the stock market crashed; and he made some deals that didn’t work out.  In the end, he was bankrupt, and the city took ownership of Casa Loma due to back taxes owed to the tune of $27 million in 1933.

Henry ended up penniless.  When he died, at the age of 80, he was living in a room in the home of his former chauffeur.  His son hadn’t even taken him in.  … A magnificent house, a sad story.

Here’s the thing:  If for almost or all of your life things go your way, but you die without a saving relationship with Christ, your life ends up to be just a very sad story.  Jesus came to turn any life – good or bad – into a great story … and that’s worth checking out while you’re still living out your story.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: What kind of story will your life tell when its done? Leave your comment below