Christ

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I Didn’t Realize How Precious Quiet Is

My house is quiet right now. Normally at 9:30 on a Saturday morning there is the sound of footsteps on the hardwood, the sound of dishes pre or post breakfast being put in the dishwasher.

But not this morning.

It’s just me at home; Lily has gone to Toronto to visit our kids. Sitting here right now, I am very aware of the quiet.

Now it’s not completely quiet – there are the faint sounds of cars going up the street, and the chirping of birds every once in a while.

But it’s quiet and that is rare for me.

For Lily this would not happen because, though she is home alone most days, and could possibly experience the quiet that I am right now, she has tinnitus so she always has a background track of static or white noise going on.

It’s interesting that she has this ear condition and not me. In my late teens and early twenties I went to a lot of rock concerts where the sound left your ears ringing when it was over.

I went to one concert – Emerson Lake and Palmer (ELP) – that was actually outside in a football stadium. My seat was half way back from the stage and it still left my ears ringing for three days afterwards.

Yet here I sit in silence … except now the hum of the furnace is kicking in.

I wonder how much we take note of the quiet. Mostly we are surrounded by noise. We turn on the TV or play our music, not really to listen to it, but to have a background track to our life.

When I go biking, if I’m alone I will often put my earbuds in and listen to tunes. Rarely will I just ride unaccompanied.

Even yesterday when I had finished writing my sermon, and I was finishing up some work that didn’t require much focus or concentration, I turned on some music to fill the air with sound waves that just added a little distraction to the routine work I was engaged in.

In the quietness of the present, I remember the days when our children were young and they wouldn’t interrupt the silence … they were the background track to our lives.

There was always noise from them, and if there wasn’t, that was not a good thing.

But here I am – no kids, no TV, no iTunes – just me and the clicking of the keyboard.

I have to say, it’s pretty peaceful; it’s calming, unhurried, unforced.

And those words remind me of verses in the Bible, in Matthew 11:28-30, that Eugene Peterson interpreted for “the Message”.

It may be one of the most peaceful passages in the Bible:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

You might want to read that again, slowly. We could do with a little more peace and quiet in our lives.

Here’s the thing: I don’t need to say much more. Find some quiet in your day – five minutes, ten, whatever you can eek out – and spend some unforced rest with God. It will bring peace into your noisy life.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you do to find some quiet time? Leave your comments below.

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Decluttering Electronic Waste

I’m looking at a pile of electronic waste I need to dispose of. It’s surprising how it can accumulate and become clutter that you live with.

Recently we were cleaning up the laundry room to prepare for a new washer and dryer (read about that here), and I noticed how much old electronics we had kicking around.

There’s an old TV – tube television that is – with a built-in VCR, an old laser printer, and a couple of satellite receivers.

I don’t want to say this too loudly in case Lily hears it, but I think if I looked harder around the house I could find more old electronics that could find their way to the electronic waste site.

And that is the problem right there. With any other trash in our house, we collect it in waste bins and then put it out by the curb for the garbage truck to haul away.

It happens weekly so there is never too much of a build-up. Maybe at Christmas time we need to put out more than one bag of garbage, but other than that, most weeks we put out less than half a green garbage bag of trash.

Then there is the recycling. We have a green bin as well as blue and grey boxes. But again, they are picked up weekly; we never get a build-up.

With electronic waste, it’s different. It doesn’t go to the curb; you have to take it somewhere.

I’m never sure where that somewhere is either, giving me more reason for keeping it in the house.

Electronic waste also still looks useful, unlike other garbage. It might not work, it may be old technology, but when you look at it, it looks like you could still turn it on.

So I hate to get rid of it. I’m thinking maybe there will be a time when some parts can come in handy or someone will come up with a great idea for an alternative use for these items.

Years ago Apple made a computer that had a nine inch screen. Did I mention it was a monochrome monitor? Yes it was.

Well, after computing had long progressed past the Mac plus or Mac Classic, people starting using the frames of these computers for things like goldfish bowls.

That may not be an exciting alternative use for the product, but you never know what someone will think up.

I have an old desktop computer that still sits on a desk in our basement … I’m sure that one day there will be a use for it. In the meantime, it has a real retro look to it.

These old electronics, that are spread out in different rooms in our house, seem to fit somehow. But now that a few of them have been placed together in a pile, I can see they really are good for nothing.

They just have to go.

Here’s the thing: It’s good to review your life and evaluate the things that are not of value, or may be negatively impacting your spiritual life. When you identify them as such, then you realize how they stand in your way of having a more meaningful relationship with God. If you don’t evaluate them, they will clutter up your life, preventing you from realizing why you seem to be stuck spiritually. You need a disposal of waste to declutter your spiritual life.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you evaluate the clutter to your spiritual life? Leave your comments below.

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Is There Such A Thing As Luck?

Luck is something that has happened by chance, without you causing it. Some call it good fortune or being blessed; some call it just plain luck.

Personally, I believe some people have more good fortune in some ways than others. I don’t believe God moves us like chess pieces on a chess board.

I’m not saying that I have a well thought out and researched theory on this; it’s just what I have observed in my life.

For instance, I would not buy a lottery ticket for several reasons, but also for one simple overriding reason: I most likely would not win.

Even if I bought a lottery ticket with the same numbers every week for a year, I’m pretty sure I would not win. So I’m not going to waste my money. My years on earth so far have taught me this.

If I ever did decide to buy a lottery ticket though, I would have my son purchase it for me. In my observation, good things just happen to him.

Some people see those random happenings going their way more than other people do.

Yesterday we were at a hockey game, and in between periods there were some contestants on the ice in hopes of winning a prize … a pretty good prize I might add – a $4000 vacation package.

I don’t often pay attention to those contests, but my wife and I both heard a name announced that we recognized.

We stopped and look down onto the ice and, sure enough, we knew one of the people who had been picked.

Naturally we decided to watch it through. It was a pure chance kind of game; the announcer would pick a ticket and that person would be out.

Our friend made it through the first round and the second round.

With only three contestants left, Lily said, “You know, I could see her winning this; she wins things all the time.”

Sure enough she won the prize. When we met up with her later, she was thrilled.

Those kinds of things don’t happen to me. But I won’t say I don’t have good fortune or that I’m not blessed.

Looking back on my life, I can see time and time again when I have been blessed, without any action on my part. Things have worked out for me; I have found favour with people throughout my life.

I remember being in the hospital after my heart attack and the nurse stationed in our room said to the four of us, “You are the lucky ones. There are many who don’t survive a heart attack.”

With regard to that and other good things in my life, you could say I’ve experienced good fortune.

I look at it as God saving me, protecting me, keeping me, answering prayers.

I may not be the one winning prizes, but in my life, with all that I have experienced, I would say I’ve been blessed.

So is there such a thing as luck? I don’t think I have a definitive answer on that one.

Do things happen by chance? I think from our vantage point they do.

The bigger question is: What do you want to leave up to luck, or good fortune, or being blessed?

Here’s the thing: God knows all things, so ultimately there is no luck or chance from His perspective; it just seems that way to us. Don’t trust your future, your eternity to being lucky. Seek God and secure your forever with one action – faith in Christ.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How would you characterize your life up until now? Leave your comments below.

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We All Need Great Neighbours 

It’s really nice to live on a street with great neighbours; it’s not something you should take for granted.

We’ve lived on the same street for 21 years. It’s a small cul de sac with only 10 houses on it, so basically all the homes face each other.

Most of our neighbours have lived on the street for many years – three of the families longer than we have, so we have gotten to know each other a little bit.

We talk more in the summer time, and we keep tabs on each other’s homes when someone’s away.

We even have a street BBQ once a year, and I don’t think we’ve missed a year in all the time we’ve lived here.

Sunday was a particularly busy day for Lily and I. We had church and then a seminar afterwards that kept us hopping right up until we left for the Junior hockey game.

By the time we were driving home from all the activities, we had been going for 11 hours and we were both kind of tired.

Oh, and by the way, it had been snowing all that time. … We haven’t had much snow this winter – I can count on one hand how many times I’ve had to shovel – but we got a pretty good dump yesterday.

It was probably the biggest snowfall of the year.

So when we pulled into our driveway after being away all day, I said to Lily, “Let’s tackle this snow in the morning.”

We pulled into the garage, shut the door and didn’t look back outside.

Instead we changed into sweats, ate some comfort food and watched a movie.

Well, Lil watched a movie … it was a romantic flick and I slept through most of it.

And that was all we did.

You could picture it like a movie scene where the snow outside is flying and the wind is howling, but you, the characters, are all warm under blankets, sitting next to a blazing fire in the fireplace. And there is a soft, warm glow of light that breaks through the curtains and casts a pattern on the snowbanks outside.

… Just take away the fireplace, the warm glow hitting the snow, and the howling wind and you pretty much have a good idea of our evening.

That was Sunday. The next morning when I got up and looked outside, the snow had stopped, and the plow had come by our street and cleared the road.

As I looked closely, I could see that someone had used a snowblower on our driveway – probably the previous night because there was a thin layer of snow covering the pavement.

Wow, that made my day!

My biggest problem with it is, I’m not sure which neighbour did it. It could have been any of three neighbours, or the son of a neighbour who is out of town.

Having great neighbours is never something to take for granted. … Thanks guys, whoever it was.

Here’s the thing: In life and on your street, it’s great to have neighbours you can count on. In your Christian walk, it’s also important to have people you can count on. They can help you through difficult times, and celebrate with you when you’re full of joy. They’ll be there when you need another set of hand, ideas, or support. Don’t take for granted Christian friends; they are there when you need them.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When has a friend come to your rescue? Leave your comments below.

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We Just Got A Laundry Room Makeover

In a lot of homes, when you have guests over for a visit, one thing you are sure to do is close the door to the laundry room. … You don’t want to show off what’s happening in that part of the house because it just might scare people off.

It’s like if you ever worked in the kitchen of a restaurant, that’s one eatery you are not going to frequent in the future … you know what goes on back there!

I don’t know this first hand, but when my son was 15 he worked at a fast food place and, let’s just say, probably some customers’ life expectancies got lowered by a few years from eating there.

But back to our laundry room … I would almost consider taking the door off the room to let people see inside now.

This transformation happened because we needed to purchase a new washer and dryer.

It never ceases to amaze me how the need to do or get one thing has a ripple effect on so much more.

There was a lot of research that went into that decision and the new appliances are quiet and don’t leave black marks on the clothes like the old ones did.

The last straw for Lily was the black marks on the white towels. But for quite some time we had put up with the sound of a jet engine taking off when our washing machine was on the rinse cycle.

It was time.

In order to get these new machines in our house we had to do something with the laundry room, just to create some space to get the old ones out and the new ones in.

Lily had been thinking of keeping the laundry door closed to even the delivery guests. That was not going to work; we had to let them in.

There wasn’t much room to move around in there. There were boxes, files, and other equipment cluttering up the floor. You always felt like you had to get in and get out as fast a possible.

Not now. You could hold a small meeting in our laundry room. In the middle area, there’s a part of the floor that I haven’t seen for about 10 years!

It’s really great.

The downside is that we lived with a laundry room that collected things that didn’t have any place to go. It took a new purchase to motivate us to do something about all the stuff that had piled up in that room.

To be honest, there are several things that we still have to do something with. There will be a garbage run, and electronic waste run … and a run on old sentimental trunks that aren’t worth anything.

As a bonus to the neat and more spacious laundry room, I got a do-over of our exercise room. We reorganized the room, and made a space for another piece of equipment (treadmill) that had been lurking in the laundry room.

And it all happened because somebody from outside the home was going to see inside the laundry room.

Here’s the thing: There are parts of our lives that we don’t want anyone to see, so we keep them hidden. We are all good at hiding things from the people around us. But God sees it all; there is nothing that is hidden from Him. Keep that in mind and be quick to confess your sins. Don’t leave them to clutter up your life and your relationship with God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to spend some time cleaning up? Leave your comments below.

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I Need More Automation In My Life

I need a little more automation at a reasonable price.

This week I was putting together some booklets for a seminar I am running. It was a multi-step process that began with printing the material in a half-page format. The paper then needed to be cut in half, with care, so that the pages would be in the right order.

Then there was the binding – a two-step process in itself. There were holes that had to be punched and then the paper had to have the curly rings inserted into the holes.

The first part went smoothly; I have a program that arranges the pages in the order they need to be in.

From there I needed a little more automation. I didn’t have a cutting machine that would cut more than about 7 or 8 pages at a time.

The book was about 100 pages double-sided, so to cut the paper for one book took about 5 cuts. I don’t have an electric cutter either, so it required some arm effort on my part.

For this project, to get a cutter that would cut my time down (pun intended), I might have to mortgage my house.

I remember when I was a kid, my dad was in the printing business and he would take me to work sometimes.

I got to see some pretty wild printing presses and cutting units. There was one machine that just put numbers on invoices.

Back in the day, invoices came in triplicate – that’s three together with a carbon between each page. That meant that each invoice needed the same number stamped on each sheet, and then they had to be glued together.

This machine was like the old mouse trap game. There were little vacuum-like tubes that would suck one sheet and move it over to be printed. Then another set of tubes would move it to the assembly section, waiting for the other paper to be numbered and added, then the invoice would be glued along the top.

That was just one page! It was amazing to watch this machine, and listen to it make all kinds of noise while paper was flying from one part to the next.

If back in the sixties they could have a machine that did all that, how come now it costs so much money to punch holes in paper so it can be bound?

With my cut and assemble job, I had to be extremely careful because the machine was finicky and would only punch holes through a maximum of 10 pages at a time.

Oh, and if I made a mistake, and the puncher was misaligned on one section, I basically had to scrap that whole book!

There should be a cheap machine out there that can punch holes in paper with a press of a button, and can handle 20 to 30 pages at a time.

We’ve made so much progress in so many areas, with new discoveries and great advancements in technology … how about someone spending a little genius power on book binding?

Here’s the thing: The more automated our world gets, and the faster technology changes the things we do, the more we want all of life to be faster, easier, effortless. But there is no short cut to growing your relationship with God. It’s going to take time and you have to put in the effort. Keep at your routine of meeting with God daily.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What in your life would you like automated? Leave your comments below.

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Super Bowl Comeback

It’s what dreams are made of – the Super Bowl on Sunday night was an amazing comeback.

It was supposed to be a high scoring game; both teams had high powered offences.

But for the first three quarters, it looked like the story had already been written. Atlanta looked destined to win Super Bowl 51.

New England had the ball for much of the game, but there were dropped passes, quarterback sacks, and a couple of turnovers that just kept them from turning their possession time into points on the board.

By late in the third quarter, the score was 28-3 for Atlanta. New England finally crossed the goal line with 2 minutes left in the quarter, but then missed the convert.

New England went into the fourth quarter in a hole that seem insurmountable – it had never actually been mounted before.

People turned the game off, wrote the team off, got into that sorry funk when your team is out of it.

Then New England got a field goal and, with it, a glimmer of hope that if they scored two touchdowns with two point conversions they could tie the game.

Not likely; you’d need the comeback kids to do that.

… I remember playing road hockey on our street. My team was a little weaker than the other team. My brother was on that team and they also had the oldest and biggest guy on the street.

When he took a shot, everyone got out of the way. No one wanted to block his cannon.

We were behind in the game by about 4 goals, and dinner time was fast approaching. We huddled together and determined to beat those guys.

We scored a goal quickly and then it started … we muttered to each other, “the comeback kids.”

We got another goal, and our mantra got a little louder, “We’re the comeback kids!”

After the next goal, we actually believed what we were saying and the chant picked up some swagger to it.

After that we put in the goal to win the game, just before dinner. We were ecstatic, hugging each other and cheering, “Comeback kids, comeback kids, come back kids!”

That was the greatest comeback story of all time … but last night’s Super Bowl game came pretty close to it.

One of New England’s sure-handed receivers (Julian Edelman) had dropped about 3 passes in the game. But with 2 minutes left in the final quarter, he made one amazing catch that put them into the category of the comeback kids.

A pass to Eldeman was tipped, but the receiver stayed with it and tracked it down, getting hold of the ball about an inch from the ground.

It was something else! A Falcon defender said it best; looking up at the replay on the score board, you could see him mouth the word “wha . . .wha . . .wha . . .wha . . .wha . . .t?!”

That’s right, this catch got everyone out of their seats, and set up the greatest comeback (next to the comeback kids of ’69) in Super Bowl history. Awesome!

Here’s the thing: When do you quit when it seems impossible to make the change that God wants you to make? The answer is never! That’s what comeback kids do; they keep coming back to see it through to victory.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need a comeback on right now? Leave your comments below.

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I Was So Tired After My Recent Road Trip

There is something about being on the road that tires me out.

I’m not sure what it is … maybe it’s not sleeping in my own bed or maybe it’s keeping later hours, but being away from home just tires me out!

I don’t know how many times I’ve come home after a vacation and said, “Man, I need a vacation from my vacation!”

The whole idea of vacation is to relax and rest, but I’m always tired after my rest and relaxation time way.

It must be a bit of a mental thing, because when I lived in a dorm for four years I was able to feel rested, even though home was really halfway across the country.

Home is where you tell yourself it is, but once you settle on it, you get your full rest there; anything else kind of drains you a little.

This past week both my wife, Lily, and I were away from home – in separate directions. I was in the Toronto area for three days and Lily was in Ottawa for that same period of time.

I stayed one night in a hotel and the next night at our daughter’s place. Lily spent her nights at her mother’s. We were both in pretty familiar and friendly territory.

But when we both arrived home Saturday afternoon, we were wiped. If we hadn’t had things to do, both of us could have easily taken a big ol’ afternoon nap.

In fact, that might have made us more productive!

Our time away was spend with people we knew well. Both of us had a mixture of business and family time in our itineraries. But it seemed to drain us and not give us renewed energy.

I’ve talked to other people who share similar thoughts. The consensus is if you can make it back home after a full day away, it’s better being home than staying overnight somewhere else and getting back the next day.

You might think this feeling would be detrimental to hotels and resorts, but they seem to be able to sustain a good business. We like home, but obviously we also like to travel and experience other places.

I’ve been on vacations, missions trips, and business trips, some lasting as many as four weeks. But no matter where I’ve been, or how long I’ve been away, when I get back home it feels different.

When you get home, that’s when you really are at rest. Your whole body relaxes physically and mentally … that is unless you’ve been at home for a long period of time and find yourself a little stir-crazy. That’s when some time away from home will “reset” home for you.

It’s like a computer that’s been working for a while but then freezes. You can’t get it to do anything; the mouse won’t work and pressing the buttons does nothing.

All you have to do is hit reset and the computer comes back on, working like it always did.

A brief time away resets home so that coming back, walking in the door, flopping on your bed brings you back to the rest that comforts your body, soul and mind.

It’s home!

Here’s the thing: When you spend regular time with the Lord, that’s home. You know the place, the setup, the atmosphere; there is rest there. But sometimes that regular time gets disrupted, making you spiritually tired. You need to reset, get back to your time with God and find rest.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When was the last time you reset your time with God? Leave your questions below.

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The Father Daughter Game

She took me! My daughter took me to the game!

Karlie took me to a Toronto Raptors’ game; it was her Christmas present to me. We just went, having planned it for a time I had some business in the area.

I haven’t been to a Raptor’s game in a long time, so I wanted to go to a really good game. You always want your team to win, but especially when you attend a game live.

The trouble with this game was that the Raps were on a 5 game losing skid and their big star, DeMar DeRozan, was injured and not in the lineup.

The good news was they were playing a team that was well below them in the standing.

But my focus was on how my daughter was going to take in this game.

… The last time I took Karlie to a basketball game was in Edmonton. Now Edmonton has never had an NBA basketball team, but a minor league team was operating out of the city for a few years when we lived there.

I took a group of students from our church to a game and had an extra ticket.

I can’t remember the reason why, but I brought Karlie along to the game … she was three.

I’m not sure what I was expecting – an instant love for the game? an ability to understand the intricacies of the play? a keen interest in the players’ skills?

But what Karlie zeroed in on was the team mascot. Though we were sitting way high up in the stands, this fuzzy, energetic animal captured her attention.

I don’t think Karlie watched the game; she just kept her eye on that mascot.

When the game was over, she didn’t want to leave. She wanted to stay. I couldn’t figure out why she wouldn’t want to get going – the game was not a big hit for her. Then she started pointing right at the mascot.

I realized that this event wouldn’t end well without us at least trying to see the mascot.

We headed down to the floor level, and I maneuvered us over to where the mascot was giving high fives to all the kids swarming around him.

We got close but then he turned and started walking away from us. I thought we had missed our chance for Karlie to  get up close with the star of the game.

Just then the mascot stopped. He turned around, looked right at Karlie, got down on one knee and put out his arms.

That was all the invitation Karlie needed; she ran to him and got engulfed in his fur.

That was the highlight; we could go home.

This time around for Karlie, it was all about the skill, the plays and the intricacies of the game – not the mascot … oh, how 24 years changes things.

Here’s the thing: We are supposed to grow in all areas of our life as we get older. To stay the same in an area doesn’t make sense and really only stunts us. Be sure you are still growing in your relationship with God. Don’t be stunted spiritually.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What area of your life have you seen growth in over the last five years? Leave your comments below.

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Oh, The Sweet Taste Of Victory

I can almost taste the victory – that’s the victory of completing the Apple watch fitness challenge.

I’m not sure if Apple thought that we weren’t using their watches to succeed at keeping up with our fitness goals or routines … maybe they just wanted to help us all be a little more motivated to get exercising at the beginning of the new year.

At any rate, they put out a challenge to Apple watch owners to complete their fitness rings every day for a week in January.

There are three fitness rings that the watch measures. One is standing. You complete this ring by standing a minimum of one minute per hour for 12 hours a day.

This sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it? But if you work at a desk or sit in a car, or do both, those hours can easily tick away without you standing in every hour.

You have to be conscious of it and get out of your seat for at least a little bit each hour.

Then there is the move ring. This measures the calories you burn simply by moving about in your day. You don’t have to put out much effort at all to get this ring swirling, but it won’t budge if you are sitting down most of the day.

And then there is the exercise ring. This ring measures when your heart rate is elevated – not like in a stress-filled meeting, but by exerting yourself physically.

These three simple rings wind around my watch face, and this week I’ve completed all three rings for six days.

Tomorrow is the last day and I know I will be able to do it.

I haven’t set the bar too high, but it did require me most days to do specific workouts for at least 20 minutes. For me, it’s either I play hockey, or use my stationary bike and rowing machine to get my exercise in.

It wasn’t a cinch but it also wasn’t hard for me to accomplish. The trick was to be aware of what I needed and make sure the day didn’t slip away without me getting in those necessary, needed elements.

For example, I knew on Thursday that I had an evening meeting in which I would just be sitting. During that day I was mostly sitting as well.

But I did have a midday meeting outside the office and so I decided to also spend a half hour on my bike and rower to ensure I completed my exercise ring before my evening meeting.

So what’s the prize for all this? Do I win a new Apple watch or get a discount on a new Mac computer?

… It would be nice to win some free software or something.

Unfortunately, none of the above. All I get is an achievement award that shows up in an app on my phone.

It’s not much; it’s sort of like the online course I took at the end of the year. When I completed the work, I got to print out a completion certificate with my name on it.

Wow … it probably won’t get framed or put on the wall.

But along with the satisfaction of completing the challenge, there is the knowledge that a healthier body will enable me to live longer and with more energy. … Sweet victory!

Here’s the thing: Though there may not be any big wow’s for daily living for God, you do experience God working through you and you get to spend eternity with God in heaven. … Sweet victory!

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you find satisfaction in? Leave your comments below.