Christ

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It’s A Disaster When I’m Not Focused

Some people are naturally more focused than others, but focus is important for everyone.

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When you’re focused, you get more done in less time; you rid yourself of distractions. When you’re focused, the main things seem to be clearer in your mind.

But it’s not always easy to be focused. There are times – especially when we are tired – that we just can’t focus on any one thing.

I had that experience a week ago when I was working with a committee to write a report. We had worked for many hours on the contents and finally we were consolidating and tuning all our expressions into a concise, articulate document.

After a couple of hours, I couldn’t concentrate on the point we were dealing with. All I could think of was closing my eyes, that there was time the next day to finish our task.

A few days ago, I also had a moment when I had to talk myself into getting focused. I was trying to throw a crumpled piece of paper into a garbage basket from about eleven feet away (okay, I measured the distance later).

I missed three times: to the left, to the right, and then short. Each time I thought I would make the shot, but it wasn’t until I really trained my sights on the back of the basket that I drained it.

I had to tell my eyes what to lock onto, instead of looking in the general direction. When I locked my focus on the back of the garbage basket, I put it in … and to prove it wasn’t a fluke, I did it five more times in a row after that.

When I think of focus, I think of a magnifying glass and the sun. When you get the sun to shine through the magnifier until the light draws together to form a ray that is so intense and powerful that you can start a fire, that’s focus.

When I focus on a golf ball, I will hit it squarely centred on the club face. When my focus is not trained on the ball, I will miss the centre ever so slightly and the ball will not travel as far.

In my office, first thing in the morning, if I get out my study tools and start reading, I focus on my task undistracted.

If, however, I open up my email, my focus is lost to find out who wants my attention. My mind is flooded with added thoughts, concerns, and demands that were not there before I looked at my email.

My intent, my focus is no longer laser-like; it’s not going to burn a hole through any paper.

The trick is eliminating things that distract, that widen our view and keep us from locking onto our target with pinpoint accuracy.

Here’s the thing: When it comes to focusing on God, the best time to focus is before you have any other commitment or distraction on your mind. That’s why I like the early morning, before I look at or do anything else. That’s when it’s easiest to focus on my mind on God. And if I happen to wake up with something else on my mind, I simply determine a later time when I will deal with it, so I can lay it aside for the time being.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you do to focus your attention? Leave your comments below.

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Varying Temperature

We know that temperature varies from place to place, but 20° Celsius isn’t even the same across the country.

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When you hear what the temperature is somewhere else, you immediately interpret it as what it would feel like where you are presently.

Of course, this leads to either jealousy or boasting. We either wish we had the temperature in that other city or we proudly admire the great temperature we have.

I was recently in Calgary for a conference and when I flew out of Toronto it was quite warm. When I got to Calgary, it was a little overcast and cooler.

The next day, however, was going to be around 20 C so I dressed appropriately for what 20 C would be back home in Ontario.

What I found, though, was I could have worn a light spring coat and been perfectly comfortable. It’s not that I was cold, but it wasn’t warm either.

The next day I wore shorts. It was supposed to be warmer and, though I was not chilly wearing shorts, I could have been slightly more comfortable in long pants. Choosing my attire based solely on the temperature, I should have been very comfortable.

Just before I was leaving Calgary, I stopped to grab lunch at a fast food restaurant. I placed my order, and while waiting, saw a young guy come in rather exhausted.

He said to me, “Man, is it ever hot out there!” I could tell he wasn’t kidding. The temperature had risen to about 24 C, but he seemed like he wasn’t going to make it through the day if he didn’t get some kind of relief.

He ordered water.

That’s it! It was like if he didn’t get water right then, he couldn’t go on. Fortunately, the place had lots of water and it seemed he had enough change in his pocket to pay for it.

I was ready if he had been short a few coins; I would have chipped in for the guy. He seemed a little desperate.

After I finished my meal in the comfort of the air conditioned restaurant, I prepared to head out into the blistering heat.

I thought maybe I should order a bottle of water to go in case I collapsed before I reached my rental car. … I simply took my chances.

Outside the restaurant the temperature was nice. I wasn’t sweating and I certainly didn’t feel the heat of the sun beating down on me.

I thought about the young guy inside and wondered how he would do in the same temperature in Toronto. He may have needed two bottles of water – one to carry in case it was a long distance between watering holes.

When I got into Toronto at 9:30 pm that night, it was about 19 C. It felt about the same temperature as it had in Calgary at midday with the sun shining down on us.

Someone pointed out to me that in the winter -10 C in Toronto feels a lot more severe than -10 C in Calgary. I guess it’s all relative.

Here’s the thing: In life we deal with the same circumstances in different ways. We have different thresholds for what we experience. Aren’t you glad that God is personal and deals with you, helps you, listens to you, responds to you, not according to the degree of the issue, but based on how it feels to you?

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What issues cause “severe temperatures” for you? Leave your comments below.

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Do You Save The Gorilla or the Boy?

This week I heard about the boy who got into a gorilla enclosure at a zoo. People were pretty upset that the gorilla was killed to save the boy. One radio announcer said it was a sad day.

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I thought, “Wait a minute. It was a great day. That boy was saved!”

People were looking to blame someone for this. They were blaming the zoo, and/or the parents of the boy.

But what about blaming the gorilla? If the gorilla had have had any sense at all he would have just protected the boy and not dragged him through the water – that’s what got the officials to act in such a decisive and final manner.

What was the gorilla thinking anyway? He must have known that his actions would look threatening to all who looked on, including the zoo officials who had a gun trained on him.

I’m not what you would call an animal lover, but I did have an iguana as a pet for seven years. And we had a turtle for about the same length of time. We finally gave him up to friends who had a young family.

I don’t know how Winston is doing now, but I still think of him with fond memories sometimes … poor little guy.

I guess what I’m saying is, I like animals; they’re nice. But I’m still a meat eater so I really wouldn’t consider myself to be a defender of animals.

There are those who love animals and would protect them at all costs. For those people, I guess it’s a toss up of who you would protect in the situation of the gorilla and the boy.

After all, it was the boy who was in the gorilla’s house, and he was in there uninvited. Though if a 3 year old could get in, I think the gorilla should have had a better locking system for his enclosure.

I understand the parents could have been charged, so maybe they facilitated the break-and-enter for the little boy.

If that’s the case, what have we been teaching our children for years, reading them stories about “Goldilocks And The Three Bears”? Clearly someone was guilty entering the bears’ enclosure while they were not home. Really, what kind of parents did Goldilocks have anyway?

If the boy was in the enclosure to steal something from the gorilla, I’m not sure what it might have been. There wasn’t much in the gorilla’s enclosure worth stealing – no valuables like electronics or jewelry … maybe some food, but I’m sure they could have easily got more appetizing food from the concession stands.

In our time it seems there’s a trend to put animals on the same level as humans. It’s like we need to speak up for them because they have a disability or disadvantage in communicating what they want.

After all, there are many people who think gorillas (animals) are people too.

Here’s the thing: God gave each human a mind, spirit and soul, because He wants to have a relationship with us. Animals are a wonder of God’s creative power, but humans were made in the image of God, to connect with God. The day that boy was saved in the gorilla enclosure was a great day because one who was made in the image of God was spared so he could reflect the image of God to others.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you plan to reflect the image of God to someone today? Leave your comments below.

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Be Open To Something New

Yesterday my daughter got me to try something new, and that’s pretty amazing. What’s even more amazing is that it was food.

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When your kids are young, you are constantly coaxing, encouraging, coercing them to try new and different things. As they grow up, you do it so much that you never think there will be a time when the shoe is on the other foot.

I have to admit, I’ve had to take a few fashion tips from my son, and he’s gotten me to watch the odd movie he recommended.

But the other night was something else. It involved eating and I’m pretty set in my ways when it comes to that.

I think it goes back to the days when my mother tried to feed me squash for dinner. It seemed to be a staple in our house, like once a week at the very least.

I alway refused, but there was alway a tiny pile of it on my plate, with the understanding that there would not be dessert without the downing of the squash.

I tried to hide the flavour by mixing it into other foods like potato, but the taste always made me shiver as it went down.

As hard as my Mom tried, and as often as she persisted, to this day I don’t eat squash.

I don’t eat guacamole either. Well, maybe I shouldn’t be so hasty …

Lily and I were on our way to Toronto for me to catch a plane the next day. We were staying the night at our daughter Karlie’s home.

Normally when we get there, we go out to eat or order in. Karlie does cook but there never seems to be any food in the house when we arrive. I’m not positive, but maybe it’s just a ploy to get a free meal.

This trip, however, we left late so I thought we would just get fast food on the way. Not this time. Karlie apparently had food for us.

Still, we weren’t going to get there until nearly 8 pm, and since I was hungry when we left home, I thought about just passing on her offer this time.

But there was something about the offer that gave me the impression she would be disappointed if we didn’t eat there. So I said we’d be there for dinner, and hit the gas pedal.

Well, Karlie is into this clean eating thing. I don’t really know what that means … I’m pretty sure Lily washes the food we eat too.

When we got there, to my surprise, the bbq was on and the chicken was smelling pretty good. I’d been waiting so long to eat, I almost had to catch myself from salivating down my chin.

We were having chicken tacos which is not a stretch for me at all. I like hitting up Taco Bell for some grub sometimes. But this was a little different.

The tacos were basically chicken, red cabbage and that’s it. I thought maybe I needed some hot sauce or something, but there was none. The only thing to put on for flavour was guacamole.

But I don’t eat guac! However, since there was nothing else, and with a little coaxing from Lily, I tried it.

Crazy thing! – it was pretty good. … Look at that, me trying something new my daughter suggested.

Here’s the thing: Don’t get so stuck in your ways spiritually, that if God were to move you to try something new, you won’t do it. Always be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life.

That’s life!

Paul

Question: What’s something new you’ve recently tried? Leave your comment below.

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Parking Downtown Can Be An Adventure

If you drive a car at one time or other you are going to face some parking issues. The bottom line is that there are more cars in the world than parking spaces.

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I remember when they were building the hockey arena downtown in my city; the cry from the people was that there was no parking. Where will people park?

At my church, during the week, we allow two businesses to use our parking lot. On Sundays we use their parking lots because we don’t have enough room for all the cars.

On Friday I had a lunch meeting downtown. As I drove I thought, “It won’t be easy to find a spot.” I decided that I wouldn’t try to be greedy and look for a spot right outside the restaurant I was going to.

The first spot I found, however, fooled me. There were lines suggesting it was permissible to park there. I got out of my car, looked, and decided I needed to back up a little more to really be between the lines.

Since I was out of the car, I thought I’d pay the meter first, so I went over and threw in all the change I had, figuring that would be sufficient to cover my meeting.

When I came back to the car to put the parking pass in the window, I noticed a street sign right at the tail end of my car.

I thought maybe I should check out what that sign said. I was suddenly a little disappointed with the city! On the road they had markings for a parking spot but on the sign above they took the spot away with a no parking sign from that point on.

Now I had a parking pass but no spot to park in. I got in my car and looked around trying to figure out what I was going to do.

I looked back behind me and on the other side of the road there was a parking space. I checked the traffic and, when it looked clear, I swung out of my spot and did a three point turn (perfectly, I might add) in the middle of a busy downtown street and raced for the vacant parking spot.

I pulled in and, since I already had my parking pass, I was pretty pleased with myself.

I got to my meeting and it was not only delayed, it went longer than I had anticipated. When I got out I hurried to my car, fully expecting to see a parking ticket on my windshield.

There was no ticket – I beat the system! In fact, I was two for two that week … which I think is a much better percentage than my son has.

… I get his parking tickets addressed to me on a regular basis because the car is in my name … I’m not sure his Star Trek cloaking device is working all that well.

Here’s the thing: I’ll take a chance on finding a parking spot and, at times, even take the chance I’ll get back to my car before the ticket officer arrives. But I’m not going to take a chance at getting into heaven. I want to be sure I have the right ticket. That ticket is my faith firmly placed in Jesus Christ as my saviour and my Lord. Oh, and there’s no trouble finding a parking space there.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What kind of chance are you taking with God right now? Leave your comments below.

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I Took A Risk This Weekend

I took a bit of a risk this weekend that could have led to a big problem.

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For most people, they wouldn’t think anything of this, but for me, I had “worst-case scenario” in the back of my mind.

All I did was cross the border on Friday afternoon of the long weekend.

My wife, Lily, and I were heading to a cousins’ retreat at a cottage on Lake Ontario – that would be on Lake Ontario in New York State.

One of Lily’s cousins had rented a huge home on the lake and nineteen of us found our way to this place for a couple of days.

For us it was about a three hour trip, which is not that bad … it can sometimes take us three hours to get to Toronto.

But the added element of surprise was that we had to cross the border and I had to be back Sunday morning to preach in church at 10:30.

I had a choice: come back late Saturday night and get very little sleep, or risk a border crossing early Sunday morning and arrive at church by 9:00.

I had visions of having our car searched, pulling everything out and being delayed long enough to create a mini-panic at church.

I even told one of my elders that I was scheduled for praying mid-service and preaching, so if I didn’t make it, well … he was on!

On the way down we didn’t have any trouble at the border. In fact, I’ve never had any trouble getting across the border.

There was one time that I was driving a van with about six people in it, two of whom were born in Asia and Africa. I simply said we were going to a conference in Chicago, and the border guard said, “Have a good time.”

My internationally born friends couldn’t believe it. They had never crossed the border that easily before and said, “Paul, you’re definitely driving when we cross back over!”

The only time that I had a bit of a hassle was going to a conference in Ohio. The border guard asked me what was in my trunk.

I replied that there was a suitcase and my golf clubs. He told me to open the trunk. After looking, he came back to the window, asked me what my golf handicap was, and proceeded to give me some golf instructions!

Although these have been my border crossing highlights, you never know when they’ll just decide to rip your car apart.

I was feeling like the risk was worth the extra sleep so we decided to get up at 5:30 Sunday morning and make our way home.

The drive was pretty quiet; there wasn’t much traffic on the roads, and I was going over my sermon … Lily was driving.

The border crossing was no big deal; we were through in a matter of a minute and a half.

I think the key is don’t say much, and keep your words to a minimum (which might be hard for some people) so as not to give the border guard ideas to question you on.

Arrival time: 9:08 am.

Here’s the thing: It’s no big deal to take a calculated risk on something that might cost you some time. It’s another thing to take a calculated risk that might cost you your life. It’s an even greater deal to take a calculated risk on your eternity. Make sure you are right with God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How secure are you in your relationship with Christ? Leave your comments below.

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I’m Realizing How Dependent I Am

The other day, I realized how dependent I am on my glasses. I don’t have a prescription, and I don’t wear them all the time, but I can’t do without them.

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It started in my 40’s. I noticed after studying for a period of time that my eyes would get all blurry. I couldn’t focus on anything.

That’s when I got my eyes checked. The eye examiner said that I needed reading glasses and handed me a prescription.

I never filled it. Instead, I went to a drugstore and found a pair of readers with a mere +115 strength. They seemed to work fine.

Well, I’ve been doing that for the past 18 or so years, but now my glasses are +250 or +275 … I can’t tell for sure; the marking has rubbed off.

Over the years, I’ve realized I need to keep my glasses close by, even though I don’t need them all the time. You never know when someone will want you to look at a picture on their phone or I will need to read a label of some kind.

I remember times when we would rent videos and I would forget to bring my glasses. I’d say to my son, Mike, “read the description on the back for me, will ya?” I couldn’t see all the tiny print.

Now I keep a few pairs of glasses at home, and a pair on my person. But the other day, I forgot them.

I left them on my night table … something I almost never do.

I got to work, fired up my computer, and within a minute knew that I wasn’t going to be able to work without glasses.

Fortunately, I had a spare pair at work. Now the problem with always having your glasses with you is that you don’t pay attention to the spare pairs you’ve put in places you might need them.

It had been a few years since I needed to use that spare pair at work. And even at that, it was just once and then a year of so before that.

So I flipped on those glasses in my desk, and I could tell right away that they weren’t strong enough. So I searched around to see if I had another pair.

I did, but I think they were even older. I had to put one pair of glasses on and then stretch my arm out as far as I could to try to read the strength of the lenses printed on the arm of the other glasses. It read +125.

Well, that ship had sailed a long time ago. I’m double the fun and double the strength now.

I knew that if I continued to work with those glasses, I would have a hard time finding the door of my office in about 25 minutes.

So I took off to the nearest drugstore and bought a pair of beauties. I don’t really want to be seen in public with them on, but I was able to work all day without the feeling that I was watching an old 3D movie without the glasses.

Here’s the thing: Your Christian life should grow more dependent the longer you are a Christian – just like how I need my glasses more and more and at greater strengths. We should become more and more dependent on Christ in our daily life. Never think that you are set, now that you’re a Christian. You need more of Christ and in stronger doses.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you become more dependent on Christ? Leave your comments below.

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What To Do When Your Discipline Is Off

My discipline has been off lately and I think I might have figured out why.

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I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just have a hard time disciplining myself to do things – things that I don’t usually have trouble getting down to.

I am a routine kind-of-guy. I work best when I have a routine. I usually structure my day to a routine that keeps me on track, especially in the mornings. I relax that schedule in the afternoons.

In the morning, I basically do the same things every day. I get up at the same time, have my devotions at the same time, and get into the office and start to work on my sermon first thing every day.

Well, that’s what I normally do; but I’ve been off-track lately and I didn’t know why.

I would come into the office knowing full well that I needed to get a good start on my sermon, but for some reason I would click on my email and check it first.

Or, I would look at some mail on my desk, or check out something that’s been on my mind or that caught my eye in an email.

What I’ve been finding is a half hour or more would go by before I really got settled down to study.

Today I think I know why I’ve been like that. In my devotions this morning, I was complaining to God about it and a thought came to mind.

I think God put that thought there. This is what it was: “I’m having a hard time disciplining myself because I feel I need to be doing more than one thing at the same time.”

I know what I need to do each day at 8:30 (get to my sermon), but I also have a couple of projects I need to be doing.

My disciplined nature can make me feel hurried to get to both things, to feel pressured to get to all my tasks.

My mind is torn and so I try to escape the dilemma or the pressure to do two things at once (which can’t be done anyway) by doing neither. Instead, I check email, or diddle around on something that is not important. My escape provides immediate, temporary relief, but ultimately puts more pressure on me down the road.

I can be very disciplined but I need a way out of my dilemma right now. I am going to try to clearly schedule time to do both projects so my mind can focus on one thing at a time, and not try to escape both tasks.

If I can see in my calendar when I will work on each item, I’m hoping tomorrow my mind can stay focussed on one task at a time.

Here’s the thing: In finding time to spend with God, it may be that you have more than one thing you feel you need to get at. In most cases, the other thing screams louder in your head than spending time with God does. The best thing is to schedule time for both things, and be single-minded when you approach your time with God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you handle the pressure to do more than one thing at a time? Leave your comments below.

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Bald People Don’t Have Issues With Hats

I wouldn’t say this often, but there are times it’s better to be bald … like when you need to cover your head with a hat.

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It sounds kind of strange, but I’m having a bad hair day today and the only thing that is going to help it right now is a hat.

I know that some people struggle with their hair every day but I don’t usually have issues with mine. I have the kind of hair that pretty much stays where I put it in the morning. And for most of the time, that’s a good thing.

In the last ten years, I’ve noticed my hair has thinned out a bit, but it still performs the way I want it to … most of the time.

The good thing about hair like mine is that I don’t have to comb it throughout the day to keep it in place. My hair knows where it’s to go and it remains there all day.

When I was a youth pastor, the students in my group found this curious at times. They would come and mess up my hair just to test it. All I would do is give my hair a few quick flicks of my fingers and it was back in place.

If I went out into a wind storm, same thing. I would just run my fingers through my hair and I was good to go.

The downside with this type of hair is its strength: my hair stays put.

When I put on a hat, my hair forms to the hat and when I take it off, it stays that way.

After a night of sleep, often my hair needs a little coaxing to get into place. But if I’m just going out to play hockey, I will slip on a ball cap and go.

After hockey and a shower, I usually don’t put my hat back on. But today I did. My hair was a little damp; I threw on the hat and went home. At home I didn’t need the hat so I took it off.

That’s when the comments started arriving fast and furiously.

“Dad, your hair is wild today,” my daughter said with a laugh. She was home for a quick visit and after her vicious comments, I was glad it was a quick visit.

Lily chimed in and said, “She’s right, dear. Your hair is something else today!” and chuckled.

I had hat hair and I really didn’t care about it that much. I just wished my family was a little more supportive.

Later in the day, I was stepping out to pick up some wings for dinner. My son was home at the time, and as I went to the door he simply said, “Uh, Dad, you better wear a hat”, with a smirk on his face.

Lily just laughed. I slapped the cap on and headed out the door.

I just wonder how it would have gone if I had have made those comments to Lily about her hair.

Here’s the thing: Our minds and hearts perform much like my hair does. My hair forms to where I put it or what I put on it. Your mind and heart form to what you put in it. So if you want a mind and a heart that is forming to God, feed your mind the things of God: read his Word and spend time with Him in prayer.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What kinds of things do you put in your mind to form it? Leave your comments below.

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I Hold My Breath When I Start Things Up

I love opening up our cottage after the winter and getting it all ready for a new summer season. But I have to tell you, I have my fingers crossed when I do it.

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You just never know if things will work properly after sitting dormant for a while.

There’s not a lot to opening up our cottage. You turn on the power from the source; you turn on the water and get it flowing; you turn on the gas so you have heat and a working stove.

Electricity is always first for me. It’s the easiest thing to turn back on … a few flicks of some circuit breakers and, voila, you have lights and a working fridge.

Having lights lets you do the other work without feeling around like everything is in Braille.

I get the gas turned on next because it’s also pretty easy. After turning on the propane tank, I simply light the stove burners and turn the heat on.

Then there is the water. It’s not hard; it just takes a little more work. You have to hook up the hoses, turn the water on at the source and then systematically turn the different taps on to coax the water out and start filling the hot water tank.

Those are the main things we need to do. The rest is set up and clean up.

But every year there seems to be some kind of issue with starting up. I think two factors play into that …

First, the place has been sitting for six months in a dormant state, and second, I only open the cottage once a year so I don’t have a well-oiled routine.

Last year I had a heater problem. You can read about that here: ______ It turned out I had forgotten to take some tape off a vent.

One year I needed to replace the filler, float and flapper in our toilet. It had frozen over the winter and was leaking in the spring.

This year – wow – it was a mystery. I turned on the water and all the taps were working.

But as I tested the hot water lines to see if the water was flowing out of them, the tap in the bathroom sink dried up. I was getting water out of all the other faucets but nothing out of the bathroom sink.

Then I turned the cold water on again … nothing. Every other water source worked except that one set of taps.

I just couldn’t figure it out. Fortunately, we could live without water from that sink so I decided to sleep on it and tackle the issue in the morning. Secretly I was hoping it would magically fix itself.

… Turns out, living at the beach, it’s possible to accumulate a fair amount of sand in the water lines. The aspirator on that faucet was completely beached! … Easy fix.

Here’s the thing: You know when you take a break from serving God in some capacity?  Maybe you needed a rest; maybe it was time to leave a particular ministry. Maybe you moved from one place to another and you haven’t jumped right back into ministry. When you do go to start up again, don’t think you will pick up where you left off. Starting up again is not as simple as flicking a switch. Seek God’s help, guidance and wisdom as you move into service so you don’t go into it in your own strength.

That’s life!

Paul

Question:  What have you started up recently? Leave your comment below.