Christian

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I Think My Actions Changed The Weather

I sometimes wonder if our actions can actually change the weather. 

You see, right now we should probably have snow on the ground here in Kingston, but instead we have green grass … oh, and a touch of frost this morning. 

So far it’s been an interesting fall, with a lot of rain and more overcast days than I can could. … I was told that in October we only had three days of sun. 

Snow came early out west; there is lots of it in Ottawa … but we have none. 

I think it’s because I finally got winter tires. 

We got a new vehicle a couple of years ago and the tires were good, so I never purchased winter treads. 

But this year, my tires are a little more worn and, on a trip up north, they proved to be really bad in the snow. 

But since I got the new winter tires put on my SUV, there has been no need for them whatsoever. 

It’s like when you buy a new winter coat that you’re dying to wear. It’s impressive and you want to impress, but the temperatures stay high. You force the coat into action anyways even though it’s way too mild. You look like a fool and also learn that your new coat can act as a sauna as well as winter apparel. 

Can purchasing tires or a new winter coat really prevent the weather that is required to put them into action? 

I can’t say for sure, but it happens so often … as much as the weather man gets his predictions wrong. 

Now, I know I’m not the only one buying new tires, and there are people buying tires in snow-ridden places. I’m just saying that it’s uncanny how this works out for me. 

I know the snow is coming and really a major part of me is quite willing to delay the inevitable as much as possible. But I’d kind of like to know how these tires do in the snow. Will I be slipping and sliding around with them or will my vehicle be just as stable as if on dry asphalt?

It sure would be nice to be able to change the weather by my actions. It might be expensive, however. 

What else would I have to buy? 

Oh, I know! – a snowblower! I’ve wanted one of those for years, but my wife, Lily, keeps telling me we don’t need one. 

I can imagine if we got a snowblower in the next week that we wouldn’t see any white stuff on the driveway until after Christmas. 

I could also buy winter boots, and I could use some new winter gloves. 

I realize we are going to eventually get winter. I also don’t want to push winter into spring with a whole loft of purchases. That would not be good at all. 

… I’m not superstitious – really. I’m just making some observations about things that don’t happen when I prepare for them in some way. 

Here’s the thing:  Your actions can’t actually change the weather, but your actions can change someone. A smile, a word, a gift, an example can change a person’s day. Your consistent testimony can change a person’s destiny if they are drawn to the Father God by your actions. Be a light to others. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What would you like to change with your actions? Leave your comments below.

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It Was Not Easy, But Difficult

What I thought was going to be easy ended up being very difficult. 

In fact, I thought I was going to be good at it but it turned out that I was nothing more than average. 

A few days ago I gave a witness statement to the police as to what I saw during the shooting incident at the hospital. 

You can read about the incident here.

The police had so many people to interview and talk to the night it happened that they asked me to come to the police station the next day to have my statement recorded. 

I had to go to Toronto the next day so I ended up giving my statement five days after it all happened.

I really thought I had it down pat. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t tell the story at least once. There were times when I was going to sleep or waking up that I rehearsed what I saw … maybe partly because I didn’t want to forget anything for my testimony.

When the time came for me to tell my story, I was feeling like I had it all together. 

When I got to the police station, they led me to a room that had some cameras in it, and told me they would be recording the conversation.

Then the officer asked me to start at the beginning.  

“Easy,” I thought, and I began to recount how I heard a noise down the corridor.  

About two sentences later the officer stopped me. He said, “I need you to go back and tell me who you saw and what you saw them doing.” 

I had referred to “the men”, but I didn’t identify who the men were. I also didn’t identify who had the gun. 

So I started again and made it clear that there were two corrections officers and one inmate. 

But then I started to refer to the different individuals as “the guy” or “he” or “they”. 

And again the officer asked me to back up.

At this point I realized it was not easy to give a witness statement … and I was not that good at it. 

You see, I had the whole incident very clear in my mind. I could roll the memory tape forward and back. I could jump into the story at any place and know exactly who I was thinking about. But for other people – for an officer who will have to testify to the details I spoke about – it was very confusing. 

The movie that was playing in my head was not being shown on the wall for the officer to see. 

… It’s like listening to a hockey game on the radio instead of watching it on TV. Unless the announcers are specific in their descriptions, you don’t know what is happening in the game. 

It took longer than I had hoped. But in the end, I think I gave a statement that clearly identified all the players, and created a picture for the police that helped them see from my perspective what happened the night of the shooting. 

Here’s the thing: What you think is obvious might not be that clear to someone else. You might think that you clearly demonstrate a life surrendered to God, but it might not be that clear to someone who is seeking God. You need to plainly articulate your faith to others – don’t assume. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Who might you need to clearly present the gospel to? Leave your comments below.

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What To Do With Mystery Pain

For about the last four weeks I’ve had a mystery pain in my elbow that I couldn’t explain.

In my last post, I wrote about an injury that I had. Well, it’s not the only thing that’s hurting me right now. 

Over the last month or so, I noticed that my elbow has been getting sorer. I didn’t fall on it, bump it or do anything I can think of to make it sore.

But it has gotten increasingly more sore. 

I felt around my elbow to see if there was something that I could identify as being the cause of my pain. It looked fine from the outside.  

You could not tell there was anything wrong; it wasn’t swollen or red. It looked exactly like my elbow on my other arm.

But the pain is real. 

It feels like the bone is sore, right at the tip. It’s even sore to touch. If I move it in a certain way, it hurts.  

I couldn’t figure it out, but I started wondering what the problem might be. 

Some of the thoughts I had were not good, and it put a little worry in the back of my mind that this could be something serious that needs immediate attention.

Several years ago, I had a dark growth on my temple. It started as an itchy patch of skin and then developed into something that looked like a mole. 

Over time it got bigger and Lily thought it might be cancer. She wanted me to get it checked. 

Other people noticed it too and said I should check it out. I hesitated going to the doctor because I didn’t want to hear that it could be cancer. 

After much prodding, I went to my doctor who said he’d noticed it and it wasn’t anything. He put some dry ice on it and within a week it had flaked off. It has never come back since. 

When it comes to my sore elbow, I guess there is some of the same fear. I don’t want to find out that there is something really wrong with my elbow.

This Sunday I was telling a friend how it felt. Really quickly he said, “Oh, that’s tennis elbow.”

Well, I haven’t been playing tennis, but tennis elbow is the result of repetitive action that causes pain in the area.

I think my repetitive action is taking wrist shots in hockey. I’ve been putting a lot of torque in my shot and maybe that’s what has caused the pain. 

The problem is, it’s hard to rest an elbow – you’re always using it. Now it’s even tough to hold things. 

Though it’s gotten me out of doing the dishes, it’s also going to keep me out of playing hockey until it feels better. 

I guess the mystery has been solved. I’m going to have to curtail my hockey until the pain in my elbow goes away. 

Here’s the thing: There can be times in your life when you feel distant from God – like He isn’t really there to listen to you. It can be a mystery and hard to put your finger on anything in your life that would create a barrier between you and God. That’s when you should seek out a friend, and tell them how you are feeling. They may see something in you that you’ve become blind to, or through their own experience have an idea what you can do to get close to God again.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What mystery in your life may a friend be able to solve for you? Leave you comments below.

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Don’t Miss The Window Of Opportunity

The other day we missed the window of opportunity and it created a whole new scenario for us for the next five hours.

We actually had two chances to make it through a winter window before our travel plans were severely hindered … but we got caught in a winter storm and it wasn’t even winter yet. 

The middle of November is not usually snow weather, but we can get some weak, wet flurries that might stick to the grass but not usually to the roads. 

This time it did.

My wife, Lily, and I were leaving the Muskokas after a conference. Though there was snow on the ground, the roads were clear and it hadn’t snowed up north in several days. 

As we drove south to Toronto, and the landscape changed from white to green, I thought how nice it was to have the grass in view again. 

But I was too hasty. 

We stopped at an outlet mall to buy me a pair of shoes, which proved to take longer than we had originally thought. 

That was where we missed our first window. If we had just driven straight home, I think we would have beaten the snow storm all together.

But sometimes you don’t have the foresight you need for the situation.

I remember listening to a pastor talk about visiting an elderly woman in his church, way back in the 50’s.  

He said she had fed him coffee and a piece of pie. Unfortunately the pie was rancid and there was no way he could force that pie down his throat. 

He looked around for a way to dispose of the pie without the woman noticing. He was sitting by a window that was open at the time, and he thought it would be the perfect solution.

The pastor waited for the woman to go back into the kitchen and, as soon as she did, he threw the pie out the window. 

Unfortunately, he hadn’t noticed that there was a screen in the window. 

You could say he missed the window on that occasion! … and I would have loved to have heard his explanation. 

The first thing you want to do is make sure there is an open window. 

In our case, we never checked to see if we needed to take the window of opportunity and get out of Dodge to dodge the storm. Instead we decided to meet our daughter for dinner. 

That was the second window we missed. 

If we had have gone straight home after the outlet mall, we might have been mildly delayed by the storm. But when we committed to having dinner with Karlie, there didn’t seem to be any reason not to stay a little longer in Toronto.

Well, we missed the second window and as dinner went on I kept looking outside at the snow that had started falling and thinking, “We really blew it. We should have taken those windows.” 

As a result of missing them, it was one long, slow and treacherous three plus hours drive home.

Here’s the thing: There are many windows in life that we can either take or miss. Three important windows not to miss are: taking Christ up on His gift of salvation – none of us knows when that window for us will close; taking the way out when temptation urges us to sin; and forgiving quickly because it just gets harder to do it later. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What window of opportunity do you need to act on right now? Leave your comments below.

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Embarrassment Can Last Forever

From time to time I publish an article I’ve written in the past. This blog post is from November 2014, enjoy.

I’m sure everyone, at some point, has wanted to kick themselves for something they did or said.  For many of us, this happens rather frequently … too frequently for my liking.

I remember entering a Sunday School class when I was in my teens and making a snide remark about the teacher, thinking he wasn’t there yet … only to hear the teacher respond. At that moment, I wanted to take my words back.

As I recall, I didn’t remain in the class for the whole lesson that Sunday.  

Then there was the time I was with a bunch of friends on a bus and I saw a man burning leaves on his front lawn. I yelled some comment out to the man which, in the moment, I thought was quite witty.  

But all my friends thought it was lame – I mean really lame! I was pretty embarrassed at that moment, and every once in a while, even 40 years later, I still feel like kicking myself for making that comment.

The times we stick our foot in our mouth – or do something so dumb that the actors of “Dumb and Dumber 2” would be embarrassed for us – stay with us and its hard to forget them. 

But the worst are the times we say or do things that hurt someone else. Those are the worst because it’s about more than just being mortified or humiliated; you’ve caused someone pain as a result.

By the time you’re in your 50’s, you’d think those days would be over. When the person is a loved one, like a daughter, you’d think this couldn’t happen.  

But it did happen with me the other day. I was in a meeting … a prayer meeting. Four of us (my daughter included) had grouped together and shared some personal things we wanted prayer for.

I was just about to pray for my daughter Karlie – in fact, the first few words had come out of my mouth – when my phone started to ring.

I know, you’re supposed to turn your phone off in the movies, services and prayer meetings. Well I hadn’t, and my ringer is a funky piano tune.  

I panicked and went for my phone, quickly swiping my finger across the screen and answering it. 

Of course being in a prayer meeting I couldn’t talk loudly, so I quietly said, “Hang on; I’m in a meeting,” as I moved to an exit.  

That’s right, I left praying for my daughter to answer a phone call!  

I was kicking myself all the way to the exit. And I’ve been kicking myself ever since! 

How could someone do that? How could I do that? What message did I send my daughter in that moment?

I know this is one of those moments that I will cringe about every time I think of it … for years! You can’t take your actions back; you can’t undo what’s been done.

All I could do is say, “I’m sorry, Karlie. I panicked and did the wrong thing. Will you forgive me?”

Here’s the thing:  When we sin, that memory can linger with us and Satan can use it against us to discourage us, to make us too embarrassed to go to God with it. But the best thing, the only thing we should do, is confess our sin to God and move on from there. You can’t take it back. You might not even be able to forget it, but it doesn’t have to keep you from restoring your relationship with God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What’s one of your most embarrassing moments and what did you do about it?  Leave your comment below.

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I’ve Been On A Wild Ride

It was a wild ride and I hadn’t gotten out of bed yet. 

When I turned my head and opened my eyes, my bedroom seemed to be moving. I knew it wasn’t, so I turned over and closed my eyes to see if I could make the ride stop. 

Sometimes that’s all you can do. 

I remember when I was a kid, my brother, another kid, and I went to the EX (CNE – Canadian National Exhibition). 

This is one of Toronto’s historical end-of-summer traditions. We would even get a ticket to kids’ day at the Ex with our end-of-year report cards. 

It was near the end of the night; we were going to go on one last ride. We decided on the Toronado, a roller coaster-type ride. 

But we accidentally got in the wrong ticket line and bought a ticket for the Zipper instead. The Zipper was more like a merry-go-round type ride … only with a sinister twist.

The first clue was the seats you rode in. You were in a cab that seated four people. But it was a cage, because you were completely enclosed. There was a big wheel in the middle of the cage, coming up from the floor that could turn. 

The cage we were in started to go around in a circle, but then it also started to flip around. It was like the earth that goes around the sun but also spins as it goes. 

Let me tell you that on a much smaller scale than the earth sun scenario, this was a wicked ride.

We were thrown back against the cage and the only way to avoid the centrifugal force was to hang on to that big wheel in the center. 

We all took turns. You could spin the wheel to make the cage go faster, but we just tried to slow it down. 

Half way through the ride we all gave up. Plastered to the outer walls of the cage, we closed our eyes and hung on till the end. 

Our heads were spinning; we were dizzy to the point of nausea. Thankfully no one threw up – that would have been ugly! 

I never wanted to go on that ride again and I never did.

That is what you call self-imposed vertigo. 

I’m not sure if what I had this morning was vertigo, but it sure reminded me of that ride … only it wasn’t self-imposed.

The first time I got up, I stumbled to the bathroom like a drunken sailor. I went back to bed after that and closed my eyes to wait out the ride. 

My wife, Lily, told me there was some infection going around that causes vertigo symptoms and there were a number of people that had it. 

I sure don’t want to be one of them! … I’m thinking that maybe I was a little tired after a very long, busy day yesterday. 

I think a good game of pickup hockey will fix me. Maybe the vertigo will help me deke past other players today.

Here’s the thing: Life can get so busy, it leaves you spinning. When you get to that stage you need to slow things down. You need something that will intervene in all the crazy busyness. Two things can help: Break away; get somewhere different, somewhere quiet and calming. The right scenery helps – something peaceful. The second thing is connecting to the God of all peace. If you will spend time with Him, and listen to Him, God will help you see straight so the way ahead is clear. 

That’s Life,

Paul

Question: What has you spinning around in circles right now? Leave your comments below.

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I Lost Something Precious

Have you ever lost something that was precious to you, only to realize you could live without it?

It happens a lot and in many different areas of our lives.

Years ago I had a watch that I got from my dad. It was a Rolex so it was worth a little bit. My dad wasn’t wearing it and it wasn’t working, so I took the back cover off and cleaned it up.

The insides of that watch looked much different than your run-of-the-mill watch. It was all shiny and had a couple of jewels in it. I put it back together and amazingly it worked. 

Since my dad wasn’t used to wearing watches, he didn’t seem to mind letting his teenage son wear it. 

I had that watch for about three years. 

Then just before a camping weekend with my friends, I thought maybe I should get a new watch band because the band was starting to wear out. 

But I never got it, and the first night of the camping trip I lost the watch. 

I looked forever for it, and that weekend learned the truth that the big outdoors is pretty big. 

Though I was upset with losing that watch, now it means very little to me. I’m way past missing that hand-me-down from my dad.

We can also lose a friend. We can be very close to someone, but then distance and time cause that friendship to wain, and not be as important to us as it once was. 

We can lose friends through death. Where once they were part of our lives, and we saw them frequently, enjoyed their conversations, humour, help, and company, suddenly they are gone – people who were precious to us are no longer with us. 

This weekend we said goodbye to someone like that. 

Colin had been an integral part of our church since I arrived 22 years ago. When I look around the church I see his handiwork in so many places. 

It’s a real loss, but I know that, in time, the loss will be eased. I’ve experienced it many times in my life. 

You can also lose a friend through a disagreement. Maybe you were hurt or felt betrayed and the friendship is lost. 

It’s possible to remain friendly but, for all intents and purposes, you or they don’t feel the same, and you’ve lost that friendship. … That might be the saddest loss of all, because the friendship is still there just beyond your grasp. You can see it, but that friendship remains lost until the hurt or betrayal is dealt with –  and that takes two willing people who desperately want to hold on to something precious and not lose it. 

Here’s the thing: God is your friend if you have put your faith in His son, Jesus. To God that friendship is not something He wants to lose. But you could lose interest if you let other things in your life become more of an interest to you. You could let wrongs build up between you so that you try to avoid God, causing you to lose something that is right in your grasp if you don’t deal with those wrongs. God has already agreed to make things right. Confess your sin regularly and keep what is most precious.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What friendship have you lost, and what can you do to get it back? Leave your comments below.

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The State Of My Garage Is Concerning

I’m concerned about the state of my garage as we approach the colder weather. 

When I grew up, my family home never had a garage. The car was always in the driveway, exposed to the elements. 

So, when I finally got a house with a garage, I decided that I was going to park my car in that garage. 

That sounds like a no-brainer, but if you drive around neighbourhoods you will see how many homes with garages have cars parked outside in the driveways – ALL … YEAR … LONG! 

In the middle of the winter when I’m driving to work in the morning I feel sorry for those folks who have a foot of snow on the top of their cars. Their windows are all frosted over while my car has no sign that there was snow in the forecast overnight.

I like parking my car in my garage and I don’t want that to change. But over the last six months, my garage has gotten smaller. 

What I mean is, it’s filling up with stuff other than my car. 

We used to keep two cars in our garage but, even if we had two cars now, we couldn’t do it. The one bay is filled with stuff.

That’s the reason so many homes with garages have cars parked in the driveways – they have too much stuff to park in their garages! 

I guess it’s cheaper than renting a storage unit … though my guess is that most of the people who are not parking their cars in their garages already have storage units filled to the brim.

The problem is people have too many things that they don’t need or use, but want to hang on to. 

That’s not my problem. 

My problem is that I have kids who have stuff they are not using and have nowhere to store it. They noticed we had a free storage unit attached to our home and took advantage. 

It’s not climate-controlled, but it’s dry.

And now my wife is starting to add to the collection of items we are storing in the unit. 

We have been doing some cleaning out of things we don’t need or want anymore. However, some of those things are not finding their way to new homes, the garbage dump or a donation store. 

They are just making it to the garage where they are starting to look like they fit in there really well. 

As I survey the items in our garage, I’m thinking that if I rearranged them a bit I could turn them into a nice little living area that we could rent out to someone.

They would have to put up with a bit of carbon-monoxide in the morning and evening when the car next to them was leaving and returning from trips … but we could reduce the rent. 

All we need now is a hot plate and a mini fridge. Anyone got spares they want to donate to the cause?

Here’s the thing: Clutter finds its way into our lives and it’s easy to add to the clutter without taking time to evaluate it. Clutter can be sin we don’t deal with, interests that fill our hours, or things that demand our time. If your life is too cluttered you won’t have much time for God – He’ll be parked outside in the driveway. Take some time today to survey the clutter in your life and make some room to bring God in from the cold.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is the biggest source of your clutter? Leave your comments below.

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I Need To Change My Mood

It doesn’t take much to change a mood. A mood is often dictated by events.

Music can put you in the mood, and lighting can set the mood. 

As a hockey chaplain, I meet with players for chapel, but also to check on them personally. This week I chatted with some of the guys after they had lost all three games on the weekend.  You could tell that, even though it was three days past the weekend, there was still some sting from the losses. Their shoulders were drooping a little.  

But this Friday my guys won 4-1 and the mood was different. The guys who were a little shruggy on Wednesday were all smiles after their game win on Friday. 

It didn’t take three wins to change their mood, or a long period of time – just one win did it. 

I remember years ago when you could buy mood rings. They were supposed to reveal the kind of mood you were in by their changing colours. Of course, it couldn’t really tell what kind of mood you were in; it changed colour depending on your body temperature. 

Kids would tease each other for being in love if the stone turned red. But you could quickly get the stone to change your mood by how you held it or placed it on your skin. 

A “yes” or a “no” can also change your mood in an instance. 

You can go into a meeting with your boss to ask him for a raise. A “yes” from him puts you on cloud nine, but a “no” sends you down into an emotional pit. 

One time I was looking forward to going biking on the trails. I hadn’t been on my bike in a week. But when I got up that morning, the rain washed my hopes of a bike ride down the drain … my mood took a downturn rather quickly.

Over the last little while my mood hasn’t been the greatest. There have been a few things that have been really disappointing and they have kind of locked me into a bad mood. 

There has not been anything to change my mood either – no positive that might jolt me out of my mood. 

It seems like my circumstances are dictating my mood, that I’m at the mercy of something out of my control. I feel like a puppet with other people and happenings pulling my strings. I don’t like the mood I’m in but I’m dependent on someone or something to get me out of it. 

But that’s not really true. Things, events, and other people don’t control my mood – I do. 

Your mood is actually based on a decision – your decision. 

I choose what mood I am in. Sure, it’s based on peripherals, but I have control of the decision. 

So today I’m changing my mood. I’m not going to be grumpy, sad, or sullen. It’s my decision, so today’s going to be a good day.

Here’s the thing: You can let your circumstances discourage you and take your hope away, but that is your choice. Resist discouragement and disappointment by focussing on God’s goodness yesterday, His presence today and His promises tomorrow. You have the choice to either zero in on your purpose or your problem, on God’s power or your weakness, on Christ or your circumstance. What’s it going to be? You decide.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What’s got you down lately? Leave your comments below.

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We’ve Reached Our Limit

I think we may have reached the limit of what we can put in our house.

Have you ever tried to stuff one more thing into a box but then couldn’t close the lid? You move the things around in the box to get a better fit but, in the end, there’s still one too many things in the box.

We do that every year when we fill our Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Shoe boxes. 

I know we’re not the only ones because I see lots of boxes coming back with elastic bands around them to keep the lids closed.

We all must have some urge in us to stuff those boxes beyond full. 

We know that water has a saturation point. You can put salt in water and it will dissolve, but if you add in too much salt, you will reach the saturation point and see salt at the bottom of the pot. 

I wonder if we can do that with a house?

Is it possible to put one too many things in a house so that it reaches its maximum capacity and there is no more room? 

We know hoarders do that. I once saw a show on TV where they took a camera crew through the house of a hoarder. There was stuff piled almost to the ceiling with only paths through the house from one room to another.

But long before we get to that stage, I think it’s possible to have one too many things that you just can’t fit into your house without it lying out in the open … with no real place for it to belong, with nowhere for you to tuck it away.

My fear is we have reached that place in our home. We were billeting a few teens this past week, and naturally we wanted to clean things up. 

We are also making some changes to our exercise room, which means we need to find some new places to put things. 

As I was surveying the collateral piles of stuff that needed to be put away somewhere, I thought, “I don’t think we have a place to put everything.” 

We have more than one thing too many for our house. When I think about it, we have a lot of stuff. 

I’ve thrown out the things I don’t want, and the paper that should have been disposed of years ago. But I don’t know where to put some things that I want to keep more for sentimental reasons than to be used. 

Among the things that I want to keep is a VCR. We don’t use it any more but I have some video tapes that I would like to convert to digital some day. So how can I get rid of it? 

The problem is we seem to have reached the saturation point in our house and we have no more closet space, crawl space, storage areas, or drawers to put things in.

One thing is for sure – we have to get a lid on all this stuff … today!

Here’s the thing: We try to keep a lid on emotions, our thoughts and, yes, our sins. We stuff them into places that we don’t really notice at first and refuse to look at later when they get more visible. Just like a box, or even a home, you can get to the place where you can’t put the lid on anymore. Your stuff is going to spill out. Way before you get to that place, do something about it: give it to God; seek a friend to help you; sort out your inner junk. Deal with it now rather than later.

That’s Life! 

Paul

Question: What is cluttering your inner self right now? Leave your comments below.