What To Do When Weather Is Looming

Last week we were warned of looming weather. There was supposed to be a bad storm with freezing rain coming our way. 

It was supposed to start in the early hours of Saturday morning, but when I got up for hockey at 5:30, there was no rain and it was above freezing. 

I thought after hockey I might have difficultly driving home, but there was no rain and temperatures were still in the positive numbers.

The weather stations were ramping up their warnings, like it was going to be bad and that our city was in the red zone of the storm.

Yet when I looked outside to the street, the road was drying up.

The weatherman said to make sure we had gas in our cars. I wondered where I would have to drive to if there was freezing rain, and how long this was going to last. 

Were they suggesting that I needed to get out of the area, sort of like a nuclear fallout zone?

People were filling up with gas; they were stockpiling water. 

I had already been contacted by another church who was wondering if we had a plan for our Sunday service or whether we would cancel it. 

That got me thinking because I hadn’t thought about our service at all. We always just have it. But this week we were scheduled to have a lunch after church.

After conferring with my board, we decided to only cancel the lunch and let everyone make their own weather dependent decisions about coming to church.

Nothing was actually happening when we made that decision. It was just looming, with the threat of starting at any time. We didn’t know when; we didn’t know how bad it was going to be. 

But the threat of what might have been coming had us making plans, checking the sky, stockpiling supplies … Hey, Lily, how’s our candle inventory?

I remember the ice storm of 1998. The Canadian Encyclopedia called it one of the largest natural disasters in Canadian history. McLean’s magazine called it “The Great Ice Storm.”

We didn’t cancel church back then, and it was in January. We didn’t have power or heat, but we did have a service, though only a handful of people attended. 

I just remember having my jaw wide open as we drove through the deserted streets to get to church.

That one was more severe and long-lasting than this one was predicted to be, but it also was never looming. We just woke up and faced it. 

This time it was looming and the more it loomed, the bigger the storm became in our minds. 

When something is looming, it’s not usually considered a good thing … like when the music in a scary movie hits a certain chord, you know something bad is looming and about to happen.

Or when the US, Britain and France conduct bomb strikes on Syria, you know that reactions by Russian and Syria are looming. 

The looming part gives us time to think and plan and not be caught off guard … and maybe head to the bomb shelter.

Here’s the thing: People were worried and planning on what might be an inconvenience for a few days. But Christ is returning sometime and, though it’s been looming for over 2000 years, it’s still looming. Make sure that you are benefiting from the looming of Christ’s return: think about it, plan for it, and don’t be caught off guard. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you prepare for looming situations?

Seriously, Something Is Wrong Here!

Today’s blog post comes from my wife Lily. She is the one who edits my posts and every once in a while she get inspired to write a post of her own. I hope you enjoy this post.

Even though the weather this week doesn’t feel like it, I know summer is coming … I’ve been dreaming about it … flip flops, scorching heat, a refreshing glass of cold lemonade and carefree days!

Ahh, those images take me back to my childhood …

When I was growing up, it was common place to either see or to have a lemonade stand on the hot, humid days of summer. Well, actually it usually wasn’t a lemonade stand but a Kool-Aid stand.

You remember Kool-Aid, don’t you? … “Kool-aid’s here bringing you fun, Kool-Aid’s got thirst on the run. Get a big, wide, happy ear-to-ear Kool-Aid smi-i-ile!”

I think Kool-Aid stands were our mothers’ faults. After all, they were the ones who would repeatedly spout the phrase, “Go outside and play.” Eventually, we’d get tired of skipping and biking and jumping on pogo sticks. We’d run out of scenarios for playing cowboys and indians (ya, I’m that old!). We’d finish soaking ourselves with water guns while playing cops and robbers. And there were only so many freezies we were allowed to eat before supper.

After sitting with siblings and friends on the curb for a while, racking our brains for ideas, someone would invariably suggest selling Kool-Aid. Even before the logistics were worked out, we’d be arguing how we’d spend our fortunes.

Logistics boiled down to someone running home and begging Mom to make a jug of the finest colour of Kool-aid in the house, and someone else ravaging their pantry for plastic cups …. which weren’t hard to find back in the heyday of Tupperware!

Of course, some kind neighbours would always oblige and purchase a glass or two, and the ever-loving moms would buy a glass of the drink they had just moments ago pulled from their own cupboard and mixed for us … Could there ever be people who love others more than moms?!

Today’s kids, however, are missing out on all that. Our country has gone berserk in bureaucracy! Remember that news report last summer about two sisters, aged five and seven, whose lemonade stand was shut down because they didn’t have a permit and weren’t following the bylaws? And they were selling lemonade to raise money for a summer camp for kids with cancer! Can you imagine?!

Seriously, for starters, who would report two little girls for trying to raise money for a cancer camp? What bylaw officer would actually follow through with shutting them down?

In the end, they are allowed to reopen their stand, but guess what? They had to change their adorable, crayon coloured “lemonade” sign because the word had to be written in both official languages!

What have we done to our kids? When are we going to stop reacting to every complaint and problem by creating more regulations and rules?

… Makes me nostalgic for the old, carefree days of summer where everything wasn’t regulated and kids didn’t have to be bubble-wrapped before venturing outside to play.

I think I’m going to go buy some Kool-Aid.

Here’s the thing: God has given us some rules to live by. But when we fixate on the rules alone, we can go berserk in Christian bureaucracy. God never intended us to live by rules, but by love. Our lives should be lived in response to God’s great love for us, and what Christ did for us by dying and taking the punishment we deserve.

That’s Life!

Lily Silcock

Question: What rules have you gotten fixated on? Leave your comment below.

All My Technology Failed Me

This past Sunday I discovered how dependent and a slave I have become to technology.

It’s not like I’m going to pull the plug on my tech, but it was an eye-opener.

This is what my Sunday looked like …

I use notes on my iPad to preach from; I transfer PowerPoint slides from my computer to the church computer to be projected on the screen during the service. And this Sunday I was going to connect my computer to a big screen TV to present my report at our annual meeting.

Here’s a quick summary of what happened …

First, I was unable to transfer my PowerPoint slides to the church computer. In the process of trying, I wiped out all the music slides and created a mess for our tech person.

Next my computer screen would not show up on the big screen TV.

After twenty minutes of trying, in a bit of a panic, I decided to go home, get my old computer and use a projector instead of a TV.

On my way to my car, it was like God spoke to me and said, “Don’t do it”.

I stopped, looked at my watch and realized I didn’t have enough time.

I answered God, “You’re right; I just wont use it.”

And you know, immediately I felt peace – not worry, not panic – just peace.

I went back into the church, and simply prayed about the service and the annual meeting for then next twenty minutes. When the Sunday service began, there were still no slides for the sermon, but the music lyrics came up on the screen.

During the song just before my message, I turned on my iPad, like I always do just to make sure my sermon notes are open and ready.

Well, it would not open for some reason. At that point I didn’t really have time to problem solve. I got up quickly, went to my office while the song was being sung, grabbed my printed copy of my sermon notes and came back.

I preached from my printed notes (first time I’ve had to use those), had no visuals on the screen, and in the afternoon gave my annual report, also from printed notes without visuals.

Later that day, I checked my computer to see if it would hook up to my TV at home and it did – no problem.

After rebooting my iPad, it worked fine.

And the slides for the sermon? The next day I was able to transfer them over to the church computer without issue. It’s still a mystery why that happened.

It was a very strange day with three tech issues happening at the same time. I realized how dependent I am on technology.

You could chock all that up to coincidence, or you might say God was trying to teach me not to be so dependent on technology.

A third option would be that evil wanted to disrupt me and our service by putting me in a panic.

Once I stopped reacting to what was happening, the Lord gave me peace about it all. I was able to calmly and successfully complete my work without any disruption.

Here’s the thing: There are times when problems happen; it is just natural. There are also times when God wants to get your attention. And there are times that Satan wants to rattle you. The best solution is to stop yourself from reacting, turn to God, listen to him and find peace to move forward.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you dealt with domino-like problems in the past? Leave your comments below.

There Is A Difference One Day To The Next

Things can be different one day to the next, even when the conditions are the same.

Have you ever noticed that you can have a great day and, with no rhyme or reason, the next day is crummy?

I find that young adults can be like this. My wife, Lily, and I regularly talk to our kids on the phone. One day they can be sailing and the next they are in the pits.

Maybe there is some latent hormonal chemical reaction that strikes from time to time (they’re both in their late 20’s), but I am always dumb-founded to know what changed from the day before.

Often nothing changes, but we look for something to blame. It somehow feels better when we can find a reason for the turn of events.

… Like when the weather fails to turn out the way we had hoped it would, we blame the weatherman, as if he had something to do with changing the weather. As if he or she had some control over how the weather was going to turn out!

It doesn’t matter that meteorologists only predict the weather, we like to stick it to them and focus our frustration on their seeming incompetence.

The other day I played hockey with a group of guys and everything clicked – passing, shooting, skating. I scored one goal that I’m still playing over in my mind … it was a beauty!

I’m sure the guys on the other team weren’t saying the same thing. They seemed frustrated; not much was going right for them. I almost felt a little sorry for them.

But hold on to that thought …

Today came around and this time, playing with another group of guys, nothing was working.

Passes never seemed to get to me, and my passes sometimes got intercepted by my own teammates. Shooting, well, I hit three goal posts … that’s enough said there.

I felt as good today as I did the other day when I played. All the conditions were the same.

I was playing with a different group of guys, so I could say that it was the players that made the difference. I could blame them to make me feel a little better about myself.

The problem with that is I was playing with better hockey players today than I was the other day when everything went right!

There just doesn’t seem to be any explanation for the change, or any way to hang some blame on anyone.

One day everything went right and the next day nothing seemed to go right.

When someone is in a grumpy mood, we tell them that they woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or that they didn’t get enough sleep. We can blame their mood on something they did or didn’t do because those are conditions we can measure.

When there is nothing to measure, we are left with a mystery that will never be solved; it just must be accepted.

Here’s the thing: We often blame God when, out of the blue, things go wrong. We blame Him for allowing the bad to come into our lives. We want to blame someone or something and we feel God is as good a person to blame as any. However, before you turn your ire on God for something He may or may not have been at the centre of, why not accept it and keep moving forward? If you don’t, you will just spin your wheels, fixated on blaming.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Who or what have you been tempted to place blame on lately? Leave your comments below.

I’ve Been Driving Around Potholes

From time to time I repost an article from the past. 
This post was originally published in March of 2014.

I’ve never been into monster truck racing, but lately I kind of wish I owned one. In the aftermath of winter – not that I’m saying it’s over, but it better be – I need to be driving something a little more substantial than my Hyundai Accent.

The road conditions in my town are like a war zone. My apologies to those who actually live in war zones; I’m sure it’s nothing like it. But from my perspective, I’m dodging bomb craters every few minutes.

It’s our crazy winter that has created these conditions, and if the city doesn’t soon get the road crews out there fixing the potholes, the mechanics in my town will be rubbing their hands together with sinister smiles on their faces. I think my car might already need new shocks or something.

I feel like a rally driver bobbing and weaving around land minds that want to take my car out. I’m not even using the double lanes to pass cars any more. I need that other lane just to get around the missing pavement so I don’t have to drive into oncoming traffic.

I’m sure in other Canadian cities the state of the roads are the same as they are here. … Now I’m starting to worry about an asphalt shortage!

I’m not sure that it’s even possible for us to have an asphalt shortage but I can see the construction companies starting some rumours to drive up the prices. We’ll all be paying for that if it happens.

I’m also predicting a tax increase this year. The bill for road work is going to be astronomical and I’m afraid it will take them until next winter before they make all the repairs that need to be done.

When I was a kid winters were harsher, but the roads seemed to last longer. Maybe they are skimping on the base of the roads. Is it possible that they are using cheap crushed stone from China under our roads? Maybe that’s why our roads aren’t holding up as they should be.

I’m in favour of starting a “buy Canadian gravel” campaign if it will help us drive on smooth pavement.

It could be that they are using a thinner layer of asphalt. They should lay that stuff down as thick as they do for airport runways. Those planes weigh tons more than my little car but those airstrips seem to last and last.

One area that is holding up are the speed bumps they put on some roads to encourage slower speeds. I haven’t seen any missing sections in them. I have, however, been secretly wishing the snow ploughs would push them off to the side with the snow.

No one would notice in the winter. Not until the snow melted would anyone see the piles of black top on the side of the road. They wouldn’t be able to replace them either with all the work they have to do filling potholes all over the city; there’d be no time.

Well, here’s hoping my vehicle will make it on another rally car race to work this morning!

Here’s the thing: In life there will be potholes. We can complain about them; we can blame others; and we can blame God. We can ask God to fill them, but most likely He will help us and guide us around them. We just need to stay alert to God’s direction in our life.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are the road conditions like in your city, in your life?

I would love to hear from you; you can leave your comment below.

I Wish My E-Wallet Was Growing Faster

My e-wallet is starting to get a little thicker, and I’m not concerned about it one bit. In fact, I wish my e-wallet was expanding at a faster pace than it is.

I wouldn’t be able to say the same thing about my physical wallet – that’s a completely different matter.

My physical wallet is at its max; I can’t put anything more in it. I use a hard case for my credit and information cards and it can only hold so much before they are so jammed together that you can’t get any of them out.

Since the time I started carrying a wallet I have tried to keep it as thin as possible. But the older you get, the more cards you have to carry with you.

I remember a time when I carried a billfold with six slots for cards in it. It was pretty thin, but before long I needed to double up the cards, with more than one per slot.

I started feeling my wallet when I sat down. I kind of had to move to sit on one cheek more than the other.

I’ve seen people with wallets that are two or three inches thick, and I wonder how they are able to sit down at all.

In fact, many people pull their wallets out of their pockets when they sit down.

That is not something I would ever do. I would constantly lose my wallet and be replacing it and all the cards inside it on a monthly basis.

For me a wallet has to be thin and be able to stay in my pocket. And that’s what I like about my e-wallet.

I can add cards to it and it never gets any thicker. I just added a card to it the other day.  And when I use it I won’t even have to pull my wallet out of my pocket. I just use my phone or my watch.

E-wallets are the way to go. We should be able to put our health care card and drivers’ license in our e-wallets as well.

I would like it if all I needed to carry with me was a billfold. And even there, I’m using cash a lot less.

There are some stubborn institutions though. I have two credit cards by the same company, from different banks. One bank gives me the e-wallet option while the other one doesn’t.

I’m not sure what their reasoning is other than they don’t want to make life too easy for me. I guess we will always have those who are not going to go with the trend until the trend is a well-worn path used by almost everyone.

All I know is the quicker the wallet in my back pocket shrinks, the more comfortable I’ll be sitting down.

Here’s the thing: Often I will find myself communicating with God in the same familiar ways, praying the same types of prayers, asking for the same types of things. My ways are very accustomed to me. But seeking new ways to speak with God, and to listen to Him communicate back, opens up whole new avenues of relating to God. Always be growing in how you interact with God and you will find God to be more refreshing and easy to access.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What new ways of doing old things do you need to look into? Leave your comments below.

Not Sure I Can Live Through These Deadlines

Deadlines are part of my world, but there are some deadlines that suck the life out of me more than others.

Most weeks of the year I live with at least one deadline: I have a sermon to prepare for Sunday and it doesn’t matter what has happened during the week, that deadline has to be met.

I might be sick that week, have meetings I’ve been called away to, or have had to conduct a funeral, wedding, etc. No matter what, that deadline of being ready to get into the pulpit on Sunday remains.

I know that deadline, have become accustomed to living with it, and can successfully navigate through my week to deliver on time.

But there are other deadlines that I don’t deal with regularly and they take a heavier toll on my state of mind.

When you compound a deadline with one or two other deadlines, all due around the same time … well, that’s how I’m feeling right now.

Right now the pressure is on. I have only a few days to go before these deadlines stop me in my tracks.

It’s like those auto commercials where they test how a car does in a crash. They stick a crash test dummy in the vehicle and then they remotely drive the car into a wall or a cement barrier of some kind.

It’s fascinating to see what happens when the vehicle stops on impact. The front of the car coils up like an accordion and then the car bounces back a little.

The car is a right-off, but what the company really wants to know is how the dummy will fair inside the automobile when it reaches the deadline.

Based on the dummy’s reactions they can tell how safe they have made the car. But no matter what kind of safety measures they have built into the vehicle, there are two things that happen to the dummy.

First, when the car hits the deadline, the dummy moves forward; the inertia is uncontrollable and the dummy’s body has to move in a forward direction.

But then at the pinnacle of the impact there is a force placed on the dummy that is every bit as uncontrollable, forcing its body to snap back in the opposite direction.

This action causes a whiplash affect on the dummy.

I am that dummy right now, right at the stage of whiplash with these multiple deadlines looming over me.

In a few days it’ll all be over; time will have run out on me. I will be a wreck, emotionally and mentally drained.

So in the short time I have, what do I do? I ask myself the question, “Do I work at one deadline until it is finished and then tackle the next one, or do I begin each one and gradually work towards completely them all at the same time?”

This is where I differ from a crash test dummy. It is just along for the ride, no thought, no input. Me, I have to think through the questions and decide a course of action.

Here’s the thing: We are all coming to a deadline. The problem with our deadline is that most of us don’t know when it will be. But when the deadline hits, that will be the end; we will be stopped in our tracks. To be ready for that deadline, be sure you have become friends with God, through faith in Jesus Christ. There is no better way to prepare for that deadline than to live now by faith in Christ so that you’re ready for that deadline of death.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you handle deadlines: well in advance or right down to the last minute? Leave your comments below.

I’m Finding I’m Having A Challenge With Change

I will be doing something this week I don’t like to do: change.

There are some things I like to change, and others I have no problem changing, but there are some things I will avoid changing at all costs.

Change is a curious thing. I have an Apple Watch with several very different bands. I like that; I like to be able to change my watch strap.

In fact, before I got my Apple Watch, I had a collection of watches in all shapes and sizes because I like to change them up.

I’m not sure I would have been all that excited about moving to a new watch if I couldn’t do something to change the look at least a little bit.

But when it comes to other things, like changing my email address, well, that’s a whole other matter.

I’ve had the same email address for 22 years, and been with the same internet company all that time.

But things are going to change here this week. We got a new internet service and TV package.

I really struggled to make the change because I didn’t want the hassle of informing everyone that they have to stop using my old email address and change to a new one.

The crazy thing is I don’t mind doing it for other people. I get those email messages that inform me that so-and-so’s email has now changed so please update my contact list.

I do it; I don’t have a problem with it, and it works fine.

But just thinking about changing mine, well, it creates a stress that is not rational but real.

It doesn’t make any sense, but I really don’t like the thought of changing it. I’m sure no one will be devastated that they can’t contact me if they forget to make the change in their address book … and possibly I could lose some contacts that are more like spam anyway.

That wouldn’t be so bad.

I just don’t like the thought of all that I have to do to make this change … even though I actually don’t have to do all that much.

But the thought of doing it seems a bit too much. It’s disruptive; it’s changing something that has been the same for a very long time.

It’s like changing out old hockey equipment. I hang on to the same equipment until I am forced to make the change.

Years ago I had a pair of long johns I would wear under my equipment. I had the same pair for so long that they had holes all over them.

I actually sewed them together, so that I could keep wearing them – that’s how crazy my aversion to change is!

With my email address change, the price tag was what eventually forced my hand.

We could save close to $50 per month by making this bundle change.

I just couldn’t justify my old email address being worth that much money.

And you know, just talking this all out right now has made the change seem a little more doable.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we can get stuck in a sin because we have a hard time with change. Sometimes we have a hard time moving forward in our relationship with God because it will mean change. Be careful that an irrational aversion to change doesn’t keep you from dealing with sin and moving closer to God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is something that God might be asking you to change? Leave your comments below.

I Had To Do A Double Take Of The Hardware Store Ad

It’s becoming apparent that hardware stores need another season.

In athletics there are seasons for different sports, and sporting goods stores sell products related to the time of year a particular sport is in season.

Grocery stores sell food in season. With refrigeration it’s not as evident, but foods that are out of season in a region are more expensive, causing us to not buy them as often.

I eat grapefruit every morning but there is a time of year that one of my regular stores doesn’t sell them. And in other stores, the quality is often so poor that I tend not to purchase them.

You would think then it would be easy for hardware stores to find things to sell in season without running into other seasons. But this week I opened up some flyers and couldn’t believe what my local Lowes, Rona, and Home Depot were selling.

They were selling BBQs ahead of snowblowers!

They had big spreads of patio and deck furniture. They were featuring planters, shade umbrellas and artificial grass.

I can understand the grass because you could lay it down on top of the snow, and then place your new deck furniture on it.

It would be chilling out there but, if you had a gas fireplace on the deck, who knows? The wind might blow the flame and heat your way, keeping your core body temperature warm while your toes, hands and ears all broke off with frostbite!

You realize it’s February, and it’s Canada I’m living in – what in the world are these stores thinking of when they put out ads like this?

It’s clear they need another season of goods to sell.

There’s a Scotia Bank commercial here that talks about Canada having a 5th season, that season being hockey that runs all year long.

But really the hardware stores need a 5th season too. Even if the advertising got me ramped up to purchase some lawn furniture in February, do I really want to buy it only to have to find some place to store it for another two to three months?

I don’t think so.

What families are going to start parking their cars on the driveway instead of in the garage, scraping off the ice and snow, getting into freezing cold vehicles every day, just so they have somewhere to put their new deck loungers that they won’t be able to use until mid-May?

I’m all for having the stores change their focus leading into the next season, but this is ridiculous.

Maybe they should be selling little ice huts for BBQs. These huts could be like ice fishing huts, but instead of bringing out the auger, you place the BBQ in the center of it and sit around it, keeping warm while the steaks sear, telling stories of the big steer that got away.

I might get interested … but only when I can see some grass poking through the snow.

Here’s the thing: There are many things that want to take your attention away from the present, to sort of paint a preferred mini future for you. But there already is a preferred future that has been painted for us by God. It is life with Him through Christ, His Son. Don’t get sidetracked by the little things that glimmer for a while. Keep focussed on the future God promises.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What things distract you from your preferred future? Leave your comments below.

It Was Beauty And Treachery All At The Same Time

There are certain times and situations where you find beauty alongside treachery, and this weekend I found it.

I, along with my whole family, were away with my wife Lily’s whole family, celebrating the matriarch’s (my mother in-law’s) 80th birthday.

The place where we stayed was pretty amazing (you can read about it here).

The setting was stunning; the view from the deck was straight off a post card or, in more current terms, an online photo site.

It was perfect; the snow was lightly falling and the trees all had that white frosting look to them. Everything looked fresh, white and pure. It was the kind of snow that invited you to step in it and be the first to make your mark.

But with that thought also came the hesitation, “Do I want to ruin this perfectly smooth, white blanket that is covering everything?”

The last full day we spent there, most of us went down to the lake and cleared the snow off a patch of ice so we could skate.It was a gruelling affair; the snow was so deep. I now know how they came up with the size of a hockey rink though.

We shovelled out the perimeter of the surface so we knew what size our rink was going to be, and then started clearing the inside. When we started, I thought the rink was going to be large. But after we finished, it wasn’t that big at all.

When they first made hockey rinks on ice, I bet they did the same thing. Looking back, they might have wished they made them a little bigger like they do in Europe.

Our rinks are smaller here in North America … possibly it was because we had more snow to remove.

When we were skating around, you couldn’t help but think that we were in the middle of a winter commercial that they would show during the Olympics or hockey games. There were about ten people skating on a lake, with a sea of white around them, and snow dusted trees in the background.

It was a scene of true beauty to stand there and let our eyes drink it all in.It doesn’t get much better than that. It doesn’t get much more Canadian than that.

But there was treachery that went along with it.

That light snow that I mentioned? Well, it didn’t stop for two days. And so what if it was light? After more than 24 hours of it, we had a significant pile of snow …that covered everything included cars and the road.

When our son was leaving, he got stuck on the narrow, up and down, twisty-turny cottage road.

He got stuck several times and, in the process of helping him get out, we got another two vehicles stuck as well.It took several attempts, a reboot in the morning, a snow plow and a long walk for some of us to the main road, but we got him out.

… And it was a beautiful walk back to the cottage through the woods, with all that stunningly white, treacherous snow.

Here’s the thing: This is how sin works – it ropes you in with its pleasure; it tempts you to be like everyone else. It looks like fun, and why shouldn’t you get to enjoy it? But there is treachery in all that eye-catching desire. It will suck you in and cause you harm. Be wise, and don’t take that step. That’s when you will fall.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What sin tends to suck you in by its seemingly good looks? Leave your comments below.