clouds

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Live the Dream or Live the Reality

When it comes to weekends, there is the dream and then there is the reality.

The dream we have for every weekend in the summer is to soak up the sunshine and warmth. You want to be outside in the garden, at the lake, or on the links. You want to feel the warmth of the sun on your skin; you want to be wearing shorts and T-shirts.  

On the weekends, you plan to get out camping, be out on the boat, enjoy dinner on the patio, or a walk by the lake. You want to BBQ with friends and sit outside until the mosquitos drive you insane. 

You want to live as much of the weekend outside as you possibly can. 

That’s the dream; that’s what you want every weekend. But the reality seems to be very different from that.

The reality is clouds, overcast, cool, and rain. I don’t know how it can possibly work out this way but it seems that that pattern is the standard weather for weekends.

You have great hope every week that the next weekend is going to be amazing, but by the time that weekend rolls around, you are looking out your front window changing your plans to doing something inside.

As I’m writing this blog post, the sun is shining as bold and bright as it can possibly be. I can’t see one cloud in the sky from where I’m sitting. 

The temperature is rising and it looks like an amazing weekend day … except for the fact that it’s Monday morning. 

The forecast for the rest of the week looks great as well. 

And by the way, last week we had great weather too, with lots of sun … except for the weekend – it didn’t have any. 

Saturday the cloud cover was about eight miles high. It was dark; it rained; it was cool – not a great day for a weekend. 

Then there was Sunday. It looked like it was going to rain at any moment; the sky was dark, and the clouds kept rolling through. 

It just happened to be the day of our church picnic.

It’s too bad the weather couldn’t have been like today or Friday. We would have had a great picnic outside in the sun and shade.

Instead, we had our church picnic inside. 

We tried to fix it up to look very picnic-like. We even moved some pews back to have some open space at the front of the sanctuary so people could sit on blankets and pretend they were attending the service on the grass. 

We had a few picnic tables in our gym that made it look a little different than a regular church lunch. We had a sun tent set up in our foyer and a couple of beach umbrellas to give an atmosphere of the outdoors.

But from start to finish the church picnic day was all inside. It was going to be all outside, but we didn’t get dream weekend weather. We got reality.

We did, however, create the dream inside the church, and no one went home disappointed.

Here’s the thing: You live out your reality, but God has a dream for you that is far greater than the reality that you are living. Tap into God’s dream for you by asking Him to open your eyes to His dream. Then seek to live it out and make it your reality.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What would you like to change about your reality? Leave your comments below.

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The Other Side Of The Clouds

From time to time I will republish a post I have written in the past. This is a repost of an article I wrote in May 2015

On a recent plane trip, I became fascinated by two very different realms that exist in our world. There is the realm below the clouds and the realm above the clouds.

other side of the clouds

On the plane ride home from Calgary we flew above the clouds with the sun shining brightly all around and into the cabin of the plane. I noticed how some people shut their blinds so that they could sleep or to cut the glare on their TV screen while they watched a movie.

Looking out my window the sun was unhindered and I found myself squinting to shade my eyes as I looked out.

Below the plane was this white base that seemed firm and as I focused on it, in my mind I could envision a vast landscape of mountains and valleys. It was pure white, clean and bright, inviting.

On our descent, the clouds looked softer and billowy and certainly not solid like before.  They morphed into a wispy cottony substance as we enter them.

This particular day, the cloud cover was thick and it seemed that we traveled a long way to get through the clouds.  Everything out my window was grey and it resembled thick smoke when it is whipped up by the wind.

At one point, I thought, “How long are we going to be in these clouds?” I was surprised how thick they were.

When we finally got through, the scene was vastly different from above the clouds. Though it was only 1 pm, it looked like it was late in the evening.  The realm below the clouds was dark and grey, rainy and dull.  It was a complete contrast to the realm above the clouds.  The realm below was sun starved and I felt an immediate dip in my spirit.

Though this was the realm I live in, there was something about the realm above the clouds I wished was present.  Despite my familiarity with the terrain and the landscape, I had a longing for the bright warm and inviting sun.

So here’s my thought: When life seems rotten, when we’re down and things are going all wrong, internally we are in a realm much like I found myself in below the clouds.

In reality though, the sun is still shining – shining as bright as ever, providing warmth and light and goodness.  It just seems as if the sun is absent.

I envision the sun as God’s goodness and blessing shining on us.  For me to experience that once again, I turn to prayer.  I can’t break through my realm (through the clouds) to the realm above, but my prayers can.

Some times the clouds are thick and it seems to take a long time for my prayer to make it through them.  But that doesn’t mean God’s love isn’t shining down.  In the book of Daniel, he once wondered why it took so long for God to answer his prayer.

Look up Daniel 10:1-14. The angel tells Daniel his prayers were received right away but that he was delayed in responding, like there was a battle going on in the clouds.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we have to pray for a long time before we see a break in the clouds, and the sun shining again in our lives.  But what I need to remind myself of is that my prayers are received by God instantly, and regardless of how long it is before my prayers are answered, God’s love and grace is shining down on me as bright as ever – even when I can’t see it. And that’s good to know.

That’s Life!

Paul

What are your thoughts on delays in answered prayer?  Leave your comments below!

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Here’s Your Weather Warning!

Here’s a declaration I’ll admit: sometimes the weather man is correct.  The other day I went golfing with my son.  The weather was calling for rain, but since it hadn’t rained all day, I figured the evening would be rain free as well.

I have come to trust in looking outside to predict the weather rather than checking in with the guy who’s paid to give us 37% (approximate) accuracy on any given day.  But this day I didn’t look outside.  It was an opportunity to golf with my son so I jumped at it.

When we started, the sky was a little overcast but there was no hint of rain in those clouds.  By the time we got to the fourth hole, I was noticing some rather dark clouds coming our way.  But we kept going, as if somehow the clouds would part and go on either side of us, leaving a dry channel for us to golf through.

By the time we stepped up to the sixth hole, we were staring at black clouds that were now not that far in the distance.  There were rumblings of thunder which should have been a clue to us.  But we kept going.

It was no big deal – we were just carrying 13 lighting rods apiece in our golf bags, and when we pulled a club out of the bag, it was like saying, “Come on lightning, try to hit this little club.  I’ll swing it a few times to make it a hard target for you to track.”

We were brave, and stupid, but really brave.  We finished the hole, with the clouds almost over top of us.  Though it was only 5:45 pm, it seemed like it was about 7:30 pm with not much daylight left.

As we waited on the 7th tee for some people to clear the green, we saw some flashes of lightning followed quickly by thunder.  Mike took his shot and then I took mine.  It was a short par 3 so we got to the green in no time.

I walked to my ball on the green; Mike was already by the hole when I thought I heard something in the distance.  I bent down to check my ball, and I heard what sounded like a hundred horses running towards us.

I said, “What is that?”, then looked at Mike and yelled, “The rain’s coming!”  I took off running for the cart.  I don’t normally golf with a cart but I wasn’t complaining at that moment.  I jumped in just as the rain came pouring down.

Mike pinned the petal to the floor, but golf carts only go so fast.  With the wind and the angle of the rain, we got soaked.  We were driving through puddles, with rain and hail coming down all around.  When we made it back, Mike beached the cart by the overhang of the patio, as if that would keep us from getting more drenched.

It was like a flood; some guy was walking through a puddle that was over his ankles. Someone else said it would clear in about 15 minutes.  We went straight in to get a rain check.  Neither Mike nor I had any desire to preserve our rounds.  It would be best to start again another day.  At least we didn’t get hit by lightning.

Here’s the thing:  In life, God gives us warning signs that we are going down the wrong path or making a wrong decision.  Sometimes those signs seem so far off in the distance, rather than reacting to God’s warning, we keep going, feeling like we still have time.  What happens is we get comfortable living with the warning and even braver as they get closer.  We need to act on God’s warning signs early, because the storm comes in quickly and hard.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question:  How comfortable have you become continuing on in spite of God’s warning signs?  Leave your comment below.