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We All need A Fresh Dose of Inspiration

Sometimes a break from old habits can be a refreshing change that leads to new inspiration.

This morning I am writing my blog from our deck. The sun is shining and there’s a slight breeze causing our Canadian flag to do a little dance in the air. 

I don’t normally write my blog from here. Usually I write in our basement, stretching out on our chaise lounge with minimal lighting overhead.

I think our seasons naturally provide that same sense of new inspiration four times a year.  

It’s the change in temperature, scenery, even smells that create a freshness about each new season. But once the season is well established, we lose inspiration and settle for the comfort of familiarity … like hearing an old tune on the radio that stirs your memories and warms your heart. 

But there is still nothing like a fresh sense of inspiration to change things up.

From fall to summer, the small group I’m in meets on the same night in the same home. We’ve been doing that for several years now.  

The other day we decided to get together one more time before we broke for the summer. The original plan was to have a potluck at the home we normally meet in. It would have been great. 

But a day before we were to meet, one family suggested we meet at their home on the lake,  on Sunday afternoon and evening for a BBQ.

That’s what we did. We enjoyed the peaceful presence of cottage life for a few hours. We went for a boat ride around the lake, and I got to take the sea doo for a spin. It was the first time I used my boating license since I got it two years ago.

After dinner we roasted marshmallows over the fire and sat around talking.

We need those fresh touches of inspiration from time to time. In some instances they come along seemingly by accident or just perfect timing. At other times fresh inspiration must be planned for, arrangements set, decisions made – like my decision to write my blog this morning on the deck. It took some thought because when I had finished my devotions, I had certainly planned on writing from the cave as usual.

But there was something about the sun outside the kitchen patio window that was calling me … something about breaking out of my normal routine. 

The end result is that, once I committed to it, I had new inspiration to write this piece. 

You may not be able to tell that this post is any different from other posts I’ve written, but I know from where this article has emerged – from some new inspiration.

I certainly can’t write my blog outside on the deck in the middle of winter, but I also don’t have to write it all year long on a couch in a climate controlled environment.

Sometimes the best thing to do is to find some new inspiration.

Here’s the thing: Maybe you need some new inspiration with God. Is your relationship getting a little stale? You talk to Him but don’t feel like your are hearing back from Him? You don’t have the same passion or desire to spend time with Him every day? Things have gotten comfortable, even a little stale?… It’s time for some new inspiration. Find a new place to meet with God. Go outside; talk to Him in a new way; ask Him a question and don’t just go on talking; wait for Him to give you an answer. Find some new inspiration and enjoy a renewed, refreshed relationship with Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Where will you find some new inspiration this week? Leave your comments below

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I Got Sold An Inferior Product

Is it ever okay to stand behind an inferior product? Is there ever a time that it’s acceptable to sell a poor quality item?

The other day I found someone who thinks so.

I was doing a little project at our cottage, trying to close in the sides of our deck by building frames and then attaching vinyl siding to them. 

The project was going well, but then I ran out of wood for the frames. I needed more 1×3 strapping, so off I went to the closest lumber store to get some more.

I purchased the lumber at a service counter and then drove my vehicle out back to pick the pieces up from the yard. 

The employee who was assisting me began pulling the 1×3’s from the rack and laying them out for me. When I first saw the pieces he was pulling, I thought he was putting them in a reject pile. I soon learned that this was the lumber he was offering me.

I started to take a closer look at them and replied, “This is no good, and this one’s no good either.”

After I rejected several pieces, the attendant asked me what I was using them for. 

When he heard that I was building frames with the wood, his response was, “Maybe you should be buying pine; it’s a much nicer wood.”

“It’s also a lot more expensive and I’m covering my frames with siding. I don’t need them to look really nice,” I replied.

He went back to pulling planks out of the pile. I kept rejecting half of them.

And then he said this: “You know this is strapping, don’t you?” … The look on his face and his attitude was really saying, “You know this is cheap wood; it’s not that good. You really need to take what you get.”

I was a little ticked at this point, looked at him and said, “You have given me nothing but the pieces that have already been rejected by other people. I’m agreeing to take four of them. You’ve done well at getting rid of your junk, so keep at it.” 

I wasn’t in need of 50 pieces or even 25 or 10 pieces of wood. All I needed was 6, and that guy did nothing but go through all the crappy pieces that had already been picked over! 

I ended up taking 6 pieces home, but when I started to use them, some of them were so badly warped that I had to take 2 pieces back. 

I may go somewhere else to get those final two pieces of strapping.

I guess the thing that bugged me the most was his attitude. He seemed to think it was reasonable to sell wood that was pretty much unusable.

I just needed some straight wood. How do you build frames with wood that is wrapped like a Bobby Hull hockey stick? 

If I was buying a pallet of strapping, I would accept that there would be some pieces that were unusable. But for only 6 pieces, I needed all of them to be good ones.

Here’s the thing: The world is trying to sell us an inferior product. It’s selling us a lie that this is all there is; there is nothing beyond this life. God says there is an eternity, and the life we have now is only a fragment. So don’t put all your hopes, dreams, and ambitions into this world … you’re only buying a cheap life. Instead, establish a relationship with God and enjoy real, full, everlasting life. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What inferior set of goods have you been sold? Leave your comments below.

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Too Busy To Set Goals?

It’s a good feeling to complete a goal you’ve had for some time. When you have to squeeze that goal into an already tight schedule, there is a sense of relief when it’s done.

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Last summer Lily and I redid the deck at our cottage. We had all kinds of advice about how to get the old paint off – a huge, messy chore.

In the end, we used a liquid that was probably filled with all kinds of harmful and cancer-causing chemicals. It did a good job though. We may turn green and begin to glow in five years but we got the paint off.

Most people will then seal the wood with a stain of some kind, but before we did that we decided to clean the wood.

That’s right, good old water is not good enough to clean wood any more. You have to use another chemically-laden liquid to wash all that grit and grime out of the planks.

Well that worked too. It was amazing how bright the wood became. It took that grey, lifeless timber and we got it looking like we just chopped a tree down and sent it through the mill.

We were so impressed with how it turned out we decided not to stain it at all. Instead we are going to leave the deck unprotected. Can you believe that? Wood unprotected? There are probably laws against that but don’t tell anyone that’s what we did.

We figure that when it starts looking its age again (because right now it looks ten years younger than it really is), we will just clean the deck again with that rich chemical wash that seems to transform the wood back to its natural colour.

After doing all that, we also took the old railing off the deck and put on a new one, which really looks nice!

Last year at this time, we were proud of the work we had done. We were tired; it was hard work, but we felt really good … like we’d improved the cottage.

I like to take my time savouring those kinds of moments – like maybe for a couple of years or so.

But not Lily. She thought that it looked so good at our cottage, we should do the same thing with our deck at home. The idea was when we got back from vacation we would get busy on the home front.

What? Two decks in one year? I thought, “Who am I? A pastor or a guy who works on decks for a living?” … I put it off for the rest of the year.

But when this year began, Lily managed to sneak it on to our list of goals. We ended up being so busy, I even had to work on the deck on my birthday. But it looks great! … Lily wishes we had have done this five years ago. I wish we could buy a big ole retractable umbrella to give us a little shade on that deck.

Maybe that’s next year’s goal.

Here’s the thing: Set goals for growing in your relationship with God. Determine topics or books of the Bible you want to explore. This year I’m focussing on prayer. I’ve read four books on prayer since January. You might have to work hard – even sacrifice to accomplish those goals – but you are going to smile at the results when you reach them.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What more do you want to know about God or the Bible? Leave your comment below.

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What Kind of Waiting Do You Practice?

This morning I’m sitting on my new deck with my new “conversation set” of outdoor furniture, waiting for the sun to fully come up.

conversation set

As we were finishing our work on the deck last week, I got the vision of a sitting area where we could be comfortable, like in our living room, but outside.

The problem with this furniture is that it is big and we only have a small car. Enter my brother and his SUV.

I did some calculations on the size of the furniture and the size of the back of his SUV and I figured we could get it all in.

I’m kind of getting used to borrowing vehicles to pick up large items. The other day I had to borrow a friend’s pick up truck to get three sheets of lattice and a 12’ piece of 2X6.

I remember the days of independence when I owned a mini van and could haul just about anything in that. Well it’s a new day and I need my friends now more than ever.

We made the twenty minute trek into the big city with John’s SUV and waited forever for the guy in the Canadian Tire warehouse to confirm they had all the pieces to the set.

It took so long that I imagined they had the chairs stored in one place, the ottoman and love seat somewhere else, and the cushions … well, they must have been stored in random spots throughout the warehouse.

I’m sure the guys in the back didn’t really want to give them up. They probably came in handy in remote sections of the warehouse for some part time employee to catch a few winks before his shift was over.

Well, about twenty minutes later, they had finally gotten all the furniture together in one place. We paid and headed around the back to the warehouse to pick up our load.

It didn’t take long (like about a minute) to realize that my calculations on the size of the furniture and the space in the vehicle was off. This stuff was not going to fit in easily.

About another twenty minutes later, after struggling with and rearranging the furniture several times, we finally got it in to the point where the back of the SUV was mostly closed.

There was no rope or twine to be found in the warehouse but they had some plastic string-like substance that we kind of doubted would work … but amazingly it held up very well for the last twenty minutes of our adventure back to the cottage.

It only took about five minutes to unload and set up the furniture … and it will take the next ten years or so to fully enjoy our new outdoor living furniture.

Here’s the thing: When I think of my experience purchasing this furniture, I think of how impatient I am with God and my requests. I don’t really like the twenty minute waits (figuratively speaking) here and there. I want my answers right now. I want to place my order with God like I would at Canadian Tire or McDonald’s and have my order answered in about the time it takes to process my debit card. But God isn’t a McDonald’s employee and He doesn’t take orders from us. Our attitude in prayer should be one of respect and patiently waiting. If God chooses to grant us our request we will have years to enjoy it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you had to learn patience when seeking a request from God? I’d like to hear from you; you can leave your comment below.

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When Your Vacation Becomes Work

I’m used to a vacation where I spend a lot of time relaxing at the beach under an umbrella or dodging the waves in the water. That’s why this vacation seems to be more like work.

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Hey, who am I kidding? – it is work! We’ve been working on our deck at the cottage for about four days now. We haven’t put a foot on the beach yet, though we looked at it from the window of a restaurant we had dinner in one night.

We haven’t gone for walks down to the beach or walks along the beach. We haven’t even broken out the beach umbrella yet.

It’s been work, work work, scrubbing, scraping, washing, building. For some people who like projects that might sound like fun. But when you fall into bed each night exhausted, with muscles aching, back breaking, it takes just a little of the fun out of it. It’s work!

… We’re done now and the beach is calling.

We’ve had good weather so far – that is, we’ve had good working weather – a good deal of sun but a gentle, cool breeze to keep you moving and not overwhelmed by heat.

Now we need some hot – REAL hot – humid weather to draw me down to the lake like a magnet to a fridge … unless you have one of those stainless steel fridges … but you get what I mean.

Don’t get me wrong, the deck looks great, but I came here for a vacation, not work.

I want to go a day without a drill in my hand or a compound miter saw next to my wife. She does all the cutting, by the way …

Many years ago, I had a couple of incidents of cutting my finger: once with a really toothy saw for about seven stitches, and once with an utility knife for about four stitches. After that the family started taking sharp instruments away from me. I had to prove I would be safe using standard cutlery for a while after that.

I just told that story to my neighbour who wondered why Lily was doing all the sawing. I explained that it’s her mitre saw; I bought it for her.

But hey, let’s get back to the beach! I’m thinking that a nice patch of silky sand will do. I’ll throw up the umbrella by the shore, maybe even sip a little Dr. Pepper. I’ve got a book I’ve been wanting to read and that’s a perfect spot to crack it open on my iPad.

Here’s the thing: Your relationship with God should not seem like work. It’s a relationship not a job. So if you find it work to keep up with God, in terms of time spent with Him or service you do for Him, you need to change things up. You need to focus on making your relationship with God more relational. It might be as simple as how you talk to Him, and what you talk about. That’s where I would start.

That’s Life!

Paul

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What You Need To Know About Perfect Timing

You know when you get that “WOW” moment, when something happens at the exact right time? It might be an important letter that comes just when you need it. Maybe you arrive on the scene at the exact time you’re needed most.

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Whatever it is, we call it “perfect timing”, and it amazes us every time it happens, doesn’t it?

This week we were stripping the paint off our cottage deck. Some was wearing off, some was blistering off … and I’m not sure what was going through the mind of the previous owner when he picked the colour to begin with!

The first day was a beautiful sunny, warm day and we got most of the paint off the deck itself. But we still had the railing posts and the steps to do.

The next day it started out raining. The sky was very dark and it looked like that was what it would be like the rest of the day. We had almost decided to pack up and go home when we got a little break in the rain.

So instead of leaving, we started in on it. We worked for most of the morning and then took a break for lunch. By mid afternoon we had used up all the goop we had bought to get the paint off.

We were pretty much done, so we started cleaning up and putting everything back in order. All the deck furniture, BBQ, etc. needed to be put back on the deck, not to mention the railing inserts that needed to be nailed back into place.

When everything was done, and the shed locked, we went into the cottage, and turned around to look at the work we had done. And WOW, the rain just started coming down like God had recanted on His promise to never send a flood again!

If we had have been out there ten seconds longer we would have been caught. It was quite a storm because twenty minutes away in Owen Sound a tornado touched down, and later that day there was another tornado in another part of the province.

But for us, it was perfect timing! … It reminds me of a time when my then 1 1/2 year old daughter was jumping on the same couch I was sitting on. I was talking to people across from me and out of the corner of my eye I noticed she jumped too high and went right over the armrest of the couch.

Without looking, I stuck my hand out and caught her by the ankle, with her head just inches from hitting the floor. It was a great catch – again perfect timing!

Perfect timing is awesome to experience. But you never know it’s going to happen until it does.

Here’s the thing: We can get really frustrated wanting something from God and then waiting seemingly forever for an answer. Whatever you do, don’t get in the way of what God is doing so that you miss His perfect timing. When God answers, it may surprise you, be different than you thought, or come at the eleventh hour. But one thing is for sure: it will be perfect timing. Then soak in the WOW.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When have you experienced that perfect timing from God? I’d love to hear from you; you can leave your comment below.