devotions

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When A Project Takes A Long Time To Develop

Sometimes you wait a long time for something to develop, then in a flash it’s done and it’s completion takes you by surprise.

It happened to me this morning. For what seemed like several weeks, the leaves on our maple tree were budding.

But we’ve had some pretty cool and rainy weather for the last while and it seemed that the leaves’ progress from bud to full grown was stunted.

I’d look out our living room window and see the little leaves still shrivelled up, not wanting to open. With every day of rain and coolness, it was like they just wanted to stay curled up to keep warm.

After a time I wondered if they would open up at all this year. Maybe they would stay in this dormant state all summer.

But this morning after an early hockey game, as I drove into my driveway, the sun was shining, creating highlights and shadows on and around our tree.

The leaves had opened up; they were big and full and dense.

Up until this morning, though all the leaves were on the tree, you could still see through it … not this morning.

The leaves have now created a beautiful rustling wall to the other side of the street.

It took so long for the leaves to get to this point, but when it happened, it took me by surprise.

You kind of forget about the incremental progress that was being made, now that the tree is in its full glory.

… I’ve been working on a project at work that is developing much like how our tree came alive this spring.

There have been many steps to the project, and many different people involved. It seemed that each step, however, was dependent on someone else do some little thing so that we could progress to the next step.

There also seemed to be one person who was in the middle of the progress or the hold up – just like the weather was the hold up for my tree.

We would get one thing done and then we would sit, not really knowing what to do next but having to follow up and nudge this person to move the project along.

After numerous phone calls over three days, I finally reached him in person. I explained our progress and asked him for his input. All he could say to me was, “I’m just the middle man.”

There were three parties that were involved in bring this project to completion. He worked for none of them. He was just the middle man.

We all needed him but the speed of the project was dictated by the speed of his response to each completed step.

I think this project right now is at the stage where the leaves are almost ready to unfold.

All I can hope is that by early next week this project will be fully complete and I can forget about the incremental progress that we’ve made along the way.

Here’s the thing: God’s plan for us, at times, may seem to be developing slower than we would like. That can be frustrating. We might want to try to get in there and hurry it along on our own. But there are many parties involved in a plan, and there may be a middle man who is slowing things down. Just be sure that you are not that middle man.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What project is God working on in you that you would like to speed up? Leave your comments below.

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The Day Never Seems To Come

Have you ever been looking forward to something, but that day never seems to come?

This spring I though I would try something new. Well, “new” might not be the right word, more like try something I have done in the past.

Back in March, Lily saw an ad in the paper for senior’s slow pitch softball. Wow, I just realized how old that sounds, and how that makes me feel.

Anyway, I can’t tell you what it’s like because it hasn’t happened yet.

After seeing the ad, I thought about it, remembering the days I used to play in a slow pitch league. It was a fun time so I responded to the ad.

I was told they play on Mondays, which is good because that’s my day off. During the winter I play hockey on Mondays at noon so this would be a great summer replacement.

I got my glove out in anticipation that we would start in a week or so. I noticed that some of the lacing had given way, so I took the time to replace a portion of the leather lace. That got me a little more exited to start playing.

I left my glove on my desk in the family room. When I go by it, I sometimes pick it up and throw a ball into it for a few minutes, just to get the feel of the glove on my hand and the ball getting squeezed between the webbing.

However, it seems that when each Monday rolls around, either the weather is bad or the previous few days have been so rotten that the field is in no condition to play ball on.

It’s now getting near the end of May, the Blue Jays are trying to climb out of the worst start in the club’s history, and all I’ve done is throw a ball into my glove a few times.

It’s Monday as I’m writing this post, and I will still have to wait at least one more week until I get to play!

… Lily and I had been looking at our schedule and figured that the long weekend was the only time in May we’d be able to get to our cottage. We decided to go after church on Sunday and come back on Tuesday.

It wasn’t until two days later that I realized I was going to miss the first day on the diamond … and it would be my fault, not the weather’s.

Well, right now sitting on the couch at my cottage, I understand that it is raining in Kingston … they won’t be playing today anyway.

It’s not looking good for me and baseball this year.

I remember when I was a kid and we would save the box tops of our Alpha-bits cereal to send in and get some prize.

We always had to wait 46 weeks for the thing to arrive. It was actually 4-6 weeks but it felt like 46!

Well, baseball this year, it feels like I’m waiting 46 weeks.

Here’s the thing: When you ask God for something, it’s easy to act like you’ve put in your order and are waiting on God. God is not an order desk, however, and you will receive your answer when He decides it’s best. When that time comes, it’s instantaneous, not 46 weeks.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How long have you been waiting for something? Leave your comments below.

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It’s Like We Have A Brand New Kitchen

With just a little paint, our kitchen will be finished, for now. We’ve been working on our kitchen for about two months, but it’s coming to a close soon.

When I say “we”, I mean Lily and the people she has employed to work on it.

I have to say that the project is looking really good and the little things we did have made a huge difference in the look of the room.

Don’t get me wrong, Lil is not done. She still wants to get a new dishwasher and fridge, but those are going to have to wait for a while – the old ones haven’t died yet.

What won’t wait is new lighting in the kitchen. Apparently, the new lighting we purchased about 3 years ago (Lil says it’s more like 10 years, but who’s counting?) does not go with the new look of our kitchen. That means we have to take out perfectly good and relatively new lighting so we can spend more money on getting something that she will feel better with.

In my parents’ day, you fixed things in your house that were broken or were getting worn out. You didn’t just change something because you wanted a new look.

That’s why in some homes that were built in the sixties and seventies, you still might find a blue toilet, or an avocado-coloured bathtub.

They worked so why replace them?

That’s not how things work today. You make one change and that will start a ripple effect of changes to make everything match the first change you made.

Maybe it’s better that we do things this way now. It prevents you from going to use the washroom and finding yourself in a time machine that has transported you back to 1974, leaving you afraid to look in the mirror for fear you might be sporting an afro, big bell-bottom overalls, no shirt and platform shoes!

I had an outfit like that back in the day – minus the afro.

Personally, I will be glad when we are all done and there are no more … oh, one more thing.

I like the changes but I’m going to have to get used to opening and closing cupboards again. It’s been nice for the last month to just take whatever I needed off the shelves without opening or closing doors.

It’s too bad that the open concept look wasn’t the style Lil was going for. But really, it wouldn’t be right not to show off her work.

Lily used a special painting system to renew our kitchen cupboards. It was a four-step process, that turned our cupboards from an medium oak colour to black. That and new handles have made the cabinetry look completely different.

We also had a new counter and sink installed. Then she completed the makeover with a white tile backsplash.

Lily has done a great job on the kitchen and though I have questioned her ideas and teased her throughout the process, our kitchen truly does look stunningly new.

Here’s the thing: Your life with Christ is much the same as refinishing a kitchen: it takes time and effort to make the changes, and there will always be more changes to come. Be happy with the changes that God has made in you, but also be aware that there will be more to come. It’s like our kitchen – there will always be one more thing.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What change is God making in your life right now? Leave your comments below.

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I Didn’t Think The “Wet Lands” Meant My Basement

It sure has been a wet spring where I live. There have probably been years where we’ve had more moisture in April and May, but I can’t remember any.

It always strikes me that when you have a record-breaking day, it is only record-breaking to a certain point, like “this is the hottest day on record … since 1923”, or “we haven’t had this much snow for 31 years”, or “this is the most rain we’ve had since Noah finished building his ark”.

It seems that with weather there is always a day somewhere back in time that was cooler, hotter, wetter that what we are experiencing today.

But I will say that, in the last month, my sump pump has NEVER gotten as much exercise as this … period.

I probably I need to qualify that too, however; we’ve only had the sump for 8 months.

We’ve lived in our home for 21 years, and when we bought the house it came with a sump pump in the basement.

I was not too familiar with sump pumps, having never lived in a house that had one before. So I didn’t pay too much attention to it.

For several years it would turn on and suck some water from the reservoir in the corner of our basement spare room. Any time I got to see it I was amazed at how fast the water shot out of the tube.

I remember one time being on our deck in the back yard and a firehouse volume of water came shooting out of the tube that extended from our house’s foundation.

It truly was remarkable.

But for many years I just forgot about the sump pump. I don’t think it did any pumping for years. I lost track of the last time I remember hearing it work.

One time we were looking at that area of the house and I tried to manually get it to pump. There was nothing; it didn’t work at all.

I figured that it was old and had stopped working due to lack of use. It had been that way for years.

Every once in a while we would get some moisture in our basement, but I never equated it to the sump pump not working.

This past fall, we took a look at our sump pump again and, sure enough, it still wasn’t working.

Now I’m not sure if the weatherman was warning people of a wet fall or not, but for some reason Lily and I thought we should replace our sump pump with a new one that worked.

I bought one, installed it, and I think it worked a few times last fall.

But that was nothing like this spring! We had a stretch of about 5 days of solid rain in which our sump pump came on every 2 – 3 minutes.

If we hadn’t had that sump, I’m sure our basement would have been about ankle deep in water.

Back in the fall, the thought of buying a new sump wouldn’t leave us. It stuck with us until we bought one … I’m sure glad it did!

Here’s the thing: God is speaking to us all the time, but often we are good at ignoring or dismissing His voice. Start listening and paying more attention to His voice; you’ll be glad you did.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What thought have you had that you are glad you acted on? Leave your comment below.

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I’m Wondering If Winter Is Coming Soon

I think we are reverting back to winter in this part of the country.

We came through a very mild winter this year, with not much snow, and temperatures that made it easy on the joints.

After a winter like that, the expectation is that summer will come early and be really hot and dry.

Well, all my expectations have been blown apart by what we’ve recently been experiencing. There have been some promising days, but not enough strung together in a row.

At the end of April, we were at our cottage for a week and had a real mix of weather.

One day the temperature got up to 26 Celsius with a good dose of humidity. It really felt like a mid-summer day.

That evening, however, it cooled off and by the next day we were wearing coats and shivering at the sudden 20 degree drop in temperature.

Since then it has been cool and rainy almost every day.

Last Saturday morning after hockey, it was still raining. As we left the arena and walked to our cars, no one could believe the rain was still coming down.

I turned to one of the guys and said, “Take it easy; see you on the ark.”

I haven’t seen the sun for so long that I’m beginning to forget what it looks like. I think it used to be this big orange ball in the sky, but I could be wrong.

Someone reported that it snowed really early one morning this week.

I realize that, at any given time, it is snowing somewhere in the world. But that somewhere is not supposed to be Kingston, Ontario – especially in May!

The weather has been so bad this spring that I haven’t been on the mountain biking trails yet.

I got an email from my biking club this morning that read, “All trails closed until further notice, due to rain and erosion.”

This is killing me!

About a month ago I saw an ad for a competitive baseball league for those over 60. I haven’t played ball in a long time but I thought maybe I would give it a shot this year.

Well, the last three weeks they have cancelled the games because the field is too wet. I still haven’t met the other guys I’ll be playing with.

It seems like somehow we might have skipped through spring and summer and are heading directly into late fall.

The only evidence against that notion is that the leaves on the trees are starting to come out … but they are all curled up – I think they are in protest, refusing to open up until they see a little sun!

All I’m saying is we need a change in the weather. If something doesn’t change soon people from Vancouver will be moving back to Ontario because they can get the same amount of rain and overcast skies right here.

Here’s the thing: When things aren’t going well, or as you expected, it’s easy to get down, discouraged and question what might be wrong. That is exactly what the devil wants and promotes. He wants you focused on the negative and distracted from the truth of who God is and what He has done for you through Christ. To weather the storm, stand firm on your faith in spite of your feelings.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you been weathering the storm? Leave your comments below.

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Her Emotions Got The Best Of Her

Often it is our emotions that dictate our actions and reactions.

This morning I came back from early morning hockey to find the lights on in the living room.

Normally, on a Saturday morning after hockey, things are the same as when I left at 6:30 a.m. – dark and nothing stirring.

But this morning there was activity. There was a vacuum humming in the background and I wondered what was going on.

There were a couple of possibilities: Lily had a lot happening and she needed to get a good jump on the day, or we had a guy coming in to do the backsplash in our kitchen.

I knew that it was a guy who was going to be doing the work and his work would focus only in the kitchen, but that didn’t matter; the whole house needed to be clean before he arrived.

… Turns out that neither one of those reasons was correct.

Lily had the vacuum out because there was a trail of ants in our living room and there was no way they were going to survive on her watch.

She was so busy vacuuming the little critters up that she couldn’t tell where they were coming from or going to. But she didn’t stop talking to them … in a rather loud voice, I might add.

That Dyson vacuum really swirled those ants up. They either got a great ride out of the deal or it was like they were swooped up and taken from Kansas to the world of Oz … only there was no yellow brick road, just a garbage can at the end of their ride.

The ants kept coming though. Lily was so preoccupied with killing them that she wasn’t doing anything about dealing with the reason they were coming in or how to keep them out.

Finally I decided to remove a large poinsettia plant from the living room that may have been their destination. And Lily got some spray we had in the garage to attack them.

We wiped up around the plant and made sure that the area was clean. Then we sprayed the place where the ants were coming in, as well as the outside of the house.

You would think that after that we could get back to the regular activities of the day and let the spray do its thing, but no! Lily wanted to make sure the stuff was working so she stuck around and watched the ants curl up and die.

… It kind of amazes me that she is perfectly fine seeing that kind of a massacre but when I put on a shoot’em up, blow’em up movie, she can’t take it.

At least in my movies no one really dies; it’s all made up stunts.

When it comes to ants in her house, there is no way she’s taking prisoners alive!

As far as the ants were concerned it was a real-life horror and they were the main characters.

I think watching the hockey game tonight, no matter how rough it gets, will be tame compared to this morning’s events.

Here’s the thing:  When something grabs our emotions, we can’t let it go. I wonder if many Christians have an intellectual relationship with Christ but it has yet to get to their emotions. Faith in Christ is more than giving assent to a belief; it involves being emotionally engaged in what you believe.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What grabs you emotionally about Christ Jesus? Leave your comments below.

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How To Prevent Making Multiple Mistakes

From time to time I repost an article I have written in the past. This one is from May 2014. With all the wet weather we’ve been having, I haven’t been out to the trails on my bike. I’m kind of itching to get out there. This post got me thinking of biking. 

Have you ever made a mistake that led to another mistake that led to, well, a complete breakdown? I had that experience last week.

Lily had gone to Ottawa for the day taking my car, the one with the bike rack. I wanted to go for a bike ride at the end of my day so I had to put my bike in the trunk of the other car.

That’s normally not a problem; you just take the front wheel off the bike and slide the bike in.  For some reason, this time it was a problem.

I spent about a half hour trying to get my wheel off, and in the process I lost two ball bearings from the axle assembly and never actually got the wheel off the bike.

It was a brutal failure; I couldn’t believe it. I’ve taken the front wheel off bikes dozens of times. But my new bike is a little different. No, it’s a lot different.

I would describe the differences but I would either hypnotize you in the process or put you to sleep – probably sleep would come first. Then you’d wake up and have an urge to bark at every bike you saw after that.

Taking the wheel off a bike with quick release should take about 30 seconds, at the most. I spent 30 minutes and never got it off. I could have used better lighting, but still.

I looked for videos on the internet to show me what to do. I examined the part and used an allen key/wrench to remove a part I should never have touched.

All the while, my neighbour, who works at the bike shop I go to, was right outside my garage cutting his grass. Did I ask him for help? Of course not; why would I do that? No, what I did was I took the axle apart and lost two very tiny ball bearings on my garage floor!

I never did go for that bike ride. Later that night I realized what I had done wrong. It should have taken me 15 seconds to get the wheel off, but it was too late now; I’d gone and lost some pieces.

So, here were my mistakes, if you’re counting . . .

I should have had better lighting and, along with that, I should have put on my reading glasses to get a better look at what I was doing.

I should have asked my neighbour for help. That was the dumbest thing I didn’t do. And I shouldn’t have taken apart the axle, especially standing in a garage.

I’ll tell you how the story turned out in my next blog.

Here’s the thing:  It is easy to make a mistake, but the smart thing is to correct that mistake before one mistake leads to another. The best thing we can do is look for someone who can help us. I know God is willing to help but He’s waiting to be invited. I also find that I will sometimes make more than one mistake before I ask Him for that help. So it’s what I don’t do that keeps me making mistakes . . . Seek God’s help first.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you do to keep from making multiple mistakes? I’d love to hear from you. Leave your comment below.

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It’s Always Amazing When The Impossible Happens

Sometimes we wish for the impossible and sometimes the impossible happens.

We opened up our cottage last week and spent our time relaxing, cleaning and walking on the beach. The weather was up and down; it was like Calgary weather.

Calgarians have a saying, “If you don’t like the weather now, just wait fifteen minutes.”

We didn’t have snow but at times we needed jackets, at other times our umbrella, and then one day we just needed shorts, t-shirts and sandals.

That’s right, one day it was hot, humid and 26 Celsius (79 F). It was like a mid-summer day … but it was short-lived.

We were back to wearing jackets later that evening and for the rest of the week, so it was not a difficult decision to leave the cottage early.

But it wasn’t the weather that triggered our decision.

Our daughter, Karlie, had spend three weeks in Cambodia and was flying home Saturday morning. We decided to pick her up at the airport.

Our cottage is a couple of hours away from the Toronto airport so we had a bit of a drive. The traffic wasn’t heavy, but we left kind of late.

In fact, we left so late that when Lily checked Karlie’s arrival time we knew there was no way we would be able to make it. It was pretty much an impossibility.

So I did three things to try to make the drive less stressful.

First, I told Lily we were not going to make it on time, so she would not be stewing over this fact all the way there.

Second, I drove really fast – not fast enough to have my car impounded, but not too far off.

The third thing I did was pray. I asked God to somehow get us there in time. … I felt like a hypocrite asking God for help and breaking the law to assist God in making it happen.

Periodically Lily would check the flight’s arrival time and every time the website indicated it was arriving earlier than before.

I wasn’t panicked by this but I did have unpleasant thoughts of our daughter arriving home and sadly finding no one at the airport to greet her.

That wasn’t a nice picture in my mind and it drove me to push the gas pedal down a little harder.

Along the route there were several little towns through which we had to slow down, but they were so small we’d blink and be through them.

However, coming out of one of those towns, we found ourselves behind a police car.

That really put a damper on our progress. It cut into what I could do to get us to the airport in time. While behind the officer, my speed was cut by about 35 km/h … and he stayed in front of us for 50 kms!

We had no hope of getting there on time in that unfortunate circumstance. But impossible happened …

Amazingly enough, Lily was standing there waiting for Karlie when she came out of customs.

Here’s the thing: In spite of my attempts to help God answer my prayer, the police car was like God saying, “I don’t need your help with this, Paul.” God can do what is impossible and He doesn’t need your help. He can do a really big thing, and sometimes will even make your selfish, personal request a reality. Don’t put off praying for anything and everything. God is able.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What prayer has God answered for you lately? Leave your comments below.

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I Need An Alternate Routine

My routine has been working for me for a few months now, but all that is about to change.

Back in December I developed a new plan for eating (read here) and exercise (read here). It’s been working for me and I feel great. I have more energy, and physically I’m able to play my sports at an increased level.

I’ve really enjoyed this run; I don’t want to see it come to an end. But I need to make some changes and I have a week to figure it out.

I took a week of vacation and we opened up our cottage for the year. But in doing that, it took me away from some of the routines that I have made over the last few months – mainly my exercise routine.

I’ve been trying (successfully, I might add) to do at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. I’ve been playing hockey two, sometimes three times a week and then on the days I don’t play hockey, I work out at home.

There I have a treadmill, a bike on a trainer, and a rowing machine.

On my week away, however, I’m not playing hockey and I don’t have access to equipment other than my bike.

For the summer I can ride my bike, but there will be some rainy days. Because I ride dirt trails, if the trails are too wet from the day before, biking is then also out of the question.

So what am I going to do at the cottage to keep up my exercise?

I can walk, which would make Lily happy because she would love to go on more (or some) walks with me. But for that to be exercise I will have to walk at a fast pace, certainly not the way I walk around a mall.

Some people run, but I have bad knees so that’s not an option for me. I’m at a bit of a loss.

I feel like I need to be a MacGyver in this situation. You remember the TV show, don’t you? He could make things happen even when he didn’t have the proper materials or equipment. MacGyver would rig something up to get the job done.

I need to figure out something I can rig up for those rainy days, and as an alternative to biking every day of my time away.

There is one other thing I need to consider. When Lily and I went shopping to get groceries for the week, I had my eye on the candy aisle the whole time.

For me, vacations or being away is synonymous with snacking. It’s what I do!

I had a very difficult time not throwing a few chocolate bars and bags of candy in the grocery cart.

I can see that the only way forward, the only way that I will succeed, is to have a plan before I go and then to stick to it.

Here’s the thing: Planning is important for accomplishing your goals, but you also need a plan for when your plan doesn’t work. That is exactly the same when it comes to temptation. You need a plan to live right, but you need an alternative plan in place for when temptation comes. Make a plan today.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What alternative plan do you have for temptation? Leave your comments below.

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I’m An Unsatisfied Shopper

I’m not the most knowledgeable grocery shopper, but I know there is a conspiracy in the food industry.

Yesterday my wife, Lily, and I dropped in on our son who is living about 300 km’s away from us. The plan was to spend the night, have breakfast together in the morning and then be off.

When we got there I was a little hungry and Mike, at one point, said he was feeling a little hungry as well.

Looking through the cupboards, we observed a typical twenty-something male’s kitchen.

It reminded me of Old Mother Hubbard’s kitchen – she didn’t have anything in her cupboards either.

Mike had an early appointment so he needed to get to bed. I needed to stretch my legs after a disappointing finish to the Leafs’ game so I said to Lily, “Let’s go shopping”.

We didn’t have much time but we hit Walmart because it was open late.

I don’t normally go on grocery shopping trips with Lily because I put things in the cart that she would not buy on her own. They’re usually things that aren’t good for me.

But there I was with an assignment to find hot dogs and hot dog buns.

It wasn’t too hard; I quickly found the large hot dogs that came five in a pack. Mike just has to feed himself so that was a good number to get.

Then I went searching for buns. I found them in another part of the store.

They don’t have the hot dogs and the hot dog buns close together, and I know why – it’s so you don’t see the discrepancy when you buy the buns!

The grocery people are hoping that, by the time you find the buns, you will have forgotten how many hot dogs came in the package.

But being the keen sharp-minded shopper that I am, I noticed right away.

I had just tossed a package of 5 hot dogs into the cart and now I was holding in my hand a package of 8 hot dog buns.

At this point we should take a poll: Does anyone else think that these are weird numbers? Why 5 hot dogs, and why in the world 8 buns?

I’m not sure why they do that. You need the same number of dogs as buns!

I did the math – you and I would need to buy 8 packs of dogs and 5 packages of buns to have a bun for every hot dog.

That’s 40, by the way, and if you were feeding a football team I can see you buying that many. But for a family or for a single guy? Who would do that? – no one!

And who would leave you with extra buns so that you need go out and buy more hot dogs … only to need more buns to finish them off?

It’s a conspiracy.

Here’s the thing: We are driven to get more – more things, more experiences, more money, more … you name it! There is always something more we want. This desire for more is never satisfied, and it takes away from being at peace with yourself and with God. He wants you to be satisfied with where you are and what you have, and from that place of satisfaction He will add the more.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is keeping you from being satisfied? Leave you comments below.