display

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My Clock Is Displaying The Time Again

I finally got around to fixing my night stand clock and I think I’ve finally got it right. 

my clock is displaying the time again

It’s not that the clock wasn’t working and I used my electronic skills to get it to keep time again. The problem was not keeping time, but that sometimes I couldn’t read the time it was displaying. 

Let me explain.

When do you usually need to look at the clock on your night stand? – at night time or early in the morning when it’s dark in the room and you can’t see very much. 

Years ago I was visiting a friend and, in the room I stayed in, they had a clock that projected the time onto the ceiling. I thought it was such a great idea that I looked to buy one. 

Just think about it. When you are lying bed and want to know the time, where is the best place to look? That’s right – just look up at the ceiling. You are probably already facing that way. And when the room is dark, the red numbers stand out clearly overhead.

Now the clock I got has a defect. I’m not sure if it was a design flaw or a problem with my particular clock. When the time is projected on the ceiling, the numbers are like four feet high …literally. The time displays across the entire ceiling. 

It’s just a little too much … well, a lot too much.

So I searched for a solution and I found an old magnifying glass that was the perfect size. The magnifying glass needed to be about two inches above the clock so that it could project an image on the underside of a shelf that hangs above my night stand. 

I needed some way to raise the magnifying glass up those two inches. I won’t bother telling you how I did it but I’ll tell you the things I used: a lid from an old camera film canister, a business card and some tape. 

All this did the trick. It was like I was MacGyver! 

But having it just sit on the clock wasn’t good enough. It kept falling off the clock or getting bumped. 

I got tired of repositioning it so the other day I came up with a way to keep my little telescope device in place. For that I used the insert of a pill bottle cap, and some two-sided tape. 

Time will tell (pun intended) if what I rigged lasts long-term, but I’m happy. 

Now I don’t have to have the glow from a clock giving me a sun tan or skin cancer while I sleep but, at any moment, morning or night, I can look under that shelf and read the time. 

Here’s the thing: How far will you go for God? Will you do things for Him only if they are easy, if they fit in with what you are already doing? If God asks you to do something that might be difficult or take some effort, even mental effort, is that too much to ask? I went to a lot of work just to get the time to project at a reasonable size on my shelf. Will you go the second mile when God asks you to do something for Him? Think about it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you said “no” to, just because it would take some extra work on your part? Leave your comments and questions below.

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My Car Radio Isn’t Delivering The Goods

At one time a car radio just played music. You had to rely on the DJ to inform you about the songs that were played.

My car radio Isn't delivering to goods

That’s not the case anymore. 

Now we have information screens that tell us a lot more details. 

Before display screen radios, if you had a bad DJ and he or she played a song you didn’t know, there was a good chance the DJ wouldn’t be forthcoming with that information. Sometimes you might not have paid attention to what the DJ said and you missed the introduction of the song and the band. 

Then there were times when the station would play three songs or more in a row and by that third song you couldn’t remember what they said the name of the band was. 

I always wished the DJs would give the name of the song and the band at the end. It was usually while the song was playing that my interest was pricked to know that information. 

But we don’t have that problem anymore … or do we?

I don’t have the most sophisticated display screen on my car radio, but there is a section of the screen that displays the name of the song being played and the group that it is by. 

… Sometimes.

When it is a popular song that everyone knows, the radio stations in Kingston are not too bad at getting the information to my display screen. But if it is a song I’m not sure of, or a song I’d like to know more info about, nada – no chance they are putting that on the display. 

It is incredibly frustrating! 

The other day a song came on my car radio and scrolling across the display was the name of the song followed by the group that sang it. I knew the song and the group. But the next song came on and I wasn’t positive on the particulars. 

I really wanted to see the song and band info. Instead, the information on the previous song continued to scroll for a good thirty seconds into this new song. 

I kept looking and finally they started with the first word of the title of the tune. But then it was like there was a glitch. That one word remained there like I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t remember the name of the song. 

When the display started moving again, only it displayed the name of the radio station I was tuned to. 

That’s great! I knew the name of the station; I didn’t need a reminder. 

For the rest of the song, I got the weather, which I could see out my window, the radio station name and a courtesy message to stay safe and shop local.

Why did I need that? I just wanted the name of the song that I was listening to. How could that be so difficult?

When the song ended, the next song began and I knew it very well. Promptly, the name of the song and the band that performs it scrolled across the display. 

Unbelievable!

Here’s the thing: When you pray and you don’t seem to be getting any answers from God, you need to ask why. Am I not getting an answer because I have some sin in my life? Am I paying attention to what God is saying? Am I looking for a specific answer which is not the answer God is giving me? Am I asking the wrong question when God wants to tell me something different? One thing is for certain, it’s not God who is not communicating.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How can you listen better to what God is telling you? Leave your comments and questions below.

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