family

by

I Noticed Something Hopeful

I noticed something the other day that I have not witnessed in several months. It was the light of the sun. 

I’m not saying that I haven’t seen the sun in months – I don’t live in the Antarctic. What I noticed was that it was still light out when I left work to go home. It was 5:40 pm and it was still bright outside. 

It seems like for months it’s been dark at 4:30 in the afternoon. 

I’m sure sundown didn’t just jump from 4:30 to 5:45 in a week, but it was nice to still have some light at the end of my work day. 

We’ve had many – I should say, mostly – overcast days that have made it seem like the sun has gone down early.  

But yesterday it was really sunny all day so, as evening approached, the light lingered and for a brief moment I felt like we were finally getting the better of winter. 

We just had Groundhog Day and, from the most reliable sources, the decision goes to an early spring. Wiarton Willie and Punxsutawney Phil both predict an early spring with Shubenacadie Sam being the dissenter after seeing his shadow. 

For me, after seeing the sunlight at 5:40 yesterday, I’m on the side of the early spring hogs. 

And frankly, I can’t wait.  We’ve had a pretty easy winter so far but the last two weeks have been anything but. 

I liked what I saw last night though, and I’m encouraged by what our two little groundhog friends are reporting.

… Though in the days of climate change, how can they really know? 

I’m just glad that those rodents don’t live in the Midwest. It’s sunny there all the time so they would see their shadows every year. Then we would definitely have long winters. 

… And that’s what those in the Midwest experience: long, cold winters. However, it is sunny there and that makes all the difference. Well, that and the fact that it is a dry cold so it really doesn’t feel as cold as it is. 

It’s -25 C in Red Deer but with the sun and the dry cold it feels like it’s +2 C.  …These are stories people tell themselves to help them believe winter isn’t that bad. 

The west has sun and dry cold and we have a couple of rodents calling the shots. 

This year I’m all onboard with Phil and Willie.  

As soon as I shovel off my back deck, maybe I’ll fire up the BBQ just to get me in the mood for the coming spring and summer. 

I know that catching a glimpse of light at dinner time and a couple of groundhogs not seeing their shadows isn’t much to hang my hopes on, but it could be time to put the shovel away for another year. 

And if nothing else, we can hope for it all to be true.

Here’s the thing: We are so quick to put our hope in things that don’t have a sure base. And we are comfortable in doing that. But how often do we forget or neglect to put our hope in God for things that are much weightier? – especially when placing our hope in God is sure and secure based. We all need hope because while we are living in the present we are constantly pushing against and moving the boundaries of the future. It’s what’s ahead that drives us to seek hope. Seek hope in God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need hope for? Leave your comments below.

by

A Secret Is Not Secretive Here

In Canada – for that matter, North America – we have a funny way of being secretive.

At one time secrecy meant that no one knew anything about what was being kept a secret. But it doesn’t mean that anymore.

In my town we’ve just had a terrorist threat diffused (literally).

Kingston, the very heart of Canadian power and wealth and knowledge, had someone making and planning on setting off an explosive designed for the purpose of terror.

Twenty or thirty years ago, we would never have even known that there was a threat. But now the public has a right to know. And the media has a right to investigate, ask questions and publish what there is to be known. 

Secrecy is kind of in the open now. 

This particular incident started with regular town’s folk noticing a plane circling the city, at low altitudes in the evenings. 

Social media was a buzz with people wondering what was going on. As the news media started to make it known to everyone, well, that’s when the RCMP were forced to admit that it was their surveillance plane … but that’s all they said about it. 

The word “surveillance” should have been enough for people to conclude, “Okay, something is happening and we need to let the authorities do their job and not draw any more attention to it.” 

But we don’t think that way. We want to know why. We have a right to know what they are watching and who they are watching. 

When arrests were finally made, a press conference was held to inform people what had taken place and what was happening next. 

… It’s all fine and good to be telling everyone about your top secret operation, but unfortunately then the terrorists also get in on what the authorities are doing when everything’s made public.

To be fair, the RCMP didn’t divulge information that would be crucial to the case, but I’ll bet other would-be terrorists will be checking the skies at night to look out for surveillance planes in the future. 

At one time my dad had been a mason, and I remember once when I was in my early teens, my older cousin grilled him on how he could identify other masons in a room. My dad hadn’t had anything to do with the organization for decades, but he still would not tell the secret. 

Government and security officials can’t keep secrets that way. There has to be transparency because we don’t trust them to do right things when they keep secrets.

Maybe it’s for the best that we don’t let CSIS or the Secret Service be too secretive. 

When I was a youth pastor we would play a game where I would tell a secret to one person. The secret would then be passed from person to person around a circle until the last person heard it and repeated it out loud. 

It was never the original secret. It was always some crazy line that was just plain nonsense. 

Hey, maybe that’s what the RCMP are telling us. Now that would be smart!

Here’s the thing: God has never kept secrets from us. He has made Himself known in nature and through the Old Testament scriptures. He clearly identified and made public His plan through His Son, Jesus, and the disciples recorded it all. Down through the ages, men and women of all nations have announced God’s presence and plan. … Maybe He should have kept it a secret. Then people would insist it’s their right and demand to know it. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What secret should you share? Leave your comments below.

by

The Biggest And Most Powerful Always Get Their Way

The biggest and most powerful always get the last word. This has certainly been true when it comes to children.

When I was a kid, the bigger you were the more clout you had. You had more persuasion. It might have taken a push or a shove, but the little guy finally buckled under. 

It might have just been the intimidation of their size, but the big guys had an edge. Sometimes they would stand tall and get really close so the little guy couldn’t help but notice just how big they were.

The big kids were often the ones the teachers would ask to help them. For one thing, they could reach higher – sometimes even higher than the teachers could reach. 

Their physical size gave the impression they could do things that others couldn’t do. And in many cases, it wasn’t just an impression, it was true.

How do I know all this?

Well, I was never one of the big and powerful guys growing up and so I watched all this take place. I even had the experience on occasion of having to buckle under someone bigger than me. 

It was never a great feeling. 

It was always better to be on the side of the big guys, to be on their team. Then you felt you had a protector, a defender, someone who made you feel bigger, walk taller and talk tougher than you really were.

What I experienced as a kid is the very same phenomenon taking place these days on the world stage with adult world leaders.

It has always been the case, but I don’t think it has ever been as obvious how the big and powerful throw their weight around. 

I think it started with Donald Trump and how he speaks so boldly and puts the pressure on those countries that are smaller than the USA. Trump even tells them they are going to have to buckle under and submit to his country’s power and size. 

And now we are seeing China exercising the same big guy bully tactics with Canada. 

The reason for China’s power assertion might be anger at the USA, but they are making it clear to Canada that “you mess with us and look out”.  

Their actions have basically declared: You better buckle under and free the Huawei cell phone executive who Canada is detaining. We’ll hold a few of your own people’s lives over your head just to show you who’s boss.

Inside everyone is the temptation, when you are big and powerful, to throw your weight around, to use your clout. … Before my son got to be bigger and stronger than me, I would use my size and power to make him say “uncle” every time we wrestled.

With all that is going on in the world right now, I wonder if we are ready for such a big power struggle to rise up and show itself on the world’s main stage. 

… It certainly is cause to think long and hard about the powers that are over us.

Here’s the thing: One day God is going to say, “enough is enough”. Then everyone will have to buckle under to His will because there is no one or nothing greater than He. The question we must all ask ourselves is, “Are we prepared for that day?”

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When has someone big and powerful been on your side? How did you feel? Leave your comments below.

by

When Should We Hibernate?

I feel I must place a caveat on this post. I wrote this article on Saturday morning. Sunday morning we got a ton of snow and wind. It turned out that only a handful of people showed up for church. I am not pointing fingers at anyone.

There are animals that hibernate in the winter and sometimes there are people who hibernate as well.

So far this winter has been pretty easy on us in this region. Often first thing in the new year we have some weird weather patterns that create lots of rain and then a deep freeze. 

… We certainly know in Kingston what an ice storm is like! 

But this year we have had relatively little snow. It really has been minimal. 

Most years I drool over the snowblower ads in the flyers and whine to Lily that I need one. But I have not given them a second thought this year. 

I could be a contributing factor to the reason the snow has been almost non-existent this year -in the fall I finally bought winter tires. (You can read about that here.)

But we are not done with winter and today I’ve been reminded just what winter is like. 

We are supposed to get a snow storm today, with lots of snow, but I’m hoping the snow drops south of Lake Ontario so that we get very little.

However, the temperature today is the coldest it’s been all season and it’s way colder than I want it to be. 

It was minus 20 Celsius this morning! 

And if there was ever a time when human beings would think about hibernation as something they would consider practicing, minus 20 would be a temperature that would drive them to it. 

I played hockey this morning before I knew just how cold it was outside. We park our car in our garage so I didn’t really experience the weather until I got to the arena and got out of my car. 

Man, it was bitter!

The little snow we got the night before was squeaking as I walked across the parking lot. It was like how fresh cheese curds sound in your mouth when you chew them.

It turned out that we didn’t have too many guys for hockey this morning. I think some of the boys thought hibernation was on.

… And that’s the extent of hibernating that a human does. We eventually have to come out of the cave (house). 

We might stay indoors for some things, but there are still things we need to come out from our winter slumber for.

I know I need to pick up a few things from a store today. I wish they could be delivered, or that maybe Lily is going out and can pick them up for me.

But I think if she has things to get, she’s probably hoping I will pick them up for her when I go out. 

I will also need gas for the car soon. I could have gotten it two days ago when it was warmer but now it looks like I will have to stand at the pump when the mercury is all sucked into a ball at the bottom of the thermometer.

The real reason we can’t hibernate too long is that we have to eat. We’re not like bears that store up food for the winter. 

I need hot wings tonight for the hockey game. It doesn’t matter how cold it is, I’m going out to get them.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we let things like weather influence our decision to do certain activities. On Sundays we gather to worship God. Letting weather determine your decision on attending, well, that just takes you down the food chain a couple of notches. Worshipping God together is important; don’t neglect it. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What things keep you from attending church? Leave your comments below.

by

We Should Just Bubble Wrap Everyone

We live in an era of heightened protection. Maybe if everyone just wore bubble wrap from head to toe we’d all be safe. 

In medieval days they built forts and castles with high walls and moats to protect themselves from enemies. 

… Today we have to wear helmets to drive a Zamboni to flood a rink! 

When I was a child, there were no seatbelts. Car dashboards were made of metal and came to a point that would put a nice crease in your forehead if you hit it hard enough.

Back then we just bounced around in the back seat. Most of us survived. 

Now we seat belt or car seat our kids so that they are protected. I know our kids were not the tallest or heaviest kids on earth, but if we had have stayed strictly to the guidelines, our kids would have been sitting in car seats while they were attending junior high.

We take these measures to protect ourselves and our loved ones from things that could potentially harm us and them. 

I get that … but maybe we’ve gone a little overboard with protection. 

In the last year, I have gotten into flying drones and have really started to enjoy it. 

 

Now the government has come out with a whole new set of regulations, rules and laws. By June I will have to have a license to fly my drone. 

I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It might keep some crazy people from buying them, but maybe not. It hopefully will keep people safe from being attacked by a drone. 

But to get my license, why do I need to know the inner workings of my drone, and understand air speeds and currents?

When you write your driver’s license, they don’t make sure you know why the car goes forward. You just have to know how to move the gear shifter into drive and push the gas pedal. 

If safety is the issue with drones, why not just make sure that the people who get a license know how to operate them safely? 

Who cares if they understand what creates lift on a drone. They should just know which joy stick to move and in what direction. 

It seems that when we try to protect people from something, we do it to a degree that is ridiculous. 

Instead of being sensible with protection, society tries to overprotect to the point where we might as well just wear bubble wrap. … Maybe that could be a new line of outerwear to protect ourselves from the crazy drone people, or uneven sidewalks. 

If you were going for a walk and were not sure if the sidewalks were lifting in places, you could just put on your bubble suit and be safe.

If you were at the park and someone was flying a drone, you could just slip into that bubble suit and be good to go.

There are risks in life. You can hurt yourself, or be hurt by the environment you are in. … Maybe people should just protect themselves.

So if you’re concerned that your life’s at risk today, wrap yourself in packing bubble sheets and put your mind at ease.

Here’s the thing: In a society that seems to try to overprotect themselves, it is surprising that many have no qualms about living fast and free with eternity. To think that all there is to life is to live and then die doesn’t even sync with the human spirit. The only protection for eternity we have is God, and He has provided a plan for our protection in his Son, Jesus Christ. 

That’s Life! 

Paul

Question: What value do you place on protection? Leave your comments below.

by

We Buy Time With The Meaningless

People often use pat answers and lines to buy themselves some time in responding to a request … but those words mean nothing.

We’ve probably all done it. … Someone asks us to pass something or come here, and we answer, “Yes. Give me a second.” 

What do we mean by “a second”? … because really that second is over by the time we’ve said it and we don’t yet intend on making good on the request. 

My wife, Lily, uses the phrase all the time, “Just give me a minute”.  I’ve heard it so much, I don’t want to hear that phrase ever again. 

The other day while we were in the car, I was telling her something while she was responding to a text. She said, “Just give me a minute.” 

So I paused the conversation. I waited. We went through two traffic lights before she was done. … I should say, we stopped at two red lights, waited until they were green, and kept driving before she responded. 

I started to do some calculating. When Lily says, “just give me a minute” she really means give me 15 minutes. 

Now in the Bible there is a verse that says, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8) 

So I started to do some calculations in my head … 

If her one minute is like 15 minutes, and there are 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day … that means one day to Lily is like 15 days! 

And then a whole bunch of things started to make sense to me. 

She is never late for anything, even when I wait for her at the door for 5 or 10 minutes before we leave. In her mind she’s early – she’s still 140 minutes early! 

And another thing that I understand now is when she can’t remember something we talked about, something she was even passionate about the day before. 

For her that conversation was over two weeks ago! No wonder she can’t remember it. Who could remember word for word something from that long ago? 

I thought she needed to do more Sudukos to keep her mind sharp. But her mind is like a razor when she can recall something I promised to do earlier in the day – that’s about four days ago to her and she still snapped that promise back to me in a flash. 

Here I was criticizing her and she’s really a superwoman. 

The downside to this new revelation that I’ve been given is when I come home from work, suffering from a little hypoglycemia, and usually a little “hangry” by the time I walk through the door. 

When I then ask if dinner is ready and Lily says, “Just give me a minute”, I know it’s going to be forever before I eat … and I will be dead by then.

I can’t see any way that I benefit from this new discovery. So for my own self-preservation I have to declare her phrase of “just give me a minute” as meaningless. 

Here’s the thing: God can operate outside of time. So when things don’t seem to be working the way we would like them to, in the time frame that we are subjected to, and have subjected them to, we know that God can still bring the very best outcome because He’s not restricted by time. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What phrase has become meaningless to you? Leave your comments below.

by

I Didn’t Sign Up For What Is Required of Me

There are certain things that are required of us in life, but you might be surprised about some of them.

hugs required

For sure, one thing on the list is taxes. We are required to pay taxes – and that’s just one of many government-related things that are required of us. 

We could make a list of them all here, but we are just beginning a new year and who wants to start the year being depressed!

There are some things that we put on our required list that only apply to us personally, and are not universal.  

For instance, I might have “playing hockey” on my required list. … I’m not saying it is on my list but, if it is, well, that’s personal to me. 

There are, however, things we might not think are on everyone’s required list that are in fact on it. 

I was made aware of one the other day. 

My wife and I had just finished having a stand up breakfast, where we moved around the kitchen as we ate and prepared another part of breakfast, all at the same time.

I was putting away my dishes, ready to head to the family room to work on a project. Lil was brewing a cup of coffee before heading to her office to finish her devotions. It was like we were just passing through, on our way to different places in the house. 

Then she said it: “Oh, I need a hug before you go.” 

I thought I might slip away because she grabbed the water jug and started filling it as she spoke.

But then she said, “Don’t go anywhere; I require a hug before you go.”

I was only going to the basement – I wasn’t leaving the house for the day! But somehow Lily required a hug right then. 

And I even had to wait to give her one!

I thought a hug was a mutual thing … you know, two people agree to give each other a hug, so they hug. 

But this requirement had no mutuality to it. I was required to give her a hug right then, regardless of whether I wanted to receive a hug or not.

I don’t remember signing a form or saying anything in my wedding vows that pertained to giving hugs, either the frequency, the length or the quality of the hug.

And even if this is some kind of personal requirement that Lily has for her life, it obviously has migrated over to my requirement list since I have to be on the giving end of these hugs.

We’ve been married for a long time now and it’s never really been discussed as a specific requirement. 

I think what Lily did was very sneakily introduced the hug, then repeatedly gave them to me whether they were wanted or not. 

She then, from the time they were babies, indoctrinated our kids regarding hugs. 

Now, therefore, without any official declaration, or military victory, hugs are required in our marriage. 

Well, I gave her a hug and then headed downstairs to work. … I’ll probably have to give her another one when I come upstairs again.

Here’s the thing: When you begin a relationship with God, you begin by placing your faith in Him. As you grow deeper in your relationship with Him, God requires more trust from you. Interestingly, your relationship with Him can’t grow without more trust. The great news is that God proves Himself more faithful the more you trust Him – it’s amazing.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How much is God requiring of you now? Leave your comments below.

by

I Can Predict Stress In Others

There are times when stress can be very predictable: when you are moving into the last phase of a project and experiencing a time crunch, or when there is a lot on the line and there’s no margin for error.

… Or when you are going to a Christmas gathering with family. 

Family times when I was young were never stressful, but I do remember that my mom especially would show signs of stress at some points. 

Now, as an adult, I understand the stress that is involved in family Christmas gatherings. And sometimes that stress makes everything a little more taxing on our emotions. 

For instance, each Christmas we do a trip up to Ottawa and a trip down to Toronto to cover both sides of our family.

Though we have to travel, we also have some responsibilities in the preparation of the events. 

For the trip to Ottawa, I, apparently, had to bring my computer for a game. Lil, well, she just had to buy some presents, wrap them, make a salad and cook one main dish for the meal.

For my role, I needed to plug the charger into my computer to be sure the battery was at 100% and I had to cut out of hockey early to make sure I was home in time to leave. 

Now this is an aside, but it seems that every time we get extra ice time, I have some commitment preventing me from staying as long as I’d like. 

This was the case this morning. I stayed longer than I should have and was all prepared for a lecture on tardiness and that we should have already left.

That didn’t happen because Lil was busy putting the final touches on the salad and bemoaning the fact that she burnt the meatballs.

She had me taste one to see if they were really burnt and, yes, they were. Apparently she had forgotten to turn the slow cooker off at midnight.

So a discussion took place about what we could do. There was one opinion of, “Hey, sometimes you get burnt meat balls; no big deal!” 

But Lil didn’t want to bring inferior food. 

So, at the last minute, I headed to the grocery store to buy more meatballs while Lily made more sauce. The plan was to start cooking the new batch in the slow cooker at home and then continue the cooking process in the slow cooker in the vehicle on our drive to Ottawa.

Saturday mornings are usually pretty quiet and calm around here, but this morning we had two extra bodies with our kids home for Christmas and, of course, we had the stress of getting up to Ottawa with food for family Christmas dinner.

I thought once we were in the car some of the stress would be gone … but there were road conditions, the speed of the driver, and who was in control of the music.

… All those variables have the potential of raising the stress in the vehicle.

And all this stress is caused by expectations – what certain people expect, and what they think others will expect. It is compounded when other people in the family don’t live up to expectations or they don’t help others meet their expectations.

… Our two hour drive gave us time to refocus on relating to one another rather than the expectations we each had had.

Here’s the thing:  We can be stressed with God if we feel we are not meeting His expectations. We could even be stressed thinking that God is not helping us meet our expectations. But if you simply stop thinking about His expectations and start to thinking about His love for you, that will influence your actions, responses and thoughts … and remove your stress.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has you stressed lately? Leave your comments below.

by

Is it Really Over?

Today’s post is from a guest writer, my wife. Every now and then Lily gets inspired to write a post of her own. It comes at the right time to give me a little break. Merry Christmas and enjoy.

It’s December 26th and, just like that, it’s over. 

In the last few weeks, we bought presents, baked, decorated two trees, strung lights, put up decorations, organized costumes and children programs, prepared readings, gave gifts, cooked food, planned services, set up extra beds, wrapped presents, delivered poinsettias, sang carols … and now it’s over.

Our daughter has packed up and gone home; our son will leave later today. Work is calling.

December 25th was a peaceful day. The hustle and bustle of the previous weeks stopped and we paused to gather and celebrate, eat, relax and reflect. It was Christmas. 

As I went for a walk this morning – the morning after – the neighbourhood was still fairly quiet … just a few signs of life, of people stirring after a day of quiet and peaceful celebration. 

A few cars were warming up in driveways, getting ready to take their owners back home from the holiday. Two people were out walking their dogs, getting back into routine after a day of relaxing.

But as I turned a corner, I saw a sight that stopped me in my tracks. A woman was hauling a Christmas tree out her front door. She lugged it down the driveway and heaved it into the back of a pick-up truck. And there it lay, upside-down and bare, except for one lonely piece of tinsel that stubbornly clung to one of its branches. 

I couldn’t help but notice that it was a beautiful tree. It had a perfect conical shape, and was a lovely shade of green. It still looked very much alive … and very out-of-place dumped in the back of a truck like garbage.

To think that the day before it had been the centrepiece of that home, beautifully adorned with hundreds of lights, and carefully chosen ornaments. 

And in a mere 24 hours it had gone from the home’s showpiece to a meaningless extra that was quickly discarded. 

The sight somehow made me sad. … Was it really all over that quickly? Done? Finished? Discarded for another year? … Do I already need to start packing everything away?

Christmas Day seems like a serene pause in an otherwise chaotic world. It’s the only day that seems to have that effect on our society, our world. I wish it didn’t have to end!

But does it?

Sure, the trees and decorations eventually need to come down. And yes, most of us need to return to work … and for sure all of us need to stop binging on Christmas baking.

But, when you think about it, Christmas was never meant to be a one day celebration!

Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. In Matthew 1:20 in the Bible, it says, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel.”

Immanuel – God with us. 

The Almighty God of the universe is with us. His appearance and presence on this earth was not a one day event. He is Immanuel, God with us … still … now.

Here’s the thing: God with us … Why would we ever want to discard that truth or even pack it up and ignore it most of the year? When you think about it, God should be the centrepiece and focus of our lives all year round, not discarded like an old Christmas tree the day after Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Lily

by

Just In Time For Christmas!

Just two days before Christmas we got a light covering of snow here in Kingston, Ontario. The white stuff came just in time for Christmas day. 

Some how, for us living in Canada, the presence of snow puts us in the Christmas mood. It feels like Christmas when everything glistens in white under the moon.  Snow makes Christmas.

There is a passage in the Bible that says, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.”

Like the snow came at just the right time, this year, Jesus came to us at just the right time.

That passage goes on to say, “God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.” (Galatians 4:4-5, NLT)

At just the right time, Jesus came, so that we could be made right with God. God wanted us to be part of his family, and Jesus makes it possible.

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.

And thank you for reading my blog.

That’s Life!

Paul