family

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I’ve Been On A Wild Ride

It was a wild ride and I hadn’t gotten out of bed yet. 

When I turned my head and opened my eyes, my bedroom seemed to be moving. I knew it wasn’t, so I turned over and closed my eyes to see if I could make the ride stop. 

Sometimes that’s all you can do. 

I remember when I was a kid, my brother, another kid, and I went to the EX (CNE – Canadian National Exhibition). 

This is one of Toronto’s historical end-of-summer traditions. We would even get a ticket to kids’ day at the Ex with our end-of-year report cards. 

It was near the end of the night; we were going to go on one last ride. We decided on the Toronado, a roller coaster-type ride. 

But we accidentally got in the wrong ticket line and bought a ticket for the Zipper instead. The Zipper was more like a merry-go-round type ride … only with a sinister twist.

The first clue was the seats you rode in. You were in a cab that seated four people. But it was a cage, because you were completely enclosed. There was a big wheel in the middle of the cage, coming up from the floor that could turn. 

The cage we were in started to go around in a circle, but then it also started to flip around. It was like the earth that goes around the sun but also spins as it goes. 

Let me tell you that on a much smaller scale than the earth sun scenario, this was a wicked ride.

We were thrown back against the cage and the only way to avoid the centrifugal force was to hang on to that big wheel in the center. 

We all took turns. You could spin the wheel to make the cage go faster, but we just tried to slow it down. 

Half way through the ride we all gave up. Plastered to the outer walls of the cage, we closed our eyes and hung on till the end. 

Our heads were spinning; we were dizzy to the point of nausea. Thankfully no one threw up – that would have been ugly! 

I never wanted to go on that ride again and I never did.

That is what you call self-imposed vertigo. 

I’m not sure if what I had this morning was vertigo, but it sure reminded me of that ride … only it wasn’t self-imposed.

The first time I got up, I stumbled to the bathroom like a drunken sailor. I went back to bed after that and closed my eyes to wait out the ride. 

My wife, Lily, told me there was some infection going around that causes vertigo symptoms and there were a number of people that had it. 

I sure don’t want to be one of them! … I’m thinking that maybe I was a little tired after a very long, busy day yesterday. 

I think a good game of pickup hockey will fix me. Maybe the vertigo will help me deke past other players today.

Here’s the thing: Life can get so busy, it leaves you spinning. When you get to that stage you need to slow things down. You need something that will intervene in all the crazy busyness. Two things can help: Break away; get somewhere different, somewhere quiet and calming. The right scenery helps – something peaceful. The second thing is connecting to the God of all peace. If you will spend time with Him, and listen to Him, God will help you see straight so the way ahead is clear. 

That’s Life,

Paul

Question: What has you spinning around in circles right now? Leave your comments below.

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I Lost Something Precious

Have you ever lost something that was precious to you, only to realize you could live without it?

It happens a lot and in many different areas of our lives.

Years ago I had a watch that I got from my dad. It was a Rolex so it was worth a little bit. My dad wasn’t wearing it and it wasn’t working, so I took the back cover off and cleaned it up.

The insides of that watch looked much different than your run-of-the-mill watch. It was all shiny and had a couple of jewels in it. I put it back together and amazingly it worked. 

Since my dad wasn’t used to wearing watches, he didn’t seem to mind letting his teenage son wear it. 

I had that watch for about three years. 

Then just before a camping weekend with my friends, I thought maybe I should get a new watch band because the band was starting to wear out. 

But I never got it, and the first night of the camping trip I lost the watch. 

I looked forever for it, and that weekend learned the truth that the big outdoors is pretty big. 

Though I was upset with losing that watch, now it means very little to me. I’m way past missing that hand-me-down from my dad.

We can also lose a friend. We can be very close to someone, but then distance and time cause that friendship to wain, and not be as important to us as it once was. 

We can lose friends through death. Where once they were part of our lives, and we saw them frequently, enjoyed their conversations, humour, help, and company, suddenly they are gone – people who were precious to us are no longer with us. 

This weekend we said goodbye to someone like that. 

Colin had been an integral part of our church since I arrived 22 years ago. When I look around the church I see his handiwork in so many places. 

It’s a real loss, but I know that, in time, the loss will be eased. I’ve experienced it many times in my life. 

You can also lose a friend through a disagreement. Maybe you were hurt or felt betrayed and the friendship is lost. 

It’s possible to remain friendly but, for all intents and purposes, you or they don’t feel the same, and you’ve lost that friendship. … That might be the saddest loss of all, because the friendship is still there just beyond your grasp. You can see it, but that friendship remains lost until the hurt or betrayal is dealt with –  and that takes two willing people who desperately want to hold on to something precious and not lose it. 

Here’s the thing: God is your friend if you have put your faith in His son, Jesus. To God that friendship is not something He wants to lose. But you could lose interest if you let other things in your life become more of an interest to you. You could let wrongs build up between you so that you try to avoid God, causing you to lose something that is right in your grasp if you don’t deal with those wrongs. God has already agreed to make things right. Confess your sin regularly and keep what is most precious.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What friendship have you lost, and what can you do to get it back? Leave your comments below.

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The State Of My Garage Is Concerning

I’m concerned about the state of my garage as we approach the colder weather. 

When I grew up, my family home never had a garage. The car was always in the driveway, exposed to the elements. 

So, when I finally got a house with a garage, I decided that I was going to park my car in that garage. 

That sounds like a no-brainer, but if you drive around neighbourhoods you will see how many homes with garages have cars parked outside in the driveways – ALL … YEAR … LONG! 

In the middle of the winter when I’m driving to work in the morning I feel sorry for those folks who have a foot of snow on the top of their cars. Their windows are all frosted over while my car has no sign that there was snow in the forecast overnight.

I like parking my car in my garage and I don’t want that to change. But over the last six months, my garage has gotten smaller. 

What I mean is, it’s filling up with stuff other than my car. 

We used to keep two cars in our garage but, even if we had two cars now, we couldn’t do it. The one bay is filled with stuff.

That’s the reason so many homes with garages have cars parked in the driveways – they have too much stuff to park in their garages! 

I guess it’s cheaper than renting a storage unit … though my guess is that most of the people who are not parking their cars in their garages already have storage units filled to the brim.

The problem is people have too many things that they don’t need or use, but want to hang on to. 

That’s not my problem. 

My problem is that I have kids who have stuff they are not using and have nowhere to store it. They noticed we had a free storage unit attached to our home and took advantage. 

It’s not climate-controlled, but it’s dry.

And now my wife is starting to add to the collection of items we are storing in the unit. 

We have been doing some cleaning out of things we don’t need or want anymore. However, some of those things are not finding their way to new homes, the garbage dump or a donation store. 

They are just making it to the garage where they are starting to look like they fit in there really well. 

As I survey the items in our garage, I’m thinking that if I rearranged them a bit I could turn them into a nice little living area that we could rent out to someone.

They would have to put up with a bit of carbon-monoxide in the morning and evening when the car next to them was leaving and returning from trips … but we could reduce the rent. 

All we need now is a hot plate and a mini fridge. Anyone got spares they want to donate to the cause?

Here’s the thing: Clutter finds its way into our lives and it’s easy to add to the clutter without taking time to evaluate it. Clutter can be sin we don’t deal with, interests that fill our hours, or things that demand our time. If your life is too cluttered you won’t have much time for God – He’ll be parked outside in the driveway. Take some time today to survey the clutter in your life and make some room to bring God in from the cold.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is the biggest source of your clutter? Leave your comments below.

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I Need To Change My Mood

It doesn’t take much to change a mood. A mood is often dictated by events.

Music can put you in the mood, and lighting can set the mood. 

As a hockey chaplain, I meet with players for chapel, but also to check on them personally. This week I chatted with some of the guys after they had lost all three games on the weekend.  You could tell that, even though it was three days past the weekend, there was still some sting from the losses. Their shoulders were drooping a little.  

But this Friday my guys won 4-1 and the mood was different. The guys who were a little shruggy on Wednesday were all smiles after their game win on Friday. 

It didn’t take three wins to change their mood, or a long period of time – just one win did it. 

I remember years ago when you could buy mood rings. They were supposed to reveal the kind of mood you were in by their changing colours. Of course, it couldn’t really tell what kind of mood you were in; it changed colour depending on your body temperature. 

Kids would tease each other for being in love if the stone turned red. But you could quickly get the stone to change your mood by how you held it or placed it on your skin. 

A “yes” or a “no” can also change your mood in an instance. 

You can go into a meeting with your boss to ask him for a raise. A “yes” from him puts you on cloud nine, but a “no” sends you down into an emotional pit. 

One time I was looking forward to going biking on the trails. I hadn’t been on my bike in a week. But when I got up that morning, the rain washed my hopes of a bike ride down the drain … my mood took a downturn rather quickly.

Over the last little while my mood hasn’t been the greatest. There have been a few things that have been really disappointing and they have kind of locked me into a bad mood. 

There has not been anything to change my mood either – no positive that might jolt me out of my mood. 

It seems like my circumstances are dictating my mood, that I’m at the mercy of something out of my control. I feel like a puppet with other people and happenings pulling my strings. I don’t like the mood I’m in but I’m dependent on someone or something to get me out of it. 

But that’s not really true. Things, events, and other people don’t control my mood – I do. 

Your mood is actually based on a decision – your decision. 

I choose what mood I am in. Sure, it’s based on peripherals, but I have control of the decision. 

So today I’m changing my mood. I’m not going to be grumpy, sad, or sullen. It’s my decision, so today’s going to be a good day.

Here’s the thing: You can let your circumstances discourage you and take your hope away, but that is your choice. Resist discouragement and disappointment by focussing on God’s goodness yesterday, His presence today and His promises tomorrow. You have the choice to either zero in on your purpose or your problem, on God’s power or your weakness, on Christ or your circumstance. What’s it going to be? You decide.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What’s got you down lately? Leave your comments below.

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We’ve Reached Our Limit

I think we may have reached the limit of what we can put in our house.

Have you ever tried to stuff one more thing into a box but then couldn’t close the lid? You move the things around in the box to get a better fit but, in the end, there’s still one too many things in the box.

We do that every year when we fill our Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Shoe boxes. 

I know we’re not the only ones because I see lots of boxes coming back with elastic bands around them to keep the lids closed.

We all must have some urge in us to stuff those boxes beyond full. 

We know that water has a saturation point. You can put salt in water and it will dissolve, but if you add in too much salt, you will reach the saturation point and see salt at the bottom of the pot. 

I wonder if we can do that with a house?

Is it possible to put one too many things in a house so that it reaches its maximum capacity and there is no more room? 

We know hoarders do that. I once saw a show on TV where they took a camera crew through the house of a hoarder. There was stuff piled almost to the ceiling with only paths through the house from one room to another.

But long before we get to that stage, I think it’s possible to have one too many things that you just can’t fit into your house without it lying out in the open … with no real place for it to belong, with nowhere for you to tuck it away.

My fear is we have reached that place in our home. We were billeting a few teens this past week, and naturally we wanted to clean things up. 

We are also making some changes to our exercise room, which means we need to find some new places to put things. 

As I was surveying the collateral piles of stuff that needed to be put away somewhere, I thought, “I don’t think we have a place to put everything.” 

We have more than one thing too many for our house. When I think about it, we have a lot of stuff. 

I’ve thrown out the things I don’t want, and the paper that should have been disposed of years ago. But I don’t know where to put some things that I want to keep more for sentimental reasons than to be used. 

Among the things that I want to keep is a VCR. We don’t use it any more but I have some video tapes that I would like to convert to digital some day. So how can I get rid of it? 

The problem is we seem to have reached the saturation point in our house and we have no more closet space, crawl space, storage areas, or drawers to put things in.

One thing is for sure – we have to get a lid on all this stuff … today!

Here’s the thing: We try to keep a lid on emotions, our thoughts and, yes, our sins. We stuff them into places that we don’t really notice at first and refuse to look at later when they get more visible. Just like a box, or even a home, you can get to the place where you can’t put the lid on anymore. Your stuff is going to spill out. Way before you get to that place, do something about it: give it to God; seek a friend to help you; sort out your inner junk. Deal with it now rather than later.

That’s Life! 

Paul

Question: What is cluttering your inner self right now? Leave your comments below.

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Your Greed Will Get You Every Time

We are all a little greedy at times; it shows up in many areas of our lives. 

We look at a buffet and heap our plates full, only to leave some uneaten at the end. 

Well, not always … if we don’t leave food on the plate, we often need someone to roll us out of the restaurant because we ate way more than we should have. 

One time when we were at Disney World in Florida, our son, Mike, saw people walking around chowing down on turkey legs and he wanted one, too.

He was 9 years old at the time and the turkey leg was about half his size. He still thought he could eat it. Not a chance! Before we threw it out, Lily, his sister, Karlie, and I all pecked away at it just to eat enough to justify throwing the rest out. 

I’ve also seen greed a million times playing hockey. A player will hold onto the puck too long before he passes or will try to stickhandle around one more guy. Every time the pass gets intercepted or he loses the puck. 

His greed keeps him from making the play.

The other day, however, I heard the greatest example of greed in years, even though this person’s greed was camouflaged as being unlucky.

While driving in my car, the radio station I was listening to had a game going on. The caller would tell the DJ where to cast a fishing line and you would hear the line go out and plop in the water. You would hear a reeling sound and then the announcement of what the caller won. 

Before this one caller made her cast, she told the DJ she was really unlucky. But after her first cast, she won $140. 

Now, I think that if you were an unlucky person, you would respond with, “I just got $140 for free. Thanks, I’ll take it.” 

But this unlucky person didn’t do that. She said, “I’ll cast again.” And there was no hesitation; she didn’t even have to think about it.

Cast two went out and, unbelievably, she won $150.  

For sure I thought she would take her money – after all, she was unlucky. 

Nope! Without blinking her eyes – and believe me, even over radio I could tell she didn’t blink – she said, “I’ll cast again.”

And this time she caught nothing. She lost it all.

And you just know what she thought after she hung up. She thought, “I was right; I’m unlucky.” 

No, you’re not, lady. You are, first of all, foolish … I’d like to say “stupid”, but my wife tells me I shouldn’t use that word. 

Second of all, lady, you are greedy. 

That lady was lucky. Out of all the people who called in to the radio station, she got through. Then she made money on her first cast and made more money on her second cast. 

That’s luck. But her greed overpowered her luck.

We all have that urge to get a little more than what is in our hand. Recognize when you get the urge and don’t be greedy.

Here’s the thing: Many people want to squeeze all they can out of life. They want to do it all before they give their lives to God. Don’t be greedy with your life, thinking you want a little more before you ask for forgiveness, or you want to wait just until … and then you will ask God to forgive you and be the boss of your life. Don’t be greedy; get right with God now. You never know when your game will be over.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you find you are greedy with? Leave your comments below.

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It Was A Powerful Experience

There are a lot of powerful things in nature, and this past year we’ve seen more than our share of nature’s power on this earth.

Though there have always been reports and news stories of hurricanes, tornados, floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes, this year we have felt the power of nature a little closer to home. 

Canada gets its fair share of cold, ice and snow, but for the most part we’re spared many of the devastating natural disasters. 

This year, however, we’ve had run-ins with fire, wind and water on a greater scale. Yet, in spite of all that, where I live we experienced the best summer weather in about four years.

You can’t really appreciate the power of nature by watching it on TV. It’s only in person that you can feel the immense force of nature. 

… Like when you stand on the edge of a rock, overlooking the surge of water dropping to the next level – that’s when you really get how powerful water can be. 

… Or when you drive through a city that was hit by a tornado the night before and see metal twisted around trees, and roofs ripped off of homes, then you realize the power of wind. 

Yesterday we were closing up our cottage for the year and during the day the wind got progressively more intense. 

The trees seemed to all move to the music of the wind … and it must have been more like rave music than a slow waltz because the trees were dancing wildly!

There were warnings of extreme winds, but from the comfort of our cottage, the only indication of the weather was the sound it provided. 

Just after sundown, Lily and I went for a walk down to the beach. We could see the dark clouds racing across the sky. 

As we got closer to the beach, the noise of the wind increased. We also felt the wind more, especially when there was nothing in the way to block it.

I’ve watched television news reporters standing outside, giving their weather reports, hours before a hurricane would be full throttle on that city. Sometimes you could tell they were struggling not to be blown away. 

I have often thought that those reporters had tiny toothpicks for legs … I don’t any more.

We stood just onto the beach. The forecast was for wind gusts up to 80kph, and though I didn’t fear that I was going to get blown over, I had to brace myself to take pictures and video. See one of the pictures I took above. 

When we walked against the wind, we had to do so with a serious forward lean to fight the push back of the wind. 

… And that wasn’t even close to the power of the wind in a hurricane! 

Both Lily and I marvelled at the power of the wind and the waves as we surveyed Lake Huron from the beach.

Powerful.

Here’s the thing: As powerful as the wind might be, as hungry as a fire is, as devastating as water can be, God’s power is over all these and more. There is nothing – no power of earth – that is as powerful as God. So when you see first hand the power of water, fire or wind, comprehend its force, but know that there is someone more powerful. There is One who can control and command the power of each and every element we have on earth: God. May you be in awe of the Lord every time you see the power in nature. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What powerful force have you experienced lately?  Leave your comments below.

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When Your Batteries Need Recharging

I don’t think we could live without batteries, so why are they still so frustrating?

Batteries should last longer than they do. With all the advancements we have made, surely we could improve their longevity. 

… Mind you, parents might wish batteries had shorter charges so the annoying toys they bought their children for their birthdays would stop working. 

Well, too bad for those parents; their kids will grow out of them eventually. 

Some things have changed for the better. 

I remember I used to lose all my work if my computer battery died when I was working on a document and I had forgotten to save it.

Computers are better now. They have residual life that continues to provide a minimal amount of power to the computer even though the computer shuts down. They also save as they go to compensate for finicky batteries and user forgetfulness.

At least you no longer have to worry about losing everything you’ve typed since your last save. 

But still some batteries don’t work that way. I lost my bike computer when it was running. When I later found it, the battery was completely drained. I lost all the data from that bike ride. 

Now, even though the battery is charged, it won’t record certain bits of data. It will show me my speed, but won’t track my distance or average speed … and it won’t save any data.  

What’s with that?

If the battery on my drone dies, or gets turned off before I stop recording video, I lose all the video I shot. 

Come on! Why can’t we have some continuous save or residual power even when it’s turned off to protect the camera data?

And don’t get me started about battery memory! I’m paranoid about using my batteries until they’re almost dead before I recharge them. 

You should be able to recharge all batteries at any point without the fear of losing battery life if the battery has not been almost completely depleted before being recharged.

With many batteries, if you charge them when they have twenty-five percent life left, the battery will only give you seventy-five percent of battery life after that. 

Some say most batteries don’t have memories, but those people work for the battery companies. … It’s a conspiracy to keep us dependent on the pink bunny.

But hold the phone! With some batteries, you shouldn’t run them down under four percent because then they won’t recharge any more. … I now have a few fairly new batteries that are only good for putting in kids’ toys that you don’t really want to work.  

I know we can’t expect the same kind of experience as plugging into a power source, but in this day and age we should be able to have better standards and longer life.

Here’s the thing: Many of us live our lives to the fullest. We drain our batteries every day and often don’t recharge long enough to get to our full capacity. We think we can keep on going, and that the need for rest is slowing us down. But when God finished creating the world, He rested and declared that day holy – a Sabbath. We would do well to use the Sabbath for what it was made for – to recharge our batteries and honour God. We have made many advancements in our lives, but we still need rest, both physically and for our souls. Find your rest in Christ. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you take a Sabbath each week? Leave your comments below.

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What Dreams Are Made Of

I think I know what dreams are made of. 

There are many people who try to tell us what dreams are made of, but they just want to sell us something. There are countless companies who have exploited dreams to get people to spend money. 

Vacation destinations and travel agents are masters at promoting pictures and videos of beaches and sunsets, food and accommodations that draw you into the dream of being right there. 

And many people find their dream there. 

Then there’s the jewelry industry. They probably exploit the idea of a dream more than any other industry. 

They sell the dream of a relationship.

They show their products being given and worn, and do it in such a magical way. Then men try to recreate the dream as they reveal a diamond ring or a necklace to the one they love, or hope to marry. Women see the whole dream, beginning to end, as they first gaze at that piece of glassy stone. 

A lot of money has been made on dreams. 

But there are other dreams that don’t get us to spend money. They just scare us, or frustrate us or give us a warm feeling. Those are the dreams we have just before we wake up. 

Some say that they are made up of what we experienced the night before. If we saw a scary movie, we might dream about something that is frightening. If we’re in the middle of something that’s not finished, our dream may be about something frustrating, like not being able to catch someone. 

I don’t know about you, but I very rarely remember my dreams. By the time I wake up, I’ve forgotten what it was that was going through my mind. I’m only left with the feeling of frustration. 

My wife, Lily, however, often has dreams and they really bother her when she wakes up. She doesn’t like to talk about them because when she does that, it just sets them more in her mind. 

She usually blames me for watching something on TV the night before that put the stimulus in her head that freaked her out in the morning. But I’ve proved that to be wrong. 

The last time she had a scary dream, she had watched some romantic movie the night before that she had wanted to see. I took absolutely no responsibility for the movie choice or the dream that followed in the morning. 

But I know what dreams are really made of: dreams are a combination of thought and emotion. 

When you combine a thought with a strong emotion, you get a dream. That dream could be the kind that wakes you up, or the kind you have when you are awake that drives you to spend money, or give your life to.  

A dream starts with a thought, and as you ponder that thought, feelings become attached to it and become a passion. 

The result is a dream that will not leave you, but move you to pursue it. 

Here’s the thing: God places thoughts in our minds. The tiniest thoughts may be easy to dismiss, for fear that if we ponder them, they may stay with us. But if you will give that thought some time to get attached to emotion, it will develop into something you may want to pursue. It is true for those God is drawing into His family and for those God wants to serve Him in some capacity. So don’t dismiss that thought; ponder it. It may be that God is giving you a dream of the future. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What thought do you need to ponder a little more? Leave your comments below.

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I’m Old But Not Feeling It

I have heard it said that you’re only as old as you feel, but an occasional reality check pops that dream bubble every time.

I was recently speaking with someone about getting old and told the person how my grandmother lived until she was 99, broke her hip, had it replaced and passed away in her sleep about a week or so later. 

That happened 35 years ago. My grandmother would have been 134 right now if she was still alive. I was 27 at the time. 

Needless to say, I never knew my grandmother when she didn’t seem really old. It was normal for me that my grandmother was old. Grandmothers are supposed to be old. And no matter how old or young a grandmother actually is, to a kid she is old.

Then I thought about my dad. When he was my age, he never would have participated in the sports that I do now. So, in a sense, I’m kind of younger than my dad was when he was my age … which is a nice thought to have. 

But then the reality check …

I was in a hockey dressing room, having just finished playing. The room was filled with a cross section of guys – there were a couple of teens, a few in their 30’s and someone in his 40’s. There was another guy who was at least over 50 … and then there was me. 

I was the elder statesmen in that dressing room, but that was not the reality check for me. I still felt like one of them.

The reality check came when one of the guys who’s in his late 40’s started talking about a guy who had gone to his high school. While he was retelling the story, he mentioned that he had been in high school from 1985-1989. 

That first date stuck out to me, and I started to think. 

I looked over at him. He didn’t look like a young man. I knew he had a couple of children who were finished high school. 

I stared in his general direction as I came to the realization: 1985 was the year I started as a youth pastor; I was 29 at the time. 

I kind of squinted to picture him as a high school student, but I couldn’t.  

“You could have been in my youth group when you were in high school,” I said.

It didn’t phase him. He started to tell me about the youth group he went to, but I was stuck on the fact that this middle-aged guy was a teenager when I worked with youth. 

I was stunned, shocked and the reality of my age hit me – I’m old! … Fortunately, right then my back didn’t start hurting. 

And then I had this other thought: all those students who I had in my youth group way back when are old now, too. Haha … I may be old, but that’s funny!

Here’s the thing: In my devotions I read about how God’s pattern with us is always the same. The pattern is “out”, “through”, “in”. God brings us out of bondage, through the desert and into the promised land. So, at your age, where are you in that pattern? Make sure you get “out” by placing your faith in Christ, but then don’t stall going “through” the desert – many of the old souls died there. It is easy to grow old and never make it all the way through the desert. Read Deuteronomy 8:2 and seek God on what you need to get “in” to what God has planned for you. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need most to get through the desert? Leave your comments below.