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I Forgot And Now It Will Cost Me

I realized the other day that I forgot to do something last fall and now it’s going to cost me.

I Forgot and Now It Will Cost me

It’s that old procrastination thing. If you don’t get right at something, you’ll pay the consequences later. 

I used to do that with school projects and papers. I would delay getting to them and then I would end up pulling all-nighters the night before the projects were due.

When I started preaching, I told myself that I would not do that; I couldn’t do that. I had heard about pastors who burned the midnight oil every Saturday night to have something to preach in the morning. I knew I would never survive doing that. 

And in twenty-four years I’ve been preaching every Sunday, I can say that I have not done that more than a couple of times under special circumstances. 

You would think, however, that discipline would translate into other areas of my life … but not so.

There are many things in my life that I end up leaving and have to later pay the consequences.

Right now I have a situation with my mountain bike that I’m kicking myself about.

Last year, near the end of the mountain biking season, the front shocks on my bike were not working well. I took my bike in and the people at my bike shop helped with a temporary fix that would see me through until the cold and snow forced me to put my bike away for the winter. They told me to then bring it in and they would work at rebuilding the shock when they had a little more time and I wasn’t using my bike.

It sounded like a great plan to me and so off I went with my bike working not too badly, but not perfectly. 

The biking season ended slowly and I started to play more hockey. Though I thought I still would get in a ride or two, it never seemed to happen.

At that point, I should have taken my bike into the shop and had them work on the shocks. But no, I didn’t do that; I waited a little longer. Then every time I thought about taking it in, I had a reason why it wasn’t a good time. 

At the end of February I again thought about taking my bike in. They wouldn’t be very busy and would have plenty of time to work on it. 

But still I just didn’t make the time to take it in. 

Now the store is closed because of the coronavirus shutdowns. When we finally get done with all this isolating and the store reopens, everyone and their uncle will have their bikes in for tune-ups and my bike will be a low priority.

This is really going to be costly – and not just monetarily – to rebuilt or install new shocks.

Here’s the thing: Do you find that you can get right to certain things but then there are other things that you procrastinate on? Well, the one thing you don’t want to procrastinate on is what you do with Jesus. Jesus Christ will be returning one day … and these days it seems like a possibility more than at any other period in our lifetime. When He does come back, it will be too late to decide where your faith lies. You have to do it now. That’s one decision you really don’t want to procrastinate on.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you been procrastinating on that you really need to act on? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I Can’t Believe I Forgot that Event!

How can you forget an event you had planned for and were looking forward to? … You might do that if you were very busy and it was just one of many things you had to do.

KF-Game-Spotlight

Well, I did that when I had nothing else to do. And it wasn’t like I remembered part way through and was able to just get there late. I didn’t think of it until it was over!

It was New Year’s Day, our daughter was in town and there was an OHL hockey game scheduled. Being the chaplain of the team, I’m kind of expected to show up to games.

I usually make arrangement for tickets the week of a game, but with the holidays things got messed up. So just two days before the game, I called a guy and arranged to get three tickets.

The tickets would be waiting for me at the main gate … They’re probably still there waiting for me.

I was looking forward to going with Lily and Karlie. We didn’t have anything else to do or anywhere else to go, so it was perfect.

New Year’s Day was a pretty lazy affair. I went to see Star Wars in an empty theatre with my son, took an afternoon nap, and worked on my sermon.

I was looking for something to do, wanting something to do before Lily suggested something that I didn’t want to do.

She suggested that we play a game … and in hindsight you’d think that would have triggered thoughts of the hockey game we had tickets to.

Since I’m not a fan of playing games, and since I had nothing else to do, I decided it would be a good time to put the winter tires on the car … I didn’t really want to change the tires but it was something that needed to get done.

After that task was finished, I checked in with Lily and Karlie playing a game, each of them trying to beat the other and beat their own scores.

That didn’t even jiggle loose any memory of the hockey game from the far regions of my brain.

I then decided it would be a good time to rent a movie. After checking out all the possibilities on TV and having to make a tough decision on a rental, I finally settled down to my movie.

The first couple of scenes came on and I don’t even know what it was, but all of a sudden I remembered – WE HAD TICKETS TO THE GAME TONIGHT!

It was 9:30 pm at that point; the game would have been over. I yelled down to Lily and Karlie, “We forgot we had tickets to the game tonight!” … I heard many groans of disappointment from the basement.

It turned out that the boys didn’t need me cheering them on. They won 5-3 on their own.

Maybe I need a little more in my schedule to keep me attentive to the things I have planned.

Here’s the thing: I don’t know how many times I have forgotten to ask God for help, until it was almost too late or was too late. There have been times someone else has said to me, “Have you prayed about that yet?”, and no, I hadn’t. The great news is God never forgets about us, so learn from your forgetfulness and keep going. There’s always another game.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are some reasons why you don’t think of first asking God for help? Leave your comment below.

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What A Mind I Have!

Sometimes our minds surprise us; sometimes they let us down.

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It is a rare occasion when I’ve finished writing my sermon before about 6 pm on Friday night. But this past week I finished writing my sermon at 1:40 pm.

I can’t tell you how good it felt to be done that early in the day. It was like a burden had been lifted from me.

There is a weight that preachers carry with them as they prepare sermons. It feels heavy like a backpack that you can’t take off until you get to your destination.

But when the sermon is done, the backpack comes off and you feel light again.

I celebrated by going for lunch. I decide to try a new chicken fast food restaurant close by and I even got myself a pop. I was feeling good.

The crazy thing was, though I finished my sermon in record time for once, I still had more writing to do. So after a not-so-inspiring chicken lunch celebration, I was back at it. This time writing a funeral message.

The amazing thing was I was still focussed and by 6 pm I had finished that message and I was really done for the night.

I was feeling great, mentally exhausted, but ecstatic that I was all done.

In the evening, Lily and I went to a store and saw someone we knew from a distance. About two minutes after that I realized how my mind had let me down despite how focussed I’d been in writing messages that day.

Seeing that guy reminded me that I had forgotten to do something very important earlier in the day.

My message had flowed out of me like a tap turned all the way on, but I had forgotten to fill the baptistry tank in the sanctuary!

You see, another church had asked to use our church for a baptism service on Sunday afternoon and the guy I saw Friday night while shopping was from that church. Seeing him triggered my memory.

For a Sunday baptism, the tank must be filled and the heater turned on by Friday so the water will be warm enough.

I was ripped, upset at myself for not remembering. I was devastated that I would have to spend the rest of the evening babysitting a baptistry tank (it’s a 2 hour process).

How could my mind be so sharp that day but still let me down so badly?

I wanted to blame someone, or something, for how my day turned out. But in the end I had no one to blame but myself.

Here’s the thing: When something goes wrong, we want to blame someone else. It doesn’t change the outcome, but we feel justified being angry at whomever we pin the fault on … even if it’s God. However, accepting responsibility enables us to see how God works things out. I normally have a long day writing a sermon. This week God enabled me to write both messages in the time it usually takes to write one. Though the baptistry issue cost me time Friday night, God used that guy I saw to remind me about what I’d forgotten. When I put the blame in the proper place I can see how God helps me even when my mind lets me down.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How has your mind amazed you and failed you in the same day? Leave your comment below.