God

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A Tick On The Loose

A clock goes tick-tick, in movies a bomb will tick down to detonation, and at times I have been ticked at something or someone. 

But the other day, I came face to face with a plain old tick – that’s right, that little critter that has become feared by even the strongest of men. 

Lily spotted it first and called me over. We both looked at it and determined that, yes, it was a tick. 

It was crawling on the wall behind our stove. How it got there we have no idea. But it was a little unsettling … especially when Lily, who really wanted to kill it fast, lost it behind the stove. 

She went to scoop it up in a paper towel but somehow the slow moving tick evaded her attack. 

These things don’t travel very fast. After we spotted it, and stood looking at it for a few minutes, I took a few pictures of it. We looked it up on the internet and, in all that time, it had not moved more than a few inches, despite the fact that it never stopped crawling. 

When we lost it, we had to move the stove out and look to see if any of the tiny little crumbs that had collected there over the past year of so were moving. 

Lily thoroughly mopped the area and hoped we got it. 

“Hoped?!”, I said. “You mean we don’t even know if we got the little tick or not?” 

He could be crawling around the cottage looking for someone to snack on. 

How it got in we have no idea.

We have three main theories: I could have brought it in on my biking clothes. A couple of days before I had been walking through the woods, scouting out where to make a new trail to bike on. 

I could have brought it in on my clothes when I washed the cottage siding. I was rubbing against a big tall cedar hedge for about a half hour. 

The other option is that it got in when Lily was cleaning the windows.

We don’t really know if any of these theories are right, but what we do know is that every little speck that we see in the cottage we have to stare at. 

We get up close and personal with every crumb to check it out to see whether it is moving or not. 

They say that finding a needle in a hay stack is difficult; well we have that beat – we don’t even know if there is anything in the hay stack after all!

Why couldn’t Lily have just been more careful in squishing that tick? Now we have these bad dreams that a tick is going to crawl on us at night and give us lime disease. 

One major inconvenience for me is that apparently none of my biking clothes can enter the cottage any more. They have to stay outside on the deck. 

Supposedly a tick can live for 2-3 days indoors before it dies. We will just have to wait it out and check ourselves to see if it has found a home.

Here’s the thing: Some people are more afraid of being bitten by a tick than of what they will face at the end of their lives. A tick bite might affect the rest of your life on earth, but not being concerned or taking precautions about your eternity can be eternally devastating. It’s best to be proactive with God, and ensure you have a relationship with Him now.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How has a potential life-altering experience changed your outlook on life? Leave your comments below.

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It Was Perfect Timing

Nothing is really perfect, but this week I experienced perfect timing. 

Perfect timing is a moment in time when different things come together with an incredible result. 

You could say it’s perfect timing when you take a picture of a sunset and a seagull flies in front of the setting sun just as you snap the shot. 

You could also say it’s perfect timing when two people see a Volkswagen Beetle and, at the same time, scream “punch buggy!” It doesn’t happen often these days, but there was a time when you could end up with a bruised arm or leg because of those words. 

… If you didn’t understand that last sentence, just ask a child of the 50’s or 60’s about it. 

Perfect timing is a marvel; it’s like you scored a goal, or set a new record. Perfect timing is one of those things that causes you to say, “Hey, did you see that?” 

A story of something that is perfectly timed has to be told. It’s not something you just forget about and move on from. 

No, perfect timing is legend material.

This year at the beginning of spring I knew we needed a new lawn mower. I had a hard time starting it, and it was rusting out … to the point that you could see through a section of the deck to where the blade was spinning. 

I had hoped we could get a little more action out of it, but the next time I used it, the mower was even harder to start. And once I got it going, it seemed really old … like an old dog that needs a little assistance to jump up onto the couch, or an old man who seems to be walking in slow motion. 

This mower just wasn’t cutting it any more.

But since it’s the mower for the cottage, I didn’t want to have to buy a new one. After all, my grass only takes me seven minutes to cut. 

The next time we were there, I tried – for longer than it would have taken me to cut the grass – to get that engine to turn over. I couldn’t get it going at all.

I told Lily that I thought the mower was dead, and that we needed to get another one. I looked on Kjiji but there was nothing. I looked for repair shops that sold used lawnmowers but didn’t turn up any results. 

We were just going to have to be on the lookout. 

About an hour later, Lily and I headed out to do a grocery run. We passed a house where a guy was rolling out a lawnmower to the end of his driveway. 

I said, “Hey Lil, look at that!” and hit the brakes. I turned the car around and pulled into the driveway before the man had even walked back to his house. 

We asked him if it worked well, he replied, “Give it a pull.” It started immediately.

I threw that lawnmower in the back of our SUV and handed him forty bucks – no sense haggling over that price!

I’m sure the only thing the guy was ticked about was that he went to the trouble of making a “for sale” sign to stick on it.

That’s perfect timing!

Here’s the thing: Lil and I had prayed that God would provide an inexpensive replacement for our mower. Within an hour, one guy was marching one out to the end of his driveway. Perfect timing is when you seek God for something and He delivers an answer. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What answer have you received that was perfect timing? Leave your comments below.

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I Wish Clothing Sizes Were Consistent

I thought the idea behind clothing sizes was to provide a universal standard so you could easily find things that fit. 

Obviously, I was wrong in my thinking. 

It’s been over a month since my birthday and I’m finally able to wear the shirt my daughter gave me as a present. 

Getting the right size should have been easy, but obviously people have different comfort levels when considering the fit of something.

For instance, I normally take a size 8 to 8.5 shoe, but when I buy skates, I look for a size five … not because skate sizes are all messed up, but because I like to cram my foot into my skate with no space at the toe and no room for even a thin pair of socks. 

It’s just personal taste. 

I’m not talking about personal taste here, though; I’m talking about the same size in one brand not being the same as the same size of another brand. 

Are you following me? 

Some clothing companies size their clothes differently than other manufacturers. It destroys the whole concept of size and gives the customer absolutely no confidence in what size a shirt he or she should buy.

For my birthday my daughter bought me a size small shirt. But when I tried it on, it was very tight – way too tight! 

So I exchanged it at the store for a size up. The clerk at the counter had another employee go get me the same shirt in a medium. We filled out the paper work for the exchange and away I went, happy that it was all going to work out. 

When I got home, I put the shirt on to show Lily, and to my amazement it was too small as well. 

I know what you’re thinking, that I’ve gained weight and don’t want to admit that I’m getting bigger. 

On the contrary, in the last year and a half I’ve lost some weight and have had to downsize a lot of my clothes. 

Leaving the store I was confident that a medium was the right size. I had thought medium would be the right size even before I tried on the small my daughter had bought me. 

When the medium didn’t fit, I was shocked …. Me? A large? It didn’t seem right to me. 

So back to the store I went … again. This time I was taking no chances; I wanted to try the shirt on before I left the store. 

Amazingly the large fit perfectly. I hope the sizes go up to quadruple XL or a lot of people won’t be able to buy that shirt. 

There is something wrong with the clothing industry if they can’t get sizing right. An inch is an inch; a centimetre is a centimetre. Use rulers, people, and get your sizes right!

Oh, and why this all took over a month to solve is because we don’t have this particular store in Kingston. I had to travel to Toronto twice to finally get the right size.

Here’s the thing: Unlike some clothes we buy, God is consistent. He will not deal with you with different standards or in a way you can’t predict. God also knows you so well that He will fit you with a purpose, plan, and help that is perfect for you and your shape. Seek and trust Him daily for everything you will encounter.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you perfectly fitted for? Leave your comments below.

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Hockey Should Be A Summer Sport

I played hockey the other day, and it was 30 degrees Celsius (86 F) outside … not your standard hockey weather.

Inside the arena it was a cool 11 degrees and the ice surface was about -17 … not really shorts and T-shirt weather. 

But there is something nice about going to play hockey in shorts and sandals as opposed to parkas and boots.

When you think about it, when it’s hot outside there is no better place to cool down than in a frosty, cool arena. … I’m surprised that more people don’t show up to watch whatever game is being played just to keep their core temperatures down.

On those days when there are weather warnings to stay out of the heat, especially for seniors and those with breathing problems, don’t stay in your home, or hot apartments. Head down to your nearest arena and check out a game.

… Maybe bring your skates and get right out on the ice for some pleasure skating. 

In the winter the local rink is the place you go to play hockey, but in the summer the rink is a refreshing place to spend a few hours. 

In the summer some arenas take the ice out to do maintenance and to run ball hockey leagues, but that really defeats the benefits of a place to cool off. 

We have public swimming pools to get some relief from the heat of summer, but you have to get all wet and bring a change of clothes for that. 

At the arena all you need is a windbreaker or a sweater and you are set. If it gets too cool for you, just go out to the lobby for a few minutes.

When you need a break but are not near a lake, when the steam is coming off the pavement and you are looking for some kind of oasis in the distance, what you need is an arena. 

How did we get this all wrong? Hockey should be a summer sport! We should be packing arenas; people would pay just to get inside a cooler place for a while. 

And maybe we should build domes over golf courses and enjoy playing golf in the winter to give us a break from the cold. 

For so much of the winter I trudge through the snow, hauling my hockey bag in from the parking lot. Summer hockey is so much nicer. 

My buddy and I were leaving the arena the other day after about an hour and a half on the ice. We both remarked that there is nothing better than coming out of the rink with no coat, no socks, and the sun licking your face.

So these summer nights, right after dinner when you’re thinking maybe you should go for an ice cream cone, stop; turn the car around and head to your local arena. Check out the action and stay cool. It’s gonna be a hot one.

Here’s the thing: In the summer we can get derailed from spending time with God – there are vacations, all the great weather and relaxed schedules. When you’re away on vacation, check out another church. Meet with God out on your deck, or in a park. Don’t let the change of pace in the summer cause you to distance yourself from God. Enjoy your time with Him in new and fresh ways.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you plan to stay connected to God this summer? Leave your comments below.

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My Replacement Blog

From time to time I republish a previously published post. This post was written and published in the summer of 2013. I hope you enjoy it. 

It’s not easy writing these blogs, you know. Sure, it’s only 500 to 600 words; some people can speak that many words in a minute or two. But it’s not the actual writing that’s difficult.  

I remember when I was a kid. To write 500 words was a death sentence! It’s only a page of words, but when I was young I didn’t have that much to say. Plus, I’m a male and we can say lots with just a look on our face or a few non-intelligible sounds.

The tough thing about writing is the critiquing of what I write. Today I wrote a killer blog.  I thought it was one of my best, so I was anxious for someone to read it. I kept asking my wife, “Have you read it yet?”

I think my asking got her more intrigued with it, so she finally got on her computer and took a look. Everything was going well for the first 3 paragraphs. And then she stopped.

“You can’t write about that.” she said. I replied, “Keep reading”, thinking that maybe when she digested the whole blog she would have a change of mind. But after every paragraph she would stop and say the same thing.

Now, I don’t mind when she says, “Your grammar was really bad on that one” or “the punctuation needs some work.”  I don’t even mind when she says, “You should rephrase that.”  She has great ideas some times. After all, she does all the editing for my blog site.

The thing that I do mind, the thing that is tough to hear, is the content can’t be published. I spent some quality time writing my blog today and when I was finished I was proud of my work.

But now no one is going to read it. I wish I could publish it, and share it with others, but because it’s about a close family member, I’ve been instructed to keep it in the vault.

I ran into this problem several years ago when my kids became teenagers. I used to use illustrations in my sermons that were about things my kids did, or experienced. When they were young they loved hearing me tell stories about them. 

But for some reason, by the time they hit about 12 or 13, I was finding that I needed to ask for permission if I was going to speak about them in church. Eventually, I thought it best to just leave them out of it. So for many years they have been missing from my sermon content.

Maybe they’re happy about it. Maybe they don’t do or say things that are as “preachable” as they did when they were kids. But one thing is for sure, censorship doesn’t just revolve around the CRTC (Canadian Radio & Television Commission). 

Most of you would have liked my blog. You would have laughed, and been concerned. Some of you, who know my family well, would have had some follow up questions that you really needed answers to. 

But unfortunately, you won’t get a change to read it. So just forget I mentioned my killer blog that I can’t publish. This will have to do as a replacement.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we want to do things that God doesn’t want us to do. He doesn’t force us, but if we continue, we might cause harm to ourselves or others. We can be stubborn and do it anyway, but the benefits of listening to God’s wisdom may save us a lot of heartache.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you benefitted by not doing something you really wanted to do?  Leave your comment below.

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Your Name Is More Than An Identifier

Other than being an identifier, what’s in a name? 

You can tell people apart with a name, but names also have meanings. When you place a name on a newborn child, there is more to it than how it sounds. There are many books and websites devoted to listing the meanings behind names.

But we don’t just pick names based on their meaning; names have to go together or fit. 

I have a cousin named Dave, whose name is actually John David. My aunt didn’t like the sound of David John, so she named him John David and called him Dave.

Last week I got together with some high school buddies. One of the boys had come back from out west to visit, so nine of us met at a restaurant in Toronto for dinner. 

As soon as I entered the place and started to greet the boys, the nicknames started flying. Once again I lost my name to the nickname I had been dubbed with some 45 years ago. 

No one else calls me by that name – only these guys.

It’s interesting that while we don’t pay much attention to the meanings behind our real names, nicknames are all about their meanings.

Some of the meanings are easy – they are a short forms of a name, or parts of a name. For instance, in college I got called “Sil” or “Silly”. 

Sports environments are the best for nicknames. Everyone has one. Sometimes you have to know the inside story to understand why a person is called a certain name. Other times it’s self-evident. 

There’s a kid on the OHL Kingston Frontenacs’ team whose last name is “Pringle”. It’s not hard to guess that his nickname on the team is “Chips”.

One of the boys from high school has the last name “Smallwood”. (He was the reason for us all getting together.) We often called him “little sticks” or “smalllumber”.  

The crazy thing is that, even after not hearing a nickname for years, there is no hesitation in responding to it. You instantly turn to see who’s talking to you, the same as if you’d been called by your first name. 

I heard my nickname a few times the other night, and I won’t hear it again until I see these guys in a year or two. It’s one of those names that requires the inside story to figure it out. 

I’m sure by now you’re a little interested to know what my nickname actually was. 

Well, it was “Woody” or sometimes just “Wood”. How I got it had to do with my hair. 

It was the early seventies back then and I had some pretty big hair. One of the guys thought that my hair resembled the crest of a certain cartoon bird.

… Somehow the name stuck. 

Here’s the thing: God knows you personally. You might think He sometimes overlooks you or is too busy to notice, but God knows you, your name, your nickname. You are not a number. He even knows the number of hairs on your head. A God who knows you personally like that, definitely wants you to know Him personally as well. Don’t neglect taking time each day to spend with Him. He probably has a nickname for you that comes with an inside story.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What nickname or names have you had in your life? Leave your comments below.

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No Complaints; Just Enjoy

I don’t want to hear any complaints about the weather. Let’s just take it and be satisfied.

We are experiencing a bit of a heat wave where I live. And it’s not just the temperature that we have to consider – it’s the humidity that sears the heat in.

It has been a long time since I’ve felt this kind of weather, other than in Mexico or the Caribbean. 

It was 36 Celsius yesterday and, with the humidity, it felt like 49! 

If you are not watering your grass, you don’t have any, and even then, the green stuff you see on your lawn may only be weeds. 

We went up to our cottage on the holiday and discovered that in our community there was a watering ban … and a ban on AC! The park we are in was experiencing brown outs and the only way to stop it was to cut the AC, since it’s such an drain on the power grid.

I say that’s okay; I’ll take the heat over air conditioning. I’ll battle the hot temperatures, keeping in mind that before long we will have a good five months of cold weather that I’m going to have to layer up for. 

It was so hot, we hung out on the beach until after 8 pm and then went back down at 10 pm to catch some John Tavares Day – I mean Canada Day – fireworks.

… I just can’t contain my excitement over the Leafs signing Tavares in the free agency sweepstakes! … but back to those fireworks on the beach. 

It was pitch black out after the light show and, though we headed back to our place, the beach was still littered with people.

Many still had their beach chairs set up! People were lying out getting a tan from the moon and the stars. That’s how hot it was. 

But the heat doesn’t stop some people from pining away for cooler temperatures. They would welcome some rain, because we really need it. 

Well, the farmers might need it, but we don’t. Summer should be a time when your grass is brown. If you can keep your grass green all summer, you either live on a golf course or you are experiencing less than perfect weather. 

Let’s enjoy this heat. Let’s celebrate it and not look beyond it to cooler, wetter weather. Just get out and embrace it. 

I realize there are many people for whom the heat is not ideal – the elderly and those with breathing issues. But listen, the weather won’t suit everyone all the time. They can treat those really hot days like a winter day. If it was really cold and snowy, they would stay indoors.

Right now we have a little heat. Let’s enjoy it. Spend more time at the beach; get out and do some things that you can’t do when it’s -15 outside. 

I don’t really want to hear people tell me they can’t wait for a break in the weather. Come on! Embrace what we have been given and be enthused about it. 

Here’s the thing: People are always looking for perfect. And if they find perfection in something like the weather, it is only short-lived. There is nothing or no one who is perfect except for God. So be enthused about Him; give yourself completely to God because it is only in Him that you will find perfection and true satisfaction.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What was the last thing you complained about that you really should have been thankful for? Leave your comments below.

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Do I Turn It On Or Leave It Off?

I’m not sure whether I should turn it off or leave it running. For the last month and a half we have had our dehumidifier going round the clock. 

It was getting far too chilly down in the basement – so much so that you really didn’t want to spend any time down there.  

I would go down to exercise, or to get something that I needed, but I really didn’t want to be in the basement for any length of time.

It was just too cold.

The cold was due to the humidity, however, and since we rolled out the dehumidifier, the temperature is just right. 

The only problem now is that the dehumidifier is so loud you don’t want to be in the same room as it. To watch TV you have to have the volume set ridiculously loud.

There are two issues with the noise. First there is a fan that runs all the time, and it’s not quiet. But then there is the hum – yes, a hum. It’s louder than the fan and you can hear it upstairs.

The good thing is that it’s so loud it drowns out any neighbourhood sounds of dogs barking, loud music or motorcycles.

I don’t pretend to know the process of extracting moisture out of the air, but this machine really has to work at it. You can tell it’s no easy matter to make it rain inside that unit.

Don’t get me wrong, though; it does a great job. We regularly have to empty its water collection bucket.

I think it’s time for that Dyson guy to take a crack at dehumidifiers. He’s tackled the vacuum, and he’s made a really cool fan … pun intended. A machine that sucks water out of the air and blows dry air into a room would be a perfect fit for his next project. 

I realize that if Dyson makes one, we would likely have to take out a mortgage on the house to pay for it, but it might be worth it.

I’m either going to go deaf or freeze to death in my basement. Neither of these two options are all that appealing.

It’s not that we haven’t tried to get the thing to shut up. I put a piece of duct tape on the container to stop the vibration. It worked for a while but not all that long. 

Then we wedged a rubbery grip sheet in there. Again there was some success, but nothing seems to last for any length of time.

I would like to figure out other methods to keep the noise of this dehumidifier down to a bearable decibel, but it’s so loud I can hardly think! 

I guess I might have to stay upstairs even when the temperature in the basement has become liveable.

Here’s the thing: There are side effects to every action. For example, if you take a pill to help correct something, there is often some other issue you will have to live with. When you seek God and He gives you a course of action, there will be something else you will have to live with. The temptation is to keep things the same, but if you take God’s direction the benefit will always outweigh the side effect.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you holding off considering because of an unwanted side effect? Leave your comments below.

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Making Judgement Calls

Sticking with your judgement call is not always easy. People will scrutinize your decision – even think a different call should have been made – and then use hindsight to evaluate your call.

It’s not always fun being the one who has to make that final decision, the one with “the buck stops here” responsibility.

Years ago when I was a youth pastor in Edmonton, one Friday afternoon we were experiencing heavy rain, even some flooding. We had a youth activity scheduled for that night, but I had gone home early because a lake was suddenly forming on the street in front of our church and cars were getting stuck.

I needed to make a judgement call on whether we would hold our youth event or cancel it. 

We never canceled meetings, but that day the weather reports were calling for extreme weather. By about 4 pm I made the decision: we would cancel that night’s activity. 

Phone calls went out and the feedback poured in … not much of it was positive.

Sometime after the decision to shut down our event, closer to the time we would have started, the sky changed.

I recall looking out the front window of my home and calling Lily to take a look. It was all calm, silent, even still. But the clouds in the distance were changing at a rapid pace, and were amazing colours of green, grey, almost black, and purple. 

It was mesmerizing; it looked ominous. 

Then, as the clouds came upon us, the wind picked up and was violent. It was loud and relentless. You could sense the tremendous power of the wind. 

But it didn’t last long. The weather calmed down, and it wasn’t bad outside.

I felt guilty for having canceled youth group that night, thinking maybe I had made the wrong call.

That was July 31,1987 – they called it Black Friday. A tornado had touched down and ripped a path through Edmonton’s east side from south to north. It left 27 people dead and 300 injured, in the wake of 417 km/h winds. 

You know, I didn’t get a lot of complaints about canceling that activity after the fact.

This past week we had our church picnic. Our plan was to hold the service and picnic on the lawn at the back of our church.

Early in the morning, the skies were all grey and it looked like it could rain at any moment. The weatherman was forecasting rain.  

Somebody had to make the call. We decided at about 7 am that we would have the service and picnic inside the church. 

We brought in a bunch of decorations to try and give an atmosphere of a picnic indoors. We even created space for people to sit on the carpet for the service, as if it were the lawn outside. 

In the end, the clouds lied. There was no rain in them; it just looked like there was. 

In hindsight we could have held the whole thing outside and kept dry. 

It was a judgement call.

Here’s the thing: When you have to make a decision, the pressure is on to make the right one. Often the pressure comes from inside, from you; sometimes it comes from others as well. It’s easy to question, second guess, even back down from your call. But God has given us the Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us. Seek His wisdom in your decisions, find strength in the direction He gives you, and stand firm on your judgement call. 

That’s Life! 

Paul

Question: What judgment call do you need to seek God’s wisdom for? Leave your comments below. 

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How A New Part Makes The Whole Thing Seem New

It’s always nice to find a new trail to ride. It’s not like the old ones get boring, but a fresh path is always welcomed.

When I’m at home, every week I ride the same trails. I mix and match between about five of them. But as a general rule, there is just one trail that I usually ride. Part of the reason is time. The home loop at my mountain bike club takes me about 45 – 50 minutes to ride which is perfect. All the other trails take a little to a lot longer to ride. 

Riding the same trail isn’t boring because I always try to beat my best time. The woods are also beautiful with a new scene to take in at every turn.

But when I get a chance to ride something new, it’s always a thrill. 

Up at my cottage, I’ve been riding the same trails for about ten years. Some are more like skidoo or ATV trails than mountain biking trails – they’re wider and less technical … but on the upside, they flow really well.

I have been riding these paths to get me to some single track trails that are made for mountain biking. In some places I even have to ride on the road to get to the good trails.  

It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing. 

Last year I almost ran into another biker on the trails. It was the first time in years I’d seen someone else in the woods. For years I’d felt like I was the only mountain biker in the area, but recently I’ve noticed signs that there are other riders using the trails.

It was also last year that I discovered a new trail and, because of it, I changed my route. I even got adventurous and built a short connector trail to link up the far end of my loop with the main trail. 

Well, yesterday while riding at my cottage, I found another trail. This trail means I can now avoid more roads and spend less time on the wide snowmobile and ATV paths.

It won’t be long until this new section of trail is old hat, just a regular part of my loop – by the end of this season I will have ridden it more than twenty times. But right now it’s exciting to pedal hard through a section that I don’t know very well.

It’s kind of like getting a new accessory for a product you’ve had for a while. When you get that new piece it makes the whole thing seem fresh and original again. 

This is shaping up to be a good biking season. (Want to see the trail? Click here.)

Here’s the thing: I have my set time every day when I do my Bible reading, journalling and prayer. I even have a certain place in the house where I like to spend that time. There is a lot of sameness to my meeting with God, but it’s not boring. But every once in a while I change something: I find a new place to meet with God, add different devotional readings, or take time to ask the Lord some very specific questions and wait on Him to answer. These new things I do just make my experience with God fresh and original again. Try something new – it will make a good time with God great again. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What gets you excited about new things? Leave your comments below.