God

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It Appeared Out Of Nowhere

Yesterday something just appeared on me and I have no idea how it got there. 

I had just washed my hands and, as I was drying them, I looked at my fingers and noticed something I hadn’t seen before. 

In fact, I was so surprised I exclaimed, “Whoa” out loud. I said it loud enough that others heard me.

I felt I needed to explain my surprise to them, so I walked over and showed them my hands.

You could tell the middle finger on my right hand was a different colour. It was dark red, sort of like it was going to develop into a big bruise. It went from the knuckle of my hand all the way past the middle knuckle on my finger.

The thing is I can’t remember what I did to get it. 

That’s not like me. I usually know what I did to get the aches and pains, bumps and bruises I incur.

But I couldn’t remember what I did to get this injury. I do remember hurting my knuckle, but what I did doesn’t seem memorable enough for me to be able to recall it. 

It’s sort of like my wife, Lily. I will see a bruise on her arm and say, “How did you get that?” And her reply is always the same: “I don’t know.”

She never knows, and I always walk away muttering to myself, “How can you not know how you got that?” 

I usually know exactly what I did to get a bruise … even when I was on a powerful blood thinner for a few months after my heart attack years ago. 

Back then my doctors didn’t want me playing hockey or really doing anything where I could get hit because of the chance of bruising. Even then I could tell you where I got bruises from. 

But not this time. 

I told someone it might have happened when we were doing yard work at the church, or it could have happened when I was playing hockey earlier.

But I just don’t know. It’s a mystery just like all of Lily’s bruises (not that she has a lot of them).

I don’t recall many times when something just appeared on me out of nowhere. 

I do, however, remember a time that something disappeared into nowhere. That was at our wedding. 

One of our bridesmaids fainted during the ceremony; the pastor made an amazing catch and got her before she hit the ground. 

Lily’s cousin had recorded the whole wedding so when we got the tape – yes, the tape – and viewed it, I was waiting to see all the action. 

But all you saw was her losing her balance and then poof, she was gone. Lil’s cousin edited the incident right out of our video.

It was amazing. One minute she was there, the next she was not. 

And that’s what I’m hoping for with my finger, that the redness disappears as quickly as it appeared out of nowhere.

Here’s the thing: The Bible tells us that one day Jesus is going to return, and His return will come as a surprise. There will be many who will not be ready. There are lots of predictions and sign watching right now about when Jesus will return. It could be soon. But my view is to be ready now so that you are not taken by surprise when Christ appears out of nowhere. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Are you ready now for Jesus’ return if He should come today? Leave your comments below.

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It Feels Like The Longest Days Of The Year

We are in the longest days of the year right now. I realize that it won’t be until late in June when we reach the maximum daylight, but still, these are the longest days of the year.

I used to live in Edmonton which has long days in the summer. I remember being on a golf course at 11pm at night!

When I directed a week of junior high camp for a few years, we would turn the clocks ahead. We called it “camp time”. We did it so the sun wasn’t still high in the sky when we would have our camp fires. 

Those definitely were long days. 

We got blackout blinds on our kids’ rooms so that when we put them to bed they didn’t think it was still the middle of the day.

But right now, at the beginning of May, we are experiencing the longest days of the year.

And if you are wondering why that is, it’s not that the sun is standing still in the sky. It’s not even that it is staying light out most of the night in Alaska. 

No, it’s that we are experiencing the NHL playoffs. 

You see, with eight teams still in the playoffs, there are two games every night and one is always a western game, giving us in the east a starting time of about 10 pm. 

… That means my days are very long, often extending after midnight.

Even though my team is out of the playoffs, I can’t stop watching the games. They flow from one to another. 

If one game runs a little late with overtime, the TV network joins the next game immediately … and the best part is you don’t have to wait for the national anthems to be sung. You get beamed into live action as a player is receiving a pass up the ice.

One of the difficult things about these long days is my day don’t start any later than usual. I’m up at my regular time; I’m just not getting to bed until much later than I’d like.

It’s not hard to handle this pace for a day or two, but day after day with no breaks until this round is over and four teams will be knocked out, that’s tiring. 

And I know what you are thinking – “Just don’t watch the late game.”

But that is easier said than done. 

If I open a bag of potato chips in front of you and say just have one, how well would you do with that? – especially if the bag was still hovering around your nose after you had devoured your first chip!

See? I thought you might understand if I gave you that analogy. 

These are long days we are in, and as much as I have enjoyed the action in all the series, I will be looking forward to a week from now when we will only have one game a night.

… Maybe I’ll have to take a nap early in the evening so I can stay up and watch those late western games.

Here’s the thing: When your routine or schedule gets changed, do you find that it is hard to maintain some of the things you are used to doing? There is never a time where God is thrown off His plan or will. With Him everything always gets accomplished right when He determines it. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you get back on track when your routine or schedule has been interrupted or adjusted? Leave your comments below.

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I Just Crossed Something Else Off My List

Well, I think I’ll cross one more item off my list of things I can and will do.

You get to a certain point in life where you have to remind yourself that you just can’t do things you did twenty years ago and think they will have no effect on you.

My son was moving on the weekend and needed a little help from Mom and Dad. This was his first big move that he’s had to do himself.

The last time the company moved him. All he had to do was grunt and point. He didn’t even have to pack!

Not this time – it was all on his shoulders. Plus he didn’t need to take some of his belongings to the next place.

Guess who gets to store those? Fortunately, we no longer have that second car taking up room in the garage so we have a whole half of the garage just waiting to receive his stuff.

Years ago when I was young, the church that I worked for used to call on the youth pastor and college pastor any time someone needed help moving. 

I did lots of moving back then. We even came up with a name for ourselves: “Dave and Paul, One Trip Movers”. 

And we did our best to get every person’s junk onto one truckload so we didn’t have to go back.

That was years ago though … a distant memory. I can’t do that kind of moving any more. It takes a toll on you.

This time we did a round trip from Kingston to Burlington and back in 24 hours. We brought all the stuff back to our home that our son doesn’t need right now. 

The next day we were up early to drive back to Burlington – a total of 975 km in all. About half way through the day, I realized how tired I was. 

That’s when you question yourself, “Do I really want to do this again? I know I did it in the past and can still do it, but it’s not as easy as before.”

I remember a few years ago when I shingled my cottage roof, looking at the job and thinking it wouldn’t be very difficult. I had experience shingling roofs, albeit 30 years earlier. 

When we finally finished the work, I remember saying to Lily,  “Well, I’m not going to do that ever again!” 

It was one of those items I crossed off my list of things that I can do. 

When you are young, new things get added to the list of things you can do all the time. It’s exciting.

But at this stage of life, I am happy to cross a few things off that list that I don’t need to or have to do any more.

I think moving people is one of those things that’s going to end up being crossed off the list. 

Of course, when it comes to family, you have to make exceptions. 

Here’s hoping for a company move next time.

Here’s the thing: There are things in our lives that we used to do, that we didn’t think anything of. But as we grow in our relationships with Christ, we need to keep evaluating our actions and cross off those things that don’t meet with our level of maturity in Christ, which should be constantly increasing.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to cross off your list of things you do? Leave your comments below.

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My Family’s Wall Of Shame

I’m writing this blog while standing in front of our family’s wall of shame. I’m sure that most homes also have some form of our wall.

Our wall of shame is in our family room. It has a set of three lights that shine strategically on the pictures that hang on that wall … you wouldn’t want to have any shadows cast over these photographic gems!

I’m sure you realize that what we have isn’t really a wall of shame, but the affectionate term our children have given to some pictures – a whole wall of random pictures that give a brief glimpse into the lives of each member of our household.

The wall provides a snapshot of how our family has grown over the years, as well as one shot that Lily snuck in there from my early years playing hockey as a kid.

Though it shows how our family has grown over the years, in reality it shows how our kids have grown and how Lily and I have aged. 

From this wall, you get an idea of the things that we think are important, things we like and a few shots that were just too cute to not include on the wall.

Females who look at the wall get all warm and fuzzy, while males usually take to mocking within seconds.

The wall is well positioned to ensure that the maximum amount of embarrassment is doled out. 

It’s right by our pool table, so while you are standing waiting for someone to take his shot, it provides a perfect diversion to look and make a comment about one or more of the pictures on the wall.

I remember going to an art gallery one time, and listening to what people had to say about the various pieces of art on display. I was relieved for the painter’s sake that he was not living. He didn’t have to hear all the random comments made about his work.

We don’t have that kind of luxury here in our family room. One of us is usually standing within ear shot of some wise crack.

But humiliating as our wall of shame is, it is nothing compared to the other wall Lily had going upstairs in the hall. 

Yes, both these walls are courtesy of Lily; she is the designer and chooser of the pictures. 

The wall upstairs featured a series of pictures our family had taken on a cruise ship. They were brutal! The photographer had us pose in positions no one else had been able to do nor will do again. 

Fortunately, that wall recently got painted and because the pictures had received so much abuse by Karlie, Mike and I, they didn’t get put back up.

I’m all for looking back and reminiscing about the past as you look through old photos or scan through them on a computer, but having them on display 24/7 for years and years? 

All I can say is it will be a great wall of memory when I’m no longer around.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes when we scan over our lives, we feel shame for things we’ve done, or didn’t do. We can see glimpses of specific times or events that caused us pain. There is One who has constant access to the images of your entire life. If He is your Saviour and Lord, you can know He looks at you not with disappointment or shame, but with great joy and pleasure. If we have received His forgiveness, there is no longer any wall of shame. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What would you like to keep hidden from others? Leave your comments below.

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My New Technology Doesn’t Work With The Old

Trying to use new technology with old technology doesn’t always work very well. Sometimes the two are incompatible.

I found that out recently when I got myself involved in a project just to be nice. By the time I had finished, however, I didn’t feel all that nice! 

I was asked to lend my video camera to someone for a project they wanted to film. Someone else was also asked the same thing.  

When it came time to film, the person doing the project chose to use the other camera. That was fine with me. 

But a few days later, that camera owner informed me that her camera would no longer hook up to her computer and that the person who had done the filming had assumed she would edit the film for him.

I agreed to help and to get the files off the camera and to edit the video for her. 

Bad call on my part! The camera wouldn’t hook up to her computer because the video files were recorded in an old format.

… I remember many years ago wanting to add front shocks to my mountain bike, thinking they would be a great feature to add.

When I went to the bike shop to ask how much the transformation would cost, I was informed that my bike was too old. The old front end construction didn’t allow for the addition of a new fork with shocks.

I ended up purchasing a new bike with front shocks. It cost a lot more money than my original plan, but the old bike construction was just too restrictive to keep using it.

I was facing the same problem with the camera, except for one difference: I thought that somehow there would be a way to get those video files into a useable format.

I worked on it, searched the internet and found some solutions … or what at first looked like solutions but weren’t.

I did discover that I could buy an application that would do the work for me, but it would cost $50 … not worth it for a six minute movie, especially since I would have no use for the program once this project was finished.

I spent over five hours working on this project that I was only asked to lend my camera to! 

I’m not sure you sense my frustration here, but if steam could come out of my ears … well, you’d maybe have a picture of my frustration.

In the end, I used a free program that read the files and converted them to a useable format … except it didn’t save the sound. I had to use that program to interpret the files, then replay the files while recording the sound from my computer screen. 

It was not perfect, but it worked. … I will definitely tell the owner of that camera to throw it out and not use it again.

Here’s the thing: The problem with technology is that it is continuously changing. If something is over five years old, you might find it no longer works or you can not get replacement parts for it.

God never changes. You can always connect with Him and relate to Him using the same means we have used for centuries: continue to pray, worship and serve Him. We may keep adding new formats, but the means remain the same. God longs to connect with us, and we never have to look for a new way. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you had to replace because the original was outdated? Leave your comments below.

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What To Do When Weather Is Looming

Last week we were warned of looming weather. There was supposed to be a bad storm with freezing rain coming our way. 

It was supposed to start in the early hours of Saturday morning, but when I got up for hockey at 5:30, there was no rain and it was above freezing. 

I thought after hockey I might have difficultly driving home, but there was no rain and temperatures were still in the positive numbers.

The weather stations were ramping up their warnings, like it was going to be bad and that our city was in the red zone of the storm.

Yet when I looked outside to the street, the road was drying up.

The weatherman said to make sure we had gas in our cars. I wondered where I would have to drive to if there was freezing rain, and how long this was going to last. 

Were they suggesting that I needed to get out of the area, sort of like a nuclear fallout zone?

People were filling up with gas; they were stockpiling water. 

I had already been contacted by another church who was wondering if we had a plan for our Sunday service or whether we would cancel it. 

That got me thinking because I hadn’t thought about our service at all. We always just have it. But this week we were scheduled to have a lunch after church.

After conferring with my board, we decided to only cancel the lunch and let everyone make their own weather dependent decisions about coming to church.

Nothing was actually happening when we made that decision. It was just looming, with the threat of starting at any time. We didn’t know when; we didn’t know how bad it was going to be. 

But the threat of what might have been coming had us making plans, checking the sky, stockpiling supplies … Hey, Lily, how’s our candle inventory?

I remember the ice storm of 1998. The Canadian Encyclopedia called it one of the largest natural disasters in Canadian history. McLean’s magazine called it “The Great Ice Storm.”

We didn’t cancel church back then, and it was in January. We didn’t have power or heat, but we did have a service, though only a handful of people attended. 

I just remember having my jaw wide open as we drove through the deserted streets to get to church.

That one was more severe and long-lasting than this one was predicted to be, but it also was never looming. We just woke up and faced it. 

This time it was looming and the more it loomed, the bigger the storm became in our minds. 

When something is looming, it’s not usually considered a good thing … like when the music in a scary movie hits a certain chord, you know something bad is looming and about to happen.

Or when the US, Britain and France conduct bomb strikes on Syria, you know that reactions by Russian and Syria are looming. 

The looming part gives us time to think and plan and not be caught off guard … and maybe head to the bomb shelter.

Here’s the thing: People were worried and planning on what might be an inconvenience for a few days. But Christ is returning sometime and, though it’s been looming for over 2000 years, it’s still looming. Make sure that you are benefiting from the looming of Christ’s return: think about it, plan for it, and don’t be caught off guard. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you prepare for looming situations?

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The Aches And Pains Of Old Age

I have been told that as you get older you have aches and pains that you can’t explain.

When you’re young, if you’re hurting, you know the cause of it – it’s because you fell off your bike, or tried to jump a fence, got caught on the top and landed funny.

When you’re young you have many questions that need answers, but why you’re hurting is not one of them.

When you’re older, however, you get some pains that are unexplainable; you just can’t come up with answers.

I sometimes have some pain in my shoulders. I don’t know why; I didn’t do anything to hurt them recently.

I have pain in my wrists sometimes too, and I can’t put my finger on a cause for that either.

I usually chock it all up to years of falling off my bike, or body abuse from years of hockey – you know, just old injuries that healed, but probably left some lasting side effects that will make their debut sometime after I turn 60 or 70.

Up until now I’ve experienced some minor phantom aches and pains in my body. But this past weekend I experienced a new one. This pain came out of nowhere, but left me thinking I needed a hip replacement.

It was like a switch got flicked and I went from being upright, like a fully-formed homosapien, to  being all hunched over, like a regressing neanderthal.

On a dime I turned into an old man who really needed a cane to get around. Trying to walk up a staircase was agony! … and I don’t mean agony just because of the pain; it was agony for anyone to watch me.

Every time I walked it felt like my bones were crashing and rubbing together, as if I was trying to start a fire with the friction.

It was quite concerning. But here is the crazy thing …

A few hours earlier I had been playing hockey, racing up and down the ice like a young man.

I never got hit, never crashed into the boards. When I got off the ice, I had no symptoms of restricted movement whatsoever.

After hockey I attended a men’s breakfast where about a half dozen men from my church saw me walking just fine.

This hip issue came on a few hours later when I sat down to write a blog post.

I am a bit of a sloucher and I wrote the blog sprawled out on our couch. When I finished and tried to get up – wow! – I suddenly felt like 78 years old, on a waiting list to have my first of two hips replaced (if you need one, you know the other one is coming).

Fortunately, after an uncomfortable night’s sleep, I woke up to a hip that was much better. I still don’t know what happened or why … but I am over 60.

I do have hope that it will get better and soon I will be racing up and down the ice like a young man again.

Here’s the thing:  They say that when we get older we get wiser. But that doesn’t mean we have the answers to everything. We might fool ourselves into thinking we know, but when something unexplainable happens, we are left dumbfounded. There is never an age when we don’t need the wisdom and the help of God. In fact, there is not an age when we need God more. We always need more of him, so never stop seeking him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What unexplainable thing draws you to the all-knowing God? Leave your comments below.

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I’m A Budding Political Activist

I think I’m becoming a political activist and I don’t really know how it all happened.

There have been a couple of issues that have created a sore spot in me that I can’t seem to ignore. … It’s like a blister that develops on your foot; you can only ignore it so long.

Well, there are a couple of things that are associated with the government that are rubbing me the wrong way.

I received an email from people at Sauble Beach where our cottage is located. They were asking me to write the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry for preventing the town from cleaning up the beach of debris from the winter.

The ministry is trying to protect a handful of birds that want to nest on 12 kilometres of beach. … My house is only 1200 square feet and I am able to live in it just fine. Twelve kilometres for a few birds seems a little excessive to me!

So I wrote an email, politely asking the ministry to consider letting the town clean up their beach – after all, it’s the only reason most people go to Sauble Beach.

I received back a long email outlining the course of action that needs to be taken to ensure that these endangered birds are able to nest and breed at Sauble. The email never really acknowledged that they would even take my request under advisement, or thanked me for my opinion.

All I got was a defence for their actions.

So I decided I would push back a little. I send another email.

I pointed out that my wife, while on a vacation in Florida, saw thousands of these birds on the beach in Daytona. I also pointed out that maybe these birds have found a better habitat to survive in. Really, if you only had feathers to keep you warm, wouldn’t you choose Florida over north central Ontario?

There was another thought I had which had to do with survival. The ministry is concerned about the survival of a few birds. But what about the survival of a town and its people?

The reason Sauble Beach is a blip on the map is because it has one of the best beaches in Ontario.

Take the beach away and the local economy would crash, businesses would fail, people would move away. Home owners and cottage owners would have to give up their residences.

So who should have first right of survival? – a few birds or a few thousand people whose livelihood is based on taking care of one natural resource: the beach.

Well if the ministry has its way, they would choose the birds. The birds would run the beach; debris and grass would begin to take over.

People would stay away … and then there wouldn’t be a reason to pay someone in Natural Resources to stick their nose into an area that has had a long history of creating vacation fun for thousands of people.

Well, maybe the seven Piping Plovers of Sauble Beach would band together and chip in financially to float the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry payroll.

Here’s the thing: There are times we will only believe what we have been told or learned or were brought up on. Scripture has a way of challenging our thinking. Don’t be so set in your ways or responses that you fail to understand the message a particular passage of scripture has for you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is something you have a hard time seeing the other side of? Leave your comments below.

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Seriously, Something Is Wrong Here!

Today’s blog post comes from my wife Lily. She is the one who edits my posts and every once in a while she get inspired to write a post of her own. I hope you enjoy this post.

Even though the weather this week doesn’t feel like it, I know summer is coming … I’ve been dreaming about it … flip flops, scorching heat, a refreshing glass of cold lemonade and carefree days!

Ahh, those images take me back to my childhood …

When I was growing up, it was common place to either see or to have a lemonade stand on the hot, humid days of summer. Well, actually it usually wasn’t a lemonade stand but a Kool-Aid stand.

You remember Kool-Aid, don’t you? … “Kool-aid’s here bringing you fun, Kool-Aid’s got thirst on the run. Get a big, wide, happy ear-to-ear Kool-Aid smi-i-ile!”

I think Kool-Aid stands were our mothers’ faults. After all, they were the ones who would repeatedly spout the phrase, “Go outside and play.” Eventually, we’d get tired of skipping and biking and jumping on pogo sticks. We’d run out of scenarios for playing cowboys and indians (ya, I’m that old!). We’d finish soaking ourselves with water guns while playing cops and robbers. And there were only so many freezies we were allowed to eat before supper.

After sitting with siblings and friends on the curb for a while, racking our brains for ideas, someone would invariably suggest selling Kool-Aid. Even before the logistics were worked out, we’d be arguing how we’d spend our fortunes.

Logistics boiled down to someone running home and begging Mom to make a jug of the finest colour of Kool-aid in the house, and someone else ravaging their pantry for plastic cups …. which weren’t hard to find back in the heyday of Tupperware!

Of course, some kind neighbours would always oblige and purchase a glass or two, and the ever-loving moms would buy a glass of the drink they had just moments ago pulled from their own cupboard and mixed for us … Could there ever be people who love others more than moms?!

Today’s kids, however, are missing out on all that. Our country has gone berserk in bureaucracy! Remember that news report last summer about two sisters, aged five and seven, whose lemonade stand was shut down because they didn’t have a permit and weren’t following the bylaws? And they were selling lemonade to raise money for a summer camp for kids with cancer! Can you imagine?!

Seriously, for starters, who would report two little girls for trying to raise money for a cancer camp? What bylaw officer would actually follow through with shutting them down?

In the end, they are allowed to reopen their stand, but guess what? They had to change their adorable, crayon coloured “lemonade” sign because the word had to be written in both official languages!

What have we done to our kids? When are we going to stop reacting to every complaint and problem by creating more regulations and rules?

… Makes me nostalgic for the old, carefree days of summer where everything wasn’t regulated and kids didn’t have to be bubble-wrapped before venturing outside to play.

I think I’m going to go buy some Kool-Aid.

Here’s the thing: God has given us some rules to live by. But when we fixate on the rules alone, we can go berserk in Christian bureaucracy. God never intended us to live by rules, but by love. Our lives should be lived in response to God’s great love for us, and what Christ did for us by dying and taking the punishment we deserve.

That’s Life!

Lily Silcock

Question: What rules have you gotten fixated on? Leave your comment below.

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I’ve Got the After Easter Blues

I think I have the after Easter blues today, and I don’t really have any reason for it.

It’s not an unusual phenomenon to have after an emotional high, but it usually occurs when you are doing something out of the ordinary.

People who go to developing countries and help out in some way often experience the blues when they return home. The contrast of what we have here and what they don’t have there can be so shocking that their minds and emotions can’t deal with the contrast so they find themselves down with the blues for a while.

We get the blues when we’ve gone from an intense emotional state back to a normal state.

It’s like the way I get when I’ve eaten sugary food in the morning. I get a sugar spike and my body burns up that sugar really fast. Then it starts to beg for more. And when my body starts crying out “Feed me, Seymour” (a line from the play, “Little Shop of Horrors”), I get all weak, hot and sweaty. My body basically bottoms out.

It’s how we react when we come down from something that has been intense.

You wouldn’t think that Easter would be so intense an experience that it would cause the blues when it was all over, but somehow it did this year.

I’m not sure if it had something to do with the series of messages I did over Easter or not, but I’m still feeling a bit of a letdown just the same.

This year on Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we looked at the difference the cross made to three different people.

We also had our annual meeting on Palm Sunday, which for me added a little intensity.

But probably the intensity culminated Easter weekend. For the Good Friday service I did a first person monologue as the Roman Centurion.

To prepare for the role, I had to put myself in the centurion’s shoes, requiring more emotion on my part than giving a regular message. I’m no actor but to make it effective, even in a little way I had to live the part.

Then Saturday night the Kingston Frontenacs battled for 6 periods of hockey (three overtime periods) to eliminate their opponents. It was a long and tension-filled game. I was wired when I got home from that.

I then had a very short turn-around before I preached my Easter message the next day on the third character.

When I think of it, I experienced a greater emotional output than usual this weekend, and now that it’s over, everything has just gone back to normal.

Well, maybe my system is not quite ready to return to normal yet … so I’m stuck in the blues for a day.

Here’s the thing: The reason I had such an emotional output this weekend is that in my messages we focussed on the greatest event for mankind. As amazing as creation was, and as powerful as the progress we humans have made, the fact that Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins, so we could have a relationship with God, is nothing less than a close brush with death that was avoided. Christ died for us – that’s emotional – and if you have put your faith in him, then it’s an emotional high.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you recover from a huge emotional output? Leave your comments below.