health

by

The Answer To An Age-Old Automobile Controversy

This post is from 2014. From time to time II like to republish posts I’ve written in the past.  I hope you enjoy it.

I believe I’ve uncovered the mystery to a controversy that has baffled mankind of a long time … at least since the passenger car was invented.

In fact, I feel a little like Banting and Best when they discovered insulin, or when a scientist discovers some kind of breakthrough that will lead to possibly finding a partial cure for a certain strain of a multifaceted disease that continues to develop into different strains.

Whoa, I got a little dizzy just writing that.  

Back to my discovery. I got in the car the other day and when I turned a corner the sun shining through the windshield almost blinded me. All I could see was a big red ball of light, so I quickly pulled down the sun visor to block it out.

When I did that, I stumbled onto something that could be a key to changing driving habits, all the way to changing insurance rates. 

When I pulled down that visor, I almost scared myself into the next lane of traffic. The shield covering the visor mirror was gone. I went from looking into the centre of the sun to looking at two eyes staring at me and it freaked me out.

Fortunately, I controlled myself and stayed in my lane. But not everyone is as composed as I am when they drive. And here’s my discovery …

The mirror in the visor is a driving hazard and the ones who are guilty of using it are mostly women. Because of it, they are causing untold numbers of accidents. 

Every time I look behind the visor, if my wife has been sitting in the seat before me, that mirror is visible. Imagine how many men have jerked the steering wheel to the left, when they’ve suddenly seen a pair eyes about six inches from their face. 

Or how about the light that reflects off a woman’s bleached white teeth, hits the mirror and like a laser pointer temporarily blinds some poor unsuspecting driver behind her.  Another accident.

Or what about the woman who’s putting on her makeup and drifts a little, causing the car beside her to swerve and careen into a light pole on the side of the road.

You see what I’m saying?  

Statistics says that “80% of collisions and 65% of near crashes have some form of driver inattention as contributing factors” (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2010).

I’m not saying women cause more fatal accidents. No, men are best at doing that. But statistics say that women are in more fender benders than men.

It’s that distraction factor, and a little piece of the solution could have something to do with the mirror that is on the back of sun visors. 

This is still an early discovery. Now I just have to figure out how to get Lily to place the cover back over the mirror when she’s done.

Here’s the thing: God is trying to teach us all the time, but often we are distracted by other things. Being attentive to little things can lead you to discover something amazing about God that you haven’t noticed before. You can learn much about God from life around you. Don’t be so distracted by something that’s right in your face that you miss learning about God’s character and how that relates to you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What discovery have you made recently about God? I’d love to hear from you; you can leave your comment below.

by

Our Stuff Doesn’t Last As Long Anymore

Things don’t last as long as they once did. We also don’t try as hard to make them last.

This is particularly true with clothes … and many other things.

When I was a kid, I remember my mom would sew my ripped jeans at the knee. Sure, I had a stitch line that looked like a crease going across my knee, but I would get more time in those jeans.  

Mom also had some iron-on patches and sometimes, if the rip or the hole was too big to sew together, she would iron on a patch. 

The patch usually was a close, but not exact, match. It was really noticeable that I had a hole in those pants. But, hey, at least my skin wasn’t showing through. 

Nowadays we extend the life of jeans by just wearing the ripped skin-showing hole or holes in the knee. … Some pants already come that way. 

Years back there was a progression with pants. They would get sewn, then patched. When the patch started to lose its grip and begin to flap, Mom would cut those jeans off above the knee and you’d have a pair of shorts to wear. 

You really could get a lot of wear out of a pair of pants back then.  

Not so much now. 

My favourite jeans have a hole in them. I just noticed it. It’s going to get bigger too, so time is running out on these good ol’ pants of mine.

They seem to be coming to an end far too quickly, and the rip isn’t even in the knee. 

The hole in my pants is developing in my back pocket. It’s where I keep my wallet. 

It’s not that I carry huge amounts of cash in my wallet or that I have three inches of credit cards and identification back there either. It’s just that I have a hard case for my credit cards and a billfold with pointy edges. 

That combo creates extensive friction against my pants pocket and, though from the front the pants look fine, my right back pocket is starting to look like a real mess. 

It’s not fashionable yet, and I can’t cut them off at the pocket either. Sewing and patches? Well, I don’t think that style is ever coming back. It’s time to start looking for new jeans. 

I’m looking forward to the day when I won’t have to carry credit cards or cash with me. I do make many purchases electronically from my watch, but if we went cashless, if that became more fashionable, my pockets wouldn’t wear out and I could wear my favourite jeans for years. 

There is one thing that might save my jeans: it’s called darning. Some of you have never heard of the word … because nobody does it any more. 

When I was a kid, if you got a hole in your socks, your mom would say, “ah darn”, and then she would take needle and wool and close up the hole. 

My back pocket hole is darn-able; it’s not that big. I even said “darn” the first time I discovered it. Maybe I’ll bring back darning. 

… Not the word, just the fixing hole part. 

Here’s the thing: When it comes to relationships, we often don’t put effort into keeping relationships that are in need of repair. We just move on. Even with the Lord, we can be guilty of not trying hard to keep up our relationship. All relationships are worth it – especially your relationship with Christ. So do what you need to do to preserve, repair or fix your relationship with God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What relationship needs repair in your life? Leave your comments below.

by

People Are Too Delicate

I’m afraid that we, as humans, have become too delicate. We’re not tough enough; we’re soft.

We have great fears for our personal safety that motivate us to make laws and restrictions that prevent us from just enjoying life. 

When we are born we don’t come with warning tags tattooed to our bottoms that read, “Warning: this package is fragile”, but we kind of treat people like those tattoos exist. 

The other day I was in a hockey arena change room and, for some reason, began talking about some of the stunts I pulled as a youth pastor back in the 80’s and 90’s.  

They were fun stunts that had some risks attached to them … but no one ever got injured too badly.

Having said that, in every city we ever travelled to, someone from my youth group visited a hospital … and never to give them a tour of the place. It was always a concussion, broken collar bone, asthma, infection or stitches related necessity.

These former students are all fine now, in their forties and with families of their own.

One time I had some of my youth play a game of chubby bunnies. My intent, however, was to make it as gross as possible. 

At the time I couldn’t think of anything grosser than brussels sprouts so that’s what we used. 

You know how the game chubby bunnies goes – well, maybe you don’t because, according to one guy in the change room the other day, they have outlawed chubby bunnies!

I’m not sure how “they” would do that. I’m not sure the police would raid a youth group because of a rumour that a game of chubby bunnies was going down at Beulah Alliance Church. But maybe church boards and insurance companies would frown on the game.

The game is played with contestants who each put a marshmallow in their mouths and say the words “chubby bunny”. They continue to add one marshmallow at a time, saying “chubby bunny” until their mouths are packed so full of marshmallows that they cannot say the words “chubby bunny” anymore. 

It’s really funny to watch and hear them say “chubby bunny”. 

Using slightly warmed brussels sprouts gave the added effect of green slime oozing out their mouths and down their chins when they attempted to say “chubby bunny”.  

It was awesome and hard to look at all at the same time.

But I guess we couldn’t play that game now because someone once choked on the marshmallows and died. 

It’s incredibly sad that someone died, but it’s also hard to imagine just how many people played the game and lived to laugh and talk about it. 

Today we try hard to protect against fun that comes with risk. 

But life is not safe: You can get hit by a car, trip over the sidewalk and hit your head, or fall off your chair to devastating results. 

Thankfully, that’s not most of the time. We are not that fragile and we shouldn’t treat each other as if we are. 

We should enjoy life; live it to the full. 

Yes, there will be some risks involved; some hospital visits may follow. But keep in mind that with every injury, every trip to the hospital, there is a great story to tell. Let’s not deprive one another of those opportunities.

Here’s the thing: Living for Christ is not without risk. Don’t try to live as a Christian risk-free. If you do, you will miss out on much of what God has in store for you. Living life to the full will come with risks, but oh what powerful stories you will have if you risk for Christ.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you been living life a little too safely? Leave your comments below.

by

My Injuries Keep Coming

I’m finding it more difficult to diagnose minor injuries than I used to. 

Years ago, when I had an ache or a pain, I could pinpoint the precise cause or incident of my injury. Now, when I find myself with a bit of discomfort, I’m not necessarily sure what happened to bring it on.

This is all new for me. For my wife, Lily, on the other hand, this is a phenomenon that has plagued her most of her life!

Throughout our marriage when Lily would say, “I’m sore”, and I would ask her what happened or what she had done, she would always say, “I don’t know. I’m just sore.” If she got a bruise, about 90 percent of the time she didn’t know how she got it. 

I’m kind of catching up to her in this regard, because lately I’ve had some sore spots on my body that are a little mysterious.

I wrote about my sore elbow back in the fall (read about it here), and although it is now slowly getting better, it’s been six months of pain. … I still have to be careful to warm up before I start taking shots on a goalie. 

It turned out to be a ligament problem and I’m still not completely sure how I got it … although possibly it was from excessive wrist shots in hockey.

The latest thing that has been bugging me is a sore thumb around the joint on my left hand. It’s been sore for a few weeks now. 

And I don’t have a clue how it happened!  

I wondered if I was getting a touch of arthritis when the knuckle at the base of my index finger of my right hand got swollen and very painful.

I didn’t have any explanation for my knuckle either, and it has been swollen now for close to two weeks. … It doesn’t help that I sometimes move it the wrong way or that people shake my hand with a little pressure. 

One of the guys I play hockey with said it was gout, but that was because he had just finished experiencing some gout in his foot. I knew his diagnosis was only based on his experience and had nothing to do with really being able to identify my problem.

But yesterday at church, I may have figured something out. 

I asked my doctor if I possibly have a bit of arthritis, but when I described what I was experiencing, he didn’t agree. So I responded that maybe I did just injury it. He kind of nodded.

A few minutes later I was talking with a group of other people and the topic of injuries came up.  While I was relaying to them my conversation with my doctor an idea came to my mind. 

I had grabbed a puck out of the air with my hand a week or so ago. Maybe – just maybe – my sore knuckle was a result of catching that puck with my hand. 

My conclusion: injuries come more easily as we age, but also our memory is not as sharp in identifying incidents with injuries. 

Here’s the thing: The only way to prevent sin from going unnoticed in your life is to stay diligent in identifying and addressing it each time. When you let sin slide, your memory starts to fade, and you then don’t easily identify the ramifications to that sin. Stay on top of your sin by identifying it right away and dealing with it. It will lessen the chance of a lingering sore spot.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What mystery in your life do you need to identify? Leave your comments below

by

The Masters Left Me With a Different Feeling

Yesterday I had a different take on the Masters than most people did. 

I love to play golf and I’m also one of those people who likes watching it on TV.

For golfers, the Masters is a must watch event. It is one of the premier golfing events of the year.

But this year I had a different feeling than most people did watching the tourney.

Tiger Woods was making a charge; he was on a comeback. He hadn’t won the Masters since 2005 and he hadn’t won a major tournament in 11 years.

He’s had operations to fix chronic back problems, swing issues that has seen him completely change his swing, and emotional issues to overcome due to a marriage scandal which captivated public interest, coincidently 11 years ago.

Some thought that with all his issues, Tiger might not play golf again – at least at a level that would see him compete on the leader board.

Well, that is all in the past now. 

Tiger Woods played phenomenally this past weekend and his body, his swing, his mental toughness never looked better. 

Tiger is back.  

He certainly is one of the greatest – if not the greatest – golfer who has ever played the game. 

What I found disturbing yesterday, as I watched this amazing comeback and rise to the top for Tiger, was what seemed to be the worship of him. 

And it seemed consistent from the TV announcers to his fellow golfers to the crowds that paid homage with their cheers and praise. 

You can not take his golf ability away from Tiger. He truly is a marvellous golfer, but we shouldn’t be hailing him as the second coming of Christ! 

Ironically, Tiger’s win, and all the worship of him, came on Palm Sunday – the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, to the cheers and shouts of “hosanna” by the people who lined his path into the city.

Tiger made a triumphant walk from the green to the club house, his family in tow … well, at least for part of the walk. He left them all in the dust behind him as he gloried in his own greatness to the fans shouting his name and reaching out to touch a piece of him.

The announcers couldn’t say enough of his achievements and how truly miraculous this achievement was fighting back from adversity to reach this pinnacle. 

But I wondered how his ex-wife felt, not about how he played or that he won, but about how everyone worshipped this man.

As he stood on the green with his arms raised in victory to the thunderous applause, I wondered if Elin felt that all he had done to shame her and break up their family had been forgotten, been forgiven.

It was like that never happened. 

Like taking a brush to a chalkboard, this victory wiped out any memory people had of the life he has lived off the course. 

It is alright to celebrate a victory, but let’s keep in mind the character of a man who actually missed the cut.

Here’s the thing: Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the shouts and cheers of “hosanna in the highest” … but it didn’t go to his head. Instead he shook off the adoring fans and went to the cross to die for YOU. Now that’s character.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Is your character something to be copied or something to be hidden? Leave your comments below.

by

It’s Confirmed: I’m Old

It was confirmed: I am an old man.

In my last post, I wrote about a decision I made, against my better judgement, to play in a hockey tourney. (You can read about it here.)

For this tournament we were guaranteed three games and, to be honest, I thought that’s all we’d play. But that was not how it turned out. 

We won our first game quite handily and I felt pretty good. My knee felt good, I wasn’t tired, and I was ready for game two. … Maybe I am younger than what my birth certificate says.

In game two we really took it to the other team and scored a ton of goals. Our team was on a roll, and I was still surprised at how good I felt.

I needed to reassess my day. 

I had thought we would be playing only three games, but it was looking like we could possibly play four. Then, if we got to the finals of the tournament, we would play five. 

My initial predictions were proved completely wrong when we won our third game. And in those first three games, the other team barely got the puck in our end. 

Our goalie, who played well, had long periods where he didn’t see any action, which makes it tough to stay sharp and focussed.

With three wins, we were going to the semi-finals and then possibly on to the finals. 

For the first three games we had an hour to an hour and a half break between games. But for our fourth, semi-final game we only had a half hour break.

As we got ready, we heard that the team we were going to play was dirty and mouthy. … We heard right! 

Some of our young guys got hit with cheap shots that weren’t called by the ref. Our bench exploded in comments to the other team and the ref.

Then there were two guys on the other team who were masters at getting under our skin. They were non-stop with their chirps and it payed off for their team.

We took more and more penalties. We got more and more frustrated.

And then it was confirmed. One of their two mouth pieces turned to me and said, “You’re all washed up, old man.” 

I knew he meant to make me angry, to get me all upset, but I was actually feeling what he was saying. I didn’t have any zip left in me. I wasn’t dragging, but I didn’t have tons of energy either. 

Their other mega mouth started in on me too, saying, “Number 7, you are useless.” … I think he also added a few choice words that I don’t feel right repeating, but you get the idea.  

By game four, I was that 62 year old guy who is turning 63. I was the old man who was washed up.

It was an enlightening moment. 

But then I thought, “I’m still playing against a bunch of 20 and 30 year olds, and I can still skate with them.” … Not bad for an old washed up guy!

Here’s the thing: We get chirped all the time. Sometimes the things others say can be hurtful. Sometimes it’s our own rotten self-talk that hurts. It doesn’t even have to be true to impact us negatively. Capture every thought and word that you speak or is spoken to you, and take it to God. Let Him tell you what He thinks of you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Who or what words have you allowed to put you down? Leave your comments below.

by

I Knew I Was Making A Bad Decision

Sometimes you know when you are making a bad decision, but you make it anyway.

I’m not sure why we do it. Maybe it’s because our desire or want or hope is greater than our reasoning at the time.

We do it frequently though, even if it’s just that extra dessert, or extra helping of potatoes that ends up sitting in our gut like a rock for the rest of the day.

There are times we are pressured into making a decision we don’t think is the best. We just can’t keep saying no, so we cave in.

But I think the worst is when we make a decision that goes against our better judgement with no pressure and lots of time to rationally think it through.

I did that a few weeks ago. 

One of the guys I play hockey with on Saturday mornings entered a team in a tournament … and I said yes to playing.

I knew that saying yes meant playing more hockey in one day than would be good for me.

I also was unsure how my knee would hold up playing all day long. I have a torn ACL that I wear a custom brace for. But as I have gotten older, I have found that my knee is not as strong as it was twenty years ago.

As a result, now I will not play hockey two days in a row, just to give my knee a rest. 

A tournament would tax it for sure. 

I discovered that we were guaranteed three games in this tournament and yet I still said yes. Even when I gave the organizer my money for the tourney, I said to him, “This goes against my better judgement.” 

What was I thinking?

I know what I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t thinking that I’m almost 63 years of age, and no longer have boundless, unlimited energy. 

I wasn’t thinking that I had a heart attack seven years ago and that hockey is not the greatest sport for the heart. 

The idea of playing hockey all day still resonated with my emotions, but my body and mind were screaming, “Who are you kidding, Paul?!”

I got myself so into the idea that when I heard we were going to have three full lines I was disappointed – disappointed because that would mean I wouldn’t get that much ice time. 

What was I thinking? Playing three games in one day, I’ll get all the ice time I need and then some. I will be so hockey-d out after three games that I will want to take a break from the ice for a couple of weeks.

The decision to play in this tournament was purely based in some recesses of my 25 year old psyche, that grabbed control of my 62 year old mind and wrestled it into a tap out hold that I couldn’t say no to.

At any rate, I was in and the tourney is just about to get underway. What have I done?(read about it here)

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we get pressured, played or simply convinced to do something that God would not approve of. Sometimes we just have a desire or want that leads us where we should not go. But sometimes we just walk head on into sin – no excuse, no one or thing to blame. We just make a bad decision. God can forgive those sins too. Don’t think you can’t go to Him and repent.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you done lately that you have no excuse for? Leave your comments below. 

by

Is It Possible To Be Too Involved in Something?

I got myself way too involved and didn’t realize it until I was deep into it.

The other day we changed our phone and internet service at work. 

We had been with the same internet company for 23 years but they couldn’t offer us any faster service than we were getting even though it was no longer adequate.

I still wouldn’t have made the change but the price point was almost the same for 10 times faster internet.

Even then I was still sceptical that the new company could give us increased service, knowing that the phone wires in our building were ancient.

I was assured by the salesman that it would be a very simple change over … no trouble; it would be seamless; I wouldn’t notice a thing.

Salesmen are all about the sale. They will tell you what you want to hear. I, on the other hand, knew our building and didn’t think for a moment that it would be seamless. 

But I was curious.

When the installer came, he realized about five minutes after he arrived that this was not going to be a simple change over. 

In fact, just getting a new cable to our building took all morning. Then there was all the inside work.

The installer had help in the morning, but in the afternoon he was on his own. 

He asked me if I wanted to see where things were going to go down in the basement and I said, “Sure.”

Costly reply.

In the process of showing me where things were going, he also got me to hold something … then pass him something else and help him follow a wire.

I then located a hole in the ceiling where he could feed a cable up through to the main floor of the building – a significant deal because we have reinforced concrete floors and he would have otherwise had to drill through it to get the wire up.

But by this time, my sermon writing had been abandoned and I was helping him trouble shoot some of the other things that needed to be negotiated.

It was like offering to help someone move who tells you he just has a small apartment and that one truckload will do it. But when you show up, nothing is packed in boxes and there is no truck. You are left lugging carloads of items piled throughout you car and trunk. 

… And the one trip it was going to take ends up being four or five trips back and forth. 

We’ve all been there.  

This time I got roped in by just wanting to see where the installer was going to put things … and, from that point on, he had a lackey he could count on. 

The seamless change, that I would barely even notice, cost me my sermon writing time, and an afternoon of being an assistant. 

The work that had been scheduled for 8:00 am – 12:00 pm, ended up being from 8:00 am – 4:30 pm, with me deeply involved in it. 

But you know what? The new internet speed is amazing!

Here’s the thing: Like anything in life, your relationship with Christ will take you deeper than you realized or thought it would at the start. Are you able to say “yes” to going deeper with Christ than you thought you would or could? Christ will always call you to deeper levels of relationship. Don’t ever settle or try to minimize the work you will be called to do. It will all be worth it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What in your life has taken you deeper than you thought it would? Leave your comments below.

by

If It’s Out Of Sight, It’s Out Of My Mind

From time to time I will repost an article that I’ve written in the past. Today’s post is from April of 2016.

There is a saying “out of sight, out of mind” and it is particularly true with me. If something is out of my sight, there’s a good chance I will forget about it. 

Case in point: I’m not a great guitarist, but I like to play my guitar a bit. I used to keep it in its case, but I would never see it so I never thought of playing it. 

Eventually I got a stand so my guitar now sits in our family room in plain sight, creating a much greater chance that I’ll pick it up and strum a little.  

I need to do that with a lot of things because if I don’t see them there’s a good chance I will forget about them. 

Maybe that’s why I have so many papers on my desk. I’m afraid that if I put those papers somewhere, like in a filing cabinet or file folder, I will forget about them and not get at the work they represent.

Lily doesn’t really like my “out of sight, out of mind” system for getting things done. For her it creates clutter. 

The other day there was a new piece of clutter: I received my renewal for our car licence plates. I don’t need to renew for a couple of months, and since I don’t like giving the government my money earlier than I have to, the way I operate means the renewal form will be on our kitchen table for some time.

Now maybe right about now you are sympathizing with Lily, but here’s the flip side …

A week ago I was getting low on Bisoprolol – it’s a beta blocker, and one of the pills I take for my heart. So it’s kind of important that I don’t run out of the stuff.

What I do when I get low is I put the bottle on the kitchen table to remind me to call the pharmacy for more. I can’t just call in at any time, however, because my insurance company, who pays part of the cost, doesn’t want me to start stockpiling the little pink pills. I have to wait until I’m down to 4 or 5 pills. 

Since I load my pill dispenser every Saturday for the next week, I have to have that bottle on the kitchen table for a few days. 

So there the bottle sat, prominently displayed. … The problem was that we were having company and so Lily moved the bottle.  

She moved it out of sight which meant it was out of mind for me. I never thought of it until Saturday rolled around and I was filling up my dispenser. 

Not only could I not find my Bisoprolol bottle, I had forgotten I needed to order more! 

So Saturday morning I was scurrying around trying to find my pills and then trying to get my order in a.s.a.p. so I didn’t miss a day.

We’ll be keeping those bottles on the table from now on.

Here’s the thing: If you want to be consistent in spending time with God, keep your materials (Bible, devotional book, journal) in plain sight, ready to go for when you meet with God. Being able to see them will remind you that you have an appointment to keep with the Lord.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you do to ensure you keep your time with God each day? Leave your comment below.

by

I’m Adjusting To The Weather

We’ve been back from our Europe trip for a few days now and I’m adjusting to the weather inside just fine.

At the present time, it’s -6 Celsius outside, but in our home right now it’s a cozy 22 degrees.

Sometimes you have to go away to appreciate what you have. 

I know there have been times when I’ve had discussions with Lily about what the thermostat should be set at in winter, but now any temperature she suggests is just fine with me. I’m just happy I don’t need to wear a coat indoors.

At times on our trip I did have to wear a coat indoors! 

When we were packing to go to Spain, Greece and Italy, we looked at the forecasted highs and lows and planned accordingly what we would take.

In hindsight we should have taken some warmer clothes. After all, it’s winter over there too.

On the other hand, some of the highs were 15 degrees and, while that is not hot weather, I shouldn’t need to wear a coat in temperatures like that (check out this post). 

But what we didn’t factor in as much were the lows. The temperatures got down as low as 5, 4, or 3 degrees … that’s jacket weather for sure! But then again, I figured I would mostly be indoors at night when the temps got down that low.

What I didn’t realize was that over there the outside temperature has a greater impact on the inside temperature than it does in Canada.

For just over a week when we were in Spain, we stayed in people’s homes. We quickly found out that they don’t heat their homes like we do in Canada … nor are their homes insulated like ours are in Canada.  

So when the thermometer dipped down to 4 degrees, it was not much warmer than that inside.

I found that I needed to wear my coat all the time. A few seconds before I jumped into bed, I would whip my coat off … and even then I thought maybe I should have kept it on. 

Inside I was cold all the time. Outside I was better because the sun would warm me up. Inside I couldn’t put on enough T-shirts under my coat to stay warm. 

The crazy thing was, people would ask us how cold it was in Canada. At the time Ontario was experiencing a real cold snap: -25 C. 

The people would shiver at just the thought of that. But they didn’t understand that was only the outdoor temperature. Inside it’s a constant 20-22 degrees – that’s shorts and T-shirt weather in my books.

Now that I’m back in Canada, I’m okay with having to adjust to the weather I’ll be facing when I go outside. 

What makes it okay is that I don’t have to also adjust to the weather when I’m sitting in my living room.

Here’s the thing: One thing I’ve found in my spiritual life is that when I feel comfortable with my relationship with Christ that is when I stop growing. I find I get lazy with my prayer life and my devotions, and am not as disciplined as I should be. But when the spiritual temperature in my life is not to my liking, that is when I am spiritually on my toes, looking to add something to grow my relationship with God. Maybe being comfortable with the weather is good, but spiritually we should always be looking for something else to put on. 

That’s Life! 

Paul

Question: What are you too comfortable with right now? Leave you comments below.