Jesus

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Christmas shopping – I Could Use Some Help

For me, Christmas shopping has always been that task that has been left to the last moments. 

Christmas shopping - I could use some help

Over the years there is probably no other activity I’ve procrastinated over more than Christmas shopping. The biggest reason has always been time. Where do you fit shopping into your schedule? My answer has more than often been, “at the end of it”. 

I’ve had some crazy last minute shopping trips … like the year I spent four hours on Christmas Eve looking for the main gift to give my wife, Lily. 

I travelled to every mall in Edmonton and twice to the West Edmonton Mall (at the time the largest shopping mall in world). I had seen a sweater for Lily but I could not remember where I had seen it. 

By the end, I was pretty sure I had made up that sweater in my head. And the sweater I did get her was a conglomeration of all the sweater ideas I had looked at. 

That day was one of my worst memories. I was stressed!

But now I don’t have time constraints to keep me from shopping early and often.

My problem is nobody is coming up with good ideas for Christmas presents. What I mean by that is, an idea has to pass my approval rating to really be considered as a possible present option. Not every suggestion is worthy of me going to the store. I have to want to give the gift. 

I’m not sure if this is a “me” thing. But unless I’m really feeling it, I can’t lay down the money to purchase it. 

There have been years that family have gotten gifts that they never asked for simply because I didn’t like their suggestions. 

However, I don’t like taking gift giving into my own hands because it’s a lot of work. I have to weave my way through the stores and the other shoppers just hoping something of interest will catch my attention.

That’s a lot of work, especially when you don’t like shopping in the first place.

This year I’m being faced with this kind of scenario because no one is coming up with viable options for me. 

I even put a message up on my sign board for my family to read. It says “Should be shopping for presents, but nobody wants anything.”

Where are the good old days when my son would literally circle every toy in the Sears Christmas wish catalogue? It made things so much easier. 

Now with less that two weeks before Christmas I have to get moving to find just the right gifts to get my family. 

Sure I have the time – I have all afternoon today, in fact – but wandering around a shopping mall is not my idea of fun. 

I want to get gifts that I can walk into a store and grab off the shelf and go directly to the cash register with. 

All I know is I’m going to need a few extra naps after all my shopping trips in the next week or so.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes, like at Christmas, we don’t know what we need, or we think we know what we need but it may not be what we need most. Unlike me trying to figure out Christmas presents for my family, God knows exactly what we need. He sent us the greatest gift of all, His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus is the perfect gift for everyone. We have no greater need than to be made right with God (forgiven) and made part of His family. This year be sure you have God’s gift of Christ for yourself and for others in your life. It’s all there for you by placing your faith in Jesus Christ. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need most this Christmas? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Knowing Where To Start Is Sometimes The Hardest Part

Have you ever attempted to do something only to realize you don’t really know where to start?

knowing where to start is sometimes the hardest part

That was me the other day when I was staring down the hedge in front of our house.

We hadn’t trimmed it all year and, to be honest, this is a job that my wife, Lily, usually does. What I was looking at was kind of new to me. I didn’t know where to start.

I got the feeling of what it would be like to cut someone’s hair for the first time. 

It looks pretty simple when the barber/hairstylist gives you a trim. But if you had to do it, well, that would be a different thing.

That’s why so many kids got the bowl cut when they were young. 

You know, when your mother would pick an appropriate sized bowl for your head and then just cut around it. You hoped your mom had the philosophy of one size fits all.

I also remember when they came out with the flow bee. It was a vacuum cleaner with some sharp blades at the end of the tube. 

The idea of these, and probably other crazy haircutting ideas, was to make cutting hair simple and quick. 

The problem with them was they left your melon very unattractive. Nobody ever mistook a bowl cut or a flow bee do for a real haircut. 

The reason is there is more to cutting hair than just going at it with a pair of scissors.

However, the other day when I was looking at our hedge, that is exactly what I was about to do – just go at it with the hedge trimmer.

What I didn’t want was my neighbours driving by thinking, “Wow, Paul really put a bowl cut on his hedge.” I was wishing I had taken some kind of barber class, so I had the theory behind getting a good shape on the shrub.

When you think about it, there is a lot of similarities with trimming a head and trimming a hedge.

First you have to cut them, then you have to comb them to make sure you get all the cut hair or stems out of it. Then you have to go back and trim any loose pieces and make sure it is properly shaped. Sometimes you have to do a little more tapering. 

The only thing you don’t do with a hedge is spray it down or put some gel in it to make sure everything stays in place.

Well, I started in on the hedge and though I’m not an expert hedge barber yet, I don’t think I did half bad. 

One thing about the hedge that makes it a little harder than cutting hair is that you are dealing with something that is six to ten feet wide, and not six or seven inches. It’s not easy getting both sides looking the same. 

Anyway, I have a new appreciation for hairstylists.

Here’s the thing: When someone has a desire to read the Bible, it’s not easy to figure out where to start. It’s not like a novel so you don’t have to start at the beginning and read to the end, though I do that every year. Starting in the Book of John will give you a good sense of what God’s desire is for us and how Jesus is key to accomplishing it. From there you can dabble in other parts to get rounded out on the beginning and ending of His creation. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Where do you need to start on something today?

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Suggestions Are Never Easy To Receive

I find that I don’t receive suggestions easily. In fact, my wife, Lily, says I never like her suggestions.

suggestions are never easy to receive

The other day I was having a hard time coming up with an idea for this blog post. I asked Lily what she thought and she said, “Why don’t you write about how you never take my suggestions.”

Right away I didn’t like that suggestion, so I focussed on some other ideas I had. 

But as I began to think more about it, I think she’s right. I’m not really excited about the things she suggests. 

… And it’s not just blog post ideas either. 

Now and then at lunchtime I won’t know what to eat and Lily will say, “Why don’t you have …” and then rhyme off three or four options. 

There’s no way I will like any of them. I think it’s because I lean towards how I feel. I have to feel that the suggestion is right for me. 

I’ve always been this way. And it’s not just with food. 

I remember as a kid being bored out of my mind in the middle of summer. I’d say, “Mom, I’m bored; there’s nothing to do.”

Right off the top of her head she would list six ideas of what I could do … mind you at least two of them would involve some kind of work, like cleaning my room or tidying up the basement. 

But even the good ideas I never liked because I didn’t feel like it. 

So many times when something is suggested to me, it’s how I feel about it right then that keeps me from doing it. 

My kids were the same way when they were young. When they were hungry in the middle of the day or at bedtime … Wait, I can still hear them whine, “Mom, I’m huuungry!”

Lily’s response was always, “Have a banana.” 

The kids liked bananas and they ate them all the time, but they never wanted one when Lily suggested it. 

Maybe it’s not just me that has to feel good about the suggestion to act on it. Maybe we are all like that. 

Is it possible that for a suggestion to be well received it has to come in the right way at the right time in the right place?

I have been in meetings when someone suggested a solution to the problem we were working on and immediately it felt so right that we jumped all over it. 

But most of the time, I’m not really feeling the suggestions that I get from people. 

What I usually have to do is think about them for a while and, as I mull them over, sometimes an aspect of the suggestion starts to resonate. 

Then I can take that suggestion and run with it.

Hey, look at me! I actually wrote a post on a suggestion that Lily gave me. 

Who’d have thought!

Here’s the thing: There are times when we are confronted by sin in our lives. Maybe someone points it out, maybe it comes from inside you, but you don’t want to hear it. However, if you mull it over, that is when you start to feel the need to do something about it. Maybe you’ve heard about having Jesus in your life, but you’ve always responded that it’s not for you. Just mull it over and maybe you will feel differently about it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What suggestion have you finally received after mulling it over for a while?

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Unrealistic Expectations Can Really Leave You Deflated

We all have expectations, but unrealistic expectations are never met. 

unrealistic expectations can really leave you deflated

There are all kinds of expectations, ones we keep to ourselves, ones we share with others. 

Some of our expectations are based on logical outcomes from patterns we see. Some expectations are wishful thinking or based on a hunch. 

Unrealistic expectations are just not good.

Sometimes our expectations depend on someone else’s actions. But if we don’t verbalize to that person what we expect, well, it’s still unrealistic.

There was a time – or should I say there have been many times – that my wife Lily expected me to do something but never told me what she expected.

… Like the time I got ready for biking and she got all disappointed because she thought we would spend the afternoon outside working in the yard together. How was I to know that was what she expected? You can’t expect something from someone that they don’t know anything about.

When I was a kid, I pulled out my tooth and put it under my pillow. In the morning my tooth was still there. I expected the tooth to be gone and some coins in its place. But I had not told anyone I had pulled my tooth out, so how could the tooth fairy (Mom and Dad) know how to meet my expectation?

We can also have expectations that are just pie in the sky. They are not based in reality. The data doesn’t confirm what we are hoping for, but we expect an unrealistic outcome anyway.

This was the story of the Toronto Maple Leafs this year. 

Fans were furious and fed up with the team after they failed to advance to the second round of the playoffs. The team certainly didn’t meet their expectations. Now they are calling out all the responsible people who should be let go because of their failure.

I, on the other hand, was pretty happy with how the club did in the playoffs. But my expectations were based on some realistic data.

The Leafs had not beat Boston all year. They finished third in their division behind both Boston and Florida, and ended up seven points behind Boston in the standings.

How could any Leaf fan go into the playoffs expecting them to come out on top in the first round?

I figured they would win one game. They won three and they could have just as easily won a fourth. The Leafs took a team that was better than them to the seventh game and overtime. 

They far exceeded my expectations, but not the unrealistic expectations of so many other fans. 

If people question why they were in that spot in the first place, it’s a money thing in my opinion … too much money invested in four players. It handcuffs them from rounding out the team.

Leaf fans (of whom I am one) were expecting something the team could not produce. Yet we criticize the players and the coach for not meeting our expectations. 

The coach actually got them to play a defensive style of hockey that could win.

For me, I still remember their 1967 Stanley Cup victory and until they change the data, I’m not having unrealistic expectations about the club.

Here’s the thing: We all have expectations for the end of our life. If our expectation is unrealistic, our hope for the end of our life will go unmet and even be far worse than we imagine. God’s word has given us clear expectations for the end of life and, if we follow God’s plan for us, our expectation will be realized. Trust Jesus with your life.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: For what do you consistently have unrealistic expectations? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Conflicting Messages Often Hold Us Back

I hate getting conflicting messages from other people, don’t you? I just don’t know what they are trying to communicate.

conflicting messages often hold us back

Conflicting messages leave you feeling uncertain about the intentions, or what was really thought. 

Alanis Morissette wrote a song that was filled with conflicting messages. 

Another group I like wrote a song called, “Falling For The First Time.” The song has lines like, “I’m so cool, too bad I’m a loser. I’m so smart, too bad I can’t get anything figured out. I’m so brave, too bad I’m a baby.”

We can also be subtle when sending out conflicting messages like, “Your hair style is very interesting.” That comment leaves you wondering, “Are you saying you like it or you hate it? What are you trying to tell me?”

We communicate conflicting messages even when we are not trying to. 

Recently I was marking a talk given by a pastor. It was a good message. He had great content and interesting illustrations. But he spent the bulk of his message focussing on a minor idea in the Bible passage rather than the main idea in the text. 

In making my comments on the talk I found myself sending conflicting messages, that I liked the message but he emphasized the wrong thing. 

We are left to decipher the code of conflicting messages for them to be useful to us. That takes effort and often we don’t have the energy, the time or the will to try to decode them so we ignore them. Sometimes we focus on the negative and that fills us with emotion or prevents us from moving forward.

Recently we experienced a total eclipse in our city. My son-in-law Matt came to our home to watch it and brought his drone to take some video of the whole event. 

But when he went to turn it on, there was a message – a conflicting message. It read, “fly with caution” in yellow letters. Below that it read, “can’t take off”. 

Well, how do you fly your drone with caution if you can’t even get the thing airborne?

I had some recollection of this happening to me in the past so I pulled out my drone and set it up. And I got the same messages. I was pretty certain that two years before there was a work around, yet no matter what menu item I clicked, I could not find a way to dismiss the “can’t take off” message.

So we shrugged our shoulders and didn’t use our drones for the eclipse. 

Those conflicting messages bugged me and the next day I investigated further. I set up my drone on our back deck with those two messages flashing on my screen. I tried to take off anyway. 

As soon as I did, another screen came up with a series of questions and check boxes. I clicked on the check boxes, entered my phone number and received a code. When I entered the code, immediately the “can’t fly” message went away and I could take off.

We just needed to be persistent working through the conflicting messages to unlock the drone.

Here’s the thing: God’s conflicting messages to us are that He loves us very much but, because we have sinned, He can’t have anything to do with us. It’s so good that God also provided a solution, if we will persist to unlock it. God sent Jesus, His Son, to die on the cross to pay for our sin, so that we can experience God’s love. I encourage you to persist and unlock the love God has for you.

That’s life!

Paul

Question: What conflicting messages have held you back? Leave your comments and questions below.

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This Store Closure Really Surprised Me

Have you ever been surprised by a store that was closed at an odd time? 

This store closure really surprised me

Since forever it seems stores have kept hours that really suited most consumers. But it wasn’t always that way. 

When I was a kid there were no stores open on Sundays. And on holidays you had better have gassed up your car because there were no gas stations open either.

Times changed and slowly Sunday shopping became a regular thing. No one batted an eyelash when parking lots were filled on Sunday afternoons.

Since then stores have stayed open later and later into the evening. … Well, that was until the pandemic.

During the pandemic everyday life kind of shut down. You basically needed an appointment to purchase a few 2 by 4s from the hardware store.

When the pandemic ended, stores didn’t go back to the same hours they kept before the lockdowns. Most stores had routinely been open until 9 or sometimes 10 pm, but now 8 pm is more the rule for store closing. 

There have been a few times that I’ve been caught by this new pattern. I’ve shown up to a few box stores at 7:59 only to find out that they were locking up. 

There was also the time that I left my house at 8:01 thinking I had almost an hour to roam around Best Buy, only to find out that the lights were out and no one was home at 8:10 when I arrived.

Still, eight o’clock is sufficient for most shoppers to get what they need from a store.

But this doesn’t account for anomalies …

I went to college in Regina, Saskatchewan in the early 80’s. I remember a couple of times I needed to get something from a department store on a Thursday afternoon – nothing more normal than for a store to be open Thursday afternoons. 

But I discovered Regina shut down on Thursdays. There was no shopping other than convenience stores and gas stations. 

Thursday! …. Why Thursday? 

I never found the answer to that one. You would think stores would be on a roll, ramping up for the weekend shopping. Nope. They just shut down in the middle of the week. 

It was crazy to my way of thinking. 

And so was this week for me …

My wife, Lily, had mentioned to me that we should try a Chinese restaurant we’ve never been to before. She had read some good reviews. She hadn’t taken anything out of the freezer for dinner so I suggested that we try it that night. 

A couple of hours later we went online to look at their menu and choose what we wanted. Like Pavlov’s dogs, we probably spent five minutes salivating over the different dishes that were pictured on the menu. 

Finally we made our decision. We were just about to order when we read their hours of operation: Closed Wednesdays.

What? …. Who closes their store in the middle of the week like that? I’m sure even stores in Regina are now open throughout the week. 

What a disappointing blow. How then do you even recover to figure out what to eat? 

It was a poor second choice but luckily Five Guys was open on Wednesdays. 

Here’s the thing: We can be caught off guard from time to time in life. But there is a time we should never be caught off guard. That time is when we will meet Jesus face to face. No one knows when that will be, so the best way to not get caught is to start a relationship with Him now. Place your faith in Christ and, whenever the time comes, you will not face a closed sign. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When have you been surprised that something was closed at an inconvenient time?

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I May Have Left It Too Late Again

I looked out the window this morning and thought, “I may have left it too late”.

I may have left it too late again

I wanted to cut my grass one more time this fall. I don’t like it being too long through the winter. 

Today is a bright, sunny day and, though the temperatures are a little lower than what I’d like, it would be a good day to cut the grass.

However, there is one problem with that plan: we have leaves all over our lawn. My idea of one more quick cut before the snow flies is a good one, but first I’ll have to spend an hour vacuuming up the dead leaves.

If I had done it two weeks ago there would have been very little clean up to do first and it would have been much warmer outside. But I kept saying to myself, “the front yard doesn’t really need it yet, even though the back yard could use the cut now”. 

Well, four days ago I noticed that the front yard could use a mow. The grass was looking a little fuzzy, like the hair on your head does just before you go get a haircut. 

The thing is for the last four days the weather has been a little overcast and rainy – not optimal for getting out there with my lawnmower. 

This morning, however, with how sunny it is, I’m considering doing the task. I realize that the longer I leave the leaf problem, it will only get worse since our tree still has about sixty percent of its leaves hanging on for dear life. Many haven’t even changed colour yet. 

But that extra work of getting rid of the leaves before I cut the grass is creating a dilemma of whether to cut or not. I’m wondering if I’ve missed my window. Maybe I should just let the grass go until spring.  

I remember when I was a kid and it was my turn to cut the grass in the backyard. The task would take an hour and a half; there was never a time I wanted to do it. I would look at the lawn and think, “maybe I’ll wait till tomorrow”. 

I always left it too late and then paid for it. I ended up spending two hours cutting the grass because it was so long. 

I hated that task, but when I left it too late, I hated it even more.

You would think that so many years later I would have learned my lesson and not put off the things I should do … but here I am, considering if I’ve left it too late. 

I think I have one more window today and tomorrow before it rains again. 

I have a few other things that I need to attend to first. … I hope in the spring I won’t be shaking my head and muttering that I left it too late again.

Here’s the thing: Often we have adequate time to get something done, accomplished or settled. But how quickly that time goes. Concerning your relationship with God, don’t make the mistake and think you have lots of time. Be sure you have a relationship with Jesus Christ now. You don’t want to miss your window and for eternity shake your head that you left it too late.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you most prone to leaving until it is too late? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Just The Two Of Us From Now On

This morning when I got up, it felt different, like now there’s just the two of us.

just the two of us from now on

I’m not sure why that feeling hit me now because Lily and I have been empty-nesters for years.

It might have been that we had the kids home for Thanksgiving weekend and this morning there was just the two of us.

It could be that the house is fuller when the kids arrive – there’s a son-in-law, a girlfriend and a dog. 

When they all leave, it feels like … and then there was two.

In 1978 the rock group, Genesis, recorded an album called “… and then there were three …” In the late sixties the group consisted of five band members and by 1971 they had the lineup of musicians that would make them famous: Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett and Phil Collins. 

However, this group didn’t stay together. A few years later, their lead singer, Peter Gabriel, left the band. Instead of replacing him with another singer, Phil Collins, the drummer, took over singing responsibilities along with playing the drums. They continued as a group of four. 

A few short years later in 1977, their guitarist, Steve Hackett, left the band. With both Gabriel and Hackett gone, the band’s next album was titled “… and then there were three …”

Like a band, it’s natural for the members of the family band to depart, spread their wings, get involved in new ventures. But this morning there was something more to how I was feeling than that.

Normally Lily and I are quite used to doing things just the two of us. This summer we spent a good deal of time at our cottage together. We usually do things just the two of us, whether it’s going out to dinner or doing something else. 

But Lily just retired at the end of September. So now it’s not like it’s just the two of us, it really is just the two of us all day long.

For years I would leave for work in the morning and be gone all day. This past year, though I was retired and at home, Lily was working and spent most days locked up in her home office. We were still separated all day long.

This morning when I got up, and the kids were gone and the house was quiet, and there was just the two of us, something was different. 

Lily and I are now doing the same thing – nothing. 

We don’t have different itineraries or schedules or even places to be. We now have the same job. As Lily’s new T-shirt says, “busy doing nothing”.

It just kind of hit me. For the first time in our marriage it really is just the two of us. 

There is no one or nothing that stands between us. There isn’t a time she is busy with someone else or some responsibility. We’re on the same schedule now.

I think I just got some inspiration for my kitchen sign board. 

Here’s the thing: It’s important to have someone about whom you can say, “it’s just the two of us”. No matter what your relationship status is, you can have that “just the two of us” kind of relationship with Jesus. He died on a cross so that He could have a relationship like that with you. So be sure to treat your relationship with Jesus like a close, “just the two of us” relationship … or decide to start a “just the two of us” relationship with Jesus. Pray and ask Him; He is willing. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Who do you have a “just the two of us” relationship with? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Just In Time For Christmas!

Just two days before Christmas we got a light covering of snow here in Kingston, Ontario. The white stuff came just in time for Christmas day. 

Some how, for us living in Canada, the presence of snow puts us in the Christmas mood. It feels like Christmas when everything glistens in white under the moon.  Snow makes Christmas.

There is a passage in the Bible that says, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.”

Like the snow came at just the right time, this year, Jesus came to us at just the right time.

That passage goes on to say, “God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.” (Galatians 4:4-5, NLT)

At just the right time, Jesus came, so that we could be made right with God. God wanted us to be part of his family, and Jesus makes it possible.

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.

And thank you for reading my blog.

That’s Life!

Paul

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Who To Deal With When Making A Purchase

The other day I needed to buy a present for my wife’s birthday. It was coming up soon – the next day, in fact – and there wasn’t much time left.

IMG_1924

All Lily wanted was end tables for the living room. I went straight to the Hudson’s Bay Company because it was close by, and they had living room furniture.

I found two different styles right away. One set was clearly on sale – that had my attention and interest. The other one I liked more, but the price was not to my liking.

It was just about then that a man in a suit came up to me and asked if he could help. We chatted for a moment and I inquired if the sale extended to the other style of end table. He did a quick check and, sure enough, it was on sale as well. My interest started to peak.

He said he could have the salesman pack it up for me, right then if I’d like, and I could take it home immediately. Those were magic words to me! I said, “Let’s do it.”

I left to move my car to the store entrance. When I returned, I noticed a picture of a man just inside the door who looked a lot like the man in the suit.

A salesman was waiting for me when I got to the furniture department. We sat down to do business but he didn’t seem all that happy about making the sale.

I mentioned that the man in the suit had said we could order in a new end table, and make an exchange later. That’s when I found out why the salesman wasn’t as excited about my purchase as I was.

He told me he was doubtful he could do that. A month ago a woman had ordered the same end table and there was still no sign of it coming in yet. He also said he didn’t like selling his floor models, because then he didn’t have anything to show people.

I thought to myself, “You have trouble ordering stuff in, but you don’t like selling floor models. What business are you in anyway?”

Instead, I asked him, “Then how come you’re selling this to me?” He answered, “You were dealing with the store manager.”

I joked, “So this is all his fault?” “Yes,” he said, “and if that woman who ordered this end table comes back, she will be mad when she finds this one gone.”

I smiled and said, “Just send her over to the store manager to explain.”

I got the impression this salesman was more interested in having his department filled with nice furniture arrangements than he was in selling anything in the store.

As I drove home I wondered if the store manager knew he had an employee who was not as eager to sell his merchandise as he was.

Here’s the thing: We just celebrated Easter – the greatest day of the year, because that is the day Jesus rose from the grave, having paid for the sins of the world. Jesus now offers to apply His payment to your sins, and your friends’ sins. If you’ve had your sins paid for by Jesus, then don’t be like that salesman who likes his store the way it is. Be like the store manager who is interested in letting others have what he has. Let others know they can have their sins paid for, too.

That’s life!

Paul

Question:  Have you found you are more inclined to keep your relationship with Christ more to yourself?

I’d love to hear from you; you can leave your comment below.