Jesus Christ

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Out Of Routine And You’re Bound To Miss Something

When you’re out of routine, sometimes you forget what you’re missing.

out of routine and your bound to miss something

My Saturdays during the winter are all pretty much the same. They usually centre around three things: playing hockey, wings and watching hockey. 

So when I recently got out of routine, I didn’t even know what day it was.

… That can be a bit of a problem anyway when you’re retired. Every day of the week is like the weekend. But I do have various routines each day that give them some kind of distinction so they don’t all roll into one. 

When you’re working, you have clear separations in your days. There is morning pre-work routines, work and then evenings. I would often spice that up with some meetings or out of office work. And each day of the week I worked on some specific aspect of my sermon. Each day had some uniqueness to it. 

But you know that feeling when you’re about two weeks into vacation? Once you’ve spent an inordinate amount of time by the beach or pool, you can sometimes forget what day it is. 

Well, retirement can be like that unless you have some specific details to keep you focussed.

My Saturdays usually have those details. I start with some quiet time from about 5:45 to 6:45 am. Then I go to play hockey. After hockey I have breakfast and mull over the rest of my day. And sometime around noon I get the wings out of the freezer for dinner that night.

I may have a variety of things I do mid morning to late afternoon, but they vary from week to week. 

At about 5:30 pm I start to prepare the wings for the fryer. I have recently streamlined that process so it takes me about half the prep time that it used to. After they sit for a half hour, I get the deep fryer up to temperature. When it is ready, I drop the wings in for seven minutes.

Usually by then it’s pregame for Hockey Night in Canada. We all (Lily and I) gather around the TV and have wings while getting updates on the games, players and teams playing that night. 

Then it’s game time and I’m pretty much locked in for the evening. 

… Except for this past Saturday. 

To start, I didn’t play hockey in the morning, so that was weird in itself.

Then we had Lily’s whole family over for our Christmas get together. As the house filled up, I forgot what day it was. At one point in the evening my Bud light goal light sounded, indicating that the Toronto Maple Leafs had scored. 

Not only had I not been watching, I wasn’t aware they were playing, even though they play every Saturday night. There was also a World Junior game that I missed. 

After everyone had left and Lily and I were doing some clean up, I suddenly realized we hadn’t had wings.

The crazy thing was, I missed it and didn’t know it.

Here’s the thing: One day we will all find ourselves at the end of our lives. We will stand before God and it will be drastically out of our normal routine. For many of us, it won’t be expected; it will sneak up on us. God will ask, “Why should I let you into heaven?” I pray we all have the answer and that we didn’t miss it. … By the way, the answer to God’s question is, “I placed my faith in your Son, Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins.”

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When have you missed something because you were out of routine? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Rogers May Not Be Recording Their Conversations

I’m not so sure if companies like Rogers record phone conversations as they say they do.

Rogers may not be recording their conversations

For the last month I’ve been in conversations with Rogers Cell Network. They promised me something that now they have no intention of doing.

Rogers has been my cellphone company for 15 years, since they first started selling iPhones. Needless to say, I have history with them. 

Over the years I’ve never really had a reason to question whether to stay with them or go to another carrier. 

… Well, that is until now. 

I received a phone call from them in early September saying that I could upgrade my plan to a forever plan. It would cost me an extra $10 per month and it came with 50 gigs of data. 

I wasn’t that interested in the idea of paying more money and I certainly didn’t need 50 gigs of data. But I knew my wife Lily would need a plan in a month and maybe we could share the data.

I suggested that idea to the salesperson on the phone. She said that, yes, that could happen and the price she quoted me to add Lily was very reasonable. I just needed to call back at the end of the month when Lily was ready to bring her phone over. 

… Well, that didn’t happen.  

Even though every time I called Rogers they said each conversation was being recorded for training, safety and to verify my voice, the recordings were not used.  

Over the next month I phoned Rogers four times and each time I was told that I would receive a call within 24 to 48 hours to set the deal in motion. 

… It never happened; I never got a call.

Finally, on my last call, the person said there was no such rate as I was quoted and that the salesperson had not made notes of that offer to me.

I responded with, “Just listen to the recording.” But each person I spoke with said they had no access to the recordings. 

I thought that was rather convenient: tell someone something, don’t make a note about it and it’s like it never happened.

Rogers believed the salesperson’s notes, but not the verbal offer I described was made to me. 

Easy solution: just listen to the recording! If the offer was not on the recording, they could just say no. But if the recording revealed that an offer was made, then make good on the offer. After that, use the recording for training purposes so the salesperson doesn’t do that again. 

But Rogers just said they don’t have access to the recordings. 

I wonder if they really make recordings or just say they do. 

The crazy thing is, why would I agree to increase my monthly payment by $10 to get an absurd amount of data, when I only use a fraction of my present data? The only logical reason is that they offered me something that I could benefit from. 

My days with Rogers may be numbered. I don’t need the plan I have.

Maybe WE should start recording phone conversations with these companies!

Here’s the thing: God offers us a simple plan for life and eternity. We can have our sins forgiven, start a relationship with Him and spend eternity in heaven. Our part is to put our faith in Jesus Christ in a way that shows it’s true faith. We don’t have to wonder if God will make good on His promise. John 5:24 tells us that God will fulfill His part of the offer. Look it up and take God up on His plan.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Who can you trust to do what they say they will do? Leave your comments and questions below.

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The Election Is Finally Here!

We’ve finally come to the end – not the end of the world … though there are some who think this might be the end of the world.

electionWe’ve just come to the end of the election.

I think it might be time for the US to consider their election process. This has been a particularly brutal one.

This election has taken a turn from elections in the past. For the general public, especially us in Canada, it’s like we’ve gone from watching “The West Wing” to watching “Jersey Shore”.

Every night on the news, Mike “the situation” Trump is saying something crazy and Snooki Clinton carries on like she’s not part of the side show.

This has not reflected well on the US; the rest of the world will now cringe no matter who gets in.

The thing is, after the election, when the ballots are destroyed, life will get back to normal, and the president will be presidential.

Well, except on national late night talk shows. They will just continue to have a field day with the president for his or her full term.

Maybe a new approach should be considered for the next election. I know this would break tradition, and tradition is important, but when things get out of hand you really need to do something drastic.

Recently on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Dana Carvey (a comedian) said how everyone is feeling: “I have anxiety – the whole nation has anxiety – we’ve just got to get to Tuesday!”

Changing the process might be a way to avert the carnage that takes place along the way. It’s too long a process.

You could cut it in half and it would still be too long, but it would be a start.

I think there is too much time, time to create, twist, and spin a person’s life into a target that just keeps getting bigger until it explodes.

The greatest example of this are the commercials that are being aired during the last week leading up to the big day.

These commercials vomit out the gory propaganda against the other candidate. They are leaving nothing to the imagination.

Cutting the length of the campaign might help, but cutting down how much money is spent on the election would also make a difference.

The amount of money spent on the election is insane.

According to the Washington Post, the Clinton campaign has raised 1.3 billion dollars and the Trump campaign has raised 795 million dollars.

That’s over 2 billion dollars raised and they’ve spent between 93 and 96 percent of it.

Time and money feed this process and it seems that it is all directed at crucifying the character of the competitor.

But I would contend you don’t need time and money to reveal character; people can tell character very quickly without the spin of the media.

Just let the candidates talk and answer questions without shaping and twisting the content. Once the people see and hear the candidates, true character will be observed.

It would save a lot of time and money.

Here’s the thing: When it comes to character, I will side with a carpenter’s son, who lived a sinless life and stayed when things got messy for him. I will side with that man who died on a cross not for himself but for me and everyone else. I will side with that man who rose from the grave and said, “Will you put your trust in me?” That’s the character of Jesus Christ and I will place myself in his camp. What about you?

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you determine character? Leave your comments below.