last

by

An Expiry Date May Be On The Horizon

Things have an expiry date, they stop working or they get phased out. 

an expiry date may be on the horizon

Have you ever taken a good hard look at your closet? I don’t mean just opening it up and grabbing a shirt or a pair of pants. I mean really looking at what all is in there. 

We don’t do this enough and that is why our closets are stuffed full.

When you look in your closet with a desire to really see what is there, you find things you don’t wear any more. 

In my closet I have a section of shirts I wear in the winter and a section of shirts I wear in the summer. But I also have a section of shirts I don’t wear at all.

Never … any more that is.

But those shirts stay in my closet year after year. 

I have some shirts that I still wear that I’ve had for years. But I have some clothes that have gone out of style or they don’t fit me, or they have gone out of style AND don’t fit me. 

I say that because there are a few items in my closet that don’t fit but if I reduced my mass, I would definitely wear them. I keep those clothes because I have hope. It might be fanciful hope, but it is still hope. 

I really could get rid of a third of my shirts on the basis that I don’t wear them and probably will never wear them again.

I don’t think I am different from most people. We could all do a clothing purge.

Shirts and pants are not the only things that don’t last forever. Almost everything we have has a time limit on it – like the two hard drives I need to replace in the next three months.

I have to replace them not because they don’t work. They have been working fine for a number of years. The company that makes these hard drives has just decided to stop supporting them. 

They are giving plenty of time to get a replacement and are emailing me weekly reminders of their expiry date. 

Hey, they are even offering to give me a discount if I purchase a new hard drive that they will continue to support … until they don’t. 

These drives are not just external hard drives you plug into your computer. These drives attach to your network and are accessible remotely. The information I have stored on them I can access from anywhere at any time. 

But I guess it’s the end of the run for these hard drives. I can still store information on them, but now I’ll have to plug them into my computer to access any of it. They will make great paper weights when they are replaced.

I like the idea of the discount and I probably will take advantage of it. 

Wouldn’t it be great if there was such a discount with the old clothes we don’t wear any more?  

There’s the thing: Everything has an expiry date; nothing lasts forever. You and I have an expiry date as well. We, however, are not going to get emails every week warning us of when we will expire. We need to be prepared for that date in advance. Don’t wait too long. Be sure to have a relationship with Christ Jesus so that when your expiry date comes, you go to be with God in heaven.

That’s life!

Paul

Question: What in your life is expiring that you need to do something about? Leave your comments and questions below.

Subscribe to my blog and receive posts like this one to your email account weekly.

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

Embarrassment Can Last Forever

From time to time I publish an article I’ve written in the past. This blog post is from November 2014, enjoy.

I’m sure everyone, at some point, has wanted to kick themselves for something they did or said.  For many of us, this happens rather frequently … too frequently for my liking.

I remember entering a Sunday School class when I was in my teens and making a snide remark about the teacher, thinking he wasn’t there yet … only to hear the teacher respond. At that moment, I wanted to take my words back.

As I recall, I didn’t remain in the class for the whole lesson that Sunday.  

Then there was the time I was with a bunch of friends on a bus and I saw a man burning leaves on his front lawn. I yelled some comment out to the man which, in the moment, I thought was quite witty.  

But all my friends thought it was lame – I mean really lame! I was pretty embarrassed at that moment, and every once in a while, even 40 years later, I still feel like kicking myself for making that comment.

The times we stick our foot in our mouth – or do something so dumb that the actors of “Dumb and Dumber 2” would be embarrassed for us – stay with us and its hard to forget them. 

But the worst are the times we say or do things that hurt someone else. Those are the worst because it’s about more than just being mortified or humiliated; you’ve caused someone pain as a result.

By the time you’re in your 50’s, you’d think those days would be over. When the person is a loved one, like a daughter, you’d think this couldn’t happen.  

But it did happen with me the other day. I was in a meeting … a prayer meeting. Four of us (my daughter included) had grouped together and shared some personal things we wanted prayer for.

I was just about to pray for my daughter Karlie – in fact, the first few words had come out of my mouth – when my phone started to ring.

I know, you’re supposed to turn your phone off in the movies, services and prayer meetings. Well I hadn’t, and my ringer is a funky piano tune.  

I panicked and went for my phone, quickly swiping my finger across the screen and answering it. 

Of course being in a prayer meeting I couldn’t talk loudly, so I quietly said, “Hang on; I’m in a meeting,” as I moved to an exit.  

That’s right, I left praying for my daughter to answer a phone call!  

I was kicking myself all the way to the exit. And I’ve been kicking myself ever since! 

How could someone do that? How could I do that? What message did I send my daughter in that moment?

I know this is one of those moments that I will cringe about every time I think of it … for years! You can’t take your actions back; you can’t undo what’s been done.

All I could do is say, “I’m sorry, Karlie. I panicked and did the wrong thing. Will you forgive me?”

Here’s the thing:  When we sin, that memory can linger with us and Satan can use it against us to discourage us, to make us too embarrassed to go to God with it. But the best thing, the only thing we should do, is confess our sin to God and move on from there. You can’t take it back. You might not even be able to forget it, but it doesn’t have to keep you from restoring your relationship with God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What’s one of your most embarrassing moments and what did you do about it?  Leave your comment below.

by

Running Shoes Don’t Last Forever

I guess the life expectancy of my running shoes had reached its limit and then some.

I can’t remember when I bought them, but I do remember buying a pair about 22 years ago. I can’t say for sure that the runners I have now are those, but let’s just say I’ve had this pair for a very, very long time.

There was a time when I would go through a pair of running shoes every year. They were my go-to, every day shoes.

Since then I find I don’t run very much, so they just stay in the closet, collecting dust until I go on my treadmill or rowing machine. … I guess that’s why I’ve been able to keep them so long.

This year though, I decided to play baseball, so out came my trusty running shoes.

I wore them every Monday this spring and summer, but these shoes will never feel my feet inside them again.

Last Monday they simply disintegrated. I don’t know why they chose this past week to break down and I don’t know why they blew up all at once instead of gradually.

When I put them on before ball, they seemed to be in really good shape. I had no thoughts of needing to replace them this year at all.

The only thing I can think of is that the infield was made of red clay and was pretty wet … and we were just taking batting practice.

The pattern was to hit 10 balls, take a break while another guy hit ten, and then hit another 10 balls.

It might have been a combination of things, including extended time in the batter’s box dragging my toe through the wet clay as I swung through the pitch.

For the first 10 balls, I decided to hit right-handed. I noticed that a bunch of clay had gotten up inside the tread on one shoe.

For the next ten, I decided to hit my natural way – left-handed – and this time it was the other shoe that filled up with clay under the tread.

I then took my turn fielding balls.

By the time I finished my next at bat, the soles of my shoes were flapping like the tongue of a big old dog who’d just finished slurping down his dinner meal.

I walked back to my car feeling like I was wearing clown shoes! It was such an odd feeling.

The shoes were done, finished, not even good enough to cut the grass in.

Last night I went out looking for a new pair of running shoes. Cross trainers seem to be the type of shoe best suited to my activities. … $100 later and I’m ready for baseball next week.

Here’s the thing: In life, most of the time, we manage just fine. We even handle struggles with not too much sweat. But every once in a while the wheels fall off, the shoes disintegrate, life blows up in our face. This happens when we are least expecting it, usually when we are not ready for it. If you’re not in the habit of turning to God, you can really find yourself lost, floundering, panicked. Begin a relationship with God today – if you haven’t done so already – because He can put your life back together.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What unexpected thing has blown up in front of you? Leave your comments below.

by

A Word On The Last Day Of The Year

The last day of the year is a perfect time to reflect on the past and dream about the future.

It’s like you have one foot still in the past and one foot ready to step forward. It’s like a freeze frame for a brief time.

… Kind of like those ultimate mannequin challenges that are all the craze right now.

They’re a moment in time that tells a story, or something … I’m not sure I really get them.

But they’re much like the last day of the year. It’s a moment in time that tells of what was and points to what might and could be.

I guess the caution is not to stay there too long or you end up getting stuck in time … caught listening to 70’s music over and over and sporting a mullet haircut.

It’s good to reflect back, but you don’t want to do it for too long. Just take the best from the past and continue it; take the worst and learn from it. The rest you won’t remember.

The older we get, the more life speeds up. There is a tendency to try to put the brakes on to stop your life from flying by. You end up staying in the past in some way.

When I was a child I remember that a year felt like a long time. Once Christmas was over, it felt like three years until the next one came around.

Now it feels like Christmas comes around every six months.

Don’t fight the speed of life. Embrace each moment but don’t hold on to it too long. There is more to experience just around the corner.

Look to the future and make plans for what you want it to be. If you make no plans then other people’s plans will become yours.

You can end up getting into a routine or rut that you feel trapped in with no way to escape it. In reality, it is only a lack of planning and future thought that keeps you from breaking out.

I remember as a teen sleeping in on Saturdays until 11 or 12, or even 1 o’clock. I would get up and feel tired because I had overslept. I would feel that the day was half gone which also made me feel frustrated that the day had been wasted.

But I couldn’t seem to do anything about it; every Saturday was the same.

That was until I decided I needed to have a purpose to get up. I set my alarm and had something I wanted to do. I ended up reclaiming hours of my precious day off.

It was my purpose and planning that helped me make that change.

The future is unknown and therefore it can feel scary. But put fear aside and look at the future as exciting, with new adventures that await.

On the last day of the year, you have a foot in both the past and future. Use it wisely.

Here’s the thing: No matter how you look at life, if you know Christ as your Saviour, this is what the Bible says about your life: Your past has been taken care of and, as for your future, He has a wonderful plan for you. Step into it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is one thing you are going to do in this next year because of this past year? Leave your comments below.

by

Why Barbecues Don’t Last

I know it’s getting late in the season – I’m talking barbecue season – but things are starting to fall apart, literally … and what’s falling apart is my BBQ!

Top_Brands_of_Stainless_Steel_Grates_for_Grills_1435759547.13

There are all different shapes and sizes of BBQs out there, ranging in price from around $100 to $2000. But no matter the price, they are all going to last basically the same length of time. In three to five years you will be looking for a new one; it’s just how they’re made.

I’ve had my BBQ for five years now, and it’s actually in pretty good shape. If you looked at it with the lid down you’d think, “You don’t need a new Q; what you’ve got is just fine.”

But when the lid is lifted, and you get to see the grill, let me tell you, that thing is disintegrating!

It’s a cast iron grill and don’t get me started on the maintenance that’s needed to keep these grills in good working order! You need to devote about 40 percent of your spare time just to “season” the grill so that it won’t rust and start to flake off.

I can’t begin to guess how much canola oil I have put on that grill, painting the grid over and over, only to need to do it the next time I pulled back the cover.

I really need a new grill. But when you look at the size of the grill in comparison to the overall size of the BBQ, though it’s a small part, it costs a lot of money.

I would have to spend about $100 to replace it … that is, if I could find a replacement grill!

You see, all the manufacturers have different grill sizes. There is no standard, making it impossible to find your exact size anywhere.

The only thing you can do is get those universal grills that supposedly adjust to fit your size. But I don’t think that’s the answer, either.

The one guaranteed thing about barbecuing is that the grill takes a bit of a beating. You scrape it with wire bristles; you use a spatula to flip meat on it … that grate gets moved from side to side.

Those universal grills they can’t take the workout. They don’t hold the size you adjust them to. After about one use, your universal grill falls onto the burners just because you tried to scrape a bit of stuck on chicken off the grill.

Then there are the burners – they rust out too.

But yesterday I had to roll my barbecue out to the road for our annual street BBQ … one of the nuts on the lid came off and I lost a bolt.

… I may be looking at the season-ending sales on BBQs in the next couple of weeks. I’m just letting you know in advance, Lil.

Here’s the thing: The Christian life is not meant to be started and then left that way. What I mean is you can’t expect your time with God to remain the same without changing. Your involvement in the church will also need some changes over time. Certainly your relationship with God, and how you follow Him will change as you journey with Him. If these things don’t change, you will start to rust and your Christian life will start to decay. We continually need to allow the Holy Spirit to breathe new life into us, and that will mean making changes along the way.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Have you noticed any rust in your Christian life? Leave your comments below.