life

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Facebook Just Sucked Thirty Minutes Of Life Out Of Me!

 

I just spent a half hour doing nothing on Facebook.

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Most people know that Facebook sucks you in and keeps dangling the carrot in front of you to stay connected, but I’m kind of new to the Facebook scene. I think I’ve only had friends for about a year now. I used to be a loner.

At that time all my friends were through my wife. She was my entire source of friends until I decided to branch out on my own.

Last year I finally broke down and got myself some friends. The thing is, I’m not that good of a friend. I don’t go on Facebook enough to know what my friends are doing or up to.

I keep getting emails that let me know what I’ve missed since I’ve been away. It’s usually a few notifications, maybe a friend request and a poke.

I don’t even know what a poke is.

The thing is, I don’t have time to go through all the stuff that’s posted on my home page … and truthfully, with some of the stuff, I don’ t want to either.

They say – whoever “they” are –  that you have time for what’s important to you. That may be true for me.

Now I’m not saying that my friends are not important. No, they are important; it’s just some of the stuff that gets posted doesn’t really interest me.

It’s possible that my friends are not that interesting and that’s why I’m not getting stuff on my home page that draws me in.

But that’s not really it either. I just don’t go on Facebook that much.

There is always something else I could be doing or should be doing that keeps me from sticking my head in the Facebook world.

But this morning I was scrolling the apps on my phone and saw a number 5 beside my Facebook app.

My first thought was, “I have a little time. I’ll get rid of that little red number”, but when I went inside there were a number of videos and pictures that were staring right at me.

I wasn’t in a hurry and I didn’t have anything that was pressing, so I started to scroll.

I did learn a few things, like that David Bowie died of cancer. I saw some motocrosser do some amazing tricks with his bike, and I watched 19 construction works try to corral a power trowel that got away on a freshly poured slab of cement.

I’m not sure any of that is going to help me today. I doubt I’ll be able to use any of this info in a sermon … well, maybe the cement workers and the trowel – there’s got to be an illustration there!

The one good thing about the half hour I spent on Facebook this morning is that it’s a lot like Kentucky Fried Chicken: once you have the experience, you don’t need to go back for a while.

I’m sure my friends don’t mind; there are plenty of other people who stay glued to their walls.

… It was nice to see a pic of a buddy with Bobby Orr though.

Here’s the thing: When you think of how much time you spend on things like Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media, do you find it hard to squeeze some time in your day to read the Bible? Here’s a challenge for you: Make 2016 a year you read through the whole Bible, and get God’s perspective on the world.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How much time a day do you spend on social media? Leave your comment below.

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How To Manage The Ups And Downs In Life

My golf game the other day resembled life to a large degree. And, like my game, life is filled with ups and downs.

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When I was in my early twenties I played golf every Saturday morning.  It was like clockwork, unless I had a late night the night before and then I sometimes got a few pebbles thrown at my window to nudge me out of bed.

Well, this past Saturday was a blast from the past for me. I had an early 7:05 am tee off time with a couple of buddies.

It’s been years, but I still remembered the quietness of that time of day, and the stillness of the air. The dew was thick on the grass and the sun breaking through the trees created breathtaking patterns of light and shade on the fairways.

That’s a nice picture, isn’t it? Well it stops right about there because, for some reason, I couldn’t hit the golf ball on Saturday.

I started with a 6, and if you don’t know anything about golf, let me tell you, it doesn’t matter if it’s a long hole or short hole, a 6 is never a good score!

I posted another 6 on the next hole, and when I got my third straight 6, I glanced over at the score card my partner was keeping and I could see the pattern. My card read 666 and you know what that’s the sign of!

That’s maybe why I was kind of relieved when I scored – yup, you guessed it – another 6 on the next hole. With four sixes on the first four holes, it was very obvious I was having a terrible round. But at least now no one was going to confuse me for being the devil.

The rest of the front nine holes were up and down – a couple of good holes but also a couple of bad ones.

Then things changed around on the back nine. I don’t really know why; no one gave me a pep talk or anything. I just started to hit the ball better. I parred the next 5 holes in a row.

And if you don’t know anything about golf, that means I got the ball in the hole in the correct number of shots.

I had one little hiccup on the 15th hole but then I parred the next two. That’s seven pars on the back nine. That’s a great score for me, and I would say for most people.

Then came the last hole. I don’t know what happened to me, but I choked. I didn’t get a 6 though – I got a 7! I had such a good back nine but then one hole sunk it.

But you know what? As I stare at my score card now, I can’t wait to try again.

Here’s the thing: Life is sometimes bad – sometimes really bad – but it’s also sometimes very good. Often we can’t explain why it is so, we can only take what we get. We have a tendency to blame God for the bad, and just bask in our own glory during the good.

The Bible says everything comes from the hand of God, so we should be looking to God in the good and the bad. We should be seeking to know Him more in all of life. So whether life is good or bad, we should want to get up each morning and try again.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you handled the good and bad in life? I’d really like to hear from you; you can leave your comment below.

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What To Do When Life Becomes Frustrating

 

This time of year is a little frustrating for me. This past week was the start of the spring hockey session and so they have reduced the ice times available for me to play.

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That’s not all that bad because I have been eyeing my mountain bike lately and getting the itch to get out on the trails. The problem is the trails aren’t ready to be ridden, and they won’t be in the foreseeable future. With the amount of snow we got this year, it’s going to take a month to get rid of it all unless we have some really warm weather in the next week or so.

So I’m stuck right now; I can’ t play as much hockey and I can’t do any biking yet. That means more TV watching … which could be a good thing because the NHL playoffs start soon.

But since my team isn’t making the playoffs this year, my interest in watching will be less than riveted.

This spring is like a perfect storm for me.

I might have to get out my trainer and do some pre-season biking on it. If you don’t know what a trainer is, it’s an apparatus you hook the rear wheel of your bike to that let’s you pedal your bike with resistant … all in the comfort of your basement, without actually moving.

It’s not that fun. If my wife would let me buy a rowing machine, that would be more helpful. But she keeps wanting to purchase new furniture for our home, so getting a new piece of exercise equipment isn’t happening soon around our place.

Not that I really need to exercise at all. If I gain ten pounds having to watch the Montreal Canadians in the playoffs while drinking Dr. Peppers, I’m sure that’s no concern to Lily as long as she finds the right end tables for the living room.

I know this in-between season will end at some point, but being right in the middle of it gives me no real encouragement and hope at all.

All I can do is watch the buds on the trees start to break forth into leaves. But you know what watching tree buds is like – it’s like watching paint dry; it’s that exciting! Or it’s like watching water boil; it never happens while you’re watching.

Right now would be a good time for a trip somewhere. There are lots of places I would like to go. I saw bits of a travel show the other day to Key West, Florida – that looked like a nice spot to visit.

I do have a trip I’m taking this week. I have meetings in Toronto – well, almost Toronto. The meetings are actually in Whitby. It’s no Key West but at least it’ll take my mind off the frustration I have here.

And my weather app says it will be a few degrees warmer there than here. Whoopee!

Here’s the thing: We all get frustrated at times. We can be frustrated at work; we can be frustrated on the home front. It might even be that we are frustrated with our recreation or hobbies. That’s when temptation will raise its ugly head. You will find yourself tempted to serve yourself with some kind of pleasure. That’s when you need to seek the Lord for strength and protection against falling into temptation. Be aware and protect yourself, because it’s in that frustration that temptation will come calling.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you deal with temptation when you’re frustrated in life?

I’d really like to hear from you; you can leave a comment below.

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How To Pay Attention To The Alarms Of Life

Alarms go off around us all the time. Some are not that noticeable, others are unmistakable.

The other day, Lily bought a new alarm clock. She wanted something a little more modern, a little smaller, a little more stylish. My question is, do you want the alarm clock to wake you up? If so, what the alarm sounds like is the first concern.

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Lil’s new alarm does a couple of things to wake you up. It glows in changing colours when the alarm goes off. And believe me, the glow is pretty bright. It cycles through several colours.

You may wonder how I know this. Well, the other day, rather than getting up out of bed to read the Bible and do my devotions, I decided to do them in bed.

There I was sitting up in bed with my iPad, hoping the glow from it would not wake Lily. I shouldn’t have worried. When her alarm went off, I waited for her to click it off but nothing happened. She didn’t move, and for two minutes I watched the light change colour to green then amber then blue … etc.

There was an audible alarm that went off as well, but it wasn’t a loud noise. This alarm has sounds, and the sound Lil picked was a babbling brook. Other than the fact that I felt like I needed to go to the washroom, it was a very nice sound.

… It didn’t wake Lily, but it was soothing. This two minute routine happened three times over the next 20 minutes until I gently woke her up by saying, “You need a new alarm clock.”

She immediately thought it had not gone off. But I assured her it had gone off three times with her face basking in the glow of the alarm’s changing light each time.

It doesn’t matter how nice an alarm clock looks, or what kind of features it has, an alarm clock – to be worth anything – has to wake you up!  If it doesn’t, it’s no good.

Personally, my alarm has to be loud enough and annoying enough to wake me up. Over the years that’s not always been enough for me. I’ve had to put the alarm far from my reach so I had to almost get out of bed to shut it off.

I could never use the snooze button either or I’d keep hitting it for hours. I have to get right up. No music for me; I would enjoy it too much in my half woken daze and just stay in bed.

No, for me an alarm has to startle me, rattle me, make me jump … like the security alarm we have at work. When I’ve mistakenly set it off, it blasts so loud your heart jumps out of your body, your heart dings a bell in your head, and your pacemaker restarts itself. It’s frightening.

Lily either needs to turn up the sound on the babbling brook alarm clock so that it’s a crashing wave sound, or look for an alarm that will do what it’s supposed to do … wake her up.

Here’s the thing: God often uses alarms to get our attention. Sometimes the alarm doesn’t start out to be very loud and we don’t hear it. Then, when it becomes a little annoying, we are tempted to hit the snooze button. But don’t hit snooze; rather, listen intently to God’s alarms.  React to the alarm by getting up and following what the Lord wants you to do.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What kind of an alarm do you need to wake up to? Leave your comment below.

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When You Know Life And Purpose Have Aligned

There is a sweetness when our life and purpose align. When life and purpose come together, there is something special that’s hard to put into words.

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Its an amazing feeling like being by a fireplace, sipping your favourite beverage and listening to good music – can you imagine that feeling?

This week Lily and I were at our District Pastors’ Retreat. Once a year, the pastors in our denomination get together in each district for a couple of days to be renewed and refreshed together. We go to be preached to, challenged, encouraged and sent out again.

It’s sort of for us, what we do each week of the year for others.  Lily and I look forward to these times together, and even view the drive to the retreat as special.

This year, it was just a little different. Lily and I went to prayer retreat with our daughter. Now, I think she was at one retreat when she was about 5 or 6 months old, but this year she came as a pastor.

It’s pretty special to have your daughter join you as a colleague, and not just your daughter, at a special work related event. She was there as a fellow worker in ministry.

Along with all my peers and pastor friends was my daughter, as one of them. She didn’t come as my child, but as a co-worker.

Every time I introduced her, I felt a sense of pride – a thankful pride. I had this warmth deep within me that spread to every part of my insides. And even though there was a sense that Karlie was now invading my territory, it was in a good way, a welcoming way.

It wasn’t all good though. There were some things about having our daughter along that didn’t make our pastors’ retreat easy for me. I think it started on our trip up. When we stopped for dinner, I was talked into eating a “wrappy pita thingy” … lots of lettuce, not much meat.

Our afternoon of strolling through the town of Huntsville didn’t really work for me. The shopping trip into town was against me. Now there were two people who wanted to shop in stores I had no interest in.

I couldn’t even hurry Lily up because she had a partner who also wanted to stay longer. I ended up by myself at the chocolate store. And I think I soothed my woes by purchasing a little more candy that I should have.

On the other hand, I didn’t feel so bad leaving my wife to shop in some Christmas store; she had Karlie to keep her company.

There was this “two against one” thing going on the whole retreat – I caved on a lot of things. Still the pride in my heart and the warmth in my spirit made it all worth it.

Here’s the thing: Think of God creating you with a purpose, then watching you grow and develop. He sees you choose right and wrong along the way, and cringes a little when you make some decisions to go in ways that lead you away from His purpose. Then He watches how you turn, or begin to get on the path of what He has created you for. Finally, God surveys life and purpose align with you serving Him, working alongside Him in the purpose He created you for. Well, I know how God feels. He’s proud of His creation!

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you wish for your children? Leave your comment below.

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The Reason You Don’t Change Your Busy Life

You ask ten people how they are doing and about 8 to 10 of them will say “busy”. That’s life for almost everyone. Now, mind you, leading a busy life is relative. Some people’s busyness is like a working vacation for others.

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But it doesn’t matter what your definition of busyness is. We have the same feelings of fatigue, hurriedness, and drivenness. It’s pretty standard fare for the average person in North America.

This week I was reminded of a time in my life when it was busier than it is now. We had some guests staying with us: a mom and her two boys, 3 and 1½ years old.

They were cute little guys, but they were also very busy. And that meant the house had a busy feel about it. It was lively; there was always something happening – actually, there was alway more than one thing happening.

A conversation had to be stopped and restarted several times to attend to a bump on the head, a wiping of the hands, and “No, don’t do that”, or a “Just a minute please”. You know how it works at those ages; kids need a lot of attention.

It’s just funny how you forget what it’s like. Now that our kids are, for the most part, out of the house, things are pretty quiet. At dinner there is only one conversation. The attention is only on one of two people at any one time.

There are rarely any bumps on the head, and food usually goes directly from plate to mouth. However, sometimes my food takes a detour and lands up on the placemat. If I would only learn to bring my plate closer . . . right, Lil?

To add to the excitement the other day, we also had another dinner guest. It was not a quiet meal, and it wasn’t calm, but it was pretty funny and exciting.

These little guys had to be reminded of things that we take for granted. Some things they had a hard time comprehending. Some things they didn’t want to comprehend, like the twenty times Lily had to tell Elias that the turtle didn’t need to be fed … he kept insisting that the turtle looked hungry.

Elias just needed something and didn’t know what it was. But I recognized that look in his eyes, that roaming around the kitchen. I knew what he was thinking. I have the same feelings, and do the same roaming after dinner. We just need something else; we’re not sure what it is, but we need something.

I asked, “What about dessert?” to which Lily replied, “Great. You come up with it then because I didn’t make any.” I just happened to have some “after dinner licorice” that seemed to do the trick for Elias … for a while.

It was a whirlwind of a meal but it was great because this was not life for us 24/7. And just when things were settling down, I sent Elias to check on the turtle. As he went, I couldn’t resist throwing out the suggestion, “Do you think he’s hungry?” That got me a reaction from Lily!

Here’s the thing: When we are in the midst of life, we aren’t conscious of just how fast paced and busy it is. Only when we step out of it can we then appreciate how non-stop life is. Carve out of your busyness some time to get quiet, reflective and find a peacefulness with God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What prevents you from stepping out of your busyness to find some quiet? Leave your comment below.