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Live the Dream or Live the Reality

When it comes to weekends, there is the dream and then there is the reality.

The dream we have for every weekend in the summer is to soak up the sunshine and warmth. You want to be outside in the garden, at the lake, or on the links. You want to feel the warmth of the sun on your skin; you want to be wearing shorts and T-shirts.  

On the weekends, you plan to get out camping, be out on the boat, enjoy dinner on the patio, or a walk by the lake. You want to BBQ with friends and sit outside until the mosquitos drive you insane. 

You want to live as much of the weekend outside as you possibly can. 

That’s the dream; that’s what you want every weekend. But the reality seems to be very different from that.

The reality is clouds, overcast, cool, and rain. I don’t know how it can possibly work out this way but it seems that that pattern is the standard weather for weekends.

You have great hope every week that the next weekend is going to be amazing, but by the time that weekend rolls around, you are looking out your front window changing your plans to doing something inside.

As I’m writing this blog post, the sun is shining as bold and bright as it can possibly be. I can’t see one cloud in the sky from where I’m sitting. 

The temperature is rising and it looks like an amazing weekend day … except for the fact that it’s Monday morning. 

The forecast for the rest of the week looks great as well. 

And by the way, last week we had great weather too, with lots of sun … except for the weekend – it didn’t have any. 

Saturday the cloud cover was about eight miles high. It was dark; it rained; it was cool – not a great day for a weekend. 

Then there was Sunday. It looked like it was going to rain at any moment; the sky was dark, and the clouds kept rolling through. 

It just happened to be the day of our church picnic.

It’s too bad the weather couldn’t have been like today or Friday. We would have had a great picnic outside in the sun and shade.

Instead, we had our church picnic inside. 

We tried to fix it up to look very picnic-like. We even moved some pews back to have some open space at the front of the sanctuary so people could sit on blankets and pretend they were attending the service on the grass. 

We had a few picnic tables in our gym that made it look a little different than a regular church lunch. We had a sun tent set up in our foyer and a couple of beach umbrellas to give an atmosphere of the outdoors.

But from start to finish the church picnic day was all inside. It was going to be all outside, but we didn’t get dream weekend weather. We got reality.

We did, however, create the dream inside the church, and no one went home disappointed.

Here’s the thing: You live out your reality, but God has a dream for you that is far greater than the reality that you are living. Tap into God’s dream for you by asking Him to open your eyes to His dream. Then seek to live it out and make it your reality.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What would you like to change about your reality? Leave your comments below.

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Not Sure I Can Live Through These Deadlines

Deadlines are part of my world, but there are some deadlines that suck the life out of me more than others.

Most weeks of the year I live with at least one deadline: I have a sermon to prepare for Sunday and it doesn’t matter what has happened during the week, that deadline has to be met.

I might be sick that week, have meetings I’ve been called away to, or have had to conduct a funeral, wedding, etc. No matter what, that deadline of being ready to get into the pulpit on Sunday remains.

I know that deadline, have become accustomed to living with it, and can successfully navigate through my week to deliver on time.

But there are other deadlines that I don’t deal with regularly and they take a heavier toll on my state of mind.

When you compound a deadline with one or two other deadlines, all due around the same time … well, that’s how I’m feeling right now.

Right now the pressure is on. I have only a few days to go before these deadlines stop me in my tracks.

It’s like those auto commercials where they test how a car does in a crash. They stick a crash test dummy in the vehicle and then they remotely drive the car into a wall or a cement barrier of some kind.

It’s fascinating to see what happens when the vehicle stops on impact. The front of the car coils up like an accordion and then the car bounces back a little.

The car is a right-off, but what the company really wants to know is how the dummy will fair inside the automobile when it reaches the deadline.

Based on the dummy’s reactions they can tell how safe they have made the car. But no matter what kind of safety measures they have built into the vehicle, there are two things that happen to the dummy.

First, when the car hits the deadline, the dummy moves forward; the inertia is uncontrollable and the dummy’s body has to move in a forward direction.

But then at the pinnacle of the impact there is a force placed on the dummy that is every bit as uncontrollable, forcing its body to snap back in the opposite direction.

This action causes a whiplash affect on the dummy.

I am that dummy right now, right at the stage of whiplash with these multiple deadlines looming over me.

In a few days it’ll all be over; time will have run out on me. I will be a wreck, emotionally and mentally drained.

So in the short time I have, what do I do? I ask myself the question, “Do I work at one deadline until it is finished and then tackle the next one, or do I begin each one and gradually work towards completely them all at the same time?”

This is where I differ from a crash test dummy. It is just along for the ride, no thought, no input. Me, I have to think through the questions and decide a course of action.

Here’s the thing: We are all coming to a deadline. The problem with our deadline is that most of us don’t know when it will be. But when the deadline hits, that will be the end; we will be stopped in our tracks. To be ready for that deadline, be sure you have become friends with God, through faith in Jesus Christ. There is no better way to prepare for that deadline than to live now by faith in Christ so that you’re ready for that deadline of death.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you handle deadlines: well in advance or right down to the last minute? Leave your comments below.

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Live Life By The Codes

There used to be unwritten rules that you lived by. I’m not sure, but maybe some of those codes are changing – certainly some are disappearing.

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We all know some unwritten rules, things you just do or don’t do. No one has to say anything; it’s just the way things work.

When I was a kid one of those codes was that you didn’t tell on your brother. Nobody told me to do that; it was just what you did.

There are all kinds of these unwritten rules that we follow to help one another out, to be on the same side.

But some of these rules or codes that we live by aren’t being followed anymore.

In hockey there used to be an unwritten rule that you didn’t go after the superstar of the team. You didn’t try to hit him too hard; you didn’t cheap shot him.

But that code started to disappear so they had to put a tough guy on the same line as the superstar as a deterrent. It was like a warning: you lay a finger on Wayne Gretzky and you will pay the price of having Dave “Cement Head” Semenko come after you.

Now it’s a free-for-all on the superstars of the team. The game has changed and the enforcers are not there anymore.

And maybe that’s what it’s like everywhere … times have changed and it’s just different.

There used to be a code among drivers that a car coming the opposite way would flash their lights to warn you if there was a police radar up ahead. It was common practice.

It’s illegal now – maybe it always was – and people don’t do it anymore.

There is no code of the road for drivers to look out for each other. It’s no longer us against the speed trap.

But I got a break the other day.

I was going up a hill on a highway, maybe going a little fast … maybe. There was a line of cars coming down the hill the other way. In the middle of the pack I thought I noticed a car flash his lights. I almost missed it because it was so unusual.

I took my foot off the accelerator. As I got to the crest of the hill and started down the other side,  there he was – a black and white OPP waiting for me.

Well, thankfully he wasn’t waiting for me because someone on the other side of the hill remembered the code and warned me.

We were on the same team; it was us against them. I kind of doubt that many others caught the same warning I did. We just don’t live by that code anymore.

The unwritten code of the road is you look out for your fellow drivers. It’s a great code. Unfortunately, most of us drive in such a way that our fellow drivers are our competition or enemies on the road.

… Driving might be a whole lot more enjoyable if we followed the codes.

Here’s the thing: There are faith codes as well. When someone confides in us, the unwritten code is to pray for that person or issue – not just once, but to keep that person in your prayers. However, with our busy, more self-centred lives, we often fail to live by the code. Get back to praying for the needs of others who bring their concerns to you … and keep at it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What unwritten code would you like to bring back? Leave your comments below.

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Live vs. Prerecorded

From time to time I repost articles previous written. This was originally posted on October 30, 2012

This week I attended a conference on leadership.  It was the annual Global Leadership Summit that Willow Creek Church puts on.

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Years ago if you were to attend this conference you had to travel to Chicago to be there in person.  Then they made it easier for people by having simulcast sites all over North America so you could still attend the conference “live”, in your home town, or at least close to where you lived.

I’ve done both in the past, and though being there live is kind of special and you get the real feel of the conference, I have become pretty comfortable watching the speaker on a screen.

What helped was realizing that even when I was in Chicago, because the auditorium was so big, I found myself watching the screens there.  You could see the speakers better that way.  So being somewhere else watching a screen wasn’t a difficult adjustment – at least you knew it was happening in present time.

Now this conference has taken things to a new level.  Not only do you not have to be in Chicago for the conference, but now you don’t even have to attend when the conference is taking place.

I attended this week, but the conference actually took place and was recorded in the middle of August.  This week, Bill Hybels (the host speaker) was probably speaking some other message, somewhere on the other side of the world, while we were taking in the conference like it was happening live.

The host sites do a good job, though, of keeping it fresh, and “live-like”.  We had a live band to lead us in some songs and a live host, who lead us to the all important refreshments at break times.

But we were also encouraged to respond to things like it was happening live.  For instance, at the end of a message, the audience in Chicago (back in August) all clapped.  We were encouraged to do the same, but our clapping was pretty feeble, since we were only clapping to a screen.

At the very end of the conference, Bill Hybels challenged everyone to pray and give our all to making the local church the hope of the world.  He asked us to pray a set prayer for the next 30 days, and if we agreed to do it, to sign the card the prayer was on … and to do it in the presence of a witness.

And that is when any sense of it being live fell apart for me.  He said “If you don’t have someone who will witness you signing your prayer card, I will be up here at the front and would be happy to witness it for you.”  I looked, and I hung around at the front for a moment; Bill wasn’t there.  He was in Chicago, or Zimbabwe, or some place else.

Here’s the thing:  I’m good at pretending something is live when it has really been recorded.  For the most part, I don’t miss the live action.  God, however, is live all the time, 24/7.  When I want to respond or need a response, with God I’m never left hanging around, waiting for someone who’s not there to show up.  I never want to take for granted how much better my live God is.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question:  How often do you take advantage of God being live, 24/7? Leave your comment below.

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You Can’t Beat The Real Thing

Though television and the internet have provided us with live images from around the world that we would never see otherwise, what they can’t do is give us a live experience.

Certainly television news tries to give us live experiences of wars and disasters. The commentary of the reporter is always dramatic. They somehow think that showing the same footage over and over and making the same comments seeps into our psyche so it becomes like an experience to us. … but it doesn’t really work.

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My wife, Lily and I took a trip to Atlantic City, for a week’s get away and to relax. No, not to gamble, though there are a plethora of opportunities to do that.

We aren’t even staying in one of the casino hotels. In fact, we are staying at the very end of the famous Atlantic City boardwalk. To be accurate, the boardwalk used to go past our hotel.

About six months ago, a hurricane came through and wiped out the part of the boardwalk that runs in front of our hotel. I’m surprised it didn’t destroy part of the hotel we are staying in as well.

I remember seeing the news reels on TV when the disaster took place, thinking that it was too bad. I even felt sorry for the people who lost homes and for the damage it caused them and the city.

But until yesterday, when my wife and I walked along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, and saw the remains of the portion of boardwalk that was lost during Hurricane Sandy, I had not experienced it.

It’s not that we experienced the storm, but our experience of being right at the site of the damage is something television and the internet can’t give us. For example, there’s something better about going to a live sporting event than watching it on TV – even though on TV you get replays and commentary and all kinds of extras.

It’s the same with going to a concert or performance of some kind. There is something better about being there live. If you are there, it is an experience. If you’re watching on television, you are only tuning in to it.

There have been major events that were so pivotal that we remember where we were when they happened: when President Kennedy was shot, when Canada beat the Russians in the 1972 hockey summit, or when the twin towers were struck.

The experience was not the actual event in those cases. The experience was with the place, the people and the emotion of where we were at the time.

For instance, I remember being in the library of my high school, with wall-to-wall people watching the game on three little TVs. I remember the place erupting when Henderson scored his goal. I remember everybody hugging and cheering and shouting (yes, shouting in a library) when the buzzer went. I watched the game live but my experience was in my school.

The point is, our experiences are with live events we are present for, not something we see on TV or the internet.

Here’s the thing: We can see something about God, read something about Him, even be with people who have experienced God. But until we personally engage with Him, meet with Him, or have some dealings with Him, we can’t say we have had an experience with God. We have just been looking on

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What event can you remember in detail as to where you were and who you were with?  Leave your comment below.

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Live vs. Prerecorded

This week I attended a conference on leadership.  It was the annual Global Leadership Summit that Willow Creek Church puts on.

Years ago if you were to attend this conference you had to travel to Chicago to be there in person.  Then they made it easier for people by having simulcast sites all over North America so you could still attend the conference “live”, in your home town, or at least close to where you lived.

I’ve done both in the past, and though being there live is kind of special and you get the real feel of the conference, I have become pretty comfortable watching the speaker on a screen.

What helped was realizing that even when I was in Chicago, because the auditorium was so big, I found myself watching the screens there.  You could see the speakers better that way.  So being somewhere else watching a screen wasn’t a difficult adjustment – at least you knew it was happening in present time.

Now this conference has taken things to a new level.  Not only do you not have to be in Chicago for the conference, but now you don’t even have to attend when the conference is taking place.

I attended this week, but the conference actually took place and was recorded in the middle of August.  This week, Bill Hybels (the host speaker) was probably speaking some other message, somewhere on the other side of the world, while we were taking in the conference like it was happening live.

The host sites do a good job, though, of keeping it fresh, and “live-like”.  We had a live band to lead us in some songs and a live host, who lead us to the all important refreshments at break times.

But we were also encouraged to respond to things like it was happening live.  For instance, at the end of a message, the audience in Chicago (back in August) all clapped.  We were encouraged to do the same, but our clapping was pretty feeble, since we were only clapping to a screen.

At the very end of the conference, Bill Hybels challenged everyone to pray and give our all to making the local church the hope of the world.  He asked us to pray a set prayer for the next 30 days, and if we agreed to do it, to sign the card the prayer was on … and to do it in the presence of a witness.

And that is when any sense of it being live fell apart for me.  He said “If you don’t have someone who will witness you signing your prayer card, I will be up here at the front and would be happy to witness it for you.”  I looked, and I hung around at the front for a moment; Bill wasn’t there.  He was in Chicago, or Zimbabwe, or some place else.

Here’s the thing:  I’m good at pretending something is live when it has really been recorded.  For the most part, I don’t miss the live action.  God, however, is live all the time, 24/7.  When I want to respond or need a response, with God I’m never left hanging around, waiting for someone who’s not there to show up.  I never want to take for granted how much better my live God is.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question:  How often do you take advantage of God being live, 24/7? Leave your comment below.