looking

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I’m Looking For A Good Sunset 

I like a good sunset, but I usually gaze at them only when I’m at the beach. 

The other day I discovered it’s not a bad idea to look for them elsewhere.

… We had finished dinner with our son, Mike, who was home, spending some of his vacation with us. We were letting the meal settle when Lily said, “Why don’t you go out and show Mike your new drone?” 

I wasn’t too excited at first. I’d flown my drone over our house many times and was bored with videos of just sky and subdivisions below. 

But she urged me a couple of times to do it, saying that the sun was setting and I could film the sunset.

You know, it’s one thing to stand on a beach, looking over the glistening water at the sinking fireball just above the horizon. It’s a totally different thing to look up over the fences, houses and wires to see a little portion of the sky as the sun begins to disappear.

I could stay on the beach for a long time watching the sun go down and the clouds change colour from orange to red to purple. Trying to see the colours in the sky over the tops of houses is not something I like to spend a lot of time gawking at.  

Well, we went outside and I figured I would take the drone up, show Mike how it flies, give him an idea of the quality of video and pictures you can get with it … and then bring it down. 

When I got the drone up, however, the sun had just snuck below the horizon. The sky was absolutely amazing! 

From where we were standing in front of our garage, we could not have known there was any kind of a sunset. But when the drone got up to 20, 30, then 90 metres high and turned to face the west – Wow! The sunset was every bit as spectacular as if we were standing on the beach with the whole sky as a visual screen right before us. 

There may not have been any reflection off any water below, but the colours were incredible. I couldn’t get enough video of it. Finally I switched to the camera and shot some stills of the incredible scene.

If Lily hadn’t encouraged me to go out and show Mike my drone, I never would have even known the sunset was as spectacular as it was. 

When we are at the lake, we make a point of going to the beach at sunset. At home we never give it a thought. 

My sight lines might be restricted in my front or back yard, but 90 metres up I can record the whole sky. 

From now on, I will be taking note of the time of sunset and getting ready to fly my drone to get a glimpse of the magnificent painting that’s filling the canvas that day. 

Here’s the thing: It is really easy to become blind to what God is doing. You get busy with life and what’s coming next. Maybe you’re too focussed on what’s concerning you, or busy juggling the many things you have on your plate. Just like how we can miss the sunset that’s right outside, showing off God’s creative handiwork, we can miss the amazing things God is doing in our lives. Stop and look around; take notice. God is active in your life; He is speaking to you, answering your prayers, and opening doors for you. Just take some time to notice. Don’t miss His magnificence in your life on a daily basis. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What keeps you from noticing God in your life? Leave your comments below.

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I Just Couldn’t Find it

This article was originally posted in 2012. 

Have you ever looked for something that you were certain of its location, but still couldn’t find it?  Don’t those times drive you insane?  

I find myself living out the definition of insanity, “doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.”  We probably all do that at times.

You either dig around in a drawer or a room, searching the same spots over and over,  hoping to find what you are looking for.  

You start talking to yourself, your blood pressure rises, you get angry with yourself, and then at the thing you’re looking for, until you don’t even want it anymore.  In fact, you hate it now, but you just HAVE to find it!

We’ve all been there; it’s not a pretty sight.  Your family starts out sympathetic, even helpful, but as you start to get frustrated, they start to vacate the area.  

As you start to sound like Gollum (from the Lord of the Rings), your family members look for things to do, errands to run, other places to be.

The other day, while preparing my sermon, I had three illustrations I wanted to use: one was a personal story, and the two others came from books.  I could remember some of the details for one of the illustrations, and even remember the book I had read it in.  

I had seen the title of the book the day before on one of my shelves, so I went directly there.  With the book in hand, I sat down at my desk and started looking for the story.

I looked at the beginning of each chapter because often times they started with a story.  That didn’t help.  I looked at the chapter titles to see if any of them would ring a bell.  

I was sure the story was in this book, but I wasn’t having any luck finding it. 

I was getting a little frustrated and I lost my confidence that I was even searching the correct book.  I got another book out by the same author and started looking through it, even though I didn’t think it was in there.  

Then I turned to the internet.  I googled the gist of the story with the author’s name.  I had to change my search three times before I got some results that seemed promising.  I looked at several hits but none of them were helpful.  

Then I discovered a document someone posted referencing the story.  Finally some hope.

The bad news was the document didn’t have the story details.  The good news was it confirmed that the story was, in fact, in the original book I had been looking in.  So I set to work to find the story.  I started at the back of the book this time.  I looked on pretty well every page for mention of it.  I finally found it . . . in the INTRODUCTION! 

Here’s the thing:  Sometimes I get all caught up in what I’m doing.  I know what to do, and it’s usually something small, within my power.  What I don’t do is ask God for help right away.  I fuss and stew instead of turning to the One who can guide me right to what I need.  Don’t wait until you’ve exhausted every avenue before you seek God, turn to him first. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question:  What have you learned from frustrating times like I described?  Leave your comment below.