praying

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Perfect Timing Is Over-Rated

Timing is everything! A split second off and you miss the shot, you hit the car, you don’t catch your plane . . . well, maybe not.

perfect-timing-over-the-pool

My wife and I recently needed to fly from Toronto to Thunder Bay.

Lily had figured out all the details, the flights, the car park, and of course, the time it would take us to get to Toronto, drop the car off and get to our gate with plenty of time to spare.

It all sounded good on paper, but then again, paper doesn’t say anything – it’s all what you read into it. What we didn’t read into the plan was the traffic we might encounter in getting to our destination.

Right from the get-go, the traffic was a little heavier that I had thought it would be. Our 2 1/2 hour drive to Toronto took us a little longer, but we had some extra time built in so I wasn’t fretting.

… until we got about 20 kms from the airport.

The 401 was bumper to bumper, stop and go. There was panic in the car from the navigator’s seat. I can’t tell you how many times I heard the words, “We’re not going to make it!”

There were hurdles all the way. Every time we thought we were catching a break, there would be a roadblock. I thought we were on the TV Show “Amazing Race”.

There was no way we would make the check-in time so Lil checked us in electronically using her phone.

When we finally got off the 401, we thought we maybe had a chance. Then I missed a turn. We drove right past the parking lot for our terminal, but unfortunately we needed to get to the off-site park-and-ride place we’d booked.

When we found the park-and-ride, we thought we might have a chance if they were fast, but there was a car ahead of us who was taking forever to register. Panic filled the air space along with suggestions that we should have paid the extra money and parked at the terminal.

When we finally registered, we were told to pull ahead and wait for the shuttle, then follow it to where we should park before going to the airport. Unfortunately, the shuttle guy didn’t know the script because when he showed us where to park he told us to wait for the back-up shuttle to take us.

More waiting! The waiting was killing my navigator, but it wasn’t long before our shuttle appeared. We told the driver of our predicament and he was pretty calm about it all … though he wasn’t the one scrambling to make a flight that left in twenty minutes!

We ran to security, and there were greeted by a long line ahead of us. Lil said something to the security guard and she took us to the front of the screening line, along with a scolding for not getting to the airport earlier.

Once through security, Lil ran ahead while I carried the bags.

We still had quite a distance to get to our gate and a wrong turn down a hallway didn’t speed up the run. We finally got there, tired and out of breath … and they were still boarding the plane!

We made it.

Here’s the thing: I started praying as soon as we hit traffic on the 401, and even though there were glimpses of hope, each glimpse was met with another impossible hurdle. Yet somehow, some way, against all odds God got us on that flight. Never doubt the power of God in any situation.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When did God come through for you when all hope was lost? Leave your comment below.

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10,000 Steps A Day

You may have heard this before, but then again maybe you haven’t – I hadn’t until recently.  Research shows that we should take 10,000 steps a day.  Doing so can help to lower your BMI, reduce your waist size, and increase your energy.  It can help with hypertension and lessen your risk for Type II diabetes and heart disease.

If this is true, TVs should be hooked up to treadmills to make them work.  Doctors’ offices shouldn’t have parking lots, forcing us to walk to see our doctors!

10,000 steps equals about 8 kilometers (based on about a 2.5 foot long stride).  That’s about the distance I travel to work each day … and, uh, I would walk it if I … uh … didn’t need my car.

Some people have jobs where they walk all day, but not me.  As a pastor, I don’t walk very much.  I work at a desk and mostly walk to or from my car.  Tapping my feet to music while I work on my computer certainly doesn’t add any steps to my day.  I bought a pedometer to track my steps and, by noon some days, I’ve only taken 500.

So, to get a few more steps in, I started to walk for 30 minutes a day at a fairly brisk pace.  I walk with Lily around our neighbourhood, or go on our treadmill while watching TV.  I would take our turtle, Winston, for a walk but his legs are pretty short and I think I would end up dragging him around.

A thirty minute walk can give me about 4000 steps, which is pretty good, but still a far cry from ten grand!  So I’ve started to do something else: I get up from my desk mid morning and mid afternoon and walk for ten minutes around the sanctuary of the church.

It’s not the most interesting walk – it’s a little boring walking up and down the pews.  The only break is walking up the outside aisles and looking out the windows.  The problem with that is, if you see something interesting, you can’ t stop to get a better look.  You have to keep moving and just hope that it’s still visible on your next lap!

But I’ve found two things that make those walks exciting.  I either take time to think about what I am presently working on, taking my phone along and dictating into it any ideas that come to mind, OR, I use the time to pray.  I’ve found that I have some good times with God in those 10 minute intervals of walking in the sanctuary.  The time goes so fast as I walk that rather boring route.

Here’s the thing:  I’ve done my devotions early in the morning for years.  But I don’t have blocks of time later in the day that I spend in prayer.  I’m finding these 10 minute walks perfect for telling God what I’m thinking or feeling about right then.  I can talk over with Him what I’m wrestling with or what’s captured my immediate attention.  These short spurts of prayer or thought are inspiring and stimulating.  They’re like an injection of energy into my day.  I never would have thought of it.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question:  What do you do to keep God in your day?