promise

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Make Good On Your Promise

In my last blog, I wrote about how saying “sorry” doesn’t make good on your promise to deal with the hurt one’s received. (Check out that blog here!)

credit card reward points

I just got a new credit card for the precise purpose of collecting reward points. This will eventually enable me to purchase a new cell phone on points.

The reason the credit card company was trying to communicate how terribly sorry they were is because they declined my card on my third purchase … MY THIRD PURCHASE!

My card is through Rogers Bank, and why wouldn’t they have a bank? They own television stations, a cable company, an internet service, and a cell phone provider. They need a bank.

My first purchase on the card was for $24 at Swiss Chalet for a meal with my wife and son. With my initial purchase I got 5,000 points, and that’s $50 towards a new phone.

Two days later, I followed that purchase up with one for about $100 to my auto mechanic. That’s the first time I’ve actually been slightly disappointed that my repair bill was so low.

I had anticipated a bill of around $300-$500 and in my head I was thinking cha-ching – rewards points, come to papa!

You can imagine my dismay now that my bill will be getting me less than half the points I had pre-calculated.

The very next day we had scheduled a hot water tank replacement. I specifically told Lily we would be using my new card since the purchase would be around $1000 and I would pocket about two thousand points for the purchase.

That’s when Rogers Bank ran out of money. I just started with the guys, but they weren’t expecting me to purchase something over $500, I guess.

I have a limit of $10,000 on the card – you’d think they would allow me to put that much on it … I only wanted a thousand.

Their reason for declining my card was that it was out of my regular pattern.

I replied to the guy on the phone, “Out of my regular pattern?! How can I have a pattern?! I just got the card four days ago and this is my third purchase!”

Of course, he was very sorry for the inconvenience, “and the embarrassment” I added.

I’m not sure Rogers Bank is going to make it. The guy I talked to couldn’t give me rewards points for my lost points on the declined purchase. His supervisor also didn’t have the authority to give me those rewards points.

These Rogers rewards points must really be worth a lot or they are running this bank on a shoestring.

It’s been four days since my decline, eight days since I’ve had my card. I haven’t seen any reward points yet – not the bonus points I was promised and no word from the president of Rogers as to whether they will break their piggy bank and give me some “sorry” points. I’m waiting . . . patiently.

Heres the thing: Have you promised God that you’d give Him your life? But you’ve actually kept control of some or a good portion of it for yourself? All that does is cause Him to question your sincerity. Make good on your promises and let Him lead. Don’t frustrate God’s plan by holding back and not giving Him everything you promised.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you most tempted to hold back from giving to God? Leave your comment below.

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Late Again!

Estimating one’s time of arrival to a pre-planned destination is not always easy. It takes great skill, insight and determination … and I’m not talking about being on time to pick up wings from your favourite take-out place.

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

I know that my wing joint is five minutes from my house; they tell me my order will be ready in ten minutes. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that I better get myself together right away and leave the house in five minutes to get my wings on time.

No, what I’m talking about is figuring out when I will arrive to a place that’s out-of-town  with packing involved … like the other day, when I left our cottage and planned on stopping by our daughter’s place in Richmond Hill on the way home.

My wife is a very poor time estimator and I found out that I’m not much better. I texted my daughter that I would be at her place by noon on Saturday – that gave me all Friday evening to pack up and be ready to go in the morning.

I knew what time I needed to leave – the trouble was actually leaving when I knew I needed to!

I packed most of my things the night before. I even got everything lined up at the door so I wouldn’t have any problems. Well . . . in the morning, I did have problems.

I got up on time, but I kind of lost track of the time as I did my devotions. They ran a little long. I wasn’t worried though. I was packed and still had lots of time. But I also needed to post a blog and write a new one.

Posting the blog was easy; I was all ready for it and got it off in record time. Writing a new one was a different story. Maybe I felt under pressure, but it took way too long to write.

About half way through writing the blog I realized if I didn’t get moving I’d miss my 9 am departure to be on time. I started to think of ways I could beat the time. I reasoned that I could leave at 9:30 and still get there on time. After all, I had given myself a little extra time in my first estimation.

So I kept writing. By the time I was finished, I realized I wasn’t even going to make my 9:30 exit from the cottage. Now I had to go into “hurry” mode.

I still had too many little things that had to be done. I was in a rush to shower, eat breakfast, wash dishes, clean out the fridge, vacuum, and complete the shut down routine of the cottage.

By the time I was in the car, and driving out, I was two hours later than my projected time of 9:00 am. So what else could I do? I had to speed . . .

And that’s the subject of another blog.

Here’s the thing: I know what I could have done to be ready on time. I needed a better assessment of what I actually had to do and the time it would take. When I promise the Lord I will do something, I need to take a thorough consideration of what that will involve and then plan for it accordingly, so that I keep my promise to Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you do to make sure you leave for your destination on time? Leave your comment below.