ready

by

Packed Up For Another Year

Well, its that time of year that everything gets packed up again.

packed up for another year

It started yesterday in our home, three days after the new year. 

There have been years when the packing didn’t start until a week into the year, but there are other factors at play this time. The bottom line is if Christmas doesn’t get packed up now, it will be weeks before there is an opportunity to get at it again.

I have to admit that I’m not the main packer in our home. My wife, Lily, takes the lead and the bulk of the job. I’m just there for a little grunt work and some moral support – and I’m a little light on the moral support, to be truthful.

We don’t have tons of storage in our house, so the fact that Lily has skill and lots of experience in packing is a good thing. 

I’ve helped move a lot of people in my day and people have very different ideas of packing. 

I’ve arrived at people’s houses to help them move and their place looks like everything is still in its place. They think they are ready to go, while I wonder if they have ever heard of boxes. Please pack your stuff in boxes before I get there!

Our son pulled that once. Though, to be fair, he’d never moved before. Lily asked him if he was pretty much packed up. He assured her that his apartment was all ready to load into the van. 

I liked hearing those words. But when we arrived, you would have thought he was just getting settled into the place. 

Well, he knows now what getting packed up is all about and for his last move he was ready.

But Lily is a master packer. The proof was in our move from Edmonton to Kingston. She had about 100 uniformed boxes, just the perfect size for carrying. Light ones could be stacked and carried. Heavier boxes were not too heavy for one person. 

The day we moved into our Kingston home, she stood in the doorway as our helpers brought the boxes in. She looked at the number she had marked on the box, looked at her master sheet and directed them to the exact room where the box was to go. 

Packing up Christmas is no different in our house. Some of those same boxes she used 25 years ago are still the off-season home for decorations, ornaments and trimmings.

It’s a lot of work. I couldn’t do it like she does, but it has to get done now. She is running out to time. 

Our daughter and son-in-law are moving to a new place in less than two weeks and guess what? Lily has been hired to help them get packed up for their move. 

I haven’t seen the contract yet, but I’m sure the payment will be time spent with Karlie and Matt. 

Here’s the thing: What state are your affairs in right now? If your time was up, are you packed and ready to go? Would you have everything in your life in order, ready to meet God? Or would there be a mess that still needs to be cleaned up? It will be too late at that point. Be sure that your life is in order now, so that you are ready when the time comes.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What needs to be packed up in your life right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

Subscribe to my blog and receive posts like this one delivered to your email inbox twice weekly.

by

Go Is The Action That We Might Never Get To

We know the phrase, “Ready, set, go”, but recently I came up with a variation of that phrase: “Ready, set, stop”.

go is the action that we might never get to

When you read that, it doesn’t seem to make any sense. It’s like waving at someone to come over to you but telling them to stay where they are. 

Why would anyone give mixed signals like that? It’s crazy.

But my actions recently proved that this statement and this kind of action is not only possible, it happens.

I remember when our kids were babies and we had plans to go out. We would decide where to go and get ready. And just when we were about to leave the house, it would be feeding time for one of them. That would momentarily put the brakes on our plans, and sometimes it was enough to cancel the trip altogether. 

There is a construction site I pass by every day on my way to work. Years ago there was a motel on that site, but it was bulldozed. A company purchased the land and put up a sign that a fancy boutique hotel was going to be built on the site.

I kind of got excited to see what this boutique motel would look like. I was all ready for them to build it … then nothing happened. 

One year went by and the only thing on the site was the sign. The next year the sign disappeared. 

A few years later, someone built two stores on the lot. Then footings for what might be a motel appeared … but then nothing. 

Now about three or four years later a building is starting to go up. 

I’m just waiting for them to stop again. 

Recently, we were looking at putting some insulation around our windows to cut down on drafts in the winter. I looked at some YouTube videos and kind of got excited about the project. 

If it has anything to do with home maintenance or improvement, Lily is all for it. So I said I would really need to buy a nailing gun to do the job quickly and neatly. 

She was sold on it. And I got even more into the project with the idea of getting a new tool. 

Off I went to purchase all the items we would need to get the work done. 

It was “Ready, set” … and then I looked at the trim around the windows and I wasn’t sure how easily that trim would come off. 

We don’t want to have to repaint the walls. 

As I looked at the first window, I was ready, and all set, but instead of going, I stopped. I didn’t want to make a mistake taking that trim off and so, instead of exploding out of the blocks, I just stopped. 

Well, maybe today will be the day. I’m going to start in a room that needs a new paint job, so if I make a mess of the paint around the windows, it won’t matter. 

Today it’s “Ready, set, go!”

Here’s the thing: We can be ready to do something God is calling us to do, or we can even come to the place where we want to put our faith in Him. But it’s all for nothing unless we do the next step and go. We can be “ready, set” but if we stop, it’s no different than if we never did anything. Go for it and go for God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to follow through on and do right now? Leave you comments and questions below.

Subscribe to this blog and receive posts like this directly to your email inbox.

by

I Was All Ready, But Not Really

I was ready; I had my things all set to go. I just needed to get there in time, or so I thought.

We were up at our cottage and the sun was finally going to come out at the end of the day. I thought this was my chance to finally film a sunset with my drone.

Not long ago, I wrote how I lost a drone in an attempt to get some video of a sunset over Lake Huron (read here).

Well, after that disaster, I got a replacement drone and this was the first time I was back at the cottage with it.

I wasn’t sure I would get a chance to capture a sunset; it had been cloudy most of the day. But I was going to be ready … just in case.

I had charged the battery and had my phone, which acts as the controller for the drone, charging as well.

I knew I was set, but as it got closer to the time that the sun would sink below the horizon, I got busy doing something else.

So though I was all ready to go, I suddenly had to fly into hurry mode, to gather my equipment and head down to the beach.

I walked as fast as I could, but my sore ribs from a mountain bike crash a week earlier (read here) kept me at a slower pace than I wanted to go.

The sun was still in the sky as we got onto the beach, but I knew it would drop fairly quickly out of sight.

I synced the drone with the controller and waited, not very patiently, as it acquired the necessary satellites to operate.

It seemed to take forever, but finally was able to take off. I cautiously wanted to keep it from flying out over the water like the last time I tried to film a sunset, so I didn’t take it up too high.

I thought I would snap a few pictures first, although when I went to do that I didn’t hear the usual shutter sound. That didn’t stop me from taking a few more.

Then I turned on the video camera and that’s when I realized I had all my stuff ready to go except one thing.

Nothing happened when I pressed “record”, but a little dialogue box came up on my screen. It read, “no SD card on board”.

“Whaaaaaat?!”, I muttered. And then I remembered the one thing I didn’t do was put the SD card into the drone. It was back at the cottage.

Unbelievable! I had been dying to take some sunset scenes at the beach; I even lost a drone doing it. Now, after anticipating it for so long, I had forgotten to bring the little card that would enable me to record the sight.

This picture is the scene I missed capturing with my drone.

Here’s the thing: You can think you are ready for what is coming next. You can have your relationships in order, your finances in order, even have your health right where you want it to be. But if you miss one thing – a relationship with God through Christ – you will miss capturing what will matter to you eternally. Don’t neglect those things that you think are secondary or down the road. Be ready now.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you missed that was really important? Leave your comments below.

by

What To Do In A Hotel Fire

We’ve all heard fire alarms go off. All through grade school we have been trained in what to do when a fire alarm sounds. But what about when the fire alarm goes off in your hotel while you are staying on the fourteenth floor?

firealarm

Fourteen floors of sheer terror – doesn’t it sound like a movie? I remember seeing “Towering Inferno” in the 70’s. I’ve also grooved to the popular hit “Disco Inferno”, of that same era (google it and enjoy).

I grew up in Toronto and we would get US news from Buffalo on TV and there were always fires being reported at 6 and 11. It was either a three alarm fire in Cheektowaga or a four alarm fire in North Tonawanda, but you knew every night there was a fire burning somewhere in Buffalo.

With that kind of background and experience, I was ready when our fire alarm started ringing at about 11:45 pm. At that time, you’re kind of in for the night and I wasn’t looking forward to spending the next few hours outside, wrapped in a blanket in my skivvies.

But alarms in hotels are different. They are not meant to scare the life out of you, rather just to gently get your attention that something is not quite right.

At first I didn’t know what it was. I thought maybe the alarm was coming from somewhere in the room. In my sweep of the room, however, I realized it was clean and the noise was coming from out in the hall. Then a voice, that was muffled by our closed door, soothed us by telling us not to be alarmed, that they were investigating the problem, but not to use the elevators.

At that point, I casually went over to the door and looked at the map that indicated where we were and where the stairwell exits were. I took a careful mental note.

As I went back to the TV, I started to think about what I would take if we had to go. My computer was still in my backpack, so it would go with me. I was staying calm just like the nice man’s voice over the intercom was telling me to do about every three minutes.

Then I heard the fire engine sirens and I thought, “Hey, this might be the real thing.” Still not panicking, I started thinking about the lessons learned as a 5th grader at Rivercrest Public School.

We had to line up when the fire drill alarm resonated through the school halls. The teacher would get us ready, remind us of our exit, and to remain in single file.

I remember in high school, during a student protest, someone pulled the fire alarm and we all got out of class. That was exciting.

I was ready to run down the fourteen floors to the bottom if I had to. I often take the stairs when I make hospital visits. There’s been more than once that I’ve still been huffing and puffing walking into a patient’s room on the 10th floor.

Not long after the fire truck sirens stopped, the nice man’s voice said they had fixed the problem and thanked us for our patience. He had to repeat his announcement because the alarm sounded again!

Here’s the thing: Sometimes you just have to be ready for things that are unexpected and out of your control. You have to be able to roll with them. In life, we should be ready to meet God now, because we don’t know when things unexpected and out of our control might happen to us.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: In your experience, what has been your reaction to alarms? Leave your comment below.

by

Being Ready on Time

A while ago, Lily and I had a function we needed to be dressed up for.  I worked around the house in the morning, and wasn’t ready to go anywhere.  Lily, on the other hand, had already been out a couple of times that morning.

At lunch we made a plan to get out the door in 20 minutes.  Lily said, “I’m ready.  I just have to get changed, and I know what I’m wearing.”  Me?  Well, I still had to shower, shave, and I hadn’t thought of what I was going to wear.

Getting up from the table we both got busy.  By the time I finished my shower and was on to shaving, I heard a disturbing announcement.  The words were “this outfit isn’t going to work”.

I ignored the comment and kept going; I had a deadline to meet.  When I finished in the bathroom, it appeared that Lily had already tried on and rejected a couple of outfits.  I went straight to the closet, looked in, saw my blue suit and made my choice.  Lily was still deciding what to wear.

Given how we started, how was she panicking and I was right on schedule?  I think I figured it out.  It’s our approach to clothes.

When I looked in the closet and saw my blue suit, the only decision I had to make was which shirt to wear with it.  I have three:  a white one which was in the wash, a blue one which was not really appropriate for the occasion, and a grey one which would work just fine. It was that simple for me.

However, when Lily goes to the closet she sees individual pieces of clothing.  She has to determine which pieces might go together and look the best, kind of like choosing to purchase a new outfit.  She’s had the same clothes in her closet for some time and used them in different combinations, yet still she doesn’t think of what has worked before.  It’s a brand new outfit she is looking for!

I think that’s why there are so many women’s clothing stores in shopping malls.  Women are so used to looking for brand new outfits at home, the store becomes an extension of their home closet.

My solution would be to make an outfit playbook, like they have in football.  You lay out the outfits on the bed or put them on and take pictures of all the combinations.  Then, print them out and put them on your wrist band for easy access in making the call.  You just pick the combo that looks best to you given how you feel and how the defense is shaping up.

In the end, Lily found a combination that worked well and we made it to the function on time.  (I can’t help but point out that, despite how we started, I was still waiting at the front door for her – not that unusual.)

Here’s the thing:  We’re going to get ready for God.  Some will get ready quickly and some will take some time to figure it out.  But we will all get ready to meet God one day. I want to be sure that I’m fully dressed when the time comes and not caught still deciding about Him.  That will be one function I don’t want to be unprepared for.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question:  If you stood before God today, and He said to you, “Why should I let you into my heaven?”  What would you say?