results

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My Great Experiment Is Built On Faith

Tomorrow I’m going to try an experiment, and I am hoping the results will prove my point. I’m not totally sure that they will and that makes me a little nervous. 

my great experiment

I am going to conduct this experiment in front of about fifty people. If I don’t get the results I am hoping for, well, the conclusion or the point that I am going to be making will be wrong. 

In fact, I won’t have a point to make! 

I sure hope my plan will work out, but I have no way of knowing beforehand if it will or not. 

This will not be a controlled environment at all … unlike, say, the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). 

WWE fans watch their favourite wrestler go up against an opponent whom they hope will be defeated. As they watch the ebb and flow of the match, they don’t have any idea who is going to win. Sometimes it looks like their wrestler is going to lose because he’s in a choke hold or he’s been hit so hard he can’t stand up. But then the tables turn and he starts to get the better of his opponent.  

It just goes back and forth until the final bell and the winner is revealed. 

In actuality, the wrestlers know from the start who will win. All their holds and hits are just to create tension and excitement; everything’s been choreographed before the match begins.

It’s all rigged to give the fans as much hype and emotion as possible.

I used to do this very thing with my kids when they were young. We would play football in our family room and it would alway be Karlie and Michael against me … and it was tackle. 

In reality, I could tackle them but, of course, they couldn’t tackle me, so I had to fake like they did. 

I would decide in my mind what the final score would be. I would let them get a big lead and then slowly make a comeback. They would get so frantic that I might beat them. 

When I could see they were getting too frantic, I’d let them get a touchdown to give them some hope. Then I would create some tension for them, that they could hardly stand, before letting them win in the end. 

… And, wow, were they ever excited when they won! 

I would just chuckle inside at their joy in defeating Dad in such dramatic fashion. … But I knew the results before we even started. 

Well, I can’t do that with this experiment tomorrow. It has to play out the way it will go. 

I think it will go my way. I hope it will go my way. But if it doesn’t, I will not have a point to make to the fifty people who will be listening to my talk. 

I can hardly wait.

Here’s the thing: I’m pretty sure that my experiment will work; I only have faith to go on. In this world you can try to figure out your future, your eternity. But when it comes down to the day you cross over from life to death, there is only faith that you believe the results will prove you right. God has given us so much help, beauty, wonder, a precise ordered world, a guide book (the Bible) and his Son, Jesus – all to give us confidence in Him. But it will all come down to your faith. Do you believe Him? It’s your big experiment. … My faith is firmly placed in Jesus Christ. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you put your faith in? Leave your comments and questions below.

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All Anticipation, No Results

My anticipation didn’t live up to the actual results of my activity.

Flying a drone in Canada in the winter is sporadic at best. There are so many factors that work against being able to take your drone for a spin.

There are weather conditions including wind, rain, ice, snow and cold – the cold is deadly on drone batteries. If you are not careful, the battery can give a false read to the controller and cause the drone to fall out of the sky. 

Cold is also a factor for the person flying the drone. In November I flew it in about -5 C for 13 minutes and Lily had to take the controller out of my hands because I was so cold I couldn’t move my fingers.

With all the opposition to flying a drone in winter, when you get a chance to get it up in the air it’s pretty exciting. 

The other day the forecast was +4 C and sunny. 

I had to work but I was anticipating that I would get a chance to fly my drone at the end of my work day before the sun went down. 

… And that’s another factor against flying drones in winter in Canada: the sun sets very early in the winter, at about 4:30 pm right now. 

So I raced against time to get my work done, and get to a safe place to fly my drone. 

With all the anticipation, I was most looking forward to the video I would capture. I wanted to do a fly over of some wooded areas and get shots and video looking down on the tops of trees. 

My anticipation was high in the afternoon while I was working, and when I was driving, parking the car, and even as I was getting my drone out.

I was in such a hurry because the sun was going down fast that I didn’t put my gloves on to fly and so I experienced a little pleasure and pain all at the same time. 

It reminded me of my childhood when we would go skating on the Humber River and end up being so cold that we would actually walk home in our skates. Our hands were too cold to untie our laces, our feet were almost frozen off, and we would carry our boots and sticks home tucked under our arms. 

It was brutally painful. And the pleasure? Well, we were out on that river the next day doing it again, so there was obvious pleasure involved.

By the end of my flying session, I was anticipating looking at the video I had shot and editing it on the computer. 

I could hardly wait as I drove home because I thought I had captured some great shots. 

The first thing I did when I got home was upload the footage onto my computer. And when I did, what a letdown! 

I had apparently not fully pressed the record button on take off, so it didn’t record. When it landed, I had pressed the button to stop recording, not realizing that I was now only starting to record. All I got was a few seconds of pavement footage!

… I’m already anticipating the next time I will be able to take my drone out. 

Here’s the thing: You may not anticipate it, but God anticipates the next time you will spend with Him. You may take it for granted, you may see it as a duty, but God anticipates each quiet moment He has with you in His presence. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you anticipating right now? Leave your comments below.

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It Was A Second Thought That Got Results

My second thought produced success. You know, that’s when you had decided against something, then changed your mind, and it turned out to be the best decision you made.

Recently I bit the bullet and bought a new MacBook Pro. I was about due since my last one was eight years old.

Once my new computer was in my possession, the big task was to transfer all my files, applications and information from my old mac to my new one.

Luckily, Apple has an easy way to do that. Basically you hook up the two computers together and clone the old one on to the new one.

In the end, everything is there – passwords, logins … there’s virtually no other set up to do.

Sounds nice and easy … except my old mac is so old that hooking up the computers is a little more difficult. To make things worse, the new computer has a connection that is not common yet: USB-C.

So I went on a search for the connection I needed. I went right to the store I purchased my new laptop from. I searched the aisles and then had an employee search the aisles. The connection was nowhere to be found.

I tried a second store that was close by and, though the employee was very helpful, he was unable to locate the adaptor that I needed to connect my two computers together.

So I tried a third store. This time I was fairly confident I would find what I was looking for.

This store is not an official Apple Store but it’s the closest thing to it. It even looks like an Apple Store in its set up. And like the official retailer, this place only sells Apple, and Apple-related products.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the adaptor either. Not only that, but the employee didn’t even know what I wanted to do.

The one place I thought would understand my need offered no help or even knowledge.

I questioned the clerk, “You’ve never heard of Apple’s migration processes?”

He replied, “I’m a law enforcement student.” … interesting information about his future plans but his answer had nothing to do with the question I asked him!

I left the store discouraged and ready to give up my quest for the day.

There was one other store within walking distance, but I figured since they specialized in PC’s they weren’t going to have the adaptor I was looking for.

Besides, if a Mac store didn’t have it, what were the chances?

I started walking in the direction of my car.

But then I had a second thought: “I’m so close to this place, why not just go in and see?”

I walked the three blocks up the street, went in, and within about 30 seconds, spoke to an employee. I told him what I was looking for and he walked me directly to a shelf, reached up to the very top and then handed me my adaptor.

Amazing! … On second thought, I was super happy.

Here’s the thing: When is it the right time to give up on seeking something from God? You may have been asking Him for direction, or a solution, or even a miracle, but so far you’ve received nothing. Is it time when you’re feeling hopeless? … On second thought, your answer might be just around the corner.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you almost given up on? Leave your comment below.