train

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My Train Got Derailed

Your day can easily get derailed and it can happen so slowly that you don’t realize it until you are well off the tracks.

That’s what happened to my day last Monday … and it unfolded like that story of how to cook a frog. 

If you put a frog in a pot of water and slowly heat up the water, the frog won’t jump out. He will willingly let himself be cooked to death. 

The frog is comfortable in water and, if the temperature rises slowly enough, his body will adjust to the temperature until it’s too late and he’s frogs legs on someone’s plate.

Early last Monday morning, I was looking at a brand new day with all its opportunities yet to be discovered. I had thought about doing a few things but had no real plan for the day.

My wife, Lily, and I were at our cottage; it was my day off and I was relaxed – maybe too relaxed because I should have had a more specific plan.

Sadly, Lily and I never got to the place of carving out a plan. 

Instead, at 10 am we remembered that the NBA World champion Toronto Raptors’ parade would be starting. We turned on the TV and, sure enough, the party was all over the screen.

Commentators were commentating and people had arrived at the main stage and were gathering all along the parade route. There were millions of people – literally millions! Some estimated that 2,000,000 plus flooded downtown Toronto for this spectacle.

The video from the helicopters was amazing. The crowds looked like bees gathering on a honeycomb.

Soon the players arrived at the open top, double decker busses to get the show on the road. Fans overwhelmed the streets and the police from keeping the route clear for the procession. 

It was 12:30 before we realized we hadn’t had lunch and the busses had barely exited the Princess gates of the EX where they were starting. 

All that time there were interviews with the players, celebrities, sports experts and fans – all happy and delirious.

Like all the crowds of people, we were anticipating something special. We didn’t know what, but it was something we didn’t want to miss.

By then we’d given hours to this parade. We wanted to do something else but we’d invested so much time watching that we couldn’t just walk away before we saw the big culmination to this momentous event.

When all the players and dignitaries finally got to the stage, the people right up front had been there for ten hours … some had camped there all night!. 

There had been talk about a mini concert with Drake performing, but when it was all done there were only a few speeches, greetings from several of the players and that was it.

There had been so much build-up and promise of something that would be remembered for years and years. It was all anti-climactic compared to the frenzy along the way. 

Lil and I had invested a good portion of our day watching something that we had hoped would be inspiring, but instead left us feeling like we’d wasted several hours and missed out on the good things we could have done. 

We got cooked.

Here’s the thing: There are people who spend their whole lives looking for the next thing that will be exciting, bring a thrill or inspire them to do more. But much of that is just heating up the water in your pot. When you look back, it wasn’t really worth it. Every day seek Christ for a plan and give yourself to that plan, because that will inspire you. In the end, when you look back, you will be thrilled with the treasure you’ve stored up in heaven.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you wasting your time doing today? Leave your comments below.

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I’ve Been Waiting For A Long Time

Waiting is something we do all the time, but not that well. I guess I shouldn’t speak for everyone; there must be someone out there who’s good at waiting.

waiting for train

But I would say, on average, not many of us enjoy it. We are programmed to get things fast.

I was recently at a farmers’ market and there were all kinds of people at this one booth, trying to purchase vegetables.

The seller was helping one person at a time, but I noticed a woman getting things herself. Then instead of waiting until the seller had finished with someone else, she handed a five dollar bill over everyone’s heads, showed what she had and left. She didn’t wait at all.

Most of us would do that if we could (if we didn’t think it was impolite to butt in line) because we hate waiting.

I just read the other day that there are three hour wait times at the border to get into Canada from the USA. Our dollar is down, and gas is fairly cheap. Why not take a trip to Canada for vacation?

Well, a three hour wait at the border apparently has everyone up in arms. Travellers are pulling their hair out.

Can you imagine a car with a few kids in the back seat, continuously asking, “When are we going to get there?” … and the car hasn’t moved more that five feet in the last twenty minutes?!

Vacation? Those kids will be lucky if they survive the trip through the Canadian border.

Merchants are all up in arms as well. They say that every minute of delay at the border is more money not spent in Canadian stores. They want the government to either schedule or hire more customs officers, like right now!

Forget all this waiting! It’s tough; it’s not easy; we hate it.

But what about waiting on God?

Recently, I needed to fill a preaching assignment for just after my vacation. Usually I have that all set up before I go away, but this year I had already been turned down once and had to wait into my vacation for an answer from a second person.

One week into my vacation I got an answer that he wasn’t going to be available, so I needed a plan B.

Just as I thought of a plan and was about to act on it, I received an email from someone in my congregation who felt compelled to share with everyone what God has been doing in his life.

By the end of the second week of my vacation I had my speaker. I had to wait two weeks for God to provide, but when it was all said and done, I didn’t have to do anything to arrange it. God took care of it.

All I had to do was wait – not easy to do, but sometimes that’s what it takes.

Here’s the thing: We do have to wait for a lot of things in life. We have to wait in lines, at bank machines, restaurants, border crossings, movie theatres, and pretty much anything else you can think of. We also have to wait on God for things. Waiting is not the enemy; waiting is part of life. When it comes to God, waiting on Him will bring the best to whatever we are waiting for. Don’t tear your hair out, or fixate on the waiting. Relax, keep going and see what God will bring about.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to wait on God for that’s been frustrating you up until now? Leave your comments below.