trouble

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Ability To Diagnose Is A Skill On It’s Own

Just like jam goes with bread, skill goes with the ability to diagnose. You don’t want one without the other.

Ability To Diagnose Is A Skill On It's Own

A mechanic who is highly skilled at fixing cars is of great value. But if he struggles to diagnose car problems, that won’t bode well for the car owner no matter the mechanic’s skill. That car will be on the hoist for a long time and, in the end, it will cost more to fix the car than it should.

Skill is important, but being able to diagnose a problem or identify what’s wrong is crucial to the outcome.

Being able to quickly see the problem is an ability that not everyone has. 

It takes more than physical skill; there is deep knowledge, intuition, experience, logic and creativity that all come into play. 

Not everyone possesses all these attributes or at least in abundance. 

A couple of weeks ago, my wife, Lily, was experiencing some stomach pain. It wasn’t too bad but it wasn’t going away and was even getting a little worse. 

A few days into it we talked about what it might be. Was it some kind of stomach bug, maybe something she ate? 

I asked her if there was any specific pain and she did say it was sore down on her lower right side. So I replied, “Could it be your appendix?” 

Lily brushed it off. She didn’t think the pain was that significant and that the pain was not isolated in any specific area. 

But a few more days later, things weren’t getting better. In fact she was more uncomfortable. So we decided to go to the hospital emergency department. 

That happened to be at about 8:40 pm … and possibly it was a full moon that night because the emerg was hopping.

There was no place for Lily to sit and, though she told the intake person what her pain was, she didn’t get triaged for almost two hours. 

At 10:30 pm she eventually was able to get into the system and join the sea of humanity in the waiting room. 

She managed to find a chair, while she watched others be taken into the patient examination rooms. 

At 3:15 am she was finally brought in for examination. However, there were no cubicles available so she was placed on a gurney beside the nursing station. 

At 5:00 am she was finally examined by a doctor who ordered a CT scan, and at 7:30 am the results came back that she had a ruptured appendix. 

… That’s a long time from entering emerg to identifying the problem. Sure, some of it was due to the volume of people there that night. But a good part of the reason it took so long for Lily to be checked out is the triage personnel’s inability to diagnose the severity of the issue.

Lily’s on a slow road to recovery now, but I wonder how much better it would have been if someone had have diagnosed her issue sooner. 

Here’s the thing: We like to diagnose when we have problems or trouble in our lives. We will say it is because of this or that. But there is one who has perfect skills and never fails to diagnose a problem correctly – God. Go to Him with your trouble and He will set you on the right path every time.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you diagnosed incorrectly in the last month? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Our Memory Can Get Us In And Out Of Trouble
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Our Memory Can Get Us In And Out Of Trouble

Our memory can will us forward but it can also set us back. I learned the latter just the other day.

our memory can get us in and out of trouble

Your memory of what you have done can give you real confidence to attempt to do the same thing again. After all, you know you’ve done it before; why couldn’t you do it again?

Well, sometimes our memory doesn’t take into account the reality of new circumstances.

I kind of faced that this past week when I went golfing with a few buddies from high school.

I had some great memories to bring with me to the game:  We were playing a course I have played literally hundreds of times (the one caveat being that most of those games were over 35 years ago and I haven’t played the course more than a dozen times since). The golfers I was playing with were all high school friends from way back. So I knew the course and I was comfortable with who I was playing with. 

Then there was the game itself. I felt good, my swing was good and I was pretty confident that I wouldn’t have any trouble hitting the ball well. 

… And that is where my memory didn’t help me. 

You see, I do know how to hit a golf ball and most of the time I can hit it well. But I’ve only played four rounds of golf this year and the last time I picked up a club was almost two months ago.

Still, my memory of the game had me convinced that, given all the factors, I would be able to shoot a score that rivalled games I have shot it the past. 

But my memory didn’t account for several things …

The greens on this course were lightning fast and that was not easy to get used to in a short time. The greens were also large so I faced a lot of very long putts.

Then there was the concentration factor.  

It takes a lot of concentration to keep hitting the ball well. You don’t have to concentrate the whole time, but you have to be able to really focus for short bursts when you are hitting a ball. That can make you mentally weary. 

And then there was the physical weariness. When you are not used to walking a long, 6000 plus yard course, you tend to get tired. Near the end of the round I noticed that I was not hitting the ball well. I was just tired and out of golf shape. 

What can you expect? … I kept telling myself that after I would hit another shot that missed the target I was aiming for. 

In the end, I didn’t shoot a score that rivalled scores of the past. I shot a score that rivalled one of my worst scores ever on that course … probably the worst score I’ve shot in years – maybe 30.

Next time I’m not going to rely on my memory. I’m going to work on my skills and conditioning before I show up. 

Here’s the thing: Sometimes you can face a spiritual challenge – a struggle with temptation or a battle with emotions. You may be tempted to rely on your memory of how you’ve worked these through in the past. But the best way to deal with these challenges is to keep spiritually fit and engaged so that you are well-equipped to deal with what you face.

That’s Life! 

Paul

Question: What are you relying too much on your memory for? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I’m Having Trouble Connecting Right Now

I’ve been having trouble lately connecting to some of my devices. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have anything to do with the weather, but I am completely in the dark as to why I can’t connect.

Years ago when you said you were not connecting, it was easy to find the problem. Usually someone forgot to hang up his phone, or was on the phone talking to someone else. 

There was no mystery as to why you were not connecting. You just needed to wait until the phone was back on the hook. 

You could also fail to connect to someone in person. That meant that the person you were having a face-to-face conversation with was not understanding what you were trying to communicate.

As frustrating as that might have been, it was still easy to understand. We would chalk it up to the other person being thick in the head and move on.

Probably the most common reason for not connecting was with electricity. You were not connected because the cord was not plugged into the outlet … or you had blown a fuse.

Now with technology, however, when we are not connecting there are a myriad of possible reasons why. Many of them we don’t even understand … now we are the ones who are thick in the head! 

One of the things I do each morning is jump on the scale. But for the last few days, I’ve had trouble when weighing myself.

I have a smart scale – at least that’s what it’s called. Right now, however, it’s not acting all that smart.

Normally when I step on the scale, my weight is automatically recorded in an app on my phone. Lately it isn’t connecting. 

And there is no apparent reason why it’s not connecting. There is nothing to plug in and no one else is using it when I weigh myself.

The scale just won’t connect to my app.

I’ve scoured the internet and still haven’t found a solution. All it says is “the certificate is invalid”. 

I didn’t know the scale had a certificate. I don’t even know what the scale’s certificate is in. Is it possible there is a school for scales and my scale fraudulently got a certificate in hygiene and body maintenance?

I really don’t know what to do. 

My scale works. It shows me what I weigh each day, but it won’t record it on my phone. 

My connection trouble with this device is typical with many electronics. It’s never as simple as, “Hey look, we didn’t plug it in!”

No, you need tech support to solve these connection issues. You need someone who has a certificate in IT to diagnose the problem. … You just hope that the IT guy doesn’t have an invalid certificate, because then you would really be in a mess.

I don’t know what the solution is to my connection problem, but I sure hope I can figure it out soon.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes you might find that you are not connecting with God. Everyone experiences that from time to time. Though it’s not as easy to diagnose as telephone connection problems, there are some common reasons why you might not be connecting to God: Is there sin in your life? Have you failed to forgive someone? Are you only listening for what you want to hear? There are other possible reasons why but these are the basic ones. And all these connection problems are on your end. God is waiting for us to clear our connection problems because He wants to connect with us.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you doing to ensure you don’t have a connection problem with God?  Leave your comments below.

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Having Different Definitions Can Cause Trouble

We have different definitions of being ready … at least we do in our home.

Getting ready to go somewhere has always been a point of tension for Lily and I.

It seems that I am always waiting for her when we are going to leave the house. In her defence, sometimes she has more to do before she is ready to leave.

But I think it has to come down to a difference in our definitions of being ready.

On Saturday we decided to go to a store late in the afternoon. The store was not going to be open for very long so we needed to go quickly.

I asked, “So, are you ready to go now?” Lily answered, “Yes”. I headed to the door and put on my shoes. Lily headed into the bedroom!

I was literally ready to walk out the door when I had asked her if she was ready to leave. Lily just needed one minute before she was ready to close the door behind her. 

This was not an isolated incident; this is a reoccurring scenario.

When we were recently going to our cottage for a few days, we had a number of things we needed to take with us, being the beginning of the cottage season. 

The night before I piled everything we needed to take by the front door. Lil did the same.

The next day when I was ready to start packing the car, I knew that everything that needed to go was right there before me. 

Lily said she was ready. “I just need to put the food from the fridge into the cooler”, she said.

“Great”, I thought as I started to pack. The only problem was that the bag with her clothes was not at the front door. 

I started packing but the bag wasn’t showing up and I needed that bag near the beginning of the packing because of its size.

She said she was packed, but apparently not completely packed. There were still a few things she needed to add in. 

When I say “I’m all ready”, by definition I mean “I am ready this instant”. When Lily says she’s ready, her definition means that there are only a couple more things she needs to do first. 

We did finally pack the car and head off to the cottage. As we were driving, we got a text from our daughter, asking us to pick her up on the way. 

I asked her if she was like her mother and still needed to pack. Karlie replied that everything was by the door. 

Lil shot me a look and said, “I guess she’s not like her mother.” 

Well, when we got to Karlie’s house, I expected to grab her bags that were by the door and leave. 

It was perfect … she still had a couple of things that had to be added to her bag! Then we left. 

I guess it all comes down to definition.

Here’s the thing: We may have different definitions of being ready for Christ’s return, but there is only one definition that matters: His. Ensure your faith is securely placed in Christ as your Saviour and Lord because, when He returns, there will be no time for one more thing.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is your definition of being ready? Does it fit Christ’s? Leave your comments below

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The Trouble With Laces

It’s funny how a little thing like laces can get you all tied up in knots.

skate laces

I can’t say that I’m a real fan of laces … and I’m thinking specifically of long string-like, woven thread that we use to secure coverings on our feet.

Maybe my problem with laces is the time it takes to tie them. You have to bend down, and loosen the lace to get the shoe on. Then you have to pull on the ends to get them tight before you tie the bow.

All that takes time – time I don’t really want to commit to if I don’t have to.

So for me the shoes I wear are all slip-on. I don’t even have to bend down. Sure, I break down the backs of my shoes quicker than I would like, but I’ve got my shoes on and ready to go in seconds.

Even with my running shoes, which I mainly use for working out, I tie knots on the ends of the laces so the shoes stay at my predetermined tightness and I treat them like slip-ons.

There are only two pieces of footwear for which I have to tie laces: one is my golf shoes, and the other are my skates.

Along with not enjoying doing up my laces, I don’t like trying to fit the ends of the laces through the eyelets, especially when the lace ends break down and get a little frayed.

So what I do with my skates is I buy extra long laces so I never have to take my laces out of the eyelets . . . ever.

But I’ve been having a problem with my new skates. I don’t seem to like the laces at all.

When I bought the skates they came with white laces. I like black ones better, so I immediately bought a black pair to replace the white ones. I bought waxed laces, thinking that’s what I had put in my old skates.

But I didn’t have waxed laces in my old skates. … And I didn’t like waxed laces in my new ones.

They were rough on my hands and the wax made it harder to undo the laces enough to get my skates off. … Too much time.

I went to where I usually buy skate laces but I couldn’t find my normal brand. Finally, I found a pair without wax that seemed like they would work.

When I put those laces in my skates, however, they were so stretchy and slippery that they wouldn’t stay tight.

So now I have traders in laces – the white pair that came with the skates and two pairs of black laces that I bought and didn’t like.

I actually took out the laces from my old skates and used them. They fit just right. Do I sound like Goldilocks?

I’ve never had this much trouble with laces since I mostly stopped using them. I just hope I will find a replacement I like.

Here’s the thing: Working time with God into your day can be difficult. No matter how much time you give to God, it’s going to cut into your day. The thing is you need that time with Him and the best thing you can do is find a time and tools that will fit you well.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What time with God has fit you well? Leave your comment below.