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Construction In My City Has A Different Timeline

They say there are two seasons in Canada – winter and construction.

construction in my city has a different timeline

Summer is usually when all the road construction and repairs get done. But we have become lulled into living with lane restrictions and detours, some that last our entire spring and summer.

Here in my city, they are taking the construction season to a new level. 

Road construction now goes deep into the fall and, I dare say, into winter.

Coming back from our cottage in late August this year, we were welcomed home with work being done on an intersection close to our place. This intersection is so close that I use it every day. Actually I would have to go out of my way not to use it.

I thought the construction would help the flow of traffic and make things easier to get out of our subdivision, especially during peek hours. 

I did wonder why they were starting it at the end of the summer though. School was fast approaching and the traffic that the nearby high school generates makes it tough to get out of our community. It was obvious they would finish the construction after school started, which made me wonder why they couldn’t have scheduled it to start earlier in the summer when the intersection is not as busy.

Well, here we are rolling into December and they are still pouring cement and paving the road. And it looks like it will not help one bit with traffic flow … but hey, it will give bikers a nice lane to ride on. 

Maybe the city is sending a message right before the snow flies: Ride your bike; don’t take your car. 

I’m pretty sure that as the roads pile up with the white stuff that there will be fewer bikers … but at least they’ll have a beautiful lane. It may even get plowed. 

Why not? So much time and money has been spent on it, why not keep the lane open for the crazies who want to freeze riding to school or work. 

This intersection is taking so long to create and is such a pain, that I have a new Christmas wish. But it’s not a great wish, because it would mean I wouldn’t receive it until Christmas morning. And you know those construction workers will not be tying a bow around the stop lights for me on Christmas Day.

My worst fear is that this will go on into the new year. If it does, I will have to make a New Year’s resolution to find another way out of my subdivision.

Already I’ve had to find a few alternate routes that take me on a meandering drive through other communities. I am seeing a new side of the city.

I remember as a kid the agonizing wait for Christmas to come. Seeing the presents pile up around the tree got me hoping. Wondering what was in them created uncontainable excitement. 

I never thought I would experience those same feelings over the construction of an upgraded intersection.

Here’s the thing: It’s natural for us to have a timeline for things we want to obtain in our lives. Sometimes we have some control over them. But there are times when we want God to bring about something in our lives. It’s those things we must be patient for. God’s timeline is not ours.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you in a rush to see completed or come about in your life? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Urgent Care Doesn’t Always Mean It Will Be Quick

Well it was Monday morning and I was driving down to the Urgent Care Centre at the hospital. 

urgent care doesn't always mean it will be quick

They used to call it “Emergency” and maybe they still do, but not at the hospital I was on route to. 

Urgent Care is for those who think they need a doctor and can’t wait for an appointment with a medical worker. 

Let me tell you, when I arrived there was a long line of people who were looking for some quick answers to their issues. The variety of problems was extensive, there was no order to who was next, and the people kept rolling in. 

It reminded me of going to the local barber shop when I was a kid. 

It was usually a Tuesday evening and us kids were lined up along the windowsill because all the waiting chairs were taken by adults. There were maybe 10-15 of us looking to get buzzed – yes, “buzzed”; that’s what barbers did to kids in those days. 

The cut itself didn’t take long, but there were so many of us, and there was no numbering system. You had to know who was in front of you and who was after you or there was going to be trouble. 

And that’s how I felt going into urgent care. There was a sea of humanity and no one was keeping track of the order in which we came in. 

… And, by the way, that was just to get to triage!  

I found myself calling out to others, “Who was last in?” I wanted to know where I stood. The guy next to me said, pointing, “You came in after the guy over there.” 

So I asked that guy who came in before him. He had no clue. 

A few minutes later I was taking charge of the room, figuring out who was next and what order we were moving in toward triage. 

… Man, has nobody been to an old-fashioned barber or what?!

The reason I was at the Urgent Care Centre was to have my eye looked at. A couple of days earlier, while playing hockey, a guy ran into me on the ice. It was a pretty good collision and we both went down hard. 

I didn’t think too much about it, but several of the guys asked me if I was okay. I just thought they asked because I was the senior citizen of the group. 

Later that evening, however, I noticed some flashing lights off in the peripheral of my left eye. I didn’t think that was a good sign. 

So Monday morning I was at Urgent Care, waiting for 3 hours to see someone about my eye. When I finally got to see a doctor, she didn’t get closer than 5 feet from me. She listen to my story and said, “We can’t check that here; we don’t have the equipment.” So she made me an appointment for the next day at the eye clinic. 

So much for Urgent Care. Maybe they should rename it to the “We Care Unit” and leave it at that. 

There wasn’t much “urgent” about any of it. (Stay tuned for part 2.)

Here’s the thing: Most of us want answers to our problems – fast … yesterday, if that could be arranged. But often, even when we think our issue is urgent, the answer takes some time. God knows what you need and when you really need it. Just take your concern to Him and let Him work out the timing. God’s timing is always perfect.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What urgent matter do you need to leave with God and His timing? Leave your comments and questions below.

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My Wait Time Doesn’t Seem To Get Shorter

Our world is moving at a fast pace, but I still have wait times which don’t seem faster.

my wait time doesn't seem to get shorter

The thing about waiting is that it doesn’t matter how little or how long you wait, it still seems like an eternity.

I can’t imagine 150 years ago what it must have been like to wait for something that had to come from another continent. It must have seemed like a lifetime of waiting. But then again, in those days everything moved at a slower pace. 

Now we have things that are immediately available. 

If you are hungry today you can be eating in a matter of minutes, no matter where you are.  There is fast food and convenience stores on every corner. 

Years ago a meal took time to prepare, unless you took some berries off a bush or something. 

Hey, maybe they had raspberry bushes and apple trees on every corner … though, too bad if they were hungry in the winter.

No matter how fast things are made available, we still have to wait and that wait time is so hard.

Amazon is amazing with its delivery service. There have been a couple of times when I ordered something one day and it was delivered the next. I couldn’t believe how they could get that product to me so quickly. 

But even still, there was a wait time. It’s not like going to a store and being able to purchase that item on the spot. There is no wait time there, except for waiting in line to get to the cashier to pay for said item.

Waiting is part of life and there are studies that tell us how much time we will spend waiting in our lifetime. One such study says an average person will spend six months of their life waiting in line for things.

That’s a lot of waiting! 

Think of all the things you could do in that time. You could take a long trip, an extended vacation, or learn a new skill. You could build a project … except you might have to wait for some of the pieces to arrive. 

No matter how fast life is, waiting seems like an eternity.

Recently I was waiting for three things. 

I ordered something from Amazon and waited for my two-day guaranteed delivery to arrive. It was only two days but I kept checking online to see if it had shipped yet. 

I was also waiting to hear back from an associate about a position I have been volunteering in. Things have changed and I was waiting to hear if I was still needed. 

And I’m waiting to hear back if I will get a new bike frame.  

I cracked the frame of my mountain bike, but the company has a lifetime guarantee on their frames. My bike store has sent in pictures and my receipt. Now I’m just waiting to find out what they will do. 

Wait time is never fast; it’s never easy. And it is something we will never get away from … no matter how fast life becomes. 

Here’s the thing: Though we will never get away from waiting, there is one thing that we never have to wait for. We never have to line up or wait on hold to talk to God. He is never too busy for us right now. There is no place we can be where we can not reach Him immediately. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you waiting for that you could speak to God about right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Should I Wait Or Take Action?

I have a dilemma: do I wait or take action? Sometimes patience is the best policy, but sometimes it’s better to go ahead and get it done.

gasblast01

About two weeks ago, I came home from work to find little flags on my lawn. I’ve seen things like this before.

I’ve seen people put pink flamingos on a lawn where someone has turned an unsettling age. There have been ornaments on lawns where a significant event has happened like a retirement, anniversary or birth.

But when I saw these little flags I knew they weren’t for any of these reasons. For one, I’m not close to a birthday or any other special occasion.

What really tipped me off was the words on the wee flags – words like “gas”, “Bell”, “utilities”. I wasn’t the only one on the street to have these flags either.

Every house on the street had them. I wasn’t special; I was the same as everyone else.

When I came in the house, Lily informed me that we also got a notice in the mailbox. It explained that Bell would be coming around to put in new lines on our street.

The notice assured us that, though they would have to dig up our lawn, they would make sure the lawn was put back the way it was.

It was a nice notice, a comforting notice, but there was no date as to when they would do this.

It’s now been two weeks and all there is is spray paint and wee little flags on our lawn.

I figure I need to cut my grass one more time before the frost puts a halt to its growth. So if they don’t hurry up and put these new lines in, they will need to cut my grass for me in order for them to put my lawn back the way it was.

Well, it’s either that or I need to cut grass and do a little contour mowing around the flags.

Since the temperatures are to soar up to summertime heights this week, it would be a great week to do one last pass of the lawnmower over the grass for the season.

On the other hand, I don’t want to muck up their work and confuse them by accidentally taking out a flag or two.

I can just see them digging away and “up through the ground comes a bubblin’ crude, black gold, Texas tea, oil that is”.

Well, in my case that would be natural gas, but who cares, it’s all fuel of some kind.

I don’t want to make their job harder. I don’t want to make them have to remark my lawn. But I do want to give my lawn a trim before the snow flies.

I think I’ll give them until Wednesday, and then if they haven’t started digging, well, maybe I’ll have a new career as an oil baron … I mean gas baron (same diff).

Here’s the thing: God has little flags on many different parts of your life. And that means there will need to be some digging and replacing. You shouldn’t ignore the work He’s doing or going to do, but you also shouldn’t just sit back, do nothing and wait. Don’t neglect your spiritual life. God will make sure it all gets put together for the better.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you put off doing in your spiritual life? Leave your comment below.