Plugged In

Have you ever had something to do that you totally dread doing? Something so horrendous, something so dreadfully difficult that, even though it needs to be done, you just put it off and put it off? And yet, our children just jump in and tackle these jobs with enthusiasm and excitement. Just read the manual they say.
These jobs have more to do with technology and little to do with getting it wrong. I have read the manuals and understood the concept and felt educated enough that, as the brochure said, anyone can do this. Yes, I am talking about buying and installing new electronics equipment.
If you are more than sixty, you know what I mean. If you are less than fifty you smile because you know what I mean and it’s comical to you. “Nothing to it” they say. Just humour us okay. Admittedly, there is nothing to it. After reading the manual I found out there was five ways of hooking it up. I tried the first three and realized that you can’t get there from here.
The same thing with all those new phones. Or whatever they are called. MP3, Ipod, Blackberry, blueberry, huckleberries . . . Or for us old folk, elderberry. Again with the age thing. I can’t see what they are trying to tell me to do. My MP3 player is wonderful and my daughter gave it to me so I could listen to all my favourite music but, but, you have to input it to play it and I can’t read the display on it. I read the manual. The screen is smaller than a Canadian 53 cents stamps. Try reading the word Canada and the price the next time you are at the post office.
I even went to the eye doctor to have my eyes examined. Did you know they design the signs outside their offices to reflect the exam you are about to have? I guess it has something to do with studying for the exam. My eyes are fine. No problem he said. Then I hand the MP3 player to him and after he had listened to Glenn Millers, “Tuxedo Junction” and “Danny Boy,” he handed it back to me and said, “Get a magnifying glass for small work”
Small work?
Deborah asked me to install the new VHS player. I know that they don’t make VHS anymore. But we have lots of them to watch and I have yet to figure out how to work the DVD recorder. Now, don’t get on me about Blueray or Sunray or whatever the new stuff is. I told her I would get to the VHS and placed it on the table. Early Sunday morning, while she was sleeping, I got up and sat cross-legged on the floor and read the manual. Pulling the old one out, I did what any normal halfway intelligent male would do. I pulled out one wire at a time and put it in the corresponding spot on the new one. PRESTO! It was done. When Deborah came down for breakfast, she was impressed. Or so she made me believe.
On the way to church I had to smile. Here I was, plugged into a God who is so uncomplicated, that all we have to know is, He loves us and cares for us, and sent His Son to take away our sins. Want to really get plugged into Him? Just read the manual.
Something to think about.
Rob

The Greatest Gift

Life provides us with three major events. We are hatched, matched and dispatched. Two of these have something in common. That something is - gifts. We all love to receive gifts. The two events mention bring with them wedding showers and baby showers, and in time past they came in that order. Each has its focus and each one has its joy and reward.
With the baby showers, the mother is the one who is happy and appreciative. The child, just lies there, sleeps, cries for nourishment and/or a clean dry diaper. They are totally oblivious to all the commotion going on all around them. That is if the shower is after the birth.
With weddings, things are quite different. This last weekend we had a wedding in our back yard. Such a beautiful wedding. Such wonderful young adults moving forward into a life of commitment one to the one another. Their gift to us that day, was to see their eyes talking to each other without words being spoken. Not that the groom has much to say on the best of days. Thank you for sharing that with us.
At the other end of the reception room sat a lonely table. Filled with wonderfully wrapped gifts. Some large and taking up lots of space. Other gifts, smaller but just a lovingly chosen and wrapped just for these two special people. Lastly there were many envelopes. After officiating at a number or wedding, I assume these cards had financial gifts included. Something they could give and something every young couple could use.
Time and time again I have seen couples open gift after gift and shine with delight in knowing the giver and the significance of the gift and what it means to both of them. Dishes, can openers, pots and pans, sheets and towel, the list goes on and on. This is a time to help and give at the same time. Start them off on the right foot we might say. But the gifts we possess in life is far more important.
That gift is wrapped in our presence at the wedding, and in the marriage. The gift of being part of each others life. Jesus went to a wedding and the gift He gave was His presence there and no one knew it at the time. It wasn’t the water to wine miracle, even though that was significant. It was his presence there.
And just like His presence at that wedding, His gift to us is His presence in our lives, no matter how long they last. He said to them and to us, “I will be with you always . . . ” If you have Christ as part of your life, walk with Him and have the gift of His presence. And just so you know, His presence is also on all the other days of our lives.
And He walks with me, And He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share, as we tarry there,
None other has ever known
Something to think about.
Rob

Just A Second!

It happened a number of times on Sunday. After church, it is usually time for me to relax a little and just kick back after an involved morning. This past sunday was no different. But what happened through the afternoon was not unusual either. I would wander around and inevitably end up standing in front of the white door in the kitchen. And like other nondescript sundays, I would discover, on opening the door, there was not much to choose from. The assortment of condiments doesn’t cut it. Had a yogurt an hour ago? So, I would close the door and get a drink of water. And an hour later, I would find myself repeating the same thing. It was time. When it was dinner time, we did what they tell you never to do when you are hungry. We went grocery shopping. Seems like a lot of other people had the same idea. It was like a bunch of locus descending on a field of lettuce. If you are like me, shopping for groceries is usually a no hurry activity. So, I let the crowd do what they wanted to do. In the end, we all arrived at the checkouts at the same time. And I thought they would be gone by then. Go figure. We made the checkout ladies job a little less stressful with polite positive conversation. Then, we helped her bag the groceries. She thanked us for doing something almost no one else does. Glad to help. What did it take me? I remember another time when a previous customer had been very rude and impatient and took more time arguing then purchasing the item. On getting up to the frazzled clerk who was profusely apologizing to me for taking so long, I said, “Don’t worry about it, the last time I was in a hurry was 1984 and that was because I was late for church”. She laughed, relaxed and thanked me. What did it take? While carrying my five bags of groceries out the door this last Sunday, I stopped for a few seconds. There, coming in out of the heat was another employee, drenched in sweat, and pushing 15 empty carts. So, I motioned for him to come in. He smiled and began to push the carts again. As he went by me, he said something similar to the checkout girl. “Thanks, you’re the first person ever to stop to let me through.” I wondered how long he had worked at the store. What did it take me? On the drive home I thought about our witness to the world. I thought about what people see when we are impatient and rushed so much that we push people aside because we think our agenda is more important. People don’t look at us when we piously attend church. They observe us in every day, day to day living. For a few minutes we let others come first. Didn’t take much. Always wondered why clerks at the store and waitresses at restaurants always want to serve me. Do they do the same with you? Jesus said, “I came not to be served but to serve.” What did it take him? The verse ends, “and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He showed us, and now it’s our turn. What will it take us? A lot less then it took Jesus.
May His beauty rest upon me,
As I seek the lost to win;
And may they forget the channel, Seeing only Him.
Something to think about
Rob

Just One Thing

If you could do one important thing and only one thing, what would you do? I’m not talking about going and sitting on a beach somewhere or driving over to Tim Horton’s for a coffee. What I mean is, if you could do anything in life, what would it be? Something that takes effort and when done, can be seen as an accomplishment.
Pretend you are at church and I asked you this question. I would encourage you to write it down. Get a pen out, and write it down on your bulletin. And for those of you at home, write it on a scape piece of paper or even in the margin of the newspaper. Write down what is a deep down dream of yours. Something that burns in your mind and heart? Something you have always wanted to do? Come on, stop right here and write it down. Now remember, it can be anything but it has to involve physical or mental activity.
Some of you will pick something light and refreshing. Like standing over the flower bed and watering the plants knowing the effort will result in larger colourful plants. Or it could be going over to the neighbours while there are away on holidays and weeding their garden, take in their mail and read their paper for them. It could be taking the time to visit one person more at the lodge or long term home.
Then we can really approach the world of fantasy. Write a book? Compose some music or a song. Pretend you are Arthur Fiedler. How about, develop an automobile that runs on water. What do you mean, it’s already been done? Perfect that hydrogen car. Did you know that we are all made to do something? God created in our DNA something that is itching to get done.
It doesn’t matter if it’s in the church or outside. Don’t care if it touches only one person or changes the lives of the world. God created each of us to do one thing and one thing only. Hold on, we can do lots of things and that is true. But I believe God created each of us to do one thing better then anyone else. Do you know what yours is? Look at what you wrote down. Does it fit the criteria?
I’ll say it again, God, created you to do one thing while you are here using oxygen and taking up space. One thing in this world that no one on earth can do a well as you. Now the tricky part. Not only do you know what it is, but have you done it? Are you doing it? Are you hoping someone else will do it? Yes God can get someone else. But that someone else was created by God to do their thing and not yours.
Haven’t found the time? Don’t know where to start? Afraid of failure? Afraid of the cost or the time or the . . . Don’t be. The God who created it in you will be there to help you and to guide you and to bring it to fulfillment.
Have you started yet? I’m not waiting, but He is.
Something to think about
Robin