Lots of Time

Lots of time. That’s what I was telling myself. My daughter was in the process of taking us to the airport. It was early, too early for some. People say I get up before God but that’s not true, He’s still up. Crossed over at Niagara Falls with no delay and all was going according to plan. No hurry. Just a good time, talking, sharing, making great time and looking forward to being away from the hustle and bustle.
Lots of time. At the airport, we had only one case to hand over. When we did, the woman said something that caught us by surprise. She said, “have a great flight but if you don’t make it just come back here.” I thanked her and mused over what she said for about twenty-seven and one half seconds. Things changed really fast when we looked at the line up for security. Don’t know what it was but there were so many people waiting to get through security we knew we were now in trouble. We both looked at our watches at the same time. Forty minutes until the flight left and two hours wait in the security line. Now, I don’t know if you pray for the trivial but we thought we would give it a shot.
Lots of time? Five minutes went by and we had moved a whole twenty feet. Looked at our watches again and knew it wasn’t going to work. Just as we were ready to give up, a security person came up to us and asked if she could give me a card to hand in as we went through the security. I said I could do that but we had a flight in thirty-five minutes. Her reply stopped us, “you’re not going to make it.” Knowing a little about the security there we asked if the auxiliary security is open. Over she went to the window and told us that it was just about to open and we could go over to it.
With that, she took the paper, gave it to the people behind us and ushered us over to the door and a short line of thirty people. Through the check point and up the stairs, flag down a people transporter and we made it with four minutes to spare. Seated in our assigned seat, we relaxed knowing we had made it and an insignificant prayer was answered.
But how many people are there who are waiting until the last minute to turn their lives over to Christ? How many people are saying, “Lots of time!” You have said it, I have said it, life is too short. If it is really that short, maybe, there is no longer lots of time for you.
Something to think about.
Rob

I Was On His Mind

Do you have a routine that you follow? I’m not talking about a daily one where you get up, clean up, dress up, and moves onto the next item on your to do list. I’m thinking more of our weekly routine. What takes up your week, what are the important things to be involved in this week? A good number of years ago I knew a fellow who itemized his meals according to rhyme. Here are a few, Tuesday Tuna, Wednesday Weiner, and my favourite, Friday Fish Sticks. Not really my favourite. This family had their week down scheduled well. Well, that was until the kids came along and wanted more then ground-up something. Never did find out what they had on Monday.
Most of our weeks are dictated by what we do as routine and this means that the “stuff” we really want to do is pushed to the side by must do items. Kids have lessons, this day and that. Church is Sunday morning but then we . . . You can fill in the blanks. Actually most of us have calendars on the fridge or by the back door, PDA’s or even day planners. All of these are there to help us get through the week without missing an appointment or even someone’s birthday.
Yesterday I was talking with someone who gave up his day planner for the convenience of a blackberry sort of electronic gadgetry. He said that it took him a year to change. Now, he couldn’t go back. As we sat and talked he said the best part is, he never forgets a birthday or anniversary anymore because if it’s in the device it reminds him. I need that! As I have said before, my greatest fear is forgetting a wedding I am to perform.
As all this was going through my mind, I started to think of Jesus and His day and His week. He didn’t have the convenience of a day planner. Maybe He wrote on the wall of the carpentry shop. But did they know what day it was? They would all have known when Saturday Synagogue would have been. Don’t think there were many companies around that area printing calendars. In my own thinking I believe their world was much smaller then ours. The cities were smaller and maybe there was a community bulletin board down at the neighbouring well. I can remember back when breaking news was posted as it happened in the front window of the Hamilton Spectator Building on King St. But back to the back then. The ladies went down early morning to get water for the day and, bingo, there were all the announcements of activities for the day posted on the board. Works for me.
In my sermon this past Sunday I talked about the worship of God as something we do 24/7. It doesn’t just happen Sunday at 11 or 10:30 or whenever your church celebrates. Worship of God is a continual thing we all should do as we live out God’s history in our lives. That is a 42/7 thing.
A long time ago I learned a line from a song and it goes like this: “When He was on the cross, I was on His mind” From all of my thinking this morning, and thanks for bearing with me, I think Jesus routine centered on one thing and one thing only, “What am I doing for God today?” What takes up your week?
Something to think about.
Robin

Calming, My Foot!

Traffic calming my foot. For some reason the city governments have devised a number of ways to slow traffic and I suspect, calm driving in some small way. The problem is, it doesn’t calm anyone or anything. Case in point. They have put some speed bumps in the middle of the street. I know, the thought may be a good one but the reality is, it only works for a moment. Most crazed drivers go like crazy, slam on the brakes, make it over and squeal the tires onto the next one. Is that really doing the job?
Have you experienced the “bump out” to narrow the two lanes down to one. A very effective through street is suddenly a rush hour traffic jam. Small one, but a traffic jam all the same. Or how about the tree lined streets where the trees are planted close together and close to the street. Supposedly they believe it to again slow people down. There are others but you already get the picture.
Did you know that these things work in one way but not in another? In one way, most of them slow down most of the drives. Traffic does indeed slow down and carefully navigate past them and proceed back up to regular traffic speed and on their way. Notice I said, “Regular traffic speeds.” Until the price of gas hit six dollars a gallon, regular speed was considerably more then the posted speed. You have been on the road where someone is trying to do double the speed and they sit on your bumper until you move over and let them by. Again, you get the picture. It may calm the traffic for a minute but . . .
These things never get to the root of the problem. Traffic doesn’t need calming. The drivers do. Just heard this past week where the residents of a certain road have petitioned the government to NOT install traffic calming. They have it right. They realize the traffic along their street is moving too quickly but they also know that these devises only irritate drives. If anything, people need something to calm them. By the way, it’s not a young male with a broken volume on their car stereo sitting next to you with their windows rolled down so you can listen to his music that you don’t want to hear. I guess that has something to do with the young male mating call.
Life is like that. We are all in a rush, here, there and everywhere. Get there and then off to the next appointment or party or or or. We are in a world that is constantly on the go. It seems like we only slow down to sleep for a couple of hours so we can go go go again. I should talk, I’m writing this at 3:00 a.m. because my mind is already in overdrive. What we need today is time to sit and think. Time to relax and just be. Time to call on God to reach down His hand and calm our hearts when we come upon a bump in the road we travel. And to help us through the narrow streets of life where we find ourselves hedged in on all sides.
Maybe it’s like one of our dear friends said to us a number of years ago. I come to church because it’s the only time in my life where I can sit, relax and do nothing but think. Yes, it is a time to indeed sit, think and reflect on our lives and how God can calm our weary heart.
See you there?
Something to think about.
Rob

G.P.S.

As many of you know by now, I love cartoons. No, not the ones we all watched on tv every Saturday morning in those young impressionable years. Not, Ninja Turtles or Daffy Duck, Bugs or even Fred. I’m talking about those newspaper comics or Sunday Funnies. This past week one of them caught my attention. Here is the comic Crankshaft observing first hand the workings of a G.P.S. I think I like Crankshaft because in him I see myself a few short years in the future. He is in the car getting a demonstration. The unit yells what to do until the operator of the computer turns it down.
For those who are not computer-literate, in the sense of some modern technology, call up your third grade grandchild and ask them. No, forget that. G.P.S. stands for Global Positioning System. In laymen terms, it means that as you hold this device, up to 32 satellites fix on its location and verbally give you directions on how to get from where you are to within an inch or two of where you want to be. Originally developed by the United States Department of Defense it now helps any male out there, and tells them how to not get lost without asking for directions. Ladies, if you have a husband that won’t ask for directions, Christmas is only 118 days away.
Back to the comic. After adjusting the volume they are directed home. Just as they are approaching their home, frazzled by the lack of tact in the computers voice, they turn left onto the front lawn because they don’t want to offend the device.
Funny on many levels but sobering on many others. I wonder if God has placed a device within each one of us. Here we are, going through life wandering and not taking directions from Him too readily. When we have given our lives to Him, the device is turned on and He starts to give us directions. You already know where I am going with this. Yes, all of us, my hand went up first, have got off course and at times gone our own way. At times like this we may hear God yelling out loudly or softly, depending on how far, or how often we deviate from His directions. Just like the G.P.S. which usually sends out microwaves to three satellites, He call us back and gives us new directions on how to get back on the right road or should I say, back on track.
Are you on the right road? Listen to His directions. He is never wrong and will always lead you to the destination He has chosen for you.
Something to think about.
Rob