Taking A Ride.

Sometime. Sometimes, you just have to remind yourself to give your head a shake. Sometimes things don’t work out. Sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men never become reality. I guess it is something akin to always meaning to read Steinbeck’s book, Of Mice and Men. If you are somewhat like me you set plans and then go to work to make it happen. Just like summer vacation. Doesn’t always turn out the way we would have liked it. Or it could be that it was never a good idea to begin with.

I remember a planned day trip we were going to take to the lovely town of Port Hope. Thought about it, made decisions on what, where, when, why and how, lunch packed, everyone ready? Well, not quite. Seems someone needed to wait for the mail to arrive. So, the 8:30 am start was postponed until – 10:30, or whenever the mail arrived.

Non-funny thing was, the envelope never did arrive that morning. No sooner did we get on the road and happily aimed in the right direction then someone said they needed a washroom break… MMMMMMMMMM. Driving as far as I could until the urgency changed to ‘Now!” we pulled off the 401 and got out and went into the mall. This side trip ended up to take a little longer than I anticipated. Seems some individuals, who had been in the back seat of the car, made it a nice chance to just walk around for a few minutes. Well, minutes became an hour or so.  

When we finally returned to the car, it was later than I imagined. I pulled onto the highway and started to drive. No one noticed anything unusual at first. After about thirty minutes someone asked, “Are we going in the right direction?”  To which I said yes. But the direction was not to Port Hope but back home. The day was too far spent to make it to the original destination and allow time to enjoy this day trip. I made an executive decision to turn around and go back the way we came. We ended up having our picnic dinner on the banks of the Speed River in Guelph’s city centre. And it was perfect.

I learned something that day.  Maybe we aren’t meant to get where we plan on going. Maybe we make plans and God decides to change them. Maybe, God has a better place for us. A place of His choosing and he will direct our path in the right direction. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, Heaven is your final destination. In the meantime, God will take you on a spiritual journey you would have never imagined. His idea is to take you places that are out of this world. Are you up for His journey?

Something to think about

Morning Friend

You know that kid you used to hang out with? The one that you always wanted to be with? Were they not the best of times? Over the years these friends came into your life and you would do almost anything to be hanging with them all the time. Get up early and meet them on the walk to school.  Sit either in front of them or behind them at class. Have lunch together and have amazing summertime adventures together.

The best part was they would listen to you just like you listened to them. Your deepest secret, you could trust them with it. Even your fears, trouble, likes and dislikes were never out of bounds. You trusted them with your very life. And they did the same to you.

Many of us would call them our best friend. Life was wonderful back them. Go everywhere together. Some people even said we were stuck together at the hip. After a few years, life got in the way, our parents moved and it just wasn’t the same any more. That’s about the time someone else came along. Someone who didn’t fill the other person’s shoes but they did fill the emptiness. Over time they became that best friend. Some of us were lucky when that person was our brother or sister.

As wonderful as these relationships were and are, there is one better. That best ever friend is Jesus. Remember singing in Sunday School; “What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and grief to bear...” It’s true. Paul Simon just started writing one day. He wrote a gospel song that talk about Jesus, that special best of friends: Elvis also sang it;  

“When you're weary, feeling small,

When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;

I'm on your side. When times get rough

And friends just can't be found,

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down.”

And just so you know, Jesus and His Father never move away.

Something to think about

Rob

Just Want to Talk

Many, many years ago, my two daughters and I created a routine for ending yet another day. This was way back before the electronic age. When there were no cell phones, computers or ipads, ipods. It was something we always looked forward to each night.
Even back then I was always the first one to bed and would crawl into bed at an early hour. Did I mention crawling? The girls always seemed to be still full of energy that spilled over on each other and my bed. In those precious moments that I can still relive in my mind, we spent some quality time together.  Mostly I would just lie there and listen.  That was the easy part. You see, by then my eyes were more than half closed and sleep was waiting for the silence to return to my room after they scampered out and off to their own respective rooms.
In those last few minutes of each day, we talked or I should say, they talked about their day, how school was, what was on for the next day and just a lot of sharing and talking and and and and. As I reflect back on those early night time visits I smile. It was a wonderful time, beautiful time, amazing time, where the rest of the world stayed on the other side of the walls of our home.
Today I sit here in the quiet of the evening, after enjoying a quiet Father’s Day, just thinking back and hearing those voices and the laughter. I can also remember the same scenario happening with me when I meet with my heavenly Father after the girls bounced off the bed and off to their own beds. God and I had time to talk.  I told him about my day and thanked Him for everything. I told Him my plans for the next day, the people in my life that I was concerned about and especially for strength to get through whatever was coming the next day. We laughed and smiled and we just talked. . . .and its still going to happen again tonight.
Are as lucky as me? He waits for us to bounce into His presence, just to talk.
Something to think about.
Rob

Just An Old Comfy Chair

Over the years most of us have purchased items we thought we could not live without. You know what I’m saying. Take for instance the hand held, battery powered back massage item. Just push it up against your skin and away it goes. Let it go and it stops. It was wonderful the first couple of times. That was until is just never stopped running.  It’s been sitting here on my desk for two years, with no batteries in it because it never shuts off anymore. Most people who know me well, know I mute commercials. After all I don’t need anything they are selling. How about those tv adds that just always seem to have something you can’t live without and tell you, “you deserve it”. Hogwash! Then there are the knick knacks that no one needs. And don’t get me started on the waffle iron that burned the first dozen waffles and is now way up high in the highest cupboard because you think you will forget it’s there because it’s so high up.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about just stuff we buy. I’m talking about stuff you really, really need to make your life complete. The old car ran so well but you needed a new one, and you can’t live . . .  Our cupboards, closets, drawers, cabinets and every other square inch of storage is crammed with stuff we couldn’t . . .  Do we or should I say, did we really need them?

Got so many things that we say we need and we will use and then we don't. But then we have stuff we need desperately and use them all the time. Things life microwaves, cups, kettles, plates, pots and pans, tv, even knives, forks and bowls. Oh, you call them necessities, and not things I can’t live . . .

My great Aunt Hazel was one amazing lady. I was her last visitor before she went to be with the Lord. After the funeral, her best friend invited me to Aunt Hazels home for my last visit. There I found an empty house.  I saw a single bed, dresser, kitchen table with two chairs, a few utensils and an easy chair near the dinning room window over looking the city of Burlington. and beside the chair an end table. That was all that was left, except . . . her black taped bible. You see, that one thing that we need all the time and never seem to have time for, our bibles is all we eternally need.

Something to think about.

Rob

No Fairy Tale

Our minds do strange things when life is quiet and the only sounds we hear are the birds' spring songs and the gentle breeze whispering through the trees. It happened last night for me. I started to think not just about the day that was quickly moving on, but about life and love and where does this all lead to. You see, we lost someone from our life on Saturday. Events like these help us to put things in proper perspective.

As I reflected on the events of early Saturday morning, my mind caught on a conversation I had a number of years ago. It happened after church one Sunday when a woman came up to me and started letting me know what she thought about something I had said.  Goes to prove someone was listening that day. This is what I remember; she said, “I don’t believe there is a heaven.” Of course, my first reaction was, “REALLY?”

This past conversation started moving around in my head as I moved around our backyard. Eric Clapton wrote some interesting words after losing his son.

Would you hold my hand    If I saw you in heaven?

Would you help me stand   If I saw you in heaven?

You might have thought I would have come up with a hymn first. Not so due to the other things whirling around in my head. I could have reminded myself of Eliza Hewitt’s hymn that says; “When we all get to heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be . . .”  Or maybe Rich Mullins as he wrote, Heaven In His Eyes, referring to looking into the eyes of Jesus.

To that lady that Sunday morning, I told her all about heaven. I started by saying I believe in a literal Heaven. It’s right there before our eyes in scripture. And I’m glad it is. Really, I can remember lots of hymns, songs and many scriptures but nothing is sweeter to hear than Jesus saying, “I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” I then invited her to come with me. Do you want to join us?

Something to think about

Rob