Driving in the Fast Lane

I had an interesting drive last Friday.  I had gone to meet someone first thing in the morning.  Later, on my way home, my mind was taking in almost everything around me. Things like, the sky, clouds, people plowed fields, animals in the paddock, but mostly the traffic. At one point of the drive home the traffic pattern perked my interest in relations to how we are told to drive one way but most people drive another. What's with that?

Here I was passing a few slower cars by driving in the centre lane. About a mile or so later I came up behind a slower vehicle in the fast lane. The curb lane seemed empty, so I thought I would break the law, yes, you can check that out, and pass that car in the curb lane. It was then that I noticed that there were in fact about twenty slower cars in the fast lane going that speed due to one particular driver. This is what I thought. One person can be the individual that will cause us to break the law if we move over to speed up to the posted speed limit. And nineteen people will just sit back and go slow waiting for the slow driver to move over and let them by instead of breaking the law and pass on the right. I know it’s trivial, but it had me think about how we do the same thing life, and the same thing in our spiritual journey.

Sometimes in life when this happens we need to flash our lights, honk our horn and encourage them to obey the law which tells us to keep right except to pass. Maybe in some ways, we are moving too slowly in showing the Christ in us the hope of Glory. We are moving through life, totally oblivious to the people around us who are in the fast lane behind us and we hinder them from getting excited about where they are going in life and in their spiritual journey. We can all get up to speed, can’t we?

My prayer is that all of us will get up to speed and know the excitement of knowing Christ and how He can change our lives.

Something to think about.

Rob

Magnificant!

As much as I am not a fan of snow, I seemed to relish the fall. Many of us walk a little lighter, notice things that wouldn’t normally catch our eye and maybe just smile a little wider. This frame of mind seems to start the day the kids go back to school and we get back into a familiar routine. Good on both accounts.

It was interesting that the voice for our own OPP Sargent told all of us to enjoy the fall colours, but to make sure we keep our eyes on the road if we are the driver as we travel during this last weekend. So we thank God for both of these, the brilliance of fall leaves, but also getting to and from a family meal together.

Another item we notice in autumn is the crisp night air. It seems to clear the air and I don’t know if it’s me but Toronto as seen from the escarpment the last few days looked amazing, as has our latest full moon. All the things of fall seem to push all the mundane items from our mind for a few weeks as we take notice of how God can paint amazing landscapes.

This year has been significantly different, in that God gave us a warmer fall, which brought us more colour than usual. Not only that, but Deb & I saw all the colours on the way to and from Ottawa and now we will have the opportunity to see the brilliance of our area as it transitions.

Some people will go kicking and screaming from summer. While others of us will be dancing and singing due to the beauty of our world and especially the area we live in where God planted us. The same can be said of when we have a true view of who Jesus is. Once we see the beauty of His love, we will walk brisker, notice the reality of His presence and our smiles will be wider.

So, go take a look at all the fall colours and join me in smiling, knowing God is showing all around us beauty in this wonderful gift of fall.

Something to think about.

Rob

Purpose

Recently I have been working through helping people find out what they believe their purpose in life is. Rick Warren said one time, “Purpose is what gives you a reason to get up in the morning”. Many of us get up every morning to make some money so we can live comfortably. That in itself is personal motivation or personal purpose. Because we are multi-dimensional human beings, it also means there are a number of other areas of life and purposes to get up for.  

With all the dimensions in life, together, they keep us up and moving. Getting up each morning, can at times, gravitate to one or another. Here are those things I think of, Financial, Fitness, Relationships, Mind and Spiritual. We work on them all; some more than others, but each of them bring us joy, fulfillment and happiness that gives depth, meaning and purpose to life.

I wrote these five in no particular order. That is because we concentrate on each at different times in life and in combination. They all go together to give us a reason for living. Some we spend lots of time on, while others, not so much. Again it is all dependent on where we are in life.

Being who I am in life (at a certain age), I find myself dealing with two of these more than the others. Yes, you guessed them, Faith & Friends. I speculate it comes with the territory but it also comes when I realized that God in Christ, spent most of His life with people and His Father. When we get to Matthew 6 He tells everyone, and that includes you & me, 'not worry about anything'. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop us from being anxious at time. So to this we add something else.

What we need in finding our purpose is to work on all areas of life and maybe even add to the equation what Paul learned and wrote about in Philippians; ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’

Something to think about.   

Rob