At Christmas, there is a clear distinguishing line between those who plan ahead, and those who do not.
If you plan ahead, the days before Christmas are calm and relaxing, they are filled with adding the special touches to make the holidays extra special.
If you do not plan ahead, the days before Christmas are grey-hair producing and horn-honking encouraging!
You can tell instantly at a Christmas Eve church service those who are coming into the evening with an air of confidence because they've made their lists and checked them significantly more than twice versus those who lost their list (scribbled on a randomly chosen envelope, I might add) at Toys 'R Us 2 days ago and are hoping & praying that they didn't forget anything!
I came across an article in Yahoo! the other day that takes planning to a whole new realm ... the heavenly realm! This guy named Chet Fitch sent Christmas cards to all of his friends and relatives! What's the big deal? Chet died in OCTOBER!!!!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071225/ap_on_fe_st/odd_cards_from_heaven;_ylt=Apxl7kRK1Q_LDPhRdrGSwZ3tiBIF
If you click on the link I have provided, you can read the whole article for yourself - but to summarize for you, basically he set up this ruse 20 years ago with his barber to send Christmas Cards from beyond the grave. Every year, he'd have to give the barber more money for postage, change any addresses, update his list with either additions or subtractions. FOR 20 YEARS!!!
I would have loved to have met this guy. He must have had an incredible sense of humor!
Thing is, he gave more thought to life after death and made more plans for what will happen after he's gone than we often give consideration to.
With new year's looming in a few days, I think I'll resolve to update my will, put together all my important papers - basically just put some planning into what will happen after I'm gone. I mean, if he can put that much thought into a joke - I should put more thought into the important things.
Thankfully, I'll only have to worry that all of my earthly affairs are taken care of, because I know that my heavenly ones are already planned out. I took care of those when I believed Jesus Christ was more than a baby born in Bethelehem, but that Jesus would also be my Lord and Savior.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Freshness DOES Matter
I've never considered myself a coffee aficionado: I don't like flavored coffees, I don't care what name brand I buy & I don't care how you prepare it.
So, you can imagine my confusion when some would complain because they felt their coffee wasn't 'fresh'. I've got coffee in my closet dating back to 2001 - mainly from hotel rooms where it is my custom to make sure I get a new packet every single day, whether I drink the coffee or not.
I've also heard that coffee keeps better in the fridge. Meh. Probably an old wives tale.
Well - that's what I USED to think.
Along with my collection from the Hampton & Holiday Inns, and the odd Maxwell House other miscellaneous gifted containers of coffee that I haven't consumed yet move from home to home like furniture - there was a container of Tim Hortons coffee.
Tim Hortons is the standard of excellence for coffee in Canada (much like Starbucks in the US ... only better!). I had been carefully saving this rare brew since I figured there would be weeks, nay months where I could not have Timmy's coffee again now that I live in Ohio.
That was until Thanksgiving when my family came over and promptly drank almost all of it
(while complaining of its lack of freshness), leaving me what I considered to be enough grounds for 5 more cups of coffee. I was somewhat disappointed since surely they had no idea that was ordinary for my Canadian family, was golden to me!
But, my disappointment quickly dissipated when the very next week I made a trip to Columbus where I found (you guessed it!) a TIM HORTONS!!!! There, sitting on a shelf, calling out to me, was a brand new can of Tim Hortons coffee that I could take home and consume (NO MORE RATIONS!).
I get home. I open the new tin. The aroma of the grounds fills the kitchen.
Wait a sec! I haven't smelled this since ... since ... since ... since I opened my last new tin of Tim Hortons!
That pot of coffee was absolutely wonderful. Yes. I drank a pot of coffee!
And, as I was cleaning up and putting the tins away, I was about to pour the remaining 5 cups worth of grounds from the old tin into the new tin when I froze.
"Do I really want to contaminate this glorious, new, fresh tin of coffee with the old stale stuff?" I had never thrown out grounds of coffee even once in my life! Would I do it now?
After tasting the fresh stuff, there was no turning back. Not only did I throw out the old Tim Hortons - but much of my old stock of miscellaneous hotel coffees (not all, I do need an emergency reserve, you know!).
This does make me think about our walk with God. Have we settled on the old, stale relationship we had yesterday? Or are we searching for a new, fresh word from Him? It's no wonder so many are turned off of 'church' when 'church' has lost its freshness.
From now on, not only will it be fresh coffee for me every morning, but fresh worship of God for me every morning too!
So, you can imagine my confusion when some would complain because they felt their coffee wasn't 'fresh'. I've got coffee in my closet dating back to 2001 - mainly from hotel rooms where it is my custom to make sure I get a new packet every single day, whether I drink the coffee or not.
I've also heard that coffee keeps better in the fridge. Meh. Probably an old wives tale.
Well - that's what I USED to think.
Along with my collection from the Hampton & Holiday Inns, and the odd Maxwell House other miscellaneous gifted containers of coffee that I haven't consumed yet move from home to home like furniture - there was a container of Tim Hortons coffee.
Tim Hortons is the standard of excellence for coffee in Canada (much like Starbucks in the US ... only better!). I had been carefully saving this rare brew since I figured there would be weeks, nay months where I could not have Timmy's coffee again now that I live in Ohio.
That was until Thanksgiving when my family came over and promptly drank almost all of it
(while complaining of its lack of freshness), leaving me what I considered to be enough grounds for 5 more cups of coffee. I was somewhat disappointed since surely they had no idea that was ordinary for my Canadian family, was golden to me!But, my disappointment quickly dissipated when the very next week I made a trip to Columbus where I found (you guessed it!) a TIM HORTONS!!!! There, sitting on a shelf, calling out to me, was a brand new can of Tim Hortons coffee that I could take home and consume (NO MORE RATIONS!).
I get home. I open the new tin. The aroma of the grounds fills the kitchen.
Wait a sec! I haven't smelled this since ... since ... since ... since I opened my last new tin of Tim Hortons!
That pot of coffee was absolutely wonderful. Yes. I drank a pot of coffee!
And, as I was cleaning up and putting the tins away, I was about to pour the remaining 5 cups worth of grounds from the old tin into the new tin when I froze.
"Do I really want to contaminate this glorious, new, fresh tin of coffee with the old stale stuff?" I had never thrown out grounds of coffee even once in my life! Would I do it now?
After tasting the fresh stuff, there was no turning back. Not only did I throw out the old Tim Hortons - but much of my old stock of miscellaneous hotel coffees (not all, I do need an emergency reserve, you know!).
This does make me think about our walk with God. Have we settled on the old, stale relationship we had yesterday? Or are we searching for a new, fresh word from Him? It's no wonder so many are turned off of 'church' when 'church' has lost its freshness.
From now on, not only will it be fresh coffee for me every morning, but fresh worship of God for me every morning too!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
It's all in the perspective
Its no wonder Jesus said that we need to have a child-like faith to get to heaven, children can have such a hopeful view of the world.
I had just relieved the car windows of the ice that covered them. I had just slipped around the driveway in my leathersoled shoes. I had just begun to drive the icebox we call a car on our way to church for Sunday School.
"This is the best day ever!" says my son from the back-seat.
My mind begins to race ... am I forgetting a birthday? does he think we are going Christmas shopping? did he find a stash of chocolate bars I had hidden under my seat?
Somewhat cautiously I ask, "Why is that?"
"It's snowing!"
What I considered to be a pain, was a joy from my sons perspective. He had visions of having an afternoon of building a snowman and making snowballs. I saw problems - he saw possibilities.
I guess I wonder if God is the same way? While we are complaining about the difficulties we are dealing with, He's excited because he knows that in a little while we will be able to enjoy what he is preparing for us. Maybe from our finite perspective we should consider God's infinite perspective with child-like faith ... not seeing problems, but seeing possibilities in every new day!
I had just relieved the car windows of the ice that covered them. I had just slipped around the driveway in my leathersoled shoes. I had just begun to drive the icebox we call a car on our way to church for Sunday School.
"This is the best day ever!" says my son from the back-seat.
My mind begins to race ... am I forgetting a birthday? does he think we are going Christmas shopping? did he find a stash of chocolate bars I had hidden under my seat?
Somewhat cautiously I ask, "Why is that?"
"It's snowing!"
What I considered to be a pain, was a joy from my sons perspective. He had visions of having an afternoon of building a snowman and making snowballs. I saw problems - he saw possibilities.
I guess I wonder if God is the same way? While we are complaining about the difficulties we are dealing with, He's excited because he knows that in a little while we will be able to enjoy what he is preparing for us. Maybe from our finite perspective we should consider God's infinite perspective with child-like faith ... not seeing problems, but seeing possibilities in every new day!
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