To Choose a path

The Bible tells us that God has a plan for our lives and that people hear from God in different ways.
In my own life, I have often looked for the synchronicities. The things that seem to come together as a surprising connection of events and the moments when the timing of events couldn't be better. Maybe they are answers to my own prayers or to someone else's or maybe God just has something for me to do or learn at that time.

I think that I missed one this week. Near the end of last week, my boss at my day job told me that they were taking off to their cottage to do some fall clean up. As a result, I would have Monday - Wednesday off this week.
On Saturday, my great uncle died. He lived about 6 hours drive north of here and I hadn't seen him in several years. The funeral was today. I could have gone up there with my parents on Monday and would have gotten back tomorrow. But, I had some excuses. There was a church meeting on Monday night, my wife would have to work so I would have to leave her here, and there was lots of work for the church that I needed to get finished.

I decided to stay behind without much reflection and it wasn't until today that I started thinking that maybe I really was supposed to go. It does seem like quite the coincidence that I would have the time off. I have strongly felt in the past that God was guiding me through these kind of coincidences. I don't know why I wouldn't have put more consideration into it this time. Have my priorities changed? Maybe there was something great that was supposed to happen up there, or someone was praying that I would be able to attend. Who knows. If God really does attempt to direct me in this way, it would be the most important thing in the world for me to follow. I must find the internal silence to listen better in the future and not let myself hesitate to embrace the adventure.

There is a danger of falling into the comfort of the reasonable life.

I was quite impressed by a story in the book The Tipping Point that I read last year. Princeton University did a study where they created a rushed situation for Seminary students to create a sermon on the Good Samaritan. They were given so much time to write in the library and then asked to walk across to a lecture hall to give the talk. Between the two buildings, they had an actor lay on the path and act as if they were in a lot of pain. It ends up that there was a direct correlation between how much of a hurry the seminarian was in and whether they stopped or not.

All of this makes me think about priorities and values. How does a person make good choices in this life?

Jesus tells a story about a great banquet in Luke 14:15. Basically, a bunch of wealthy people with careers are invited to a banquet. They can't make it, so the king invites all the bums instead. This is a metaphore for the kingdom of heaven.

Seeking first the kingdom of God gets difficult sometimes, afterall we all want to be career people rather than bums, right? There is just that moment where there is a hint of fear about spending too much time on something that isn't in line with the goals of survival that occupy the day to day, and that's enough to distract a person and throw them off course.

I wonder what benefit could have come out of going to that funeral and why I didn't take the time to give it more consideration.
I need to break out of the day to day more and find a way to connect with the eternal.
I don't want my time here to be for nothing.

Lord help me to be aware of synchronicities that come from you.
Help me to let myself be an answer to prayer.
Help me to Live in your moment and to be willing to give up the controls to this machine of a life, that I call the day to day, built around me.
Lord, if it's possible, protect me from my fears both of a meaningless life and often of adventures you might place before me.

Maybe miracles are something that we have to choose.

All the world runs on incompetence masked by skillful communication.

Just for laughs - Gags

I just love Just For Laughs Gags. I finally found them on the net. This show was on for years and I never thought much of it either way, and then I watched it closely one day. I realized that it seems to exist in a completely different world (Quebec?). In Ontario, you would risk being criminally charged for at least 1/4 of these gags. I can't help but criticize ourself for being too uptight. Just for Laughs Gags are the funniest thing ever.
Check it out online - here

This is part of something. I didn't watch the rest. I found this oddly while searching for Christmas youth group games. I have no idea what the context of this is supposed to be. I found it strangely entertaining.