Skip to main content

The Most Fun Place on Earth

                When our oldest daughter got married this past summer, we were fortunate to have lots of family and friends come and spend that day with us.  Some even got to hang around for a while afterwards.  One of those was Sara’s brother Josh, his wife Jeanine and their three kids.
                Soon the question became, “What are we going to do with three little kids for an entire week?”, so we quickly made a list.  On the first day we took them to the splash pads.  The next, we went to the pool at Churchill Park.  Then we ran them around on the rocks at Roche Percee.  We took them to the pool at the leisure centre and to several playgrounds.  We even had a huge Nerf gun battle in our backyard.  In short, we did every fun thing that there was to do.
                Fast-forward six months and I am sitting next to one of the boys at Christmas supper, so I turn to him and say, “If I came to see you in Akron, Ohio, what fun things could we do there?”   He says, “Nothing!”   At that point, his mom leaned over and whispered, “My boys think Estevan, Saskatchewan is the most fun place on earth.  Ever since the summer, they have been begging us to move to there!”
                Akron is a nice place.  It has a population of over 700 000 people.  They are surrounded by parks.  There are pro football, baseball, basketball and hockey teams in the area.  Cleveland and all it has to offer is just forty miles away.   Name anything you would ever want to do, and you could find it in the Akron metroplex.  Yet, two little boys who live there think that Estevan is the best place in the world simply because we spent some focused time with them.
                Typically, I am as selfish as the next person.  However, for one week, I got out of my own way and the result was great!  We had fun and we made some memories that will last a lifetime.
                Something special happens when you put the needs of others ahead of your own. 
                The trick is learning to do that all the time.          
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4).  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dark and Light

            When you look out at the world, what do you see?             Some see nothing but trouble and pain.   They point to things like poverty, crime, problems with drugs and alcohol and marriage break-ups and say that the world is full of sadness and sorrow.   Watch the news for even a half hour and you will get the idea that the world is a dark place.             Others see nothing but good.   They appreciate generous people in their community.   They think about their friends and neighbours and smile.   They marvel at the beauty of sunrises and stars at night.   To them, the world is a bright and wonderful place.             You may be surprised that the Bible supports both of these world views.   On one hand it says things like, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the
1 comment
Read more

New Article: Five Words to Improve Your Relationships

                 In the late 1800s, it was common for railway companies to plant formal gardens beside their stations.   These gardens were filled with trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruit trees.   Sometimes they also featured a kitchen garden growing lettuce, carrots, corn, and potatoes.   Estevan’s Canadian Pacific Railway Garden was once located where Mid-City Plumbing and Heating is today.                The purpose of these gardens was to show what the land could produce.   After hours and sometimes days of riding across the featureless prairies, the railways wanted to show settlers the potential of their new home.   The gardens showed what was possible and they encouraged the settlers to transform their own land and discover its potential too.                Today’s verse acts similarly, in that it challenges us to find the potential in
Post a Comment
Read more

Forgetting What Is Behind

                   Generalizations are helpful because they show a pattern that is normally true. However, they are also dangerous because they ignore the exceptions to the rule.                  Here is my generalization:   It is a quality of the strong to be able to forget the past and move on.   The apostle Paul summarizes this idea when he states, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Too often, we trip over things that are behind us.   We remember and nurse old hurts.   We rehearse mistakes that no one else recalls.   In doing so, we pull the past into the present and allow it to dictate how we feel right now.   In these cases, we would be better off “forgett
Post a Comment
Read more