The Pastor’s Garage

*Sept 4, 2020 Pastor Mike’s Garage*

I hate to admit this, to you and myself, I’m getting old! I’m at the
age that due to various ailments my daily pill intake is growing and
growing! I’m at the age that I have to use a daily pill pack because
otherwise later in the day I can’t remember whether I took them or not. I’m
at the age that I’m constantly looking over and under my glasses in an
effort to try and see clearly, even though they’re already progressives!
I’m at the age that various parts of my body ache and I can’t remember what
I did to make them ache! I’m at the age where going the whole night without
getting up at least three times to use the washroom is a reason to
celebrate! I’ve always enjoyed motorsports but my focus has definitely
changed. The most important things used to be speed, sound and appearance
so on buying anything whether it be a motorbike, snowmobile, quad or
vehicle I would immediately work towards louder exhaust, smaller
windshields, and anything I could throw at it to make it go faster! Now I
still very much still enjoy those same vehicles but my priorities have
changed drastically! I want a comfortable seat, as much wind protection as
possible, a quiet and smooth ride as possible, and I would gladly trade
speed for getting home comfortably and reliably!

Earlier this spring during the height of the covid shutdown I had a
couple problematic teeth that I was forced to ignore for a couple months.
While the pain and discomfort was not severe there was a growing dull ache
that after a few weeks of constant chronic pain was definitely wearing on
my mood and outlook on life! Once the dentist offices resumed operating I
went and had them taken care of and it was nothing short of amazing to me
how instantly life was worth living again! While the dentist was working on
one tooth in particular he warned me that the work they were doing was
pretty close to the nerve so there was a chance that later on I could
develop an abscess. Well earlier this week his dire prediction came to
pass! It is utterly amazing how something so small can be so painful and
debilitating! I like to think I have a pretty high pain tolerance and have
had several toothaches before, usually being able to ignore them and carry
on with life till getting a chance to get to the dentist, but this was off
the chart! There was no ignoring this sucker! I had a hard time eating
anything except soup or porridge, and even that was an extremely painful
process. I was out on the swather and even the smallest of bumps seemed
like gaping chasms! Thinking and breathing hurt! My outlook on life was
pretty dire!

It was during this time that I was in 2 Corinthians in my morning
devotions and read this passage. “Though our bodies are dying, our spirits
are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t
last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them
and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now;
rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we
see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
For we know that this earthly tent we live in is taken down(that is, when
we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, and an
eternal body made for us by God Himself and not by human hands. We grow
weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like
new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits
without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh,
but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe
us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies
will be swallowed up by life. God Himself has prepared us for this, and as
a guarantee He has given us His Holy Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:5NLT
Whether you’re young, healthy and seeming invincible, or old and decrepit
like I seem to be becoming at an alarming rate, we need to remind ourselves
that this life is but a vapour, it will soon pass! What are we focusing on,
and looking forward to in this life!

Pastor Mike

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