Let it Snow

When I told people that I was moving from Burlington to Barrie their reaction was always, "That's the snow belt," or some similar statement that included the word "snow." I would then be given sage advice about buying a snowblower, putting snow tires on my car, and preparing for a long, cold winter.
Having spent many a winter in Newfoundland I am used to snow. I figured that Barrie could not dish out anything in the line of blizzards, squalls, snow, sleet, or ice that I have not already encountered. But after celebrating another 60+ birthday in early December I figured I was due for a snowblower of my own.
The weather was holding out. There was no snow in the forecast for a few weeks. I began reading the flyers that were dropped of at our door, looking for bargains on snowblowers. My plan was to hold out until the Boxing Day sales.
The days passed. The routine was repeated. Check the flyers. Check the weather forcast. Look for the best deal. Pray that the snow would not come.
Then came a flyer from a large department store that advertised hundreds of dollars off a new snowblower. I was excited. The small print said the sale started on Boxing Day. I checked the weather forecast. There was snow predcited for Christmas Day. Should I hold out? The advertisement said the store would open at 6 A.M. on the sale day. I really did not want to fight my way through hundreds - perhaps thousands - of shoppers to lay claim to that bargain-priced blower.
Then I had a brilliant idea. I would go to the store on Christmas Eve, make a deal with the sales manager to buy the coveted blower at the Boxing Day price. But would he go for it? When I presented my proposal he said, "I will give you the snowblower now and you can come back next week for a price adjustment."
So on the afternoon of Christmas Eve I brought my new snowblower home, unpacked it and prepared to face winter. Let it snow! Ha. Ha. Ha.
Late on Boxing Day, when the crowds had thinned out, I went back to the store and receive a $237 refund. I also had $150 worth of in-store credits from a previous purchase of furniture. That totalled $387 off my snowblower. I felt like a pirate.
When more snow began falling this week I started the blower and sang up and down my driveway, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."
Winter in Barrie looks like it's going to be fun.

Perfection

I have finished my "Fred Shed." It is perfect. Don't get me wrong - it's not a perfect shed, but it is a perfect "Fred Shed." In fact it is one of a kind...as each Christian is.
As a Salvationist I am a member of a holiness church. Holiness churches teach spiritual perfection. Jesus once said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect"(Matthew 5:48 KJV). God is perfectly divine; we cannot be that. We can however be perfectly human. Even more precisely, I can be a perfect me, and you can be a perfect you. In fact I can be more perfect today than I was yesterday.
In the words of Nicodemeus, "How can these things be?"
Let me illustrate. Have you ever held a newborn baby and looked at his or her tiny body and said he or she is perfect? Even though the baby had no teeth, no hair, was wringkled and could not walk or feed itself, you declared him or her perfect. Simple - he or she was perfect for the stage he or she was in.
So it is with my "Fred Shed." It is perfect for the stage it is in. If I compare it to another shed or compare it to what it will be like next summer (when I add some improvements) I would likely not judge it to be perfect. But it is the perfect shed for me for today.
So it is with your life as a Christian. If you are daily following Christ, you are the perfect you for today. But tomorrow you will be even more perfect.
Celebrate you perfection and go on to even greater things.