A hard days work

I have always valued a hard days work. Today I experienced one of the hardest days work in my life.

Over Christmas I put in many extra hours, so I took this past week off. There were a couple projects that made the weeks "To Do" list. My brother Seth and I got the drywall up in our downstairs bathroom, taped and mudded it. We were looking forward to sanding and painting it today, but plans changed.

I got a call last evening from Carl Jones, a friend and construction contracter. He and I have talked about putting a French Drain in our basement. He called to let me know that he had the men and equipment to do it tomorrow! So at 7:00 a.m. we emptied our basement, and at 9:30 the jackhammer arrived.

Our home is a split level with an additional basement. Since we moved into the house 5 years ago, that basement has been little more than storage because there is usually water running across the basement floor. By putting the French Drain in, we will regain the use of almost 1/4 of the house, space we plan to use for a band rehearsal place (complete with drums/guitar/bass, the whole works) and for the workshop. To put in a French Drain, we needed to jack hammer a one foot trench around the perimeter of the basement in the concrete, then dig out the trench deep enough to put a corrugated pipe in, hook it to the sump pump, then fill it with rock and cover it with concrete.

Living in Claymont, (Clay- Mont; mount of clay) we thought the toughest part of this was going to be digging the trench deep enough in the clay. We were sorely mistaken! As soon as we started with the jackhammer, we realized we were in for a long day. We discovered that there was not just one floor to jack hammer through, but 3, to the depth of a foot. It seemes that there was some attempt at an earlier type of drain, but that wasn't working well.

So 6 hour and 4 men later, our basement looked like this.




We still have a lot of work to do, but we kicked tookie on it today! I can honestly say I have never worked such a physical day in my life, and that includes 100 degree days throwing 80 lb bales. It made me appreciate deeply the men and women who do this kind of labor day in and day out. My job has me often behind a desk, and certainly not in shape to daily do what we did today. I hurt!! These people work hard, and I would say never get the credit for what they do. God gives each of us abilities. I am grateful for what they shared with my family today. I enjoyed the workd today, and though I hurt and am (apprehensively) looking forward to another day of hard work tomorrow. That is if my body will let it happen!

What it means to Witness

We had a scare in our neighborhood last weekend, a situation we actually saw from our porch. For the forensic details, take a look at the 6 ABC story. In short, the driver of an SUV had a seizure and lost control, crashing into our neighbor's living room.



Mr. Irv, our neighbor, is a former state policeman, and a devout follower of Christ. As horrible as the event was, it is amazing to watch how Mr. Irv gives God all the credit and all the glory for watching over a difficult situation. No matter who Mr. Irv tells the story to (local media, insurance adjusters, rescue workers, contractors working on the reconstruction), he praises God that he and his wife weren't in the front room, praises God that his daughter only had minor cuts and bruises, praises God that the driver of the SUV wasn't seriously hurt. He also praises God that it was cold outside, which kept the neighborhood kids inside. On a normal Saturday, 5-20 kids would have been outside playing.

It has been amazing to watch a lifelong follower of Christ live out his faith. Oftentimes people will give God the glory simply because it is the "Right thing to do", but you wonder about their sincerity, (see post-game interviews.) In watching Mr. Irv, I don't see any posing. I see a man who is sincere in his faith, who is simply telling life as it is. God isn't the "Right Answer to give", he is the only answer to give. God is reality, not giving him the glory is like ignoring life's very existence.

People who seek spiritual truth are rarely swayed to faith by a well presented argument. They are constantly looking for authentic faith lived out in peoples lives, and it is that winsome personality that guides people to their moment with the God of the Universe. Seeing Mr. Irv live his life through this situation is an inspiration to live an authentic Christian life. There is no telling the impact he had on those he came in contact with. If nothing else, he was an encouragement to me!

What happens when you are 20 years behind the time

First of all, if there is anybody left watching this blog, hello! It will be a pleasure to share life with you again. I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and are having a wonderful New Year.

Recently, we at BVBC have been talking about the changing church culture we minister in. No longer are we ministering in the "Churched Era". We have entered the era when most people we meet don't have a history that involves a church. If we continue to minister as we did 20 years ago, we will find ourselves out of touch at best, irrelevant at worst.

I was reminded of this with a recent experience I had "Prepping for a trip!"

Jen and I are taking the kids to see the M-O-U-S-E at the end of February (It is a surprise, so don't tell them! More on that later) The last and only time I was in Florida, I sunburned through SPF 11000. Not wanting to repeat that on this trip, I decided to try a tanning salon to try to get a base tan before we headed down.

I walked into the local Nail/Tanning salon this afternoon. My clerk didn't speak English very well, but once we got the initial business done, she instructed me to a booth. I asked her how much time she had put on the clock, and she said "12 minutes". 19 years ago was the last time I was in a tanning booth. 12 minutes sounded about right for the most fair skinned whiteboy in the world, but just to be safe, I said, let's lower it to 10.

Ten minutes later, as I am getting out of the bed, feeling a little bit prickly, I noticed a sign on the side of the bed that said "Danger". It looked like one of those, "Make sure you unplug this unit before servicing it" Danger signs. On further examination, the sign actually had a timetable on it that basically read, "No basetan, Paste-white burn freaks should only tan for 2 minutes.

Two Minutes!!!! I just fried for 10! Two valuable lessons were learned from this experience. Number 1 ask for and read the directions! Number two, don't assume 19 year old rules apply. I forgot to take into account that over the last 19 years the technology changed, allowing what used to take place in 10 minutes to now take place in two.

Are we, the church, running the same risks if we don't seek out the new rules, seek to understand the culture we are now immersed in? I look forward to finding those answers... Just after I put on another layer of Aloe Vera!