Have you ever watched the TV show NCIS? It’s kind of like CSI, only everybody works for the Navy. One of the ongoing stunts on that show involves the lead character, a guy named Gibbs. He leads the investigation team, and has a very dry sense of humor which he refuses to allow the others to see. Another character, DiNozzo, is a prideful, arrogant know-it-all who thinks he is God’s gift to women. Whenever Gibbs catches him doing something stupid (or sometimes for no reason whatsoever), Gibbs will walk up to DiNozzo and slap him on the back of the head. The others on the team often do the same to each other, but the Gibbs-DiNozzo smack is the one to watch for each episode.
Today was the second day of the out of town team that was tearing out the inside of our house. They were amazing yesterday, and even more so today. There were only four of them, but they accomplished so much. They removed the hot water heater and the window air conditioner. They tore out all the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms. They gutted the sheetrock from the garage. And, yes, they literally threw away everything including the kitchen sink! One of the guys was a builder from Sugarland, and he gave us some encouragement about rebuilding the house (if we ever get in the Green Zone). They laughed a lot and talked about the Astros. Nice group.
One of the things I began before they arrived was the project to clear out the garage and move everything in there to the back yard. It’s not like there was a lot left in there. But the cleaning supplies, and some shelves, and a table, and two wagons, and a generator, and a hodge podge collection of potentially salvageable somethings made for a good hour or so of work.
I created a shelf out in the yard using a board and some old milk carton crates we had. I figured I could put some things on it to keep them off the ground. I guess I started out with a good enough attitude, but somewhere in there something changed. I dropped a box of toys and had to pick them all up. I had to move the soaking tools so I wouldn’t have to dodge the fig tree. The Styrofoam body board I leaned against the fence kept falling in my line of traffic. And my attitude got more and more cynical. I grumbled. I didn’t say anything much out loud, but I was definitely grumbling inside. And the grumbling was in full, sarcastic swing when I brought back the two big cooking pots we use for frying turkeys. I put them each on the shelf and turned to go. But then I stopped. I returned to the shelf and inspected it closely. See, the pots weren’t lined up just right in the exact center of the shelf, so I rearranged them. And the handles of the lids were pointing in different directions, so I matched them up. And all the while I was thinking some highly questionable thoughts. “Why am I out here bothering with all this stuff that was under five feet of sewer water? What possible good can come of all this? Well, OK, if this stuff is so wonderful, I’ll treat it like royalty. I’ll make it feel like it is on the shelf at Macy’s or Sears or WalMart – no, not WalMart – Target at least.”
With those thoughts in mind, I stepped back to admire my rearrangement, and was promptly Gibbs slapped on the back of my head! Where did that come from? I whipped around, looking for the offending hand, ready to protest. But no one was there. No one except the magnolia tree. And a branch that was hanging suspiciously close to where my head was just a few seconds earlier. The magnolia tree. That’s all it was. A branch. But then, up there in my head where all those other thoughts had been churning, came a new one. Or was it more than a thought? Yes, I think it was. “Be thankful for what you have, Knucklehead. It all belongs to me anyway.” See, Knucklehead is sort of a pet name I figure God has for me. And he has cause to use it quite often with me. Yes, he got me. I totally deserved that Gibbs slap and more. James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
Father, thank you for everything we have been able to salvage. I haven’t been doing that. Thank you as well for the things we couldn’t salvage. You let us use them for a while, and now you’re changing us over to some other stuff. It’s hard to say it, but, that’s OK with us. Amen.
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