March 21 – “Out of the boredom …”

Ah, so the infamous Blog of Boredom starts much the same as it has for the last week or so.  We were outside …

After working all morning at my computer, I scraped more paint off the house.  In case you have never done that, it is a seemingly never-ending task.  The more you scrape, the more you uncover more that needs to be scraped.  But I scraped.  And I scraped.  And I scraped.  And then it got hot.  So I moved to the other side of the house.  That’s the “benefit” of having to scrape the whole house, I guess.  There’s always somewhere in the shade. 

While I scraped Chris hit the flower beds again.  She finished her task, though.  One front bed is completely cleaned out.  Another is clean down to the bush she started trimming.  I got to take a break and help her with that.  I had a junior high-esque revelation while working on the side of the house yesterday.  I realized that scraping paint is a lot like trimming bushes, or mowing grass, or vacuuming carpet.  How are they all similar?  Because they are all a lot like that time you finally get hold of that especially long or hard to break loose booger.  You can finally see some progress, and all that hard work was worth it.  OK.  I guess I digress.  But when you are scraping, you find you have a lot of time to think creative thoughts. 

And out of the boredom … last night (It feels weird to say “last night” when it was still light outside, but it was seven o’clock.  That’s officially night) we had a surprise visit from someone we haven’t seen in at least five years.  James, the young man who used to live where the vacant lot is next door to us (before it was a vacant lot, of course, back in the day when there was an actual house on the property), knocked on the door.  I teased him for knocking instead of just walking in like he used to, but he said, “It’s been so long, I was afraid you wouldn’t recognize me.”  We did.  He seems to be doing quite well for himself.  Lives in Magnolia and works in LaPorte driving a fuel truck.  He asked all about the old youth group from when he went to Seaside.  Told us he still has his baptismal certificate and a group photo from the year he went to camp with us.  He also said he was pretty sure he still has the Bible he got at camp.  Along with many of his things, it is still packed away in a box.  At that thought he glanced over at me with a sheepish look in his eye and added, “I know.  That’s not where it should be.”  Gotta love it when the youngsters start growing up and developing consciences and spiritual senses of their own.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 says, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.  In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

Father, watch over James as he does all that driving, but in his rig and in between home and work.  Amen.