March 13 – “Living Up to Promise”

Today had the promise of the beginning of a wild weekend.  It lived up to its promise.  The AC guys came back to finish cleaning up.  The electricians were there to finish up the jobs they needed to do.  The framers were there to do some last minute, before-the-sheetrock framing.  The folks from Arlington were there to begin insulating and sheetrocking.  The contractor was there to make sure everybody was on the same page.    The framers left after a few hours because they didn't want to work with the insulation fumes flying.  The electricians left after a few hours because they finished.  The AC guys left after a few minutes, because they didn't have all that much left to do to clean up.  That left the good people of Arlington with the promise of a full day of insulating and sheetrocking with a passion.  And they lived up to their promise.   The day began with the promise of being cold and dreary and rainy.  You guessed it.  It lived up to its promise.  So well, in fact that the roof sprung a leak … or two … or three.  One of them was from a temporary patch the framers put on the roof over the old hot water heater.  Another was from the spot for the new hot water heater.  The third was from the roof vent for the new heater.  After waiting for the rain to let up, I finally gave in and went out on the roof in the rain.  It was cold and wet.  I covered the flat roof patch the best I could.  The other two were trickier, though.  I had to wrap some tar paper around them and hold it on with duct tape.  Hope it holds until we can do something more permanent.    When most of the roof insulation was complete and the roof sheetrocking had begun, Brad the sheetrock superstar came over to me and whispered, "Have you noticed it yet?"  Well, I had no idea what he was talking about, so I said I guess I hadn't.  He pointed up to the insulation and said, "Notice the quiet?"  Once he pointed it out, I had to admit that it was a lot quieter.  I assumed it was because the other two professions had departed.  But Brad said it was because the insulation absorbed the excess sound.  Quiet amid the chaos of all that work.  What a concept.  I hope it holds tomorrow so we can get a lot done.  The day promises to be a long one.   2 Peter 3:13 says, "But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness."   Father, thanks for your promises.  Amen.