March 9 – “Questions”

We went by the house today, anxious to see the last bit of electrical work totally completed and the inspector on his way.  Not happening.  No one was there working.  I even had a check to pay for the plumbing work that has been done so far.  But the contractor was not there, either.  It is tough to go from the super high of getting a roof and electricians everywhere to an empty house.    On a positive note, the group called Nehemiah's Vision actually paid for our insulation and sheetrock.  They are coming to Galveston over Spring Break with a bunch of volunteers.  They are doing a lot of work at Seaside.  So we followed our instructions and went to McCoy's to order sheetrock and insulation.  We pick up insulation on Wednesday and sheetrock is delivered on Thursday.   But I'm worried that we may not get to start.  That's not a big deal on the insulation.  We are doing that ourselves.  Kel and Christina and Nathan and Chris and I are all going to pitch in and have a stapling party.  But a group from Josh's church in Arlington is coming in Thursday to start on sheetrock.  That opens up all kinds of questions.  Does electrical have to have passed inspection?  Will the Air Conditioning guy have time to get all the duct work run?  Will we be able to get the attic floor in without too much trouble?  Questions.    Back in Omega Bay I started wading through computer work and phone calls.  I called our contractor.  No answer.  Left a message.  I returned a call about a wedding for June 27.  Something about that date sounded familiar.  I checked my books and discovered that I already had a wedding scheduled for that day at 6:30.  But this new one is at 11:30 in the morning.  I called them back, and it's doable, so that's definitely going to be "Wedding Day" for me.    Chris went to her mom's this afternoon.  Her Mom has another doctor's appointment tomorrow in Houston, and Chris drives them.  This has to be taking a toll on her.  It sure is on me.   We are tired.   Takes me back to Isaiah 40:30-31: "Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."   Father, give me rest.  Give Chris rest.  Amen.

March 8 – “Restore”

This morning came pretty early.  It was Daylight Savings Time Sunday and we had to Spring Forward.  That meant losing an hour's sleep.  We still had to hurry, though.  We wanted to say good bye to whoever was still around from the Brownwood group.  They were loading up as we drove up.  We hugged all around and saw them off.  Then we took a quick peek at what the electricians did.  Looked like they still had some left to do.  Also looked like they won the award for leaving the biggest mess of all the groups so far.  There was electrical wire everywhere – yellow, blue, white, plain wire.  All lengths.  All over the floor.  There was a light fixture on the tub.  There wasn't a light fixture over the shower.  There were switches everywhere, and some of them we had a hard time placing with whatever it turned on.  There might be a few changes coming when Chris talks to the contractor.   There was a small crowd at church.  Several visitors as usual.  Some really great people.  One guy was here several years ago.  I actually remembered his name because it's the same as a guy I went to college with.  One couple were French immigrants now living in Wisconsin.  We joked about them being cheeseheads.  The teaching was about the guy who told David that he killed Saul.  Instead of rewarding him, David had him executed.  Somewhere in the middle of the teaching I had kind of a revelation.  Actually, I started thinking about it after reading a newspaper article this morning.  I realized that of all that we have been going through since the flood, one of the worst things that has happened is we have lost our joy.  I have lost my joy.  Oh, I'm still happy most of the time.  I'm grateful to be as far along as we are.  But deep down, if I am really honest, I'm missing the joy that ought to be carrying me through whatever circumstances I face.  Right in the middle of the teaching I realized that I need God to restore to me the joy of his salvation.   I feel with David right now.  In Psalm 51:10-12, he says, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.   Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.   Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."   Father, please do restore to me the joy of your salvation.  Help me remember what it was like when I first discovered you.  Amen.

March 7 – “Details”

I got to spend some time with the plumber and carpenter working at the church today.  When I had to leave they had built a little platform with two showers on it.  The water was hooked up and they were working on the second drain to keep it from leaking.  They had just attached one of the on demand heaters, so I'm not sure if the water is hot or not.  Details.   Most of the morning I was up on my roof again.  Chris was cleaning the church, so I stayed to help where I could.  I decided yesterday that my best bet was to choose the job no one else wanted to do and stick with that.  Yesterday that meant I spent the entire time pulling out nails.  At least that was something I was experienced at.  We pulled out about a million after we tore out our sheetrock.  Today I handed shingles to the more experienced guys as they did the ridges and attached the sides together.  We went all the way around the roof in a circle and had to make sure the shingles matched up when we put them together.  In my "vast" experience with roofing I never had to do any of the stuff I watched today.  All I ever did was scrape off rocks and drive a truck.  I'm very impressed with how many details are involved in making a roof look good and, well, keep out water.    We did have one crisis at the house.  We ran out of shingles.  Twice.  And the second time there were no more of our kind of shingle left in Galveston.  The nearest place that had some was a McCoy's in Rosenberg – two hours away.  I was ruing my lack of attention to detail.  I just knew I would be the one to have to get this thing finished.  Then I realized that a few of the guys from Brownwood had already left … for Rosenberg.  They were going to get the shingles and planned to finish when they got back.  (Read here, Large sigh of relief).  While they were gone the teenagers talked someone into taking them to the beach so they could try out the boogie boards they found in our back yard.  I left for the church to help Chris finish cleaning the church.  By the time I got back to the house (after a wedding I led at 5:30), it was dark and the ones who were staying another night had gone out to eat somewhere.  I couldn't tell if the roof was finished or not.  Can't wait until tomorrow.   I also can't wait to see what all the electricians did.  They showed up in force.  There were about six of them pulling more wire.  The regular electric wire they started with yesterday was yellow.  You know, reminds you of gold, of good things, like God wants for us to have.  Today they pulled out some black wire that was for the air conditioner.  Hmm.  Black reminds you of the sin that separates you from God and keeps you from having the good life and relationship with him that he wants.  One of the teenagers here helping with the roof walked by as I was gazing at wore.  He was majorly sunburned.  Red as a beet.  Like blood.  Like Jesus shed to take care of our sin problem.  The next roll of wire they broke out was white.  I think they said that one was for the cable television.  White.  Clean.  Like us when Jesus washes away our sin.  The last roll of wire was blue.  They said that one was for the telephone wires.  Blue is he color of water.  The color of baptism.  The ultimate symbol of our obedience to Jesus, of turning our life over to him completely.  The myriad of color was more than I could handle, so I went back outside where I could rest my weary eyes on the green weeds in our yard.  Green.  The color of growing things.  Like we are when we become believers.  Growing more like Jesus.    John 3:16-17 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,  that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."   Father, thank you for that glaringly colorful reminder of the gospel.  Amen.

March 6 – “Electricians and a roof”

Last night we had fifteen people spend the night at our house.  Not the one in Omega Bay.  Our house.  On Sycamore.  They slept on air mattresses spread all over the floor.  A group of Baptists from Brownwood came down to put a roof on our house and to install bathrooms at Seaside.  They had a big travel trailer in the driveway and trucks and a van parked in the street.  It looked like the Vaughans were home.  Today they started putting a roof on our house.  It was pretty amazing to be a part of helping these guys.  One was a retired contractor.  Another guy obviously knew what he was doing with the shingles.  Then they had a bunch of other guys like me who were pretty good at doing as we were told.  There were three or four teenagers, too.  They were doing everything they could to get finished today.  They wanted to spend the day tomorrow at the beach.  There were two ladies who were responsible for cooking for the entire group.  And the food was really good.  Tomorrow we're having fajitas for lunch and brisket for supper.  This is suffering for the Lord?  Glad I'm around.   The electricians were there today, too.  It was kind of chaotic with everybody tromping on the roof and cleaning up the grounds and pulling wires.  But the roof looks great.  They only have the front part of the roof to go and they'll be finished with the shingles.  They are not going to do the roll roof part.  We'll get someone else to do that before we call the engineer to approve the windstorm certificate.   Before I joined the group at the house, I went out to Seaside with the other team.  They were going to convert a storeroom into some showers.  The plumber needed to see the area with his own eyes, then he asked me to take him over to City Hall to talk to the permit people.  I went in earlier this week and paid the fees.  They just had a few questions about exactly how he planned to build.  He answered the questions while she took notes on a sticky pad.  Then she asked us to wait a few minutes while she had a blue copy made for us.  And that was that.  In about five minutes total we had the permit.  They got a big portion of the job done today.  Shouldn't take too much to finish up tomorrow.  Then we just have to call the inspector before we hang sheetrock.    I went to the doctor earlier this week.  He took a bunch of my blood to see if he could figure out why I've been so extremely tired lately.  I mean tired to the point of getting dizzy and forgetting things.  I got the results today.  Most of the stuff was normal, but the thyroid thing was off.  The first step in dealing with that is increased cardio activity.  I think that means I have to exercise to keep from taking some medicine later on.    Psalm 9:1-2 says, "I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.  I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High."   Father, please take charge of my thyroids and cardios.  Amen.

March 4 – “New Electricians”

No electricians … Wait a minute.  I'm going to call our contractor.  "John?  I have a question.  You're where?  In front of our house?  You're here to meet who?  The new electricians?  The guys who are going to start tomorrow?  OK, I'll be right out."   Now that was a surprising way to start the day.  We went to the house to meet with the Amish Cabinet Guys.  Before they got there, our contractor showed up with the new electrician he hired because the other guy was going to bump us back two more weeks.  Not sure if we're totally back on track, but it's another step.  And it turned out to be a good thing the contractor was still there when the cabinet guys arrived.  They had some questions that only he could answer.  A divine appointment.  We found out that the fireplace is only a few hundred dollars more to vent out the side of the house, and it is way less likely to leak if we do it that way.    Oh, I forgot.  When we first arrived I got a phone call from the Nehemiah's Vision representative.  They are the relief group that wants to help at Seaside over Spring Break.  He said they had a full crew ready to completely frame our school building in one week if we can buy the lumber.  And there may be some plumbers and electricians to do that as well.  That would be awesome. Talk about extreme makeover.  Then he said I could go over to McCoy's and order the insulation and sheetrock for our house.  The organization is going to buy it for us.  Now we just have to get the family together next week for an insulation party to precede the sheetrock party that starts next Friday with the people from Josh's church.   I taught at Seaside Christian Academy today instead of Thursday.  We started a comparison study of Noah and Evan Baxter in the movie Evan Almighty.  This is going to be a lot of fun.  They have never been shown how to watch a movie from a Christian world-view.  Most of them have never been taught to approach anything with a Christian world-view.  We've come a long way in good ol' America.   Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."   Father, that would sure go a long way toward reawakening one of those Christian world-views.  Help our parents do it.  Amen.

March 3 – “Scooter vs. the Catfish”

No electricians.  That's the theme for today, I guess.  We were really hoping they would be at the house when we got there.  It is so hard not to get worried about timelines.    I worked on the sermon most of the morning.  Then we headed out to Jamaica Beach.  The plumber for this weekend asked us to take a drawing over to the city hall to get the permit process started.  It's a good thing we went.  They needed some more specific measurements the plumber couldn't have given them.  We also found out they needed to talk to him again.  They also wanted to be paid $90 for the two different fees involved.  But since we were there, we took care of what we could, and put them in touch with the plumber for the rest of the questions.  Looks like we should be able to get the permit by Thursday.  Good thing.  They start work Friday morning.   We went over to the church to take the measurements, and we called them back in.  Then we headed over to the house.  Even though we knew the electricians weren't there, we decided to just hang out for awhile.  Nathan and April and Cailyn even came by for awhile.  Chris said we were just "hanging out at home."  We couldn't bring ourselves to leave for a long time.    I decided to do a little fishing when we got home, and of course Scooter decided to come with me.  He's really inspirational.  Gets excited when he sees the bait, when he knows the bait is in the water, when the pole moves – at all.  Only thing is, he's never seen a real fish on the end of the line.  Until tonight.  I cast out two lines with dead shrimp on them and just let them sit.   I figured I would play with some crabs in the water and maybe let Scooter play with one on land.  We lost several shrimp, so I knew the crabs were there.  After awhile, Chris came down to let me know she was cold (at least that's what she said), when one of the poles bent over.  I threw her the pole in my hands and ran over to the hot one.  It was definitely not a crab.  Scooter was with me the whole way, watching the water and shaking like a leaf.  It was a big hardhead catfish, so we all relaxed.  All except Scooter, that is.  He was beside himself.  I lifted the fish up at the end of the line and Scooter went to jumping for it with a vengeance he hadn't yet shown in his attempts to grab bait.  Nathan and April were pulling out of the driveway, but they stopped to watch the Scooter vs. the Catfish show for a few minutes.  It took a lot longer than usual to unhook that feline fish with all the canine help I had.   Luke 3:15-17 says, "The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.  John answered them all, 'I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.'"   Father, I want to be like Scooter.  I want to be excited about the possibilities in you.  And I want to be there when you show up.  Amen.

March 2 – “Complete Physical”

Well, today was one of the most rip-roarin,' rootin'-tootin,' wish-I-could-have-been-somewhere-else kind of days I have ever had.  We went into town to drop off the Explorer to have it inspected.  Just found out a few minutes ago that it's not going to happen until tomorrow.  OK, I can live with that.   We also went by the house to put some mail out and check out the electricians.  No electricians.  We went back by later on.  The mail was gone.  So were the electricians.  In a they-were-never-there-in-the-first-place kind of way.  Haven't heard from our contractor, either, so I guess we try again tomorrow.   Then I went to a doctor's appointment.  This one was for me.  I have been feeling constantly fatigued for about two months.  I guess some of the blogs have reflected that.  I've been able to force myself to do some things.  Like sermons and carrying stuff around the house and cleaning the fireplace.  But by mid-afternoon I am exhausted.  On top of that, I have lost twenty or thirty pounds, most of it just since the storm.  I don't weigh myself much, so I really have no idea how much I have lost.  I know that before the storm and my surgeries, I was wearing size 36 jeans.  Kel bought me a few pair of 34's right after the storm, and now I have to tighten my belt to keep them comfortable.  I guess that's not altogether bad, but I also haven't done any aerobic exercise since the storm.  You know, the stuff you think of when you want to lose weight – running and pumping iron and exercises.  I've experienced dizziness several times.  Hey, I've even had trouble remembering simple things.  If I have overlooked you or something lately, please forgive me.   Anyway, I had to see a new doctor, which meant I was a new patient, which meant I had to fill out a boatload of paperwork.  At least all they wanted was my copay.  The new guy was nice.  Very professional.  Very serious.  He asked fifty or sixty questions, entered my answers in the computer, then said he was going to do a complete physical.  I had visions of those letter tests – EKG, EEG – those wire things.  No.  "Complete physical" means it includes one very simple test.  The simplest test.  For him.  Quite uncomfortable for me.  And he promised another test in my near future.  One I've had before.  Once.  The colonoscopy.  It's not as evil as a myelogram because they at least give you that forget-it drug.  But I think I may pass on that one when the time comes.  I also have to go back at 8:00 in the morning for a blood test.  And the blood test won't be any good unless I don't eat anything after 8:00 tonight.  Time to cram.  And the bottom line is, I don't know any more about why I feel crummy than I did before I endured this ordeal.   Ephesians 6:13-14 says, "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."   Father, I want to stand.  Today I'd be happy just to sit.  As long as it's in your presence.