May 7 – “Look, I’m Moses”

We bought some grass today.  Real grass.  St. Augustine (I guess that makes it holy, too).  For our yard.  We went by Tom's Thumb Nursery (catchy name, isn't it?).  Chris had several specific plants in mind for our back yard project.  Most of them I can't even pronounce.  I did remember one, though.  It was the only one we couldn't find.  And she wanted two of them.  Plumbago.  Now that's a great name.  Kind of rolls off your tongue.  Plumbago.  Sounds like some kind of back injury.   When we checked out, we asked about ordering some grass.  Chris had called the other day and the lady said she makes her orders on Mondays.  So we figured we would put in the order and have it delivered next week.  Surprise.  She said it would be in tomorrow morning, and they could deliver it right to our house.    That was quite unexpected.  We had planned to have at least the rest of this week to slowly chop up hard clay dirt in back yard and part of the front.  Now we had to get it done tonight.  And that with Jachin and Micah coming over to visit.  Their Mom and Dad were going to see Iron Man 2.  It worked out fine.  I used our biblical tiller.  The hoe got some big chunks knocked out.  Then Jachin came over with a small spade and asked if he could help.  I showed him the big chunks and said we had to get it all chopped up into dirt.  That's when he got creative.  The spade worked fine for a minute or two.  Then he stepped on some.  Then I heard him say, "Hey. DadDad, look at me.  I'm Moses."  Moses.  Interesting.  I turned around, and he was throwing the dirt clods down onto some bricks and they were breaking into little pieces.  "See, DadDad.  I'm Moses breaking the Ten Commandments."   Now that's making Scripture come alive.   I finally finished the back yard.  But not before jamming the same thumb that I hurt earlier in the week.  Now I don't know which hurts worse, the injury or the joint right there.  That felt like a knife stabbing me.   As I was finishing up we noticed someone lurking around the abandoned house next door.  Come to find out she was a realtor who had been enlisted by the bank that now owns the house to figure out a value for it or determine if it needs to be torn down.  She was taking lots of pictures.  Chris told her to go inside at her own risk.  She almost backed out, but she finally made a quick walk-through.  She basically decided that it should be torn down, but she thought it would be foolish to build, since a replacement house would have to be on five foot high stilts.  "That just doesn't fit the neighborhood."  We told her that if the price was low enough we might be interested in making it a backyard extension.  She jumped all over that one.  Asked for my email address and gave me her card.  Something positive seems to be afoot for the first time in almost two years.   Romans 8:18 says, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."   Father, work something out with this house next door very soon.  Before the snakes and rats show up.  Amen.

May 6 – “One down”

Our violin player has a little boy to follow in his footsteps.  Unless, of course, he decides he wants to play baseball.  Last night Corey and Janell's little boy Brennan was born.  He weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces and was 20 inches long.  They ended up having a C-section,  but Mom is doing fine.    Meanwhile, our little grandbaby inside Christina is still holding his own (or her own – they actually wanted to be surprised, so they didn't find out the sex of the baby yet).  At her last appointment they said she could go at any time.  So she took her other two boys to the zoo.  Maybe the walking will encourage the little one to get a move on.   We got a few things done on Chris' back yard list.  I dug up some kind of palm tree thing that ended up being a bulb.  No wonder it kept growing back after I mowed over it hundreds of times.  Not any more.  We also weeded some more of the flower beds.  Still not finished there.  That evil demon devil weed is everywhere.  It has a clump of roots that is hard to get to the bottom of.  And even then it keeps growing on the other side.  It wraps itself around the fence and other trees and anything.  But the worst thing is … it has thorns.  It's like a climbing rose bush with no pretty flowers and no scent.  Slowly it takes over more and more of the garden until nothing else has room to breathe or grow.  It chokes the life out of all the good things that you want to be there.  It is just like sin.  Hence my name for it … Evil Demon Devil Weed.   You know, today I have felt like I was in a funk.  I'm not sure what that word even means, but I haven't been able to concentrate on much of anything all day.  I have tried to start this entry at least three times.  This one will be the last.  Whatever is here is all I've got.  I sure hope the Bible Study makes some sense tonight.  It did yesterday when I worked on it.  I am tired again.  Maybe I need a vacation.  We haven't done that since our 25th anniversary.  Ten years ago June 6.  Well, we'll get to it again after our present stresses are dealt with.  What are our present stressors? … no, that's a whole other list there.    Romans 7:14-8:2 says, "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.   Father, keep my family safe from the evil demon devil weeds that are trying to sneak up on them every day.  Amen.

May 5 – “Ninja on the Prowl”

I spent most of the morning working on the teaching for home group tomorrow night.  With Corey and Janell already in the hospital being induced, and Christina at the point where she could go any time, I really wanted to get the preparations done early.  I fully expected to get a text from Corey saying the time had come, but things seemed to be going rather slowly for them.  I had plenty of time to finish.  Now if I just get some time to study it tomorrow I'll be fine.   Cailyn was here this morning.  She was in a "hold me" mood.  Not fussy, just wanted someone to hold her.  So Chris "suffered" through most of that oh-so-difficult task.  Hah.  I was jealous.  She finally crashed and took a two hour nap.  I did get to see her do something that cracked me up.  We were at the table eating.  Well, Chris and I were eating.  She was just drinking her cup of juice.  At one point the cup was on the table.  She hunched her shoulders over like she was a ninja on the prowl.  She got a guilty look on her face that totally reminded me of the times her Dad would try to get away with something he knew was wrong.  She cut her eyes to the right and to the left as if watching for just the right moment when no one was watching.  Her hands crept slowly up from beneath the table, inching closer and closer to the cup.  Her mouth was turned down into a serious frown of concentration.  Closer.  Closer.  Suddenly her hands jumped forward, grabbing the cup and pulling it close to her chest.  The look on her face changed from serious, focused,  "I'm-so-gonna-get-in-trouble-for-this" to a slow grin, then to outright joy and exaltation.  Success.  It's done.   "I think I'll have a drink of juice to celebrate."    What a surprise when we drove into the driveway and saw someone actually mowing the grass at the abandoned house next door.  We walked over to cheer them on.  They were hired by the city to clean out the yard.  Didn't think they could get it all done today, though.  He said it would be "a work in progress."  They were going to hit it with the weedeater until they ran out of gas or string.  They didn't have a trailer or anything to haul away the fallen trees in the backyard, so that will have to wait until next time.  He encouraged us to keep on calling the city and telling them it's not finished yet.  That way they would keep calling him and he'd get a paycheck.  Everybody will be happy.  Well, unless the huge dead pine tree in the front yard falls on our car.   Hebrews 13:5 says, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'"   Father, thank you for this "one of my favorites" promise.  Don't go.  Ever.  Amen.

May 4 – “Babies are coming”

Sounds like we'll have one of the babies this week.  It's not Christina, though.  She texted Chris from Houston that all was fine and they were going to the zoo.  Maybe the walking will trigger something.    Corey texted me to let us know that Janell had some high blood pressure issues and they were at the hospital for tests.  Then he sent another one to say that they were going to induce and they were in it for the long haul now.  The doctor indicated that the baby should be here sometime tomorrow.  One of you little dudes needs to get on out here.   I got copied in on some emails about the big rummage sale we're having up at the church on May 15th.  Sounds like we will also be doing a bake sale.  And one of the emails even said that they could ask Pastor Kelley to shamelessly advertise on his blog.  Well, they didn't use those exact words, but here it is, anyway.  Start cooking stuff to sell.  Or wait until the day before so it tastes fresh.  Call Rita or Lavon for details.  Or wait until I see another email about me doing an update.   We had a family birthday dinner for April yesterday.  Her birthday was back in April, but we just now coordinated schedules.  The idea was to make two big batches of shrimp gumbo.  One had fried turkey in it.  The other was strictly chicken – certified approved for Jachin and his nut-allergy consumption.  Everybody got here – well, except for Josh and Christi and Zak and Caleb – and Chris announced that it was ready.  And then she realized that we had forgotten the shrimp.  It was still in the freezer, waiting to be thawed out and peeled and de-veined.  We had turkey and chicken gumbo with rice.  It was still good.   After the meal we went out in the back yard so the kids could play.  Nathan got out the chainsaw and was ready to cut up the magnolia tree.  And we discovered the chain was too dull.  Wouldn't do anything but smoke like crazy.  So I had to head to the store for a new one.  Chris said I should just forget about it, but hey, we had manpower.  I couldn't find one at WalMart.  Of course I couldn't find anyone to help me, either.  So I went to Home Depot.  Took awhile to get help there, too, but I found one that would work.  It cut like it was going through butter.  The hardest part then was carrying the pieces of tree out of the yard.  Sure was a good thing Nathan was there.  I couldn't lift anything with my left arm.  The elbow was killing me.    We even cleared out some of the stepping stones that made up our patio while we had help.  Jachin put his muscle into that one.  We're hoping that when we can get some grass back there, the yard will look bigger and more kid-friendly.   Hebrews 13:1-2 says, "Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."   Father, thanks for the angels you have sent to live at our house over the years.  Amen.

May 3 – “The Ike flag is flying”

The Ike flag is flying.  We finally got a new flagpole kit.  It took awhile, but we are once again flying the flag that flew in front of our house every time we were here working after the storm.  It was kind of an emotional experience.  I even tried to follow the instructions for tying on the halyard (that just means the string that came in the kit) and hooking it to the pole.  My end result didn't look anything like the picture, though.  But it stayed up.  Good enough.   We experienced one of those roller coaster of emotion, I'll never understand it, kind of prayer requests this past week.  It started when one of the guys at Seaside was having some work done on his house.  One of the workers was a guy who had been nicknamed "Little John" by his coworkers because of his small stature.  Little John was cutting some wood with one of those big power saws and accidentally cut off his thumb and forefinger, a disastrous injury for a carpenter.  The workers packed it (and him) in ice and got him to the hospital.  They turned him over to the doctors and called the homeowner to explain what had happened (why they weren't there and the place was covered with blood) and to ask him to pray.  At that point our member called around and asked for prayer from the church.    The next day we got a report from the homeowner.  It looked like the thumb and forefinger were successfully reattached.  Little John had feeling in the area, and all signs pointed to a successful surgery.   He was looking to be released from the hospital in a few days.  The coworkers – the ones who called him Little John – even gave him a new nickname:  "Saint John."  We were all looking at what had to be a real answer to prayer.    Then, overnight, everything changed again.  The thumb connections began to fail, and by the next day it had to be removed.  Apparently he stayed in good spirits, though, and was still looking at a release in a few days.   Why?  Honestly, I don't know.  This was one of those times when it looked like God had answered a prayer, and his good name would be praised among the secular world.  Then the whole thing crashed.  At least from our perspective.  But then, I know our perspective is woefully limited.  Maybe there is something else going on here that I can't see.  All I know is I still trust the one who put that thumb on Little John's – no, Saint John's – hand in the first place.   Job 13:15 says, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him"   Father, touch John with what you know he needs.  Amen

May 2 – “Excitement”

I didn't get a lot of sleep last night.  It felt suspiciously like one of those steroid rushes I was hoping to avoid.  Cailyn spent the night with us.  She went to sleep at 8.  Chris and I went to bed at 10:30.  And I couldn't get my mind or body quieted down enough to drift off.  I think I finally succumbed around 12:30 or 1.  Then Cailyn woke up at 3.  A.M.  I vowed to let her fuss until one of three things happened: she stopped and went back to sleep, fifteen minutes passed, or she called out for DadDad.  She does, after all, have me wrapped around her little finger.  At ten minutes Chris got up and picked her up.  Let me off the hook.  I'm not the one spoiling her.   We had some excitement at the entrance to our subdivision this afternoon.  We were working out in the back yard.  Chris decided that we wanted to remove about half of the pavers that make up the part of the patio not covered by the deck.  We have also been doing some weeding back there.  That's a never ending task, though.  We got the pavers up and Chris had them stacked in the dark part of the back yard that no one can see.  We were just about at the put away the tools and get cleaned up stage when we heard it.  Screech.  Bam.  Bam.  Bam.  We knew right away what that sound was, and we joined three other nosy neighbors in rushing toward the sound.  Of course we weren't being nosy.  We were just hurrying over to see that no one was hurt.    There were four cars involved.  Car number one was a small sports car. It had been hit from behind and bumped forward apart from the pack.  The second one was a truck.  Right behind him – literally right behind him – was a white car, and right behind her – literally right behind her – was a second truck.  The white car was still sandwiched between the trucks.  Interestingly enough, car number five in line was a police officer, so we didn't even have to call 911.  Everyone was out of their cars and walking around, so they were OK.  At least they were until a lady in the lead car realized that the police officer was there.  Then she suddenly began to have what looked like serious pains in her neck and back.  That was after the guy driving the car she was in had tossed his glass bottle of Budweiser as far away from the car as he could.  We didn't get to see all that action, though.  One of our observant neighbors did, and he was trying to decide whether or not to point it out to the officer.  Ah, the excitement.  It was hard to walk back home and finish up, but we managed.   Hebrews 12:28-29 says, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our 'God is a consuming fire.'"   Father, thank you for an awesome worship time this morning.  And thanks for the encouragement you sent me afterward.  Amen.

May 1 – “Ain’t computers grand?”

Great way to start a Saturday morning.  Computer woes.  Our laptop is back to decreasing battery strength even while connected to the desktop docking station.  And this time I made sure that it is "On."  Then I tried to check my email again.  Had some trouble yesterday with that one.  And I couldn't connect to the internet.  So I unhooked the laptop from the docking station and wired the cable directly into the laptop.  It still didn't work, but it kindly offered to run the fix program, so I said "Sure."  It fixed itself.  As the tiny little repairman who lives inside the laptop chuckled to himself, I put it back onto the docking station and tried the internet again.  It went right to it.  And not only that, it also started increasing battery strength.  I'm sure the tiny repair guy wants a bonus for that one.  Ain't computers grand?   Today was day one of my return to steroids.  I'm glad it wasn't one of those super doses, though.  I enjoy sleeping every now and then.  I also have to choke down three of those other pills twice a day now.  So I decided it was time to celebrate.  We made today a day of work.   We started off by cleaning the church.  We also had to take four bottles of water that had been delivered here.  Those things are heavy.  But we backed the truck up close so we wouldn't have to carry them far on either end.  Chris is amazingly strong for such a sweet little thing.  It really didn't take too long to get everything cleaned up this time.  It was the next round of projects that had me concerned.   After a quick lunch we went to Home Depot.  We are trying to find another one of those small sheds to put in the back yard.  We now have a lot of "farm implements" to store, and right now there is very little room in our garage.  We have the shovels, rakes, brooms (and various other tools that I don't even know the purpose of) from our old house, Mom's house, and the abandoned house next door.  There are also buckets of all shapes and sizes, not to mention the gardening tools and planters and pots that Chris wants to use to give poor little green things a home.   We found one of the sheds, but it didn't have a price marked on it.  We checked the stock number with the price taped to the wall, and they didn't match.  So we decided to ask for help.  Hear that?  I asked for help.  And I'm a guy.  Of course the problem began when I asked another guy for help.  He walked with me all the way over to the aisle where it was located.  He couldn't walk too fast or his pants would have fallen down.  It fact they appeared to be on their way down already.  I wondered what would happen if there was a fire.  Could he run like that?  Anyway, he did the same thing I had already done, and ended up asking one of the ladies.  And of course she knew just what to do.  The price came up $299.  That seemed a little steep.  So we left.  Chris wanted to try WalMart.    WalMart didn't have anything even close.  So we returned home and hit the back yard.  I threw away some of the tools that were broken or rusted shut.  And then we started pulling weeds.  It was pretty hot.  Pretty tired and sore I got.  But at least fall asleep I did not.   Hebrews 12:2-3 says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."   Father, my weary is a different kind.  Help me not lose heart because of pain.  Amen.