New Things...

It has finally happened. Three years, eight months, and three days after we signed the deed, we finally got to spend the night in our house last night. We have no internet or Direct TV, so I drove back to town this morning to check in, check emails, and grab a few things before going back up later.

For three years, eight months, and three days I have spent practically every day off I've had building a home for my girls. We didn't need it right now because we're in the parsonage system, and the parsonage we're in now is great. It's a little close to work but it's the nicest parsonage we've ever had.

So we didn't need to build a house for now, but I was thinking down the road. As I was flying across the Atlantic Ocean on my way to Israel in 2006, it hit me that if something happened and I didn't get home, my girls were homeless. The protector in my couldn't let that be. So, after landing in Tel Aviv and finally getting a phone call across the ocean, we decided that when I got home we would start looking for someplace to call ours. Now we've got it.

New beginnings are a good thing. I remember the day we bought our first house, a tiny little place on North 18th Street in Mayfield. I remember the day my wife moved into it with me. I remember the days that both of our girls were born, and now, another beginning. I have learned that it's tough setting up a house, though. I had forgotten about that part of it.

But here is what's tripping me up. It's too new. At least the idea is. For nearly four years all I have done at 3496 St. Rt. 534 is work. I packed lumber, pulled strings, drove nails, mudded sheetrock and sanded, a lot of sanding, and cleaned up but now it's all done and I don't know what to do when I'm there.

This morning, since we don't have any internet service yet, my devotion time was a book and a cup of coffee on my front porch. It was nice. I was watching geese in the field across the road, listening to the frogs in our pond and in the trees, there was a little breeze blowing and the whole world was just starting to wake up. I could get used to that. But it didn't last. It wasn't long before I started thinking about all of the things I could be doing. I could work in the garden or get ready to mow the yard. I still have to build closet shelves and install the adjustable shelves in the kitchen cabinets. But...for just a few minutes, it was nice to just soak up the new.

Funny how that works. Every morning we get something new. It's up to us to decide what we do with it. Everytime we break bread together we get something new. It's up to us to grab on to it, or set it down and pick up the old...old hurts, old disappointments, old failures. The call is always ours.

I could drive back to our place this afternoon and go right to work. I've got plywood I can stain for the cabinets, and lots of cleaning to do, but I think instead I will go back up, grab my book, kick back on the porch or maybe let the girls fish in the pond, and just enjoy the fact that today, just like yesterday and the day before, I've been given something new.

Peace,
J