Really??

I love the sense of accomplishment I get when a huge task is done… and done well.  Three months ago we closed on our retirement farm and ever since we’ve been busting butt trying to get what my husband calls “Phase One” done.  Because of the type of mortgage we were able to get, we were given a list of items that had to be corrected, repaired, or replaced within six months of closing.  Some we expected.  Some we did not.  Replace the roof: yep.  No brainer on that one.  It was raining indoors with areas as large as 6’ x 4’ rotted straight through the roof.  We had planned on taking off the new and replacing it with a metal roof immediately upon closing. 

Others we didn’t see coming until the list was placed in our hands, like paint several of the barns.  Really??  You would have to see these barns but it would be like putting on a brand new high gloss paint job on a car that was rusted through and needed Bondo first… a lot of Bondo first.  Just seemed crazy.  And then there were the three porches that needed to be scraped and painted.  Really?? I know I must have asked that same question far more times than the inspector had planned on answering.  Porches.  They were a priority.  On a farm.  Just made no sense to me whatsoever.  But hey, what the inspector wants the inspector gets.  (I learned that one from my husband.) 

We also expected to find on the list that one of the bathroom faucets needed to be replaced (leaking profusely) and an old stove pipe hole in one of the upper bedrooms needed to be covered, filled, or otherwise repaired.  No biggies for either of these.  One that continued to force my proverbial question was the requirement to paint the entire interior of the house.  This is not a small house, though we both thought our retirement home would be one of the little box homes you find in the halls of IKEA.  Instead, we fell in love with a five bedroom, two bath, over 2000 square foot home complete with a formal dining room, oversize living room, country kitchen and mudroom to boot.  Paint it all?  Now??  Really??  We honestly had planned on spending the next fifteen to twenty years painting a room here and a room there as we could afford to buy another can of paint and fit in the time to do it.  Nope. That was on the list too so it had to be done, all of it, along with the roof and the barns and the porches and and and…  Did I mention we also needed to pull out all the ceilings on the upper floor because they were water damaged from the roof leaking?  Yep.  That too.  So new drywall and ceiling insulation were also on the list. 

Oh, the list.  It’s at times like this you enlist all your friends, family, and even your faith family… and we did.  God bless each and every one of them.  We surely couldn’t have done it without them.  Now you might think six months to complete all this work really isn’t that bad.  Maybe.  But cut that in half.  Yes.  Half.  Come to find out, in order to get a mortgage that allows you to use some of the mortgage funds to complete initial work on the house (which we needed), you get two disbursements of funds, half when you begin and the remainder after final inspection.  That means you have to carry the second half of expenses, both materials and labor, on your own back until the job is done.  Really? Yep.  Really. 

So six months quickly was compressed into three and the race was on.  We finished this week.  We hit the finish line and received our ribbon.  Perfect inspection.  The barns had been scraped, primed and painted.  The porches the same.  The old roof was removed and the new was installed, along with new insulation in both the rafters and attic floor.  The rotted drywall was removed from the entire upper floor ceiling and new was installed, taped, mudded, sanded, primed, and painted.  Every wall in the entire house was mudded, sanded, primed and then painted… twice.  The faucet was replaced and the hole was filled.  And at 1 am before the 9 am we expected our inspector to arrive, we were done.  [sigh] Sometimes we don’t know what we are really capable of until we do it. 

What huge task do you have hovering over your head?  Don’t give up.  You’ll reach your finish line as well, if you just keep at it… and at it… and at it.  But I have to tell you, when you see the finish line and the ribbon is being dangled out in front of you like a carrot in front of a horse’s nose, just reach out your hand and grab it!  And then go take a nap.  

A Radical & A Rebel

I’m preaching a new series this month: Radicals & Rebels.  It’s all about being radically hospitable.  Most will agree that the Great Commandment to “love God and love your neighbor as yourself” is a tall order. But is it so tall we pass it by altogether? 

Jesus gives us so many examples of what this radical hospitality and love look like. The Good Samaritan parable in Luke 10.25-37 is one of the classics.  Jesus is asked what one must do to gain eternal life.  After Jesus responds with a couple of questions of his own, the man replies that the Law of Moses says “you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus agrees that he answered the question right and told the man to live that way and he will truly live. 

But the man couldn’t leave well enough alone.  He goes on, “… and who is my neighbor?”  Jesus always knows when it’s time for a parable; a story with a lesson.  So he begins the story of a man who is beaten, stripped of his clothes, robbed, and left for dead along the roadside.  After a priest (a servant of the Lord God Almighty) walks on by crossing to the other side of the road, and a Levite (a servant of the Temple, God’s house) does the same, the battered and desperate man is left to die in his own misery…

… until Radical Hospitality comes meandering by.  And then everything changes.  The man is not ignored.  He is not made to feel an outcast.  He no longer feels invisible because people walk right on by while saying/doing nothing.  In fact, the man’s life will be forever changed… and that’s not even in the story.  But how could he not be? 

The third person to come by is basically a no body, and yet he could be anybody.  He comes from Samaria, a region that is not thought of very highly. In fact, God’s people won’t even associate with Samaritans.  But God will.  In Jesus’ story, it was this outcast-labeled Samaritan who not only stays on the same side of the road as the man in need, sees the man and sees he is in great need, but he also loves the man.  He goes out his way to care for every need the man has.  Jesus says “the Samaritan saw the man lying there in great need, and was moved with compassion.”  He was moved.  He was moved to get closer to the man lying on the dirt covered in blood, not back away.  He was moved to bandage his wounds, not ignore them.  He was moved to transport the man to safety, not leave him to his own demise.  He was even moved to put up his own resources to pay for all of this, and more.  The man from Samaria gave the Inn Keeper where he stayed the night before, a full two days’ wages to continue the care that he had begun.  He also told the Inn Keeper he’d be back.  He didn’t say “if I return”, but with assurance he said “when I return”.  The man’s hospitality was not complete.  He had a responsibility to the care of this man so he committed to return.  He even offered to pay more when he returned, if more care was needed than the two days wages he was already giving. 

Now that’s radical: long term commitment to someone that others, even God’s people, ignore? …hands on nurturing? …financial support? …to a stranger??  Oh wait.  We need to remember why Jesus was telling this story: as a response to the question “who is my neighbor?”  This wasn’t a stranger.   This was a neighbor… even though they came from opposing backgrounds.  In spite of being rivals, love trumped all.  As it should.  Over the top, unbelievable, doesn’t make sense to most, but makes all the sense in the world to our Creator.  Love God and love your neighbor this week… and next.  And you will truly live.  

School's In Forever!

I have an old vintage faded orange t-shirt with a chest-wide yellow sunburst in the center.  In the middle of the sunburst is the phrase “School’s Out for Summer!”  If you’ve never heard it, it was a famous line in a rock anthem.  I only get to wear it for a couple of months and then it has to be put back in the closet for another year.  Well today, I had to put it back in the closet.  I heard the first school bus throw on its breaks as it picked up my neighbors’ kids.  A friend of mine told me she did a run through on her bus route last week.  It is that time.

I saw a Facebook status this morning where a mother who just saw her daughter off to college a few weeks ago was now wishing her son a wonderful first day as a freshman in high school.  I remember that year.  Whew!  Felt good to get middle school off my back.  The year before I had gotten in trouble for hanging with a group who was lighting firecrackers, smoking a cigarette behind a tree on school property, and passing out in the bathroom during first hour because I had drank enough whiskey before getting on the bus to knock a cow over.  I remember trying to fit in, trying to make friends and trying to numb any pain I had.  I also remember being grounded all but two weeks that year.   When I got to high school, I was singing a new tune.  No more firecrackers, smoking or drinking for me!

It’s easy to forget how much each child brings with them to school each day.  Some are coming from poverty so deep they are too hungry to learn.  Others come with no sleep… again… because they were up half the night listening to family members fight through the night.  Still others come with pain deeper than we can ever imagine: their mother died of cancer, their brother is incarcerated, their father is still out of work.  Some feel stupid simply because they don’t fit the system of education we use in America.  They aren’t stupid.  But they sure feel like it when they can’t pass a test or memorize a list of names and dates.  Some are just lonely.  They seemingly have all their needs met, and carry a smart phone in their pocket and the newest tablet in their backpack.  But their parents have to work more hours to pay for them both, along with the new shoes and the car in the parking lot.  Some of our students spend way too much time alone, waiting… waiting for parents to get home, for a friend to call, or stranger to care.  So many of them live online creating a whole new world there. 

As certain t-shirts are put away for another year and as backpacks get filled with everything from crayons to the latest electronic gadgets, let’s keep a few people in our prayers.  Each student needs prayers of hope and love.  There is nothing worse than losing hope and there is nothing lonelier than not feeling loved.  Each bus driver is carrying a load worth its weight in gold.  Remember to pray for each one you see drive by each day.  Their minds can be as easily distracted as any of ours.  And we certainly cannot forget the teachers… pre-school teachers wiping tears and running noses, middle school teachers helping show a better way to lost students, high school teachers inspiring our youth to new heights and a future of hope, and college professors who walk alongside students both young and old, as they search their path in this life.  And let’s not forget to pray for all the parents out there.  There is no harder job than to raise a child, and no greater joy than to see them succeed. 

Gracious and holy God, bless this school year for each student and teacher, bus driver and parent.  Walk close by and whisper sweet somethings along the way.  And when each day is done, allow them all to fall into your gracious and loving arms, so they may fully rest before a new day arises.  All honor be yours, forever and ever.  Amen.