Today's house was easier. It was about 10 miles out of town. The basement was dry. There were still a lot of things to take out. - insulation, drywall pieces, duct work, the furnace and hot water heater, and we pulled a lot a lot a LOT of nails and screws out of the boards.
We are all talking about how working flood relief in Minot is a lot more strenuous than rebuilding in The Gulf. We are all tired, and so I'm not going to write much, hoping to get to bed soon. But we are all well. (Lewis said he feels MUCH better.- Thank you for your prayers!). And we are all working well together. It's a very cohesive group.
I continue to be amazed at the hospitality here. When we work on these houses, there is no plumbing or power. Bathroom breaks are usually at a port-a-potty which are strategically placed so that usually, you are within a block or two from one. The one today was a little further away. The lady next door left her FEMA trailer open for us to use her bathroom while she went to work today. And when we got back to the church we are staying at, there was a pan of bars and a package of muffins for us.
Finally, while I was pulling nails out of studs in a bathroom, I was thinking about the spiritual parallels between reconstructing and deconstructing. At first, I thought of how reconstructing a house had a spiritual comparison with the renewing your spirit and at first thought that deconstructing didn't correlate. But then it occurred to me that deconstructing was just as vital process in our spiritual journey also. When our souls are damaged, God has to muck out our spiritual basements. (This comparison is particularly vivid after this week.) And when there is something there that might later cause problems, that should be dealt with as well. This work is sometimes harder than building up because it's usually more painful, and sometimes brought on by disasters of judgement or sometimes just because bad things happen that affect us. But the Carpenter is at work. And we can trust Him to continue to work on our houses until they are "done." Again, I thought of this while I was pulling nails. The comparison breaks down somewhere, I'm sure, but I didn't get that far in my thinking because I had to go help Howard with the furnace.
We took some pictures and even shot some video today. But this kind of stuff takes time to download and post and edit and upload on Facebook and etc. And I am really tired and want to go to bed early tonight. So I will put them up tomorrow- or maybe I will get up early and do it. For now, thanks for your prayers and thoughts and well wishes and support.
Peace!
R
The spiritual life cannot be made suburban. It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
-- Howard Macey
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