If you’re wondering, the title truly does not have any real deep significance. Sorry to disappoint. What it DOES mean is that week three was a week of finishing work around my parents’ new house to get it closer to ready to move in. The floors were finished being sanded, then I helped put on the sever layers of sealant.
Tell me those floors don’t look awesome!? Now this is a small sampling – we finished close to 1100 square feet of 1940’s original wood flooring. And no, I’m not for hire or interested in redoing ANY of y’all’s floors on the weekends. Thanks though!
Joking aside, I loved being able to serve my family in this way and keep my step-dad from spending dozens of late late nights working on the house. This hopefully sped the move-in process for them up by several weeks; I’m sure I’ll be back down there then to get stuff all moved in and situated!
This brought me to something that I have begun to realize the last several months. Often, we look outside of our immediate circle first and/or only for people to serve. This is honorable, right, and commendable. However, upon asking God who He wanted in my circle of influence to show Christ’s love to and be His hands and feet to, all the people put on my mind were in my family. Although these are not always “the least of these,” we believers have a tremendous amount of influence over people close to us because we see them so often. Just a thought and something I want to continue to invest in long after Sabbatical time.
Also, more along the true handiwork lines, I finished a kitchen table that I have been building 2014… don’t ask, it’s a long story. The cool part of the story is how beautiful and amazing it turned out DESPITE my serious lack of woodworking ability! Thanks again to the guidance of my step-dad on this one.
As do many of the other occurrences over my time of Sabbatical, this table has a lot of personal meaning. The wood that was used is Long Leaf Pine, most of it sprouted in the late 1700s. Once harvested in the 1800s, it was used to build a cotton-storage warehouse in Bryan, TX. My great-grandfather managed that warehouse for many years, then my grandfather, Papa, managed it until a new, steel-framed building replaced it. A few months after this same grandfather passed away, they decided to tear down the old warehouse to make room for future construction. My step-dad asked if he could purchase some of the old wood; this is the same wood used to build the table seen here. It’s old and has a lot of character, but reminds me of him every time I look at it. God is good to put things in our lives to remind us of what is important and those we love in everyday life.
Other notable things this week were coming back to Abilene and finishing the week here. I’ve finished my first book, Wild at Heart, and am most of the way through Mere Christianity. God has shown me a lot of grace to seek and know His peace, even in very challenging circumstances. By learning to rely on God at the deepest “daily bread” level, my life has been and is being transformed to look more and more like Jesus.