Jen is at a Lady's Bible study tonight with our church, and now that the kids are in bed I thought I would update myself on what everyone's blogging these days.
Our date night that Jen mentioned on last Saturday was great. What an experience to see people who now have a shot at life they otherwise wouldn't have had without Christ. Prison, drugs, alcohol abuse, you name it - now on the road to recovery thanks to some caring individuals and most of all Christ. Hope Ministries is a neat organization that is very Christ centered. I was visiting with one of the directors recently and he recounted a recent story in which the VA administration approached Hope Ministries with a very large amount of annual funding because of the success rate of the recovery of its residents and their long term sustainability. Hope was clear from the begining that they would not accept any funding if there were strings attached regarding how they run their ministry - of course the VA said that was fine, but well into the arrangement someone finally mentioned that they would like Hope Ministries not say Jesus so much, and not require its residents to attend chapel. The reply, as it was told to me was "you came to us because of the success of the program, and now you want to take away the one thing that makes it successful. No thank you." Obviously walking away from that much money is dificult for any mission work, but hey, I don't recall finances ever being a problem for God.
I don't know how many of you have heard of or listened to much of Ravi Zacharius, but I have been listening to downloaded messages of his for some time now. This week I listened to a 5 part series entitled
"Worship: A clue to meaning in life". It is definetly one of the more profound pieces of oratory that I have heard in a while. Ravi, as he often does, masterfully combines several soaring thoughts and concepts and weaves them understandibly in a mind numbing 3-4 minute segment at the end of part 4. Well worth the download if you get a chance.
We are in the middle of several remodeling projects that have had some twists and turns. It was all pretty manageable until I realized late in the summer that a roof leak really needed to be a complete re-roof rather than just trying to fix a couple trouble spots. And of course I couldn't convince any roofers that it should be done for free. So what started as wiring a new electrical outlet for a new washer dryer has turned into a new bathroom with new plumbing and electrical and shower and tile and the whole works, a new roof, new siding on the second floor, re-built soffits, all of that painted and a giant void between our kitchen and bathroom which will one day be a kitchen expansion. This week a roofer, sider, painter, and drywaller will have all been at my house at one point or another. Here are a couple midpoint pictures - just studs, plumbing, and insulation at this point. within a couple weeks I should be able to post pictures of it with paint and tile.
Existing Tub
New Shower
