Workin' it

You would think this had been Labor Day weekend instead of Memorial Day. It was loaded with manual labor for me. It started Saturday - we enclosed the S.W. corner of the pavilion. It's roughly 10'x13'. We can store tables and chairs in there, plus we're planning to put in a window through which we can serve food and drinks. We're currently in the market for a refrigerator. I thought we could put the 40-year-old fridge from the parsonage out there, and maybe the church would be kind enough to update ours to a regular-size one, but that was shot down pretty quickly at a council meeting. At any rate, it went pretty well and we got the room built. I worked that day from about 8 am until 6 pm. I was a little sore, and slept like a rock that night. I think I carried every piece of the 4x8 siding from the cut table to the spot it was screwed to. And I'll just say this... it really kinda irritates me when people say things like, "Gee, it's good to see the pastor actually doing some work for a change." Ha ha ha ha. I'll refrain from saying what I'm thinking in those instances, because it's not very "pastor-like."

Yesterday - Memorial Day - we were going to sleep in, but I was wide awake at like 5:30 for some reason. We decided to finally get some new red mulch for along the front of the house - since the other night I overheard some people talking about how poorly it looked. They were secretly devising a plan to have someone put mulch not only in front of the house, but also around all the trees in the yard (which don't presently have mulch around them). I'm glad I overheard them talking about it, because as the person who lives there, and who mows the lawn, I don't really care to have mulch around the trees. So... anyway, we got some mulch in the old truck, and now they should be happy.

After doing some office work we headed to Lowe's and bought some trim boards for the pavilion enclosure. That's the thing about having a "work day" - we got the majority of the thing done, but it's not finished entirely. And there was never any mention of when to do the trim, or put the window in, or wiring, or staining, etc. We've got a bad system for getting things done, because no one ever wants to be "in charge" of things like this, and so they sometimes just linger on forever. But I was actually looking forward to spending an hour or so doing some more measuring, marking, cutting, and nailing. It's nice to do something now and then where you can actually see that you did something. And I'm no stranger to tape measures and power tools, so I was having a good ole' time by myself just tinkering around. Until... the neighbor guy saw me. I mean, no offense, and he's a super guy and all, and I know that as a "pastor" I am supposed to do things "with" people and all that, but... so sue me because I like to do things like this without someone yacking at me and telling me how they would do it different and whatnot. It wasn't that bad, but... anyway... I got the boards all cut. I didn't put them up because I would prefer the siding be stained underneath the trim boards first, and the trim boards can actually be stained before putting them up - that way the ceiling might stay stain-free.

I finished off the day with a 3-mile run, a nice visit with Drew Carrie, and during the first half of the Celtics/Pistons game Jane and I watched the Tony Campolo dvd of his famous "It's Friday But Sunday's Coming" sermon. It's an hour long, but man... what an awesome sermon. I wish I could preach like that. And I'm sure there are plenty of people I know who would say it was too simplistic, and too evangelical, and too whatever else. But... you know... I think some people just plain think they're too smart for God to do anything in their life. Not that they need to dumb down, but they need to quit relying on their own wisdom. At any rate, I look forward to showing this at my church on a Sunday morning. They need to hear some good preachin' for a change. I would like to show it this coming Sunday, but I'll probably save it for a Sunday when I'm going to be gone or something. Geez, I wish I could listen to somebody preach like that once in awhile...

Well, today is Tuesday. Yep. Peace out; and in.