I'm Back!
Once again, I'm back....perhaps I'll post more this summer (don't I always promise that??)
Recap from past two months....there were good days and bad days....I was happy and mad.....I was in a good mood and depressed....That about recaps the whole thing.
This has been an interesting weekend. We have been busy, with getting thing put together in the house and with having people over. So here is a list of what I have learned this weekend:
1) Large gazebo's that appear to be made well and entirely out of steel are REALLY heavy and REALLY not made as well as would appear.
We bought this gazebo a few weeks ago from Target to replace the rusted out one that the previous homeowners had. We got a really good deal on it because it was a floor sample. So some guy from Target took it apart, and they gave it to use as a pile of meal, some cloth and screws, and no instructions. When I mentioned to the kid who loaded it in my car that I was a little nervous about putting it together without any instructions he told me not to worry, the guy who puts the stuff together for Target is "not too bright", so I shouldn't have any problems. Well, I guess he is slightly brighter then I (he used the instructions) because I ended up breaking it by trying to stand it up after assembling it on its side. The welds that held in the screws quickly failed on one corner. Let me just say, thank you for J.B. Weld...the duct tape of glues. I don't know if it will last through the winter....but did I mention that we got a good deal on it?
2) Above ground swimming pool maintenance is an extremely heartbreaking and expensive hobby.
So, when we bought the house, we inherited a swimming pool from the previous owners. We thought that t would be a lot of fun to get it open for this weekend. We took the cover off on Friday and shocked the pool. My friend Steve came over to help me (because he has had pool before.) So we get the pool filter set up and shocked on Friday....things are looking good. Saturday morning I get up and discover that the ladder they left behind needs a deck to work. The previous owners took out the deck and were planning to replace it (I think) but never did. So, off to the pool store and $150 later, I have a pool ladder. Steve comes over to check on things and mentions that I should consider getting a new filter system perhaps next year. The one have is really not that good. So Sunday morning comes and the filter blows the fuses in the house. Guess what...my filter pump blows up. So, $200 later, I now own a new filter pump with a fairly new filter (thanks Steve). We get the pool up and running only to discover that my out-take nozzle and some clamps are bad...so it will be off to the pool store later today for more stuff. So far I have spent over $350 on this thing, with more to come later today. The funny thing (keeping in line with the previous post) is that I put the ladder together wrong, requiring me to saw off part of the legs (I had the instructions this time, but missed the picture on how it was supposed to go into the pool. Perhaps I'm really not that bright.) We discovered my error last night. More J.B. Weld later today. By the way, I have yet to get in the pool.
3) Preaching the entirety and practicality of Kingdom Theology in one Sunday is a huge mistake.
Sunday was by far the longest sermon I have done in a while (over 1:15 in length.) I think I lost the entire church. Ugh.
4) No matter how long I do this pastor thing, or this life thing, I'll never be prepared for the emotional after effects of people.
We had people here all weekend. Friday and Saturday people were here helping us set up our pool. Sunday was church and "Ed-fest" (more on that later), Monday was the Memorial Day open-house. I really do not do well with large crowds. We had a lot of people here on Monday, and I felt like I need to make sure everyone was doing OK. I found myself going from person to person, never really sitting down. It was exhausting. Time to speak in code...We have people who are having marital and life issues, and it is had to deal with some of those...I really don't have anything that I can add to it. We have people who are having job and health issues...once again I really don't know what to say. All I can do is point them to God and pray....and I'm not sure if that is what they really want. Stacey decided to move to N.J. this week and left yesterday....it was rather abrupt and really affected a lot of people (me being one of them). Emotions were all over the place...and she could not understand why people acted the way they did....abrupt decisions cause reactions like that. We also have a growing group of people who are having issues relating to one another. Not that they hate each other, more to the fact that they really like one another, but do not know what do about it or how to act around one another. It is like they are trying to dance the Tango without actually touching one another (For those of you trying to guess, it is more then one couple). This is extremely exhausting to watch from the outside.
5) One of these days I need to figure out that there is not much I can do about the people I really care for who just don't get "it".
Perhaps this ties into the above category, but there are some people who I really care for...some family, some friends, who just don't get "it". It can be several different things, God, Jesus, life, relationships, whatever. They just don't get it. They keep on repeating the same stuff over and over again. The problem is that I really care for these people....love these people, and I really want them to get it and start seeing fruit in their lives. It frustrates me, it depresses me, and it really puts me in a funk. They tend to be the main focus (after my wife and kids) of what my prayers are. I see little things happen, and I get hopeful, I get excited, but then they fall back into the same routines. None of the "it's" are major things, thing's that the world would notice. They are the things that good friends notice. And they probably don’t even know that I get affected.
Perhaps this is where God is with us. Wondering when we are going to get "it." Perhaps this is how he feels, knowing what would be good for us, knowing what would bring us fulfillment, but us never getting it, never trusting him, never truly being fulfilled. Perhaps this is just a lesson for me, to learn how he feels abut me, about my failures, about where I really put my trust. Perhaps it is truly I who doesn’t get "it".
