I Love It! I Hate It!

I am so conflicted!  


Today was a great day and also a day where it was clear that my nerves were wearing thin.  During the day I got to talk with a plumber while he was installing our water heater. (It was covered under our home warranty so it is OK.)  It was cool to talk to him about the vast knowledge base he has about plumbing and just construction in general.  There are projects in the future that he helped us map out!  The bad part was that I was not able to get to work on time nor get all I needed to get done there.  Thus, I am still busy at 10:30PM!

Then, I got to go shopping with Carla.  This was the highlight of my day because in the stress filled world of trying to move to our home we sometimes rarely get to be near each other until late at night.  And by then we are just done.  But we went to Lowe's to shop for a washer and dryer.  (This is sad for a handy person like myself but I had never stepped into a Lowe's before!)  The sales man was so helpful in what we were looking for and willing to drop the price of a new washer to that of the scratch and dent model.  Yeah!  Then we got an additional 10% off because of a coupon we got in the mail.  Very fun!

Then we went back to the house and I saw all of the painting and little projects that need attention.  We are taking care of many large projects on Saturday but there are many walls that need painting!  I was so tired that I didn't even enjoy painting the trim in the upstairs bathroom!  Something is seriously wrong when that happens!  

I want to be moved into our home!  I want to have most of the projects completed or at least to a manageable amount!  I want to hang out with my wife and kids instead of racing to get these home tasks done!  I want to put more of my attention and energy into ministry!  I want to have people over so that we can invest in each others' lives!

Why must I so quickly lose my focus and grow impatient with God's timing and leading?  Today, even in the valleys or the stress filled frustrations of my life, I know that my God is there.  And in the fun and exciting times or mountain tops, he is there too.  How can I just be content to know that my God is beside me every second and gives me what I need and even more?  

I long to live with the perspective of Paul who says in Philippians 4, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all things through him who gives me strength."  


Someday.  Not today but someday.

Grace Paint!

I have found that there are 2 kinds of people in the world: those who like to paint and those who will avoid painting at all cost!  People give various reasons for why they would never want to paint a room in their home.  Maybe it is skill level or confidence which I understand.  It's OK.  Not everyone likes to paint.  I am trying to understand people who are not like me.

I love to paint and have found many benefits in painting.  It is therapeutic in that it calms me down and gives me confidence in doing something that I can do pretty well.  It is enriching in that I can listen to sermons on my MP3 player and get ideas for my own preaching.  It is helpful to others in that I get to help out others who don't paint. Sometimes they even pay me which is always beneficial!

Mostly, I can't think about painting without thinking about God's grace.  Because every wall has it's history, often times I need to paint over nasty stains.  Who knows how they got that way but they now make the wall look shabby and worn out.  Many stains are so bad that there is no way to return the wall to a good condition except by using a stain blocker.  Without the stain blocker, the stain would bleed through and the wall would still look shabby.

I love to use Kilz stain blocker which covers the stain and allows the wall to accept a good coat of paint.  The stain is still there but it is now covered.  No one will ever see the stain again!  It will not bleed through to the final coat of paint and it will look as if the wall never had a stain on it!  It's a miracle!

We all are like walls: we all have nasty stains.  God calls them sin.  Even pastors have sins.  They are just better at hiding them.  The miracle is that my God sends me grace as a stain blocker to cover the nasty sin stains in my life.  Through the work of Jesus and my trust in him, he covers my stains.  The stains are still there but they have been covered and will NEVER be seen again.  When God looks at me, he doesn't see a dirty, shabby, sin-filled rebel.  He sees me as a beautiful clean and new person who has no sin stains.  All of this because of God's incredible grace!  Isn't God's grace amazing?

Oh, I do love painting!