| The sub-floor in the Living Room is looking good. It's funny that you can see the Hall Bath toilet from the front door - ha! |
| Here's looking into the Living Room from the Kitchen. |
| Ditto. |
|Ditto. Again. |Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The Bridge | Part 4 |
Wednesday: It was a good day today. Not really any surprises and we got to see the exciting vision taking shape. We removed the sub-floor in the living room and it appears to be in good shape (...from the top view, haven't seen under the house yet.) We'll be removing the wall between the kitchen and the living room to create an open space. Here's the result of all our hard work . . .
|Ditto. Again. |
|Ditto. Again. |
The Bridge | Part 3 |
Tuesday: Our goals today were to finish taking down the burnt wood paneling in the kitchen. Also, we thought we would be productive and tackle the bathrooms while we were at it. The goal for the Hall Bath was to remove the cabinet since it was rotten.
| To finish Day 1 work, we took off the burnt paneling. The wood paneling was literally holding the pipe together in the laundry room. Once the pressure was removed, the pipe popped apart. Water spewed everywhere. Come to find out the only way to turn off the main water line is by turning off the church building's water. Go figure. This little surprise was also a God thing. We were not planning on removing the paneling from this wall but obviously we need to fix the pipe and the wood was rotted inside the wall. Are you catching on to a theme here? |
| Once we got the cabinet out, this was the wall beside the cabinet. Not good. More investigating to be done. |
| As if the Hall Bath wasn't enough, here's the Master Bath wall. More work to be done. |
| This was the shower wall. The reason the other bathroom wall was missing is because the Master Bath shower was leaking. |
| To finish Day 1 work, we took off the burnt paneling. The wood paneling was literally holding the pipe together in the laundry room. Once the pressure was removed, the pipe popped apart. Water spewed everywhere. Come to find out the only way to turn off the main water line is by turning off the church building's water. Go figure. This little surprise was also a God thing. We were not planning on removing the paneling from this wall but obviously we need to fix the pipe and the wood was rotted inside the wall. Are you catching on to a theme here? |
| Here's what the Hall Bath looked like when we began. |
| Since the cabinet was rotten and surrounded by tile and concrete, the tile on the wall had to be removed too. |
| Once we got the cabinet out, this was the wall beside the cabinet. Not good. More investigating to be done. |
| Looking productive!!! |
| Ok, not so much. When we got the cabinet out, the floor was also concrete. When we removed the concrete on the floor, we found out there wasn't a floor at all. |
| The tub was sitting on a rotten floor joist and no wood support. It's a God thing that we found it before it fell through the floor. |
| As if the Hall Bath wasn't enough, here's the Master Bath wall. More work to be done. |
| This was the shower wall. The reason the other bathroom wall was missing is because the Master Bath shower was leaking. |The Bridge | Part 2 |
Monday: We decided to start the demolition in the kitchen. We removed the cabinets because the floor appeared to need work and the peach faux bricks had to go! Needless to say, it was an interesting day . . .
| Peach Brick Wall |
| More fire damage on the walls. |
| Rat nest under the dishwasher. Luckily, everyone had moved out. |
Ok, so that wrapped up day one - Whoo, Hoo! I just kept praying for God to reveal the secrets in the house. I'm thinking my prayers are being answered.
| Peach Brick Wall |
| Yikes, we quickly found out why the bricks were installed. |
| More fire damage on the walls. |
| Rat nest under the dishwasher. Luckily, everyone had moved out. |
| Rot, rot, and more rot. |
Ok, so that wrapped up day one - Whoo, Hoo! I just kept praying for God to reveal the secrets in the house. I'm thinking my prayers are being answered.
The Bridge | Part 1 |
Well, Owen has named our Lincoln Village House. He's calling it The Bridge which seems to be fitting. Here's some pictures before the remodelling begins . . .
| Outside |
| Kitchen |
|Living Room |
|Laundry Room |
| Master Suite |
|Maddie's Room|
| Hall Bath |
| Hall Bath |Friday, September 17, 2010
Fresh Manna . . . | Family |
Be prepared....this one's going to hurt.
Forgotten God Excerpt (pg 152 - 153)
"A while back a former gang member came to our church. He was heavily tattooed and rough around the edges, but he was curious to see what church was like. He had a relationship with Jesus and seemed to get fairly involved with the church.
After a few months, I found out the guy was no longer coming to the church. When asked why he didn't come anymore, he gave the following explanation: "I had the wrong idea of what church was going to be like. When I joined the church, I thought it was going to be like joining a gang. You see, in the gangs we weren't just nice to each other once a week - we were a family." That killed me because I knew that what he expected is what the church is intended to be. It saddened me to think that a gang could paint a better picture of commitment, loyalty, and family than the local church body.
The church is intended to be a beautiful place of community. A place where wealth is shared and when one suffers, everyone suffers. A place where when one rejoices, everyone rejoices. A place where everyone experiences real love and acceptance in the midst of great honesty about our brokenness. Yet most of the time this is not even close to how we would describe our churches.
Without the Spirit of God in our midst, working in us, guiding us, and living and loving through us, we will never be the kind of people who make up this kind of community. There is no such thing as a real believer who doesn't have the Holy Spirit, or a real church without the Spirit. It's just not possible. But what is possible is we would individually and corporately quench and hinder the Spirit's activity in and through our lives.
Forgotten God Excerpt (pg 152 - 153)
"A while back a former gang member came to our church. He was heavily tattooed and rough around the edges, but he was curious to see what church was like. He had a relationship with Jesus and seemed to get fairly involved with the church.
After a few months, I found out the guy was no longer coming to the church. When asked why he didn't come anymore, he gave the following explanation: "I had the wrong idea of what church was going to be like. When I joined the church, I thought it was going to be like joining a gang. You see, in the gangs we weren't just nice to each other once a week - we were a family." That killed me because I knew that what he expected is what the church is intended to be. It saddened me to think that a gang could paint a better picture of commitment, loyalty, and family than the local church body.
The church is intended to be a beautiful place of community. A place where wealth is shared and when one suffers, everyone suffers. A place where when one rejoices, everyone rejoices. A place where everyone experiences real love and acceptance in the midst of great honesty about our brokenness. Yet most of the time this is not even close to how we would describe our churches.
Without the Spirit of God in our midst, working in us, guiding us, and living and loving through us, we will never be the kind of people who make up this kind of community. There is no such thing as a real believer who doesn't have the Holy Spirit, or a real church without the Spirit. It's just not possible. But what is possible is we would individually and corporately quench and hinder the Spirit's activity in and through our lives.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
You Are Everything....Awesome Song
The "Something to Say Special Edition" version of You are Everything is the best but YouTube doesn't have that one.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Fresh Manna . . . | God's Will |
This is an excerpt from Forgotton God (Chapter 6). I didn't know if this hit home for me just because of my situation but my hope is it will resonate with others too....
I think a lot of us need to forget about God's will for my life. God cares more about our response to His Spirit's leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today's decisions.
It is easy to use the phrase "God's will for my life" as an excuse for inaction or even disobedience. It's much less demanding to think about God's will for your future than it is to ask Him what He wants you to do to in the next ten minutes. It's safer to commit to following him someday instead of this day.
People who have, in a sense, asked Him to join them on their life journey, to follow them wherever they feel they should go, rather than following Him as we are commanded. The God of the universe is not something we can just add to our lives and keep on as we did before. The Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is not someone we can just call on when we want a little extra power in our lives. Jesus Christ did not die in order to follow us. He died and rose again so that we could forget everything else and follow Him to the cross, to true Life.
When Jesus calls us to take up the cross, He is doing much more than calling us to endure the daily, circumstantial troubles of life. Jesus is calling us to be willing to suffer anything and forsake everything for the sake of the gospel. His call is to consider everything a loss for His sake. He is call is for total surrender. He calls us to give up all that we have, to give even to the point of offering up our lives as living sacrifices. His call means realizing that His power is made perfect in our weakness, that when we are weak we are also strong. (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
So far, this has been my favorite chapter in the entire book. I could type for hours on this chapter alone. Go out and get a copy today.
I think a lot of us need to forget about God's will for my life. God cares more about our response to His Spirit's leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today's decisions.
It is easy to use the phrase "God's will for my life" as an excuse for inaction or even disobedience. It's much less demanding to think about God's will for your future than it is to ask Him what He wants you to do to in the next ten minutes. It's safer to commit to following him someday instead of this day.
People who have, in a sense, asked Him to join them on their life journey, to follow them wherever they feel they should go, rather than following Him as we are commanded. The God of the universe is not something we can just add to our lives and keep on as we did before. The Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is not someone we can just call on when we want a little extra power in our lives. Jesus Christ did not die in order to follow us. He died and rose again so that we could forget everything else and follow Him to the cross, to true Life.
When Jesus calls us to take up the cross, He is doing much more than calling us to endure the daily, circumstantial troubles of life. Jesus is calling us to be willing to suffer anything and forsake everything for the sake of the gospel. His call is to consider everything a loss for His sake. He is call is for total surrender. He calls us to give up all that we have, to give even to the point of offering up our lives as living sacrifices. His call means realizing that His power is made perfect in our weakness, that when we are weak we are also strong. (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
So far, this has been my favorite chapter in the entire book. I could type for hours on this chapter alone. Go out and get a copy today.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Fresh Manna . . . | The Despised |
Two nights ago, Maddie was talking about a boy that she felt compassion for but he did not take care of his physical appearance. He acted out, he didn't brush his teeth, etc. but she wanted to understand why he was this way. So, I had her get my Bible and I read Isaiah 53...
"There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected - a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care. ...and I continued reading all of Isaiah 53."
I told her the boy could be what Jesus looked like and what heartache would that bring us to overlook him. You never know when we have a chance of meeting Jesus but we if we are consumed with appearances and others thoughts, we might ignore Him too.
Matthew 25:34-40
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
I encourage you to read Isaiah 53 in a new light, then see who around you is "nothing beautiful, full of sorrow, and even despised and rejected by others." I personally was blown away.
"There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected - a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care. ...and I continued reading all of Isaiah 53."
I told her the boy could be what Jesus looked like and what heartache would that bring us to overlook him. You never know when we have a chance of meeting Jesus but we if we are consumed with appearances and others thoughts, we might ignore Him too.
Matthew 25:34-40
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
I encourage you to read Isaiah 53 in a new light, then see who around you is "nothing beautiful, full of sorrow, and even despised and rejected by others." I personally was blown away.
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