One Part of Your Journey is Over, Another Begins

David is wearing pink fuzzy slippers he found under his bed, most likely left from a previous volunteer, and is wandering around the house. Nate is drinking some sort of protein drink. Jenny is working overtime on her lesson plans. Laura is running. Jesse is walking around the house brushing his teeth. Joe is making coffee and singing. And I'm writing. We all have our trademark activities we do everyday. Our routines do not consist of checking emails over and over, nor of sitting in gridlock, or walking to and from class. Rather, our routines consist of driving to the building supply store, reading on the porch, showering off sawdust, loading up the chop saw and saws all, and prayer.

But, some days are not routine. This week we have closed 2 jobs, which is quite a big deal. Some jobs take months to complete, so closing them out is a rarity and a great source of joy. Both jobs have been lingering since workfest...last March, when college students, including a group of us from U of I, came down in a housing blitz of the area to volunteer for spring break. One of the jobs we closed today I also worked on in March, when I was but a lowly honors Psychology student and baker.

The family looked at me a little sideways and narrow-eyed as they recognized me...maybe.
"Have you worked here before?"
"Oh yeah," I replied, "In March I was here and did that roof"
"Huh, you were fatter then....and had less of a beard when last you'uns were here"
"...yes, yes I suppose that's true."

Nate and I were debating where to eat lunch today. He suggested that we eat lunch in the truck, but I suggested that we eat with Harry, the man we were working for. Nate was wondering if Harry would talk our ears off. I (knowing he would) said, "naw, it's going to be really quiet." It wasn't, much to my delight. The best part of the conversation was when Harry lifted up his shirt to show us where he had colon surgery, which, of course, was why he did not want any of our lunches.

But, I wanted to throw one idea out there for your consideration. Possibly worse than the economic poverty of many is the poverty of spirit, both in this area and world-wide. How many people suffer immeasurably from loneliness, depression, or worse, both as a result of economic depravity and other reasons of course? Now, I'm not suggesting that Harry is suffering in this way, he seems a light hearted man. But, sometimes, more than siding or fixing some leaky gutters, a conversation or a smile helps someone immeasurably more than any dollar amount. So, we try to provide both as we can. Just a thought for you.

For your consideration from what I'm reading now:
There is no end to the dissolution of ideas, the destruction of all tests of truth, that has become possible since men abandoned the attempt to keep a central and civilized Truth, to contain all truths and trace out and refute all errors. Since then, each group has taken one truth at a time and spent the time in turning it into a falsehood. We have had nothing but movements; or in other words, monomanias. But the Church is not a movement but a meeting-place; the trysting-place of all the truths in the world.
-G. K. Chesterton