There is a time for everything

Tis the season to purchase houses. Picked this one up this week. Need to get our work for next year purchased now. 

This makes the 3rd one we have purchased this Fall to remodel in the next 6 months.

Our neighbors are remodeling their house. They did not want their cabinets to go to the landfill. They kindly gave them to us. 

I hauled them to the garage of the house we are working on. It took 8 trips with the pickup. Later they will have to go into our storage building, but I am going to want help to unload them there. Now we need to buy a house that needs cabinets. (we do have a couple that if the tenants move out we may need to replace some cupboards.)

We still had a house and garage that needs to be shingled this fall. I don't like to put on a roof this late in the year but last year we waited till spring on a couple that needed shingles and we had a leak that caused a a chunk of ceiling to fall. Don't want to do that again. 

I got about 2/3 of one side of the main part of the house done on Tuesday and on Saturday Micah and I finished the east side and got the west side on. Still need to do the porches on the north and south side of the house as well as the garage. Looking at the weather forecast we may be waiting a week before progress is made.

Had a tenant move out yesterday. I do wish she had taken all of her stuff.

I am left with a full bedroom set in one bedroom and a king size bed in another. 2 kitchen tables and 10 chairs. 

 Plus at least 2 pickup loads of junk for the landfill, including everything that was in the fridge and freezer.

My week reminds me of what the author of Ecclesiastes wrote

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: 

a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,  

 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 

a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 

 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 

 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 

a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 

 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

There is a time to buy and a time to fix houses a time to keep cabinets and a time to throw away someone else's stuff.

I received a phone call this week from a woman I did not know. She shared about a tragedy in her life. I could really offer no advice. It was a horror beyond imagining. All I could do was listen, commiserate and be appalled at the evil in a man's heart.

There is a time to talk and a time to listen. This was a time to listen. I often tell people that Job's 3 friends in the Biblical story of Job did right as long as they sat for 7 days with their suffering friend. Once they started speaking, God became angry with them for their words. This week I think I did good. I just listened and said "I understand your anger". I often speak too much when I should say little and say too little when I should speak and share the truth of God's love and forgiveness because of Jesus sacrifice.

I missed a chance this week. I had another woman ask if I was going to stop by on Sunday. Then she said "no, you won't, you will be in church." (We have had conversations about God before) I should have told her why I go to church. I believe she thinks God is like a big vending machine that hands out good things occasionally if you are good or pray just right. It was a time to speak and I didn't. I should have told her I don't go to church to get things from God. I go to church because I have gotten something from God. Forgiveness and eternal life. A time to speak and I missed it and the sad part is God was yelling in my heart "Tell her!" but I didn't.

A time to be silent and a time to speak. I got the silent part right this week but not the speaking part. 50% is not a very good score.