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 - Endorsed - Indifferent - Contested
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| The Nashville Statement
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Name:Daniel
Home: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
About Me: I used to believe that evolution was reasonable, that homosexuality was genetic, and that people became Christians because they couldn't deal with the 'reality' that this life was all there was. I used to believe, that if there was a heaven - I could get there by being good - and I used to think I was more or less a good person. I was wrong on all counts. One day I finally had my eyes opened and I saw that I was not going to go to heaven, but that I was certainly going to suffer the wrath of God for all my sin. I saw myself as a treasonous rebel at heart - I hated God for creating me just to send me to Hell - and I was wretched beyond my own comprehension. Into this spiritual vacuum Jesus Christ came and he opened my understanding - delivering me from God's wrath into God's grace. I was "saved" as an adult, and now my life is hid in Christ. I am by no means sinless, but by God's grace I am a repenting believer - a born again Christian.
My complete profile...
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Daniel's posts are almost always pastoral and God centered. I appreciate and am challenged by them frequently. He has a great sense of humor as well.
- Marc Heinrich
His posts are either funny or challenging. He is very friendly and nice.
- Rose Cole
[He has] good posts, both the serious like this one, and the humorous like yesterday. [He is] the reason that I have restrained myself from making Canadian jokes in my posts.
- C-Train
This post contains nothing that is of any use to me. What were you thinking? Anyway, it's probably the best I've read all day.
- David Kjos
Daniel, nicely done and much more original than Frank the Turk.
- Jonathan Moorhead
There are some people who are smart, deep, or funny. There are not very many people that are all 3. Daniel is one of those people. His opinion, insight and humor have kept me coming back to his blog since I first visited earlier this year.
- Carla Rolfe
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| Not That You're Interested... |
I am still busy with that large project at work - which means I still have a couple of outstanding threads that need to be addressed yet (I do plan to address them if and when the Lord allows however).
Nevertheless, I have a few moments to quickly describe the madness of the last few days.
When we purchased our current house about five or six years ago, we bought five new appliances (washer, dryer, fridge, stove, and dishwasher). In purchasing the dishwasher, the salesman asked us whether or not we wanted a "stand alone" model, an "in counter" model, or a hybrid model that was a "stand alone" for now, but could be converted into an "in counter" model later on - should the need arise.
We opted for the one you could convert later on, since the layout in the kitchen left very little cupboard space, and we didn't want to lose any of that by buying the under-the-counter model, not only that, we had just purchased the house, and frankly we were financially able to renovate the kitchen at the time.
This past couple of years my wife has been concerned about the counter and sink in our old kitchen - the counter was a particle board, and the tap had leaked into the counter causing it to swell, and even to rot around the sink. So, because I couldn't really put it off any longer, we decided that this would be the year we redo the cabinets - and consequently, convert that dishwasher.
In September we sat down with my wife's uncle (who owns a cabinet shop) and looked at cabinets. I opted for a beveled "Shaker" style in maple, and tried to argue for a granite counter top, but my wife didn't like the idea, so we went with plain old (green) arbrite. Then, the days began to go by, and no word came from her uncle, October came and went, then November. See, her uncle deals mostly in the "pressed board with laminate" style doors and whatnot, and doesn't do hardwood cabinets himself per se, so the measurements were taken, the doors were ordered, and the wait commenced. December was halfway over when whispers of the cabinets began to stir.
Meanwhile, the Lord was pleased to grant me several speaking engagements thrice on the weekend before Christmas (the same weekend I was scheduled to clean the church building), and twice again on the Christmas eve Sunday - that is five times in seven days - and wouldn't you know it - that was the week that the cabinets showed up.
Now, prior to learning that our cabinets were in, we had arranged to have Christmas eve with my family at my place (about 25-30 people), I figured I could swing it, I would make a meal the night before (I am the one who does the "fancy" cooking in our family), then we I could go and speak in the a.m., rush home to greet my family for the afternoon get together, then hasten them out, and go and speak in the p.m. - it was going to be tight, but that is how I figured it would go.
The work in the kitchen was only supposed to take a couple of days and was tentatively scheduled for Monday. My wife's father (being a carpenter) had agreed to put the cabinets in for us - praise the Lord for that, it saved us an installation fee; but it also put us at the disposal of his schedule in a way that wouldn't have happened if we were obligating someone by a contract to be there and get the job done according to our schedule.
Monday passed without a sound.
I took Tuesday off of work, intending to assist in whatever way I could, but Tuesday was a no-show as well. Not wanting to waste the day, I took out the top cabinets, and re-installed them in my laundry room - which I had to drywall just then in order to hang them - my wife was quite pleased with my sudden "handyman-esqued-ness" since hanging drywall and kitchen cabinetry is clearly a masculine endeavor, and perhaps more importantly, (and even surprisingly) I didn't botch it.
I should mention that my wife wanted a new faucet for the kitchen - and somehow that mushroomed into a new faucet and new sink - since if we were going to buy a new sink, now would be the time to do it - before they cut the hole in the new counter top for it. So I went out, and 500 unanticipated dollars later we had a new sink and faucet waiting to be installed as well.
Wednesday I went into work, but my throat was raw, and I was starting to lose my voice. I had picked up a bug and it was starting to turn nasty. I wouldn't even have gone into work on Wednesday except I don't like to take a vacation day and immediately follow it up with a sick day - it looks suspicious. So I went in sick.
That day (Wednesday) my wife's dad showed up with a helper and a truck load of cabinets, and they installed the cabinets. The countertop wasn't ready yet, and the rumor was that it wouldn't be ready until after Christmas. The reason (we found out later) was because the pattern my wife picked out for the countertop was no longer available. But, since we couldn't really do without a kitchen sink and counter, my wife's father installed a temporary countertop, and we installed the new sink onto the temporary countertop. It was not pretty, but it was functional.
I told my wife to go and pick another pattern quickly, not from the samples book, but from what her uncle had in stock (in the hope that this might accelerate the counter making process and possibly get us a "real" countertop before my family came on Sunday.
Thursday I was a wreck, and called in sick. My wife's father came over and I kept him company as he worked on the plumbing for the sink and dishwasher. My wife went and picked out a countertop, and later that day her uncle called to say that the counter was ready, to our delight - though I think it put her father out a bit (now he would have to install the sink all over again!
Friday came, and I was still sick so I stayed home (-I could barely speak-) and my wife's dad showed up with the countertop. I was excited, because it looked like we might get the new countertop installed that day, but her father had some other commitments he needed to get to and wouldn't be able to install them that day - though he did finish installing the dishwasher (which cost me another hundred or so in hoses, little pipe clamps, and whatnot). He was torn between wanting to help us get this in before Christmas and his own work schedule, so it was quite a blessing to us when he agreed to come on Saturday and put in the counter top. I asked what I could do to "prep" and he had me uninstall the sink, remove the temporary countertops, and put some backing in to support the countertop - all of which I did on Friday night. I still couldn't raise my voice above a whisper.
Saturday he showed up around nine, and we got straight to work. By eleven we had the sink and counter in - though the counter wasn't screwed down yet. It was then that we noticed we couldn't open any of the drawers on account of the counter lip coming down too low. So we made spacers and put them under the counter - which worked, but took another hour, and meant that we couldn't screw down the countertop right then and there. We then worked on getting all the toe-kicks cut and installed, etc. and doing some of the finishing work. He left around two thirty in the p.m. and by three I was off to the hardware store to find a hood rage for the stove, a new white, globe of glass to go over the broken kitchen light (one of my son's friends was showing off his lightsaber skills in the kitchen - nuff said), some wood screws, and all the knobs and whatnot for the drawers. I got home about six thirty, and started installing knobs, then I installed the hood range, a strip of 1" maple cove finishing, latexing in all the gaps, and finally finished around midnight. Then I started making lasagna for the meal the next day. I crawled into bed at 2:30 a.m.
It turns out my speaking engagement in the morning was cancelled, which was a kindness I thank the Lord for.
My family came over, and everything went off without a hitch, though my younger sister wrote me a long letter detailing exactly how miserable I had been to her as an older sibling. She poetically rehearsed (and I think managed to capture the flavor of my early years well) just exactly how I had damaged her for life, how awful it was, and how it is only just now that she was able to forgive me for the way I had ruined her life. I made the mistake of reading that before I preached that night, but I trusted the Lord's timing. I surely was a wretch, and was able to earnestly thank the Lord for this reminder - however unpleasant and awkward it might be.
On Christmas day my wife's parents came over for breakfast, then we went over to their place for supper, then we were off with the family for a two night stay at a local hotel with other Christian friends. We feel our children have enough gifts to last them two lifetimes, and so rather than buy them a new stash of toys, we took them to a hotel that had themed rooms, a giant play structure (3 stories!) and a pool. It was quite fun, though I was severely deprived of sleep by the time we got there.
All in all, it was a very memorable last couple of weeks. I am thankful that the Lord was so gracious to us. I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas this year. |
posted by Daniel @
8:49 AM
 
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| 3 Comments: |
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Everyone needs a good home improvement project around the holidays...
Merry Christmas (a little late) and Happy New Year!
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Thanks Rose! Merry Christmas to you and yours as well!
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Well Daniel, I hope you can laugh at all this in hindsight. It is amazing how the enemy causes things to go into disarray when we have commitments for the gospel's sake.
Blessings brother,
Jim
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Everyone needs a good home improvement project around the holidays...
Merry Christmas (a little late) and Happy New Year!