Today was really a great day. We got a ton of stuff done, having gone through 21 sheets of dry wall. That’s a lot, it really is. The Lagniappe staff can’t keep up with us, and they act surprised everyday when I request more.

More than that, its quality. The interns overseeing the project spend very little time at our house. They just stop by, give us a popsicle, and tell us everything looks really good. One group had to redo all of their mudding and taping, but we’ve been doing it so well. That’s a praise to God who grants wisdom and skill and all kinds of knowledge. Daniel once said the same thing about his dream interpreting ability. But this is no less amazing.

The kids are getting some skills down and doing quite well. The adults aren’t half bad either.
I hope you can tell how much work is getting done through the posted pictures.

Some of the pics are from our trip to New Orleans last night. We saw the mighty Mississippi. It couldn’t have been muddier.

Keep praying. One more day of work, and then the drive home Saturday. Peace.

Quotes of the Day:

• “These lights of (New Orleans) are nice but they don’t have the WOW of Las Vegas.”- Micheal Bouwer
• “These containers smell like Tad Poles.” -Jessica Terry

Wed, June 13th, Workday 3

The day was originally supposed to be a half day of work, ending at 2 pm (although that really wouldn’t be half). However we did end a little earlier today, at 3 pm. Today was a day of screwing around (literally). We put up a ton of screws. In addition, more dry wall was added and mud after that, and tape after that. And then some more dry wall mud.

We finally got to meet the family today, and that was a blast. They couldn’t be nicer. Really, they couldn’t.

The team is looking forward to dinner in New Orleans, as we’ll be leaving the compound shortly. Please pray for grace and patience. Grace is slow to be given and patience only shows up every so often when you get really tired. And we are tired. And our reward that we’re all looking forward to when we get back from New Orleans is this: bathroom duty!

The guys will be short handed, so we ought be up for a bit tonight. So, keep praying the 3 fold prayer mentioned on the Tuesday blog. And for the part about US, please pray for grace and patience with each other. That’s one way we ‘resist the devil (James 4:7).’ Peace.

I just figured out that the computers here at Lagniappe take the storage cards in our cameras. So I thought I’d post some more pictures today.

One thing that I haven’t mentioned much of is the relational component of the ministry here. Yesterday we met the homeowner’s father. It turns out that he is a big fisherman and loved to share his secrets on trout and redfishing in the area. Unfortunately we won’t have time to try them out. But just listening to this man was truly a blessing for him.

In addition we talked with some plumbers who had to ride out of their house on a boat during Katrina. They eventually came back to their house, and just rebuilt it one room at a time. There are so many stories and so little time to share. Hopefully we’ll get the chance when we get back. The kids have done a great job, and of course the adults as well. I’m blessed with this crew; I really am. Hope these pics give you an idea of what you’re praying for.

If not, then here is the standard prayer outline we’re following. Thanks!

1.) Us-needs of the team
2.) Lagniappe church-that operations continue, and ministry increases
3.) Kingdom-God’s Kingdom=His will and reign through reconstruction efforts and humble Christ centered community, and all of life and culture here

By the way, that’s Budweiser water we’re holding. Relax, its just water!

Tuesday, Work Day 2

Today is Tuesday, a great day for work. We put up some lovely sheet rock, and tore down some unlovely sheet rock. Jerusha, Johnny, Courtney, Sam, Hannah were part of the demolition squad. They left a huge wake of destruction in their paths, which was quickly hauled out to the corner.

In addition to putting up the sheet rock, the ladies laid some delicious mud on the dry wall, covering the disgusting nails. They also taped like it was nobody’s business. And it really wasn’t.

This morning Johnny got a chance to pray with a lady who was deeply upset about her housing situation. She was very happy to pray with someone, and to know that someone cared enough. She said, “Jesus Christ, thank you so much for this kid!”

Heads bumped a bit, sparks flew (so I’m told-I witnessed no sparks), but God’s grace prevailed.
We were visited by some trusty interns who showed us the way to more effective mud and tape dry wall. The girls thanked God for sending them.

Dave Bouwer’s constrcution prowess has shined. He’s been leading a good ship. It’s been getting rather warm lately, so please keep praying for strength. Thanks again. Talk to you tomorrow. More camera trouble now, so hope to post some more pics next time. Peace.

Great News. I used Steven’s camera and Johnny’s camera USB cord to connect to my computer, so here are some pics. We spent a lot of the time doing demolition of the inside of a house, cleaning debris, and fully insulating the house. It happened to belong to a Favre, but no relation to the interception prone quarterback that the Bucs usually eat for breakfast Brett Favre.

We started at 8 this morning and ended around 4:15 or so. Thanks for your prayers. We got a ton of stuff done, and tomorrow we will commence dry-walling. We only did one piece today.

Pray for our safety, physical stamina, skill, patience with each other, and if time-Sam’s cell phone to work! Thanks again! Peace.

Quotes of the day:

“My mom said my IQ was 20/20.”- Johnny Weichel

“What’s 37 + 38? 39?” – Micheal Bouwer

“I don’t know what they call this hear, but in Florida its called a Violation of Child Labor
Laws.-Jessica Terry

“There’s something about sandwiches that’s just Oh so scrumptuous!”-Jessica Terry

Worship this morning was, well, quite worshipful. The funny thing was that we opened our service with the same exact song people at Hope Presbyterian opened with: better is one day. The service was very laid back as the pastor actually wore shorts (my dream one day is to preach in shorts), but the mood was still reverent. We sang some of the same songs that we sing at Hope, and even had a prayer request time.

After lunch, we went to the beach. Nothing to write home about.Ugly sand. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the chords to connect to the computer with the camera. I know I spelled chords incorrectly but the computer I’m working with doesn’t delete very quickly; its like a type writer. Anyhow, I’m trying to get pictures up, but have had some computer troubles so far. If I can, I’ll get you pictures.

Tonight we received our ‘orders.’ Unfortunately the dude said, “You’ll have to see Ruth tomorrow at 7 am, because I don’t know anything about this particular house.” Great. So we’ll be doing some gutting and cleaning and repair. Probably.

I’ll update tomorrow with what we did exactly. Thanks for praying. Peace

We arrived at Lagniappe Pres safe and sound today. Praise the Lord for blessing us with safe and quick travels. If it wouldn’t have been for a bad storm, which we nicknamed Hurricane Carlos, we would have made the world record. But you can’t win them all. Anyhow, thanks for praying for our safety.

We are situated in bunk houses with lots and lots of bunk beds, which is well air conditioned. I’m wishing I brought a comforter. There will be close to 220 people here by tomorrow night-maybe that will warm things up.

Most of us were surprised at the ‘look of the place.’ At first glance you would never think this was a church. The main church building is a warehouse, and everything from eating, to registering, to playing, to worshiping goes on here. Its really quite neat (sorry for that word, but its the best I could come up with after driving 650 miles today and operating on little sleep).

The team ate dinner tonight, got situated, and had a good bonding time over Scattergories.
Everyone is getting along very well, and enjoying each other’s company. Lights out are at 10 pm each night, so I have to go now to get ready for worship tomorrow.

I’ll post tomorrow to let you know about our Sunday activities. Thanks for your prayers.

The other day Penn State had several football players arrested. Not really that big news I know, football players getting arrested. But what was big news was the punishment for the crime. Instead of releasing these players from scholarships, or individually punishing the the players involved, Old Paterno had something else up his coaching sleeve.

On Sundays after home games, the football team has to clean up the entire stadium this fall season. That includes the coaching staff as well. Apparently they will get paid, but then put the money back into the the club athletics programs.

Paterno has been criticized for the move, but I think there is some method in his madness. These several football players haven’t just made a bad name for themselves, but for the program (I can’t remember the names of any of the players-even if they were released, you wouldn’ remember them by name). The good name of Penn State footbal, if it ever had a good name, was slandered by the offense of a few. And so to redeem or atone for that crime, the whole team is going to prove itself to the outside world that Penn State is in fact a respectable program.

What I admire about this incident is not necessarily the punishment, but the fact that Paterno recognized that the actions of the members of a team bring either glory or shame to that team. Individuals themselves may be forgotten, but the team is remembered-for better or for worse.

The same is true for the church today. The church of Jesus is slandered for the actions of its members. I don’t propose that we clean seats, and there is no way to atone for any of our sins except by the blood of Christ. But I do believe we ought to understand that what we do brings either glory or shame upon Christ. And those who hate the church (and I’m not exonerating them) often have been given reasons to do so by those claiming the name of Christ. So we may have to spend some time apologizing for the sins of others. Of course this is in addition to apologizing for our own sins. But this bit of good news: going to church on Sunday is better than cleaning seats-for ours have been made clean by one who came before us.

I saw this rather disgusting, picture of a catfish trying to eat a bastketball. Yes, a basketball. Apparently this catfish saw a delicious looking basketball floating on the surface (where most things float, I guess) and went in for a bite, or rather a gulp. The ball got lodged in the catfish’s mouth, and it was bobbing on the surface for a long time before rescue.

A compassionate husband and wife team drove their boat to the hapless fish, and eventually had to flatten the ball with a knife in order to remove it. This proves once and for all that catfish will eat anything-which is one reason why I don’t eat catfish (I know I’m being hypocritical because I like bacon-but at least I beat you to it).

I got to thinking after looking at the picture. I noticed an uncanny resemblance between people and catfish. Hear me out (or rather read me out) on this one. As needy and hungry people-and we all are-we have a tendency to fill our faces and hearts with anything that looks good. I’m assuming that basketball looked ‘good’ at the time, but in the end had the capability of destroying this ‘beautiful(I’m sure to some folks)’ creature. Likewise we often chase after things which look good, but are really quite harmful.

And sometimes its not until we really get stuck that we realize just how bad and destructive some things can be. So when someone else finds you ‘bobbing’ after you’ve filled your heart with something harmful, let them help you remove it. So when they break out the knife to help YOU break free, let them help you. And it never hurts to listen to others BEFORE we swallow basketballs as well. Just some words best spoken from one catfish to another.

I just had the ‘joy’ of mowing my yard yesterday. I can’t say ‘grass’ because my yard really consists of clumps of bahia grass here and there, along with weeds, clovers, leaves, and some fallen tree branches. I compare my yard to the face of a young high schooler.

It’s kind of cool when you first start to shave, much like it is cool when you first buy and use a mower in your very own yard (as much as paying a mortgage is ‘owning’ of course). But then after a while it starts to get old, much like mowing the grass.

And what makes it harder is that when you’re a young lad, facial hair doesn’t grow evenly. Often it comes in very patchy, much like grass on my yard. Some yards can grow for a while, just like some faces; in the end, you get a beard-and it makes you look older, suave, genteel, perhaps even sophisticated. My yard will never get a ‘beard,’ or look genteel. In fact, the best I hope for is some sort of pubescent, early teen, fuzzy mustache.

Because tall patchy grass looks a lot worse than evenly distributed tall grass, sometimes I wish it would never grow. But then would it cease to be a yard? Just some random, although cohesive I believe, thoughts on mowing the grass and shaving.