Redemption

We bought this bench from Home Cheapo about six months ago. In the South Florida sun, wind, and rain, the wood had already started to warp and deteriorate. Seeing that we were approaching the point of getting a nasty letter from our HOA ("Get that piece of crap off your front yard!"), I took it out of service this past weekend. A bit of sanding, some paint, some creative reinforcement (hurricane strong-ties, painted and screwed to the underside with stainless-steel screws) - and voila - new bench!

Amber and I have always loved making dilapidated things useful again. We once bought a $99 TV hutch from K-Mart. We kept it in its fake wood, press-board state for a while, then refurbished it with paint, trim pieces, and even full size doors. It was painted two or three times before we gave it away last year. Several of our houses have been fixer-uppers until we ran out of steam during the baby years. One day I'm sure we'll find an old beater around here, lure Amber's parents into pitching in their expertise again, and do our magic.

I used to dread the work (and usually frustration for me) of renovating houses or things. But I'm seeing that one of the antidotes to the consumer disease we all have is rolling up your sleeves and fixing something. How easy is it in our culture to take something to the dumpster and go down to Stuff-Mart to buy another one? Believe me, my nature is to pull out my wallet rather than sweat and cuss and bust my knuckles for the 15th time. Fixing a bench may not be a big deal to you...but I'm pretty doggone proud of my handi-work.

I Have a Theory...

This morning I got in the car with Shawn, drove 15 minutes south to Palm Beach Shores, met our friend Ahren, walked another few minutes to the Lake Worth inlet, and went snorkeling. Afterward, I met Amber and the kids at the beach to try out our new longboard that Ahren gave to us this week. Later, back at home, we took a family nap, then off to the Bourques for common meal with the community. Sitting out on the back porch with friends, talking about what Jesus is doing with us, and laughing in the warm South Florida evening sun. A perfect day.

A few years ago, everyone I knew absolutely hated living here. It was quite frustrating, honestly. When we left Gainesville, we felt that God had called us here for the long haul. So when everyone you meet complains how much they hate the people and the busyness and how hot it is and how expensive everything is...it just gets old. I'll never forget writing this post in January 2006. It was me being bluntly honest with the difficulties of building deep friendships and community in our area. Don't get me wrong, I had some wonderful friends at the time. But something was missing and there was a voice in the back of my head wondering if anything deeper would ever take place.

Later that year, Amber and I came close to packing it in ourselves. But we felt God drawing us back to just being present to the few people around us. We were moving into a new house and the Bourques were living just a stones throw away. That fall, God began bringing people together and a community began to take shape. These days, I never hear people around me talk about hating South Florida. In fact, when I brought this up in conversation tonight, someone mentioned how they fear actually having to move away for some unforseen reason. So what changed?

My theory is that community radically changes our perspective and value of place. And not just any kind of community either. You might have friendly neighbors that barbecue once in a while, but if you are trying to follow Jesus, friendly neighbors just don't cut it. If people are pursing Jesus together - however broken and imperfect that attempt to follow is - there is an anchoring effect. The world looks different. Desires that once seemed important (for example, a big one in our context - I want to be rich!) just don't seem to matter much any longer. The beauty of a place gets, well, more beautiful. But also, people begin to be drawn to the brokenness that is right under the surface that Jesus wants to heal.

I am truly enjoying South Florida now - living with this community of people, wrestling with hard things, laughing, working, raising children, learning together. As my friend Chris would say...good times.