The Road from Damascus

I have been planning to report on the various projects I have going since January but, as Willie Nelson sang in the song he wrote, "Ain't it funny how time slips away?"

I started these more or less major projects last August and have done little to something on each one.

The first and the only completed item on the list is the preparing of my father's house for rental. That was accomplished yesterday afternoon about 5 PM.  The project involved going through my dad's "goods," and either selling (a few), giving (most) away or keeping (a few), and repairing and refurbishing the house itself. I'd like to thank mostly some family members for their most excellent (Garth!) help: daughters Amy and Alyssa, their bf's Chris Brown and Chris McGee, nephews Jonathan and Josh Pankey, Becky V., and friends Don and Onie Libeau. Thanks to my dad Clyde for giving me carte blanche to mete out his material goods. That made my job a lot easier. And thanks to my brother Ron for moral and other support from Georgia. I love you all! Also, thanks to "Miss Emily" Wittig for the contact that got us renters who are arriving today all the way from Florida.

Thanks a bunch, guys! We did it! (If I omitted anyone please forgive me and let me know in a comment so I can add you to the list!)

The second project is adding a foot of insulation to the existing six inches in the attic. This is about 60% completed and soon will be impossible to do with air temps in the 2000 degree range in the attic in the summer around here. Must...finish...itchy...project...

The third, converting our six-foot security fence to a 42 inch picket fence. So far I have completed two eight-foot sections out of 73. Hmmm...If only the weather would turn warmer. Oh, wait, it has...

The fourth, taking my Biscuit City blog more seriously. Let me know what you think of the blog and see if I am taking it more seriously.

Fifth, integrating my father's extensive tool collection into my less-than-extensive tool holdings. Not much done on this, but it will be a summer project in the cool basement!

And sixth, my wanting to be a better human being. Your call on progress on that.

The title of this post is of course a play on words from the passage in Acts in which Saul undergoes a dramatic (to say the least) conversion experience on the road to Damascus to persecute Christians. I think anyone who is familiar with the Bible knows the details: if you don't, I invite you to read one of the most compelling change-of-heart, mind and soul accounts out there. It's in Acts 9, 22 and 26, with the main narrative in 9 and repurposed accounts in 22 and 26.

The connection to my father's house is that it is located on Damascus Drive. We as family and friends have had a road to Damascus experience when my mom and dad moved there from Loudoun County after she began showing signs of Alzheimer's in 2002. They moved in 2004 and she passed away in 2007. My dad moved into a senior living center in 2008 and into assisted living this past October. I started readying the house for rental to a new tenant in August 2010. That experience has been our road from Damascus.

I have been over to the house almost every day since August. I was thinking about Paul's experience as recorded in Acts after he went, blinded, to Damascus. He began to preach the Gospel while there (imagine the reaction of his handlers in Jerusalem: "Paul is doing WHAT?") and soon put his life in danger to such an extent that he had to be lowered to the ground in a large basket from the top of the city wall at night to escape. He went back to Jerusalem where he incited the local population to such an extent that he was fortunate (or saved by God) to escape with his life again. Paul could stir things up!

Like Paul, we have had our journey to Damascus. And now we have journeyed from Damascus. And like Paul, we have learned and been sustained by friends and believers, saved by the grace of God, and now set on a new road to witness, serve and to keep on keeping on. Thanks be to God for his amazing grace and loving sustenance for all of us!