On my mind today

We're home and exhausted. That's why I didn't get to you yesterday. We completed our work on Thursday by lunch and some of us turned for home. We finished sheetrocking the ceiling and the upper half of the walls. Where we left it was where someone else could come and really knock it out! We left them with sufficient supplies to complete the job. As for the rest for the rest of us, on Thursday we went to the beach! We played for a while in the sand and the warm Gulf of Mexico. It was a great time! Look forward to tomorrow night and the report!

Our work here continues! Our Variable group uncrated donated furniture today, preparing it for it's transition to people's homes. Much of it was donated through a drive spearheaded by the "Today Show." Ask Julie and Duane about it! As for the Project group, the sheetrocking continues! I learned today that I really don't need to try to make a living at it - I'll starve! The 100th missed stud or broken sheetrock screw told me all I needed to know! We're at about 75%, but I really don't think we'll finish before tomorrow night. The good news is that even if we leave tonight, there are sufficient materials to finish the job. Whereas what we've spent is a fraction of our mission trip budget, it's a fortune to the homeowner! We're headed home Friday so tomorrow is it for us. We're saddened at how quickly this week has passed, but we're exhausted and ready to see home. We're going to try (again) to go to the beach tomorr...

With the insulation finished, we got started on the sheetrock today. Let me just say - and I realize this will shock many of you - I don't know anything about sheetrocking! In reality, I have one skill: being tall. Fortunately, it works for me. With a sheetrock jack, several drills, countless screws and a seriously large pile of sheetrock, we got almost all of the ceiling done in the project house. We'll be finishing that up tomorrow morning and then get cranking on the walls. I'll try to get you some pictures tomorrow, but for now, I'm tired and going to bed! Before I go, I did have some time this evening to look for stuff for Sunday. I'm not sure I can use it, but here's something interesting.

Here we are in Galveston! Finally, we're here and working! The weather was unusually cooperative and moderate for late July in south Texas (low 90's) and we even had a short shower to cool it off even further. We split up into two groups - here's a report on each one. GROUP 1 - Led capably by Duane and Julie, this group took on a home on Avenue L near the eastern end of Galveston. They painted the exterior of the house, the bathroom inside, mopped the floor, cleaned up the yard and generally loved on the lady who owned the house. Some of our ladies bought her some new things for her home (new towels, sheets, a mini-blind) to make her home feel more like home. GROUP 2 - The BIG one - Ms Belinda's home was under 6 feet of water for several days last year after Hurricane Ike. The house was gutted of all insulation, sheetrock and flooring in the fall. After she filled out the paperwork to have us come and help her, our contact told her it would be a long time till so...

We rolled into FBC LaMarque about 6:30 tonight and we're all set up! We get to work tomorrow morning. Look for more tomorrow!

Okay, so here it is the day before we leave for Galveston. After tomorrow morning's worship service, we'll be on our way. We got word of our project and it's a good one! I was concerned about being outside, but they've assigned us to a house that has a good roof. . . .and nothing else! It's completely gutted inside, down to the studs. We're moving a bathroom, re-framing walls, electrical work, plumbing work and drywall (if we get that far!). We're PUMPED! Finally, a project we can dream about, plan for and execute. I'll be taking lots of pictures and will be posting them as I'm able. Check our facebook page if you're interested since I can post from my phone to there. IF YOU'RE GOING: Get excited! Get prayed up, packed up and ready to go! IF YOU'RE NOT GOING: Get excited! Pray for our safety, our work, and our safe return on Friday. We'll use Sunday, July 26th as our report time. Join us as we show pictures and tell of...

I spoke with our friends in Galveston yesterday. They're excited about us coming. They sounded tired, but excited. While it's a new opportunity for us, they've been at it since Hurricane Ike came through last summer. Construction projects are in various stages of construction and thus, they can't tell us much yet about what our projects will consist of other than basic construction, landscaping, painting and loving people through our actions. We'll pick the projects up where the teams working this week leave them off. Here's the real deal. If you're going with us and you're a planner who simply must know what we'll be doing, check back here on Friday afternoon / evening (or call me Friday night or Saturday). They recommended I call back then to find out what we'll be working on next week. Pray for our projects (whatever they may be) and for the opportunities to work in people's lives while we work on their homes / churches.

Our students left for youth camp this morning. Julie went with them which means I'm on my own this week. Just the boys in the house. That can't be good. If the house is still standing on Friday, she'll be home to clean it up - or hose it down. It's a long story about why I didn't go with them, but let's just say Mission Trip leaves on Sunday and somebody has to make sure to prepare for it. I was a bachelor for a long time (we didn't get married until I was 31) so I can make it okay, but it's not the same. She left me with a meal plan, prepared food and clean clothes, so we'll be fine - it's just that the heart of the house is gone. Pray for us this week as we prepare to leave for Galveston this Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, Julie will be going with us! :-)

So I've been getting ready for Mission Trip this week. We leave one week from Sunday! I'm excited about going but in a strange sort of way. I can't help but wonder what the Lord has in store for us. The details for work are sketchy at best. We know this: we're going to work at whatever the Lord places before us. When we get there, we'll be passionate and work hard at whatever we do. I like to think of myself as a planner, so not having a plan is forcing me to rethink things - and forcing me into a dependence on God's directing hand, not my capacity to plan. It's forced me to get my thoughts together and say "I'm going even though I don't know what I'll do once I'm there." In a way, it's reminscent of Hebrews 11:8 - "By faith, Abraham obeyed the Lord and went, even though he didn't know where he was going." If you're going with us, prepare your heart by preparing your mind to be flexible. Flexibility me...

"The God of Heaven will give us success. We will start rebuilding." Nehemiah 2:20 That's our theme verse for our trip to Galveston this summer. On September 13, 2008 Hurricane Ike struck our Texas coastline with destructive force and devastating winds. We're going to Galveston for the express purpose of rebuilding people's lives by helping rebuild their homes. It's awesome thing to be useful to the Lord like that. Maybe you've never been on a mission trip before and you're wondering what it might be like. Here's a sneak preview of what a regular day might be like. 6:30 AM - Jim Smith and Phil Parks get up. As our foremen, these guys always lead the way. 7:00 AM - Breakfast - Prepared by our masterful chefs led by Kathy Lummus. (As a side note, let me just say I've been on a number of these trips. Only since I came here have I GAINED weight while on a mission trip - a credit to Kathy's cooking!). 7:30 AM - Out to job site. Depending...

By now you've probably heard we're going to Galveston this summer. In the last two days, I've spoken with them twice and let me say they're excited about us coming! There's really only one problem - they can't tell us what we'll be doing until about a week in advance. "WHAT?" the planner in me says. "How can I ask people to sign on for a trip when I don't even know what I'm asking them to do?!" I've had that conversation with myself numerous times recently. I've even had that conversation with some of you who are planners too (you know who you are!). At the end of the day, I've come to this conclusion - as soon as the Hurricane went through Galveston, I felt sure the Lord was leading us go there instead of somewhere else. I'm confident, despite the lack of surety in our work, the Lord WILL use us there. I can't help but think of Hebrews 11:8 - "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would...

I spoke this morning with our friends at Galveston about our upcoming mission trip. We'll convene a meeting with this same information right after Easter, but here it is in advance. DATES: We'll leave around 2 PM on Sunday, July 19th. Our return date is Friday, July 24. If you'd like to stay around and find something fun to do, you're welcome to do so. If you'd rather head for home, most of us will head home after rush hour that evening. WORK: We'll be working on homes and / or churches in the Greater Galveston area. They'll have to wait to tell us final details about where we'll be working until later in the summer since they have numerous other groups coming in ahead of us. Suffice it to say there's plenty to do! ACCOMADATIONS: We'll be staying either at the University Baptist Church in Galveston (the host church who is coordinating the recovery efforts for the island) or at FBC LaMarque, just across the bridge from Galveston. Both have...

I just got off the phone with our friends in Galveston. While they don't have us assigned a specific spot yet, we're officially confirmed! We've been waiting for that to get serious about our planning. When we know with certainty where on the island we'll be working and what we'll be doing, we'll convene a meeting of the Mission Trip-minded and discuss it. We're going July 19th -25th. We definitely won't be the only ones there that week. There will be a veritable flood of people coming this summer to help put the place back together. The list of needs, both private homes and church buildings, is long. Amenities will be few. It WILL be hot! But one the best feelings I know of is to be useful to the Lord. Even better when you can stand back and see it at the end of the day. Strange how it all seems to fit together. When I was a brand-new college graduate, way back in 1990, I spent the summer doing revivals across the island and the Texas City ar...