Renovation

There is a new reality show -- probably hard to believe, right?  It's called "Renovation Raiders" and the premise is that the husband knows but the wife doesn't that after they return from an evening out, their house will have undergone a drastic makeover.

In six hours they completely gutted a kitchen, did electrical and plumbing work, replaced all appliances and added one (wine cooler), installed hardwood floors, painted and decorated.  They practice in a warehouse using the actual layout of the house they will be working on.  Then they load up some of the prefabbed stuff into a box truck and off they go. 

The unsuspecting wife ate a seven course meal with her husband and then found out (surprise) that their tire was flat, thanks to a good friend of theirs who acted as spy to let the raiders know what was going on.

Wouldn't it be great if we could completely renovate ourselves in six hours?  And I'm not talking about physical condition here.  I'm talking about our souls.  In Bible studies, we talked about how God helps us to remember our past sins, particularly those we've chosen to bury deep.  A few times lately as I've been otherwise occupied except for my mind that's busily humming along, I'll suddenly get a bolt out of the blue -- a memory of something that I did a long, long time ago.  Something that hurt someone else's feelings for sure.

It's humbling and that's just what it should do. 

When we were at Marblehead, I asked my sister whom she really misses there.  Her house sits on Bayshore Drive and then there is a lane that runs straight down to the lake with houses on each side.  The original owners of her house sold off parcels and created an association for the homeowners.  There is a dock and some open space at the end of the lane where Lake Eric comes into view.  Currently, only one husband-wife live there year round.  She answered that she missed the Kreigers.  They hailed from North Lawrence and had the cottage closest to the lake.  They loved to fish!!

The last time she had spoken to Carrie Kreiger, the elderly woman wasn't doing very well and was in a nursing home.  So when I got home, I checked online and found out that she died in February 2012.  So I let my sister know that.  Mrs. Kreiger was a well known figure in volunteer circles.  She was a very giving person, but she was also earthy and forthright.

Goes back to what I was saying about six hours -- the approximate amount of time it takes to fly from Cleveland to Los Angeles including check in and out.  We may not be able to clean out the cobwebs in six hours, but we can try an hour at a time, can't we?  For prayer is like a good housecleaning for our souls.  We pray for others and God works on us.

Bad storms last night.  I pray for the families in Canton that were so hard hit!!