This is a rather rambling post describing (justifying?) the slowdown in my writing over the last few days.

I am in the midst of several different projects that all need a good amount of my time and energy.  Last week, I (finally) began the last stage of re-roofing my house.  This has been a complete tear-off of two layers of old shingles and then a new OSB roof decking put down to prepare the surface for the new shingle roof.  In the midst of this “home improvement” project, I wrap up a weekend prayer conference tonight that I have been leading at the First Christian Church in Rolling Prairie, Indiana.  I’m also preparing to preach a sermon this weekend for the “What Does God Say” series at the Deer Run Church of Christ in South Bend.  As all of this is going on, one of the things I enjoy — writing — seems to have taken a back seat to the urgent.

But I’ll be back — very soon.  The roof project is rapidly coming under control.  The surface is ready.  The shingles are on the roof and waiting to be nailed down.  Yesterday morning I was 130 pounds short of carrying a ton of shingles up the ladder and onto the roof.  Then it hit me.  Not only did my legs have to carry the weight of the shingles up the ladder each trip, they had to carry my body weight as well.  Multiply that out for each trip I made and the total comes to well over 3 tons of weight my legs carried up that ladder in an hours time.  No wonder my legs were feeling tired.  I now wish I hadn’t done the math.  Yet, this weariness will pass.  The roof will be completed and look great.  I will be pleased with the home God has provided me and with the ability He gives me (and my father-in-law) to maintain it.

As I mentioned earlier, the prayer conference that I am leading wraps up tonight.  Very few, if any, of the sessions have been exactly what I had planned going into the weekend.  God has taken a lot of effort, energy, and preparation on my part and woven it together in ways that I could not have done on my own.  Overall, the responsiveness of people and their willingness to participate in learning and pursuing God has been great.  I love these teaching times because it gives me an opportunity to represent an incredible God who has shown His power by working in and through a man like me.  As I’ve sat on the roof of my housing tearing off shingles, nailing down roof decking, carrying shingles, and finally putting the new shingles on, I have been able to reflect on a God who has had to strip old, worn out layers off of my life and replace them with a new base and a new finish.  The teaching God allows me to do is a constant reminder of the “home improvement” God is doing in me.

The writing that I’ve done on this blog lately has centered around the “What Does God Say” study we’ve been doing at the church I attend.  This coming Sunday, October 7, I will be preaching a message introducing next week’s topic in the “What Does God Say . . . About God?” series.  I have been, and I am, looking forward to that as it is another opportunity for God to draw me closer to  Himself and to use me to help others see Him more clearly.

Anyhow, this ends up being a long post just to say I’m still here.  I still love to write.  And I’ll be back writing regularly very soon.  Thanks for reading and learning with me.