Day 23 - Two Space Heaters (Throw)

I threw away two space heaters.  Our basement is always cold in the winter time.  Melissa likes it warm, so we had three little space heaters which we scattered around the downstairs rooms and then stored during the warmer months alongside the Christmas decorations.  At the end of last winter, only one of the heaters was still working.  None of them oscillate anymore.  One just kept shutting itself off.  The other one would overheat and smell like burning dust.  The Princess (age 3) got a small burn on her leg from that particular heater last winter. 

So why store the two broken heaters?  Because "some day" I was going to get around to unscrewing the backs of them, blowing all the dust out of their innards and then hoping they wouldn't burn the house down when I plugged them back in.  I'm probably better off with them in the garbage can. 

Maybe my Mom will give Melissa one of her homemade "snuggies" for Christmas...

Update:  It took two days, but someone hauled away that ugly, filthy plastic water table.  Which gets me thinking:  I might have to experiment to see where people draw the line on picking up "free" stuff from the curb! 

Day 22 - Chuckleberries! (Give)

I have found a box full of items which might be much tougher to part with than the average book has been.  These are souvenirs with real significance.  I know we, as a family, will be able to store a few things long term while we're in Haiti (and anywhere else God directs), but it will need to be stuff that fits in a few small boxes.  Some of these items might get that privilege.

But I did find one or two things here that would be easy to part with.  I took a plastic cup labeled "chuckleberries" to Kate and Storly's in the evening for their movie gathering.  It's the old snake-in-a-can trick and their oldest daughter got a kick out of seeing her parents' reaction to opening it. 

A few of the folks who were on the Haiti mission team gathered to watch the movie "Hannibal".  I had never seen it before because ... well, it's just not my type of movie.  But it's one of Storly's favorite movies.  We had discovered this fact while sitting in a restaurant in the Chicago airport waiting for our connecting flight on our way down to Haiti about 7 weeks ago now.  Storly had us all laughing with his proclamation that "Hannibal" was a "beautiful" movie which was so "clever"!  Most of us had never seen it, but knew it by reputation and found it hard to swallow that it was either beautiful or clever. 

After seeing it for myself now, I can safely say that "Hannibal" is ... not my type of movie.  The chili and the cake were excellent though!  Beautiful, even...

Day 21 - Water Table (Give, and if not, Throw)

Years ago Melissa brought home a large plastic outdoor water table.  I believe we were living in Indianapolis at the time.  Caleb and Hannah played with it a bit when they were toddlers, but it was hard to keep the thing dirt and mosquito free.  Ever since we moved into our current house, the thing has been lying on its side against the garage.  It irritated me no end because dead leaves and ... muck ... would collect behind it.  So now it is out on the curb in hopes someone will take an interest in it and adopt it.  If nobody does, I guess I will finally find out if it will fit in a garbage can.

We finally got a bit productive today around the house.  There are plenty of jobs that will need to be done before we can put the house up for sale.  Melissa spent a good part of the day cleaning out the laundry room.  She also took several bags of stuff to Goodwill.  I started work on the upstairs bathroom.  The caulking around the tub needed to be replaced and there's a small section of the wall that was water damaged.  Eventually the walls need to be repainted.  I also got the back yard leaf-free, so that feels good.  So much to do still and so little energy!

Tomorrow I get to tell our church about our trip to Haiti.  I only get three to five minutes, but part of the announcement is that we will be gathering on December 5 to share stories and pictures for an hour and a half.  Not sure what I'm going to say yet, but I'll think it through before I hit the sack tonight.

Day 20 - Ancient Stereo System and Speakers (Throw) and Black Friday Fun

It's Black Friday and, for the first time ever, I participated in the madness.  My wife and I have agreed not to buy anything for each other for Christmas beyond a few stocking stuffers since we are trying to reduce the amount of things in the house AND save money.  But we had been considering how useful a laptop computer could be for work now and for travel once we head overseas.  There's no way we'll be lugging a desk top computer to Haiti.  So Walmart had special prices for a couple of laptops within fairly easy reach; one was $200 and the other $300.  I volunteered to go to the store at midnight and wait in line until 2:00 AM to get a wristband with which Melissa could return at 5:00 AM to claim the computer.  They ran out of the cheapest model early (which elicited a fair amount of cursing from my compadres in line!), so I was bumped up in price range, but it all worked out.  So now I can sit at the kitchen table to write... if I want to ... and I do, because my lower back is killing me and this is the most comfortable place to sit right now!

My Black Friday experience was not quite as bad as I had expected - although I didn't get to sleep until 3:00 AM so I've had a rather unproductive day otherwise.  Overall, it just had a weird feel to it - I guess because of this odd juxtaposition of generosity and greed.  Parents and grandparents were grabbing up hundreds and even thousands of dollars of merchandise to put under their Christmas trees.  Very generous ... but where does it cross the line, turning into greed on the part of the giver and feeding the greed of the receiver? 

Last year I was reading a chapter a night with the Drama Queen (now age 8) from "Little House on the Prairie".  We hit the section describing their Christmas celebration and Half Pint told all about how excited she and her sisters were to receive an orange, a new penny, and a heart shaped cookie with icing (again, my memory may be shaky, but it was something like that!).  Melissa and I decided a few years ago to limit each of our kids to three gifts under the tree, and even with that, it sometimes takes several days before the kids have removed all of their toys from their packaging.  And it seems like the more they get, the more territorial they get over their toys.

 My Throw of the day was a "stereo system" that played both cassettes and CDs - dating from when CDs were the newest technology around.  I haven't actually used the thing since we lived in Pensacola.  Dats almost pulled the thing down on top of his head from a shelf once; he was rolling around in his walker, got ahold of the cord, and yanked.  I dashed across the room and caught the falling speaker just inches from Dats' big round pumpkin head.

I bought that stereo while I was in college.  If I hadn't stayed up until 3:00 AM, I'd tell you about it...

Day 19 - Bowl and Vase (Give)

We spent our Thanksgiving Day with Melissa's family.  At the last minute before leaving our house, I was looking for something to take along with us to give to some unsuspecting family member.  I pulled a bowl out of our kitchen and a matching vase out of a cupboard and asked for my wife's approval.  She said, "Dee gave us those for our anniversary one year, you know...."  She paused, looked at my face and then continued, "I know: we can't keep everything." 

Dee was the secretary at the last church I served as youth pastor.  I may be wrong, but in my experience there are only two types of church secretaries:  Angels and Demons!  Dee was definitely an Angel type.  She held that church office together and enabled the ministry of the church to go forward on a daily basis. 

The set got split up just after dessert and before the families scattered:  Aunt Sandy took one piece and Aunt Debbie took the other.

And, Dee, if you should happen to ever read this, please know that we got quite a bit of use out of that bowl.  Not so much out of the vase... my wife hardly ever buys me flowers.

Day 18 - Nerf Gun (Throw)

Dats (age 9) brought a nerf gun (from his nerf gun collection) to me because it was jammed.  It's one of those guns that spans about two feet in length and fires multiple darts from a cartridge.  I worked on that sucker for at least 45 minutes.  I removed about ten tiny screws but still got nowhere near the problem - the part that was jammed was stuck in place over a key screw.   It's hard for a dad to admit when he can't fix something!  But in defeat, there was this consolation:  one more thing out of my house.

After wasting so much time on that hunk of plastic, I took relish in breaking pieces off the barrel of the gun before I tossed all the pieces into the trash can.  It brought back a childhood memory.  It's not a particularly pleasant memory, but it was a valuable lesson that stuck with me.  I was maybe 7 or 8 at the time and my brothers and I had one unjammed dart gun between us.  The darts were the pre-nerf type which were just orange plastic sticks with a suction cup at the lead end.  I recall that we were in the kitchen having a heated disagreement over whose turn it was to use the gun. 

Now at 42 I can completely empathize and even admire my dad's solution, but at the time it completely shocked us all silent and struck a certain level of fear in us ... but it did succeed in preventing similar disagreements (at least within dad's earshot) for months to come.  Dad walked into the room after several minutes of our fight, asked for the gun, examined it briefly, and dropped it to the kitchen floor.  He didn't play detective or flip a coin; he dropped it to the floor.  As his boys stood in a circle around him gawking, he taught us a lesson in problem-solving.  He brought the heel of his foot down on top of that gun with the full force of his 6'5" German-farmer-type frame. leaving only quarter-sized fragments of orange plastic behind ... which he told us to clean up.  Then he turned and walked away. 

Without lecturing us, dad taught us a lesson that I have tried to pass on to my kids.  It is best summed up in a bumper sticker I once saw ... maybe you've seen it too:  "LOVE people - USE things".  I love that slogan because it's a masterful use of language:  in four words it conveys a profound, positive life lesson while also implying the negative - we tend to do the reverse.  Why do I have to keep relearning this lesson throughout my life, even as I teach it to my kids??

Day 17 - Crossword Puzzles, Books and Underwear (Give)

No, not mine.  I still need mine, but the Princess recently outgrew her first set of underwear.  Fortunately, we have several friends with young kids of various sizes and ages and we tend to pass clothes around - until they get worn out.  It's good to see clothing get a second life - especially when I remember some of the kids in Haiti who were lacking clothes or wearing outfits that were way too snug. 

We got the chance to watch Steve and Keri's kids for a while this evening while they had a couple of things to do.  Believe me, it's no sacrifice:  her kids come in and they disappear into our kids' bedrooms to play and Melissa and I can actually have an uninterrupted conversation!  When Keri returned to pick up the kids, she and they ended up joining us for dinner and then taking home a small stack of books that our kids cleaned out of their rooms this past weekend.  We have children's books flowing off the shelves.  We are blessed in how much our kids love to read. 

The crossword puzzle book was something I found in a drawer the other day and had sitting on my desk now at school.  During a mid-day passing period, one of my former students came bopping up to me and said, "How about giving me a piece of candy for Thanksgiving?"  I said, "It's not Thanksgiving."  She replied, "Well, you got something besides candy?"  "You like crossword puzzles?"  "Yup."  "Here you go."  She thanked me, turned on her heals and bopped back out of the classroom.  One more thing out of the house!

Update 1:  My little 8th grade boy came in before the school day started to claim the plaque I had displayed yesterday, so it falls officially into the category of Give rather than Throw.  When he came to class in the afternoon, he announced that he had taped it up inside his locker.  What?  All I know is that the words of Jesus, typo notwithstanding, are now displayed in a student locker... and that's pretty cool.  Do you suppose Isaiah 55:11 applies?   "So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

Update 2:  The table and chairs were picked up by somebody within 24 hours of being placed at the front curb.

Update 3:  Craigslist has garnered only a single nibble so far on the crib set.  I might have to put it in the local paper.  I'd like to have it out of the shed.

Day 16 - Plaque from LeMars, Iowa (Throw, possibly Give)

As an English teacher, I have an interest in teaching my students proper spelling, punctuation and grammar.  It's certainly not ALL there is to English class and I'm not the type to run my classes through worksheet after worksheet on grammar or to devote an entire unit to sentence fragments.  I'd rather keep that stuff bite-sized (because a little goes a long way!), so this year I decided to do just that through the "Daily Fail."  I post a new picture each day of some sort of grammar, spelling or punctuation mistake that I've found on the internet (or the local newspaper!) so that they see how breaking the rules can disrupt communication - and result in people holding up your faux pas for all the world to ridicule!  So many of these daily fails demonstrate how little mistakes can completely sidetrack your intended message. 

My favorite 'fail' picture is of the jar whose label reads, "Blackberry Jam - Tastes just like Grandma!"  That apostrophe and 's' on the end of "Grandma" make a world of difference in meaning.  (It reminds me of a short story a student wrote for my class a couple of years ago which began:  "The alarm went off and I crawled out of bed and got dressed.  When I got down to the kitchen, I found Grandma cooking on the stove.")

So this morning I posted a plaque that the fine folks of the LeMars, Iowa, United Methodist Church presented to me when I ended my time there as youth pastor and headed off to seminary.  It's a small square of wood with an engraved plate on the front which reads: "He that follweth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).  At the moment it was handed to me, I'm sure I didn't pause to read the words, but months later went I went to display it on a shelf, I couldn't believe my eyes.  "FOLLWETH"?

So here are these profound words of Jesus Christ and all I can see each time I look at the plaque is "follweth".  So it hibernated in a box for years and then spent today in the "Daily Fail" spot on the bulletin board and tomorrow morning some student will stroll into my room and remind me to "change the fail."  At that point, I was planning to throw it into the trash (sorry LeMars church - this doesn't mean I don't love you!), but when I mentioned it today during 6th period, one of the eighth grade boys asked if he could have it.  I asked why and his response was:  "Because it would be free and I love getting free stuff!"  And he was sincere, so I think I'll save it for him.

Day 15 - Outdoor Table (Give)

Over a year ago some neighbors got some new patio furniture and they gave us their old table and chairs.  The set included two benches that we figured might be useful up by the pool.  The table itself sat in front of the door to the garage and became a collecting place for assorted tools and pool supplies that I was too lazy to take a few steps further to put away properly. 

Tonight I put the table, chairs and benches out by the curb.  Hopefully someone will come along and take a liking to it and cart it off.  I'll give them a couple of days to do it, then it becomes firewood.

Day 14 - Assorted Junk (Throw, Give, and Sell)

I never know what to think about garage sales.  Melissa took several big tubs full of hot wheels cars, baby dolls, and books to a big indoor garage sale today.  It's a pretty good deal.  Each seller has to make sure each item is clearly marked with a removable price tag and then you can just drop your stuff off, the organizers sell it and then give you about 75% of the profits.  Nice and easy.

But here's what I don't like about garage sales ... well, here's the basic thing I don't like about garage sales (there are lots of little things to hate about garage sales):  for me, it's always one of those "damned if you do and damned if you don't" scenarios.  If I put something in a garage sale and it sells, I often feel guilty.  "I can't believe you just gave me cash for this object I have obviously deemed worthless and unnecessary!  Sucker!"  But if I put something in a garage sale and it doesn't sell, I get defensive.  "What?  The stuff that I spent my hard earned money on isn't good enough for you?  Even though I'm offering it for a fifth of what I paid for it?  Snob!" 



After lunch I started sorting through a box of items mostly from our Pensacola days.  I did a pretty good job of moving quickly through the contents - considering it's been five years since I've looked through these things. 



See? ... goofy!



Here are some of the contents and their fates:  Old daytimers - thrown away, even though I wanted to flip pages and see what was occupying my days 9 years ago.  Some picture frames - to be given away, maybe to Goodwill, even though some were gifts from close friends.  A floating pen souvenir from the coolest laser tag arena I've ever been to - thrown away, even though it pained me.  (It was a place in Saudi Arabia which was just incredible.)  Photographs - about half were kept and the other half lingered over briefly before being thrown.  A FishForce baseball cap - kept, even though I look goofy in hats.  I had forgotten all about it, but now that I've rediscovered it, I'm just not ready to part with it!  (Afterall, I was the one who designed the FishForce logo.)  A Kermit the Frog keychain - to be given to Melissa for her kindergarten prize box.  A traveling communion set (!) - not sure what to do with this yet.  Know anybody who needs one?? 

I keep wondering what Melissa and I will do with the leftover stuff that we want to keep but we can't take with us to Haiti.  Pay for indefinite storage in some warehouse or see if we can claim a corner of some relative's basement?  It's hard to predict, but I'm sure some plan will be necessary.  If for no other reason than for things like the paper I found in the bottom of this box today.  It was a print out of the email my oldest brother, Ryan, sent out to extended family members and friends when Dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  The note covered the diagnosis, the futility of pursuing any sort of aggressive treatment, and the prognosis ... and it ended with the announcement of the birth of our first daughter.  I can't bring myself to toss something like that into the recycle bin.

Day 13 - Toys (Sell)

Not enough energy or sense to write tonight.  Melissa stayed home from small group with the Princess (age 3) since the little one is still coughing a bit and could yet be contagious.  When I got home, we spent the next several hours getting toys together to put in the community sale tomorrow.  It's almost 1:00 AM and I'm wimping out.  I feel guilty because Melissa is still going strong.  The items have to be out the front door by 7:00 tomorrow morning! 

Apparently the Princess tonight was very cooperative about giving toys away.  The older ones, not so much.  They have been told that they will be cleaning their rooms tomorrow - DEEP cleaning - before any fun whatsoever.  They went to bed sad!  Especially since Dats (age 9) discovered his hermit crab from Myrtle Beach had passed on.  He blamed Ida (age 7) who was in charge of feeding and misting them the last few nights.  All I could think was this:  with one more hermit crab death, we can throw away their little wooden habitat and the hall table will once more be free for junk mail, hair brushes and assorted odds and ends.

Had a nibble on the crib set I placed on Craigslist last week... I pray the sale comes through.

Day 12 - My Bonnie (Give)



My Bonnie

Melissa just called me a pack rat.  Me!  A pack rat! ... just because she asked me what I had given away today and I showed her the little bow-tie wearing penguin in the picture to the left.  She asked, "Where did THAT come from?" And my reply is what elicited the "pack rat" dig:  "I've had it since college."

She doesn't realize that this little stuffed animal has significance.  It must have been my sophomore year in college.  On weekends when I stayed on campus, I would attend the local United Methodist Church, and that year I was just starting to help out with the youth group there a bit.  So when the church sent out pre-final-exam care packages to its home-grown college students in far off places, the youth pastor was thoughtful enough to include some of us local college students in the give away as well.  It meant a lot to me.  I don't remember what else was in that little cardboard box - probably some candy, a few ink pens, maybe some homemade cookies - but the one thing that stuck with me was this little stuffed animal.  Who would have thought to put a stuffed animal in a care package for college students?  But there he was - sticking around long after the candy was eaten and the pens ran out of ink.

And who would have thought at least one of those college students (perhaps there are many more, we can't be sure...) would still have that little stuffed animal 22 years later?

I also remember that Masato, the Japanese exchange student who shared the second floor of Morris Hall with us for the year, took an instant shine to the little penguin and referred to it as his "bonnie".  The only thing I could figure was that Masato had gotten his English words mixed up and was calling it a "bunny".  In the end it didn't matter why he did it, we made fun of him all the same.  ...and often threw it at him.  Such fond memories!

Tomorrow our small group is putting together some care packages for disadvantaged kids around the world through Operation Christmas Child.  Today I say goodbye to my Bonnie - he has remained with me long enough.  He will go into one of those boxes and be shipped overseas to a child who will excitedly unwrap the package, eat the candy, and cradle my Bonnie in his arms. Perhaps, in some small, tangible way, Bonnie will demonstrate God's deep love for that small child.  And, for all I know, that kid will treasure Bonnie for the next 22 years ... or lose him later that day.

Day 11 - Dive Sticks (Sell)

At the end of each pool season over the last few years that we've been in this house I've looked for some clearance-priced water toy to set back for the next summer.  So a couple of months ago I picked up some fish-shaped dive sticks.  They are still in the original package.  I brought them in tonight from the garage because Melissa is trying to get some toys and books together to sell at a big community garage sale this weekend and I'm hoping we'll have no need for dive sticks when next June rolls around since our pool will - God willing - belong to someone else!

Melissa and I encouraged the kids to each scour their rooms tonight to find toys to put in the sale or to place in the shoeboxes our small group will be sending to Operation Christmas Child.  We said this would be a good time to start downsizing since we won't be able to take much with us when we move.  As far as our kids were concerned, this idea went over like Fred Phelps at a funeral. 



Squeeze Me!

 Eventually, Dats (age 9) and Ida (age 7) reluctantly sorted through a crate of toy cars they hadn't touched but maybe once in the last year and there they found about five of the 150 or so cars to be suitable for donation.  The Drama Queen (age 8) caught me sneaking a small, pink gorilla from its forgotten shelf in the laundry room (where it had perched for nearly five months) to the give-away pile and burst forth into tears:  "That's mine!"  (I can understand the attraction - it has the words "Squeeze Me" on its chest and when you do, it gives a little catcall whistle.  Very classy. Plus, it's wearing sunglasses.)  Of all the kids, only the Princess (age 3) seemed willing to throw multiple toys on the pile  ...  commendable, except for the fact that most of the toys she threw didn't actually belong to her.

I've already said that the kids are excited about the prospect of moving to Haiti, and they are.  But I'm smart enough to know that the hard reality of sacrifices, both big and small, is going to hit every member of this family ... repeatedly... in the coming months and years.  I would very much appreciate your prayers for wisdom and strength for Melissa and me in preparation for that hard reality's arrival.

Day 10 - Christmas Kitties Poster (Throw)

Another embarassing relic from my garage.  Remember the old "Scholastic Book Club" catalogs the teachers would send home with you from school so that you could pester your parents into buying some book or magazine (or poster) for you? 

Those catalogs are still around.  As a kindergarten teacher, Melissa still places Scholastic orders a couple of times a year.  (Turns out those sneaky Scholastic folks have been bribing the teachers into pushing their catalogs for years with assorted freebies for the teachers themselves!  Scholastic entices the teacher, the teacher entices the student, the student begs the parent who eventually gives in and pulls out the check book. What a racket!)

Guess what year I pestered mom and dad for this poster I JUST HAD TO HAVE to decorate my bedroom for Christmas?  If you guessed 1979, you are absolutely right (and maybe a little bit psychic ... and that's creepy!). 

Speaking of "creepy", I just admitted on the World Wide Web that I have spent the last 31 years clinging to a kitty poster.  (You have to admit:  they are cute!)  But NOT ANYMORE.  It is in the recycle box with all the credit card offers that came in the mail today.  Of all the things I own, I will probably have the most problem parting with those which are purely sentimental.  And I've got boxes of emotional souvenirs around here.

I gathered the kids around the poster before I tossed it and I gave them a little sermon.  I said the poster was proof that I could empathize with them and their desire to hold on to all sorts of toys and trinkets and craft projects.  It's a good thing for me to recognize this tendency in myself because long before we started talking about selling the house, their pack ratting had been a point of contention - last week the Drama Queen (age 8) cried when I threw away a fragment of cardboard covered in scotch tape to which she had grown attached! 

I went on to tell the kids about the rich young ruler who came to Jesus (in Luke 18) and said, "Teacher, I've been a good guy all my life and followed all the rules.  What do I have to do to get eternal life?" And Jesus responded, "There's just one last thing... sell everything you've got, give the money to the poor and follow me."  And the man walked away.  He was too attached to his things.  For dramatic effect, at this point I tore my poster and threw it in recycling.

When I finished my little sermon, Dats (age 9) asked, "What happened to that guy?"  I said I didn't know ... that the Bible doesn't say anything more about him.  My boy Ida (age 7) said matter-of-factly, "He probably went to Hell." 

And I believe Ida just showed himself to be bolder than 99% of American preachers.

Heart Heavy for Haiti

Maybe tomorrow I will write about what I threw away today, but right now it doesn't seem worth talking about.  I read a couple of articles tonight about the cholera outbreak in Haiti and it's all quite scary and confusing.  One article on Yahoo said that there had been violence today in Cap Haitien - where Melissa and I visited.  It said the roads were blocked and the airport was closed down - that would be the same airport where I flew in and out of Haiti just a month ago. 

Apparently, rumors are spreading that the cholera strain that has now killed over a thousand Haitians was brought into the country by the UN.  The UN, of course, claims it's not true and has raised suspicions that someone is stirring the people up to violence with the hope of scoring politically in some way.  The presidential elections are just over a week away.  Who knows the truth?

I'm hoping those who leave comments after Yahoo news stories are not representative of the American people as a whole, because the icing on top of all the horror and confusion in Haiti is the soul-less nature of the comments after the article.  They are so disturbing.  Over half of the comments (and there were only 20 when I looked, thank goodness) use terrible pejoratives for Haitians, or say they deserve what they get, or say something to the effect of "leave them to their own destruction".   Terrible.

I am far from an expert on Haiti, but I do know one thing.  God loves the people of Haiti and wants them as His children - and many, many have already surrendered their lives to Christ.  God has not given up on them.  The situation there makes me think of what God tells Jonah about the city of Ninevah:  "Ninevah has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left.... Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

Please pray for the people of Haiti and the missionaries who are serving there.

Day 9 - Giant Turtle (Give)

While sitting at dinner tonight, we had a clear view of our neighbors working to clean and winterize their pool.  (Mine was done weeks ago ... I've learned my lesson!)  Melissa had mentioned that while I was in Haiti, these particular neighbors had expressed an interest in checking out our church sometime.  Since we won't be needing any inflatable pool toys in Haiti, this seemed like a good opportunity to give something away AND follow up on their earlier interest. 

I have to admit that we have lived here five years now and that is the first time I have set foot in our neighbors' house.  God forgive me!  Why is it so hard to even invest time in getting to know our neighbors, much less to share the gospel with them??  I don't want to travel all the way to Haiti in order to share the gospel without first doing all I can to share Jesus with the folks right here around us. 

A couple from our church lives just a few houses down from us and they do a fantastic job of reaching out to neighbors.  In fact, what little contact Melissa and I have had with folks on our street over the last few years has come mostly by way of the neighborhood cookouts, ice cream socials, and other gatherings that this couple has hosted at their house.  At least two or three times a year they come knocking on our door with an invitation.  I want to be like that!  What are we so bashful about?  And what do we have to do that is more pressing than loving our neighbors as ourselves?

OK, I grew up shy and introverted.  And for the time being I need an excuse to strike up a conversation with my neighbors ... and my project to daily Throw, Give or Sell might provide just that.  My hope is that it will stretch me to the point where I can be bold for Christ without a gimmick! 

Our neighbor did ask why we were giving away the giant turtle.  We briefly explained the call we have been feeling to minister in Haiti and she was excited for us.  She said she would like to visit our church sometime but it's hard for them to get moving on a Sunday morning.  Maybe we can make arrangements this coming Saturday with them to go together Sunday morning to the second service. 

It was an opening but there's so much more to talk about.  Maybe I'll take them a leftover bottle of chlorine next week...

Day 8 - Blue Like Jazz (Give)

Before the Dare...

Tonight we had a great opportunity to gather at OMS headquarters at Beka's invitation.  All but one of our mission team to Haiti was able to make it.  We had a great meal together and then toured the OMS facility before hearing from Beka about her journey with God.  At the end of the evening, her parents led us all in prayer for her.  I wished we didn't have school tomorrow so that we could all just hang out together for several more hours.  Responsibilities stink!

I took the opportunity to ride with my new little brother, Todd, on the way to Greenwood this evening.  We really haven't had a chance to catch up to any extent since we got back from Haiti.  Todd was my roommate for most of that week.  He's the young, adventurous type.  Our team had the chance to chill for a day on a gorgeous beach with some of the missionaries from the compound.  When lunch was served, one of the plates was a whole fish - nose to tail.  I dared Todd to eat one of the eyeballs with me.  I was hoping he would turn me down.  He didn't.  So I couldn't just call him a wimp and then laugh the whole thing off ... I had to go through with it.



During the Dare...



I was not expecting it to be crunchy, so I was a bit disgusted ... as you can tell from my facial expression.   There was a small, hard, pearl-like globe at the center which I took to be the lens.  I cleaned up this "pearl", stashed it in my camera case and brought it back to Indiana.  It was my one souvenir that held the most fascination for my four kids once I got back home!


Anyway, on the ride to Greenwood tonight, I gave Todd my copy of Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz" (subtitled "Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality").  I know ... it's easy to give away books.  I'll need to find something a bit more challenging this week.  Melissa says she wants the house ready to put on the market in a few weeks.  Yikes!

Todd, let me know when you get around to reading the book... I'll be curious to hear your impressions.


 

Day 7 - The Muffler (Throw)



Picture by Dats (age 9)

 OK.  This is truly embarassing.  I haven't really set any rules for myself with this whole daily Throw, Give or Sell thing, but I do know I can't just pick up a used kleenex that one of the rug rats left on the living room floor and call it my Throw for the day.  BUT if some large, rusty hunk of metal has been on the ground beside the house for ... oh, let's say three months ... THEN, I think it definitely qualifies as a genuine Throw. 

The muffler rotted off my car three months ago.  It had been dangling for at least half a year.  (My car has actually been quieter since it fell completely off.)  I know it has been three months because it was before the school year started.  I know it was before the school year started (August 14) because I had just picked up a fellow teacher whose classroom is right next to mine and we were on our way to school to put in a few hours of classroom preparation when it happened. 

For the sake of my ego, I try to avoid having non-family passengers in my car if at all possible, so this was the first time my colleague had ridden with me.  As he hopped in, to cover my embarassment, I jokingly asked if his tetanus shots were current.  I told him the windows had to stay down since the air conditioner blows hot air.  And that we were lucky to be driving in the daylight since the dashboard lights don't work.  And that I hadn't gotten around to replacing the passenger side mirror since it fell off last winter and went bouncing down the road.  And that I was the only one who ever drove the car since the electric seat adjuster had long ago frozen with the driver's seat all the way back in the far position - perfect for me but too far for Melissa's foot to reach the gas pedal. 

As we started out to school, I realized there was something I had forgotten at home, so I swung back by my house for a quick stop.  As I pulled into the drive, there was this terrible scraping noise.  I hopped out, looked under the car, loosened the last tendon holding the muffler to the underbelly and popped back up holding my muffler like a prize large mouth bass.  My passenger was quite impressed.

So this leaves the question: why did the muffler lay beside the house for three months?  You got me.

Day 6 - Another Book (Give)

Tonight I gave Mark Levin's "Liberty and Tyranny" to Steve, our small group leader.  Steve's a political animal, so I know he'll appreciate the book.  That book was not hard to give away (and, Steve, I'm sure I'll find something more meaningful to give to you and Keri at some point here!  We've got a long way to go!) and not because I didn't like it.  It was easy to give away, it seems to me now, because that's exactly what I should do with the majority of the books I read.  Why buy a book, read it, and then stash it away on some bookshelf somewhere?  Now sure, I always dreamed of a future house in which I would have my own little "study" where I could display all my books on numerous shelves covering three of the four walls (the other wall being reserved for the bay window that looks out over the lake!).  And I would invite guests into my study for the sole purpose of giving them the opportunity to admire my collection of books.  OK, so I've just admitted to myself and you that there is definitely an element of pride in my desire to accumulate books and for that reason alone, it is a good idea for me to give some away. 

Lately, when the kids have asked for some new toy or such, Melissa and I have told them, "We're needing to get rid of things, not add to them."  It's true, but I can't promise that in the midst of giving away books that I won't go and buy a few more.  I heard of one today that I'd like to get - Andrew Klavan's "Identity Man".  I've never read anything by Klavan, but I'm curious.  That would be light reading... it's a thriller.

A heavier book that I am currently reading for a second time (it's short) and Melissa is reading for the first is "Radical" by David Platt.  The subtitle is "Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream."  It is a challenging book. I borrowed Storly's copy as we were on the plane returning to Indiana from Haiti and then bought my own copy a few days later.  Platt writes:  With the best of intentions, we have actually turned away from Jesus. We have in many areas blindly and unknowingly embraced values and ideas that are common in our culture but are antithetical to the gospel he taught.  

I find myself more and more convinced that the reason we don't see God's power more frequently evidenced in the American church is because we have settled for a comfortable existence and for doing only what can be accomplished in our own power with our own resources.  Agree or disagree?

Day 5 - the Crib (Sell)

I put our crib set on craigslist tonight.  Our "baby" turns FOUR in January!  This is another one of those deals where something has been sitting around the house for months and I just haven't acted on it.  The Princess moved into a big bed probably a year ago.  The crib was dismantled and stored in the shed along with the rocker.  The dressing table sat in the corner of the Princess' room for months.  Then, a few weeks back, we hauled the whole set to a community garage sale, set the crib up one last time, and ... took it all back home afterwards!  At least I was smart enough to snap a few pictures while it was all set up.  Hopefully the pictures will help it sell on craigslist.

I have to admit that it will hurt my heart a bit when that furniture finally goes out the door.  It will be a stark reminder that our kids are growing up ... and so fast.  But an extra $350 in my pocket would help sooth the pain.

In a related note: as we've started sharing our plans to move our family to Haiti, one of the most common responses has been, "How can you do that to your kids?"  Our kids are sturdy and flexible.  They will flourish wherever they are.  Our oldest, "Dats" (his sister's nickname for him), is all excited about learning Creole words and phrases - he has been checking out the kids' page on the OMS website with his younger sister, the Drama Queen.  While I was in Haiti, I kept thinking how much fun our kids would have climbing trees and chasing lizards.  But much more importantly, Melissa and I have decided that the safest and best place for our entire family is wherever God calls us.  I know that Melissa and I are hoping to teach at the missionary school, but I will be anxious to see what sort of ministry the Lord has in mind for each of our kids in Haiti.

Day 4 - TV (Give)

     Kate and Storly came over tonight for dinner along with their two sweet little girls.  Melissa made a pork roast with pineapple salsa, beer bread and corn casserole.  Kate brought the ice cream and cherry pie filling as a topping.  (Must be a Welsh thing.) 
     In conversation tonight we figured out that we first met Kate and Storly exactly two years ago.  It was through them that God first began to call us to Haiti.  We got to know them when they started to attend our small group on Friday nights.  More recently, Kate led the mission trip when Melissa went in June and Storly led when I went in October.  I learned then that Storly is a celebrity in Haiti.  He has done programs on Radio 4VEH for years and every Haitian seemed to know him, his name and/or his voice.  To say that they are a unique and talented couple is an understatement.  (And I will leave it at that since I suspect they will read this blog at some point and I wouldn't want their incredible humility to be compromised!)
      There's more I could say but I'm getting rather sleepy and I have to report still on the give away of the day:  a TV set.  A couple of months ago my mom got a new flat screen TV.  Her old TV sat in her living room for weeks until I finally got around to loading it into our minivan to bring home with us.  We replaced one of our old TVs with mom's old TV which meant that it was now our old TV's turn to sit on the living room floor for another several weeks.  Kate and Storly had been wanting to get a TV for their girls to watch in the basement but had decided they couldn't justify purchasing a second TV (they're not Americans, you see).  So, they took our old TV ... problem solved for both of us.  Win, win!

     Kate suggested I could build the readership for my blog if I would start announcing in advance what I planned to give away.  She's so clever....

Day 3 - Simpsons Trivia Game (Give)

(Tuesday, November 9, 2010)

     I made it easy on myself today.  I gave away a game I have never once played.  It's a Simpsons trivia game in a tin container that Melissa gave me one year as one of those goofy little "extra" gifts that you throw in with the "real" gift at Christmas time.  I like the Simpsons.  I just don't like games.  And so it had been relegated to the garage where it rested on a counter top for ... literally ... years. 

     So this morning I was in the garage to get an extension cord because I planned to go to my mom's house after school today to blow her leaves away from her house.  I saw that pathetic tin box and decided to set the Simpson's free from the garage.  I say I gave it away, but technically what I did was put it on the shelf in my classroom which houses a stack of straggly board games.  It will finally get used.  The 7th and 8th graders get to play games sometimes on Fridays for the last 20 minutes or so of class.  The Simpsons will get attention if for no other reason than it is novel and has all its pieces!  And when I pack up my room a year and a half from now (God willing), I will leave the Simpsons trivia game on that shelf.  And that will virtually guarantee that it will NEVER be thrown away!
     If I had the money back from all the unused items around this house that I or Melissa or one of the kids spent money on, I'd be a rich man. 
     I can't leave this post without at least mentioning my all-time favorite Simpsons episode ... and it was my favorite even before I began to consider the possibility that I might become a missionary.  It's the episode from a few years back called "Missionary: Impossible."  Homer is watching PBS and he gets impatient with all the phonathon fundraising interrupting his program so he calls in a pledge of ten thousand dollars to get them to shut up and return to the show.  Of course he has no intention of paying up and he's surprised when folks from PBS hunt him down.  Reverend Lovejoy helps Homer escape by putting him on a plane for "Microasia" where Homer replaces some departing missionaries.  Instead of finishing the half-built chapel, Homer decides to erect a casino.  When the morals of the island collapse, Homer reluctantly finishes building the chapel.  The best line of the whole episode (in my humble opinion) is when Homer steps back from the church building and admires his handiwork:  "Well, I may not know much about God, but I have to say we built a pretty nice cage for Him."

Day 2 - The Year of Living Biblically (Give)

Day 2 (November 8, 2010):
     Today I gave away a book.  "The Year of Living Biblically" by A.J. Jacobs.  It's a truly funny and fascinating book. Jacobs writes for Esquire magazine and he likes to experiment on his own life and then write about the results.  (Perhaps my decision to throw, give and sell stuff each day and to document the process was subconsciously inspired by Jacobs!)  Jacobs, who started his experiment thoroughly secular ("I’m officially Jewish but I’m Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant"), does his best to live a year of his life taking the Bible literally.  He even stones an adulterer - a septuagenarian adulterer - in Central Park... using pebbles.
     Bringing myself to give away this book was harder than I thought it would be.  You have to understand: I'm the type who really doesn't even like to loan out books.  They rarely come back!  And I love my books.  I underline little passages for which I'm just certain some day I'll have a great need.  But they take up a lot of space, they're heavy and, when we leave for the mission field, I am not going to pay to store a half ton of paper somewhere, no matter what's written on it. 
     So I grabbed one book off my shelf this morning before I left for school.  Sure, I could have taken it to Half Price Books and gotten a buck fifty for it, but it's such a good book that I wanted to pass it on personally.  I intended to give it to the 11th grade English teacher next door to me, but I got busy and forgot about it throughout the day.  After school a former student stopped in my room.  She's something else - my nickname for her is "Satan".  But it's a term of endearment.  She's made it clear that she does not care one bit for the church ... I'm not real certain where she stands on the subject of God Almighty Himself, though.  I offered her the book.  She seemed suspicious, but she took it.  I assured her it was not an explicitly "religious" book.  (But I didn't mention how Jacobs ends his year long experiment as what I would call a seeker - one who even attends Jewish services on a regular basis and finds solace in prayer!)  I think she'll read it.  I hope we get to have a conversation about it some day...

Throw Away, Give Away or Sell

It's been just over two weeks since I got back from a mission trip to Haiti and just over five hours since my family and I returned from a weekend retreat with OMS (One Mission Society) in Greenwood, Indiana.  With mounds of school work to do (I STILL have not completely caught up on grading after missing a full week for my Haiti trip) and the bed calling, what am I doing?  Setting up a blog. 

I am in the habit of reading various blogs on a regular basis, but I have never written one myself.  This is all one big experiment.

So why a blog for the Gross family and why now?  Because life has been turned upside down and I need to write to make sense of it.  And it would help me to be disciplined in writing if I had an audience.  It doesn't matter if I have a real audience or not ... with an honest-to-goodness blog of my own, I can pretend I have an audience and that will be enough for me to write. (Maybe!)

The title of my first entry here is my goal over the next several months: to find something each day around the house to throw away (good idea!), to give away (even better!) or to sell (ideal!).  We need to lighten our load.  The wife and I are having serious talks about selling the house in the next few months, paying down our debts and heading to Haiti as teachers by August 2012 (although we are open to God's timetable being longer or shorter, of course!). 

Day 1 (Sunday, November 7, 2010):  After we returned from Greenwood, I went out to the garage and tackled several 8 foot tall cardboard pillars that I had used in my classroom over a year ago when we studied Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar".  They've slowly rotted in the center of our garage ever since, serving as nesting grounds for crickets and makeshift sponges for rain water.  I loaded them into the back of the van and drove around town looking for a place to recycle them.  Every recycle dumpster I found emphasized "No Cardboard!"  Well, I tried to keep Al Gore happy....  I had to bring them home.  I thoroughly enjoyed stomping them flat and forcing them into a garbage can.  They are gone.