Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 49

Remodel post 1 - laundry

Since the end of November, I’ve occasionally mentioned – and even shared pictures of – our home remodeling project. As of just this past Monday, it is 98% complete. Well, at least the contractor’s part of things. Hubby and I still need to paint all the ceilings and the walls, but that can wait until spring, or at least until we’ve had a chance to recharge after the hectic month of December.

Starting on Day 1, I’ve been dying to post pictures as we’ve gone along, but I knew I had to wait for the entire before, during and after package. You need to know me well to not be shocked that I snapped over two hundred pictures of my kitchen, bathroom and laundry over the past month. Yes, 212 to be exact. It will take a while to weed them all out.

In the interim, however, here is the smallest part of the project – the new floor, washer and dryer in the laundry. 

I didn't realize that on the very first day, they would take out the old washer and dryer and rip up the flooring. Sad that I didn't get a true before picture. 

Instead, you get the old washer and dryer, sitting in the living room until we sold them on Facebook Marketplace. Of course, half the rest of the kitchen was in the living room as well. 
Kitty on the new floor. 
Rugs and a ladder on the new floor. 
Yeah. New washer and dryer installed. Dino checking them out. Honestly, it was hard getting any picture without Dino or Emma photo-bombing. 


 But the best part is this video. Hope you're able to watch it, with your volume on. And then wait for it. 

Word of the Year 2022

         For you are all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. (Galatians 3:26, New Living Translation)

It’s that time of year – yes, the first Sunday in a New Year, which means I have a new word of the year.

After the usual deliberation, and too much thinking on my part, God once again gave me the word to keep close to my heart for the next 52 weeks.

It seems too simple, this year’s word. Like, duh? Shouldn’t this be our word every day for life? Which is so true, but is that what we really do? Or do we fall back on our own ways, our own worries? Do we place faith in ourselves or others over faith in God? And what exactly is faith anyway?

Questions I need to find the answers to. Or that God will give me the answers to.

 Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:12, New Living Translation)

          “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12, New International Version)

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” (Matthew 17:20, New Living Translation)

Have a safe, joyous and faith-filled new year. 

Prosperity

             But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity. (Psalm 37:11, New International Version)

I wasn’t going to write a blog today. It’s New Year’s Eve and you all have other things to do than to read my drivel. I also thought I’d written about all the P words already this month. Time to move on, right?

Then I woke up this morning, and God planted the word “prosperity” on my heart.

We might have mixed feelings about that word. What comes to my mind is the Ghost of Christmas present from the 1985 version of A Christmas Carol. The character is dressed in a green, velvet robe, surrounded by a smorgasbord of rich foods, lite candles, and all that glitters. (Sorry if you never saw that particular movie; maybe we are still enough in the Christmas season that you can find it on TV.)

I’m not sure why that’s the picture I have of prosperity, but that’s just what’s in my head. All the food one could what, expensive clothes, a lot of light to chase away anything bad, and silver and gold.

But those are all earthly possessions, things that don’t last, that won’t have any value in the end. What makes us rich is having loved ones around us, having joy in our hearts, and having Jesus as our Savior.  

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11, New International Version)

Yes, I love my new kitchen cupboards, but my family is what makes me feel prosperous. 
 

Perfection

Every good action and every perfect gift is from God. These good gifts come down from the Creator of the sun, moon, and stars, who does not change like their shifting shadows. (James 1:17, New Century Version)

I’ve spent the month of December blogging about words from the Bible which begin with the letter P. I’ve also shared a few snippets of living in a house being remodeled. We are nearing the end of both, but I think the month of P’s will end before the remodel.

The last item which needs to be installed is the bathroom sink, which isn’t set to arrive until the first week in January. You’ll have to wait for the final reveal, with before, during, and after pictures. In the meantime, though, I think everything has turned out perfectly. Maybe not perfect for everyone else – there are the little idiosyncrasies, which some may not like – but to me that’s what makes this house my home.

Speaking of perfection, we all know that only God can make things which are perfect, without flaw. And His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ is the only person who was ever perfect.  

But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.” So I am very happy to brag about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can live in me. (2 Corinthians 12:9, New Century Version)

Praise

  

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. (Luke 2:15-20, New International Version)

Hoping that everyone had a joyous Christmas and wishing you God’s blessing in the New Year.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3, New International Version)

Proclaim

  

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

 “Glory to God in the highest,

    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

 (Luke 2:8-14, New International Version)

Wishing you many blessings this Christmas and all year long. 

Placed

             So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. (Luke 2:4-7, New International Version)

I’ve written my blog posts this month around various words which begin with the letter P. Today, Christmas Eve, I had to share these verses from the book of Luke, which include only two words that begin with a P. Pledge is the same thing as promise, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. And that leaves us with the word placed.

Picture the young – and exhausted – new mother Mary gently placing her newborn Son in the manger filled with straw. She might have laid back on some straw herself, while Joseph stood nearby, attentive and alert. Baby Jesus looked around his surroundings, at the rough stable walls, perhaps carved out of stone. He listened to the cows lowing and the other livestock settling in to sleep. Can you imagine what he smelled? Probably not freshly mown hay, but more like freshly deposited animal waste.

God hears, sees, smells, and feels everything we do, but this was the first time he experienced those sensations through a human body.  

Just as Mary placed her Baby Boy in the manger, God has placed certain gifts on our hearts. Hope, peace, love. This year at Christmas, focus on those gifts, the things you have inside of you, instead of the external chaos the world inflicts upon you.

May God bless you with hope, peace, and love this Christmas and all year long.   

 

Patience

     We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy. (Colossians 1:11, New Living Translation

Patience. A virtue I have not been blessed with. I think many are in the same boat. We get impatient when the computer is too slow or when the line at the store is too long or when we can’t complete a task on the first try. And maybe we lose our patience with God when we feel He hasn’t answered our prayers.

I’ve had that kind of a month, maybe even that kind of year. Nothing seems to be going right. The only thing I’m not impatient for is Christmas, because I am so not ready for it! I’ll never get everything done in the next two days!

Kind of a horrible thing to say, isn’t it? The real meaning of Christmas isn’t about seeing how much someone can cram into the month of December. It’s about patiently waiting for Baby Jesus to be born and then patiently waiting for his return one day.

This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.(1 Timothy 1:15-17, New Living Translation)

Providing Presents

 

        For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:4-6, New International Version)

I woke up in the middle of the night, thinking it must be morning already, as there was light outside sneaking in around the curtains. I couldn’t check the time on the clock radio, as the power had been out from a wind storm since Wednesday night. I reached for my travel clock but dropped it on the floor. My cell phone was turned off to conserve its battery, so I pulled my Kindle from my nightstand and turned it on. Hmm? 1:11 am.

It was still cold in the bedroom – we’d managed to keep the house between 50 and 55 degrees for the past three days – and there was nothing to do but sleep under the cozy covers.

About that time Hubby woke up and asked, “is that the garage spotlight on outside?”

“Remember, we don’t have any electricity?”

I rolled over and noticed that the light which looked like morning on the rest of the walls was definitely not from nature. Four slats of light in two different spots shone above Hubby’s dresser.

Aliens?

I crawled out from the warm blankets and peeked out the window. I was transported back to my parents’ house when I was five years old and the tree on Christmas morning sheltered a plethora of beautifully wrapped gifts. No one has ever described a pair of Public Service trucks in that way before!

Through the window of the back door, inside my fifty-degree house, I watched them work for an hour in the twenty-degree cold in the woods behind our home The pole holding our electric line swayed as the young man climbed it, then reached out as his partner threw him various things. In the dark, with just their headlamps and one other light on the ground.

At 2:35 am, exactly 72 hours after going out, our power was restored.

There is no gift so great as total strangers supplying you with electricity, heat, and running water in the middle of the night. Or that’s the greatest gift any human can give.

God is ever-present to provide for us in every way, to provide us with the necessities as well as the presents we ask for.

And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope.” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit ( Romans 15:12-13, New International Version)

Persevere and Persist

      And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:3-5, New King James Version)

Persevere and persist. If ever those words needed to be on my mind, it is now. As you know, my kitchen and bathroom are still in disarray. I washed dishes in the shower again last night, and even our second bathroom has been affected. 

And if that isn’t enough, the new electronic health record at work continues to feel like a kidney stone in my side. But, at least I’m blessed with the best co-workers, and we are doing our best to get through this trial together.

However, with all this going on, I feel like a whiner when I watch the news or read the obituaries. So much sadness and struggle everywhere.

But we will persevere and persist.

       To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. Romans 2:7, New International Version

Especially this time of year, when I think of what Mary and Joseph faced – the fear of what would become of Mary as an unwed mother, the stress Joseph felt by doing what was best for her, the journey to Bethlehem to find the only place to rest their heads was a stable. They were able to persevere and persist and bring Jesus into this world, because they had faith.

Do we have that kind of faith in God to bring us through these times?