Pianos, Paint, and Peacocks

Happy Sabbath

It’s been a good HOT week but I'm thankful the Lord brought me through.  I returned back home on Sunday night and my family returned on Thursday night this week. My AC in my car went out on Monday morning in the middle of this heat wave. On Monday afternoon, I went to the post office because they tried to deliver a letter (I assumed it was the house title) but no one was at my parent's home to receive it.  I picked it up to discover it was a security deposit refund from my apartment.  I immediately said I would use it for my car but then decided to hold off because I broke my tooth filling last week when eating some hard veggie chips.  I'm sure they will require me to get a root canal because the filling was put in when I was around 10 years old and they take out so much of the tooth that it's inevitable I'll need a crown.  I don't have money for that right now. I put the check in the bank and decided to sit on it.

For the house, I was able to go get supplies on Monday evening and start painting on Tuesday afternoon.  On Monday, I put a lot of energy into mowing the lawn in a ridiculous outfit that almost gave me heat stroke in the middle of 107 degree weather. Now on Tuesday night before some storms came through, I heard this strange but familiar bird call.  I was not sure what it was and continued painting my son’s room and began my bedroom. I painted for at least 10 hours straight on July 4^th.  That morning on my way over to my house, I encountered a male peacock in the middle of the road.  The strange call was from the peacock (I heard it’s call when I was at the zoo last year). I grew up in this town and had never before seen wild peacocks and thought they only ran wild in India or some other tropical place. I thought it belonged to someone so I pulled over and was about to get out of my car, looking at doors that I would have to knock on and wondering if it flew too far away from home.  Thankfully, another driver was behind me and told me that they are wild in these parts so there was no need for me to embarrass myself trying to find an owner.  I should also mention that Tuesday night I was looking at random youtube videos and one was about this girl cooking an ostrich egg.  You shouldn’t eat ostrich eggs and as I was looking at content related to fowl, I was watching videos about peacocks/peafowl and learning about them.  So random but related in the weirdest way. 

I got a lot of painting work done this week and plan to go tomorrow to finish mowing the front and the back yard and am enlisting my dad’s help because of the poison ivy issue and because that hill is formidable.  

I was paid a bonus from work on Thursday and noticed my pay increase was not included for my regular pay and HR told me it would be in effect on 7/19/18.  So I'll wait until then to see how much more I will be able to take in and put aside.  So the bonus money went into the bank and I told myself to hold off on doing anything car or tooth related.  I need to build up my emergency savings again.

Friday morning, I headed off to work and it wasn't long that my tire pressure sensor went off.  I filled up the tire with air for a second time last week and was shocked that it required air again so soon.  I knew it had to be a nail but I cannot keep filling up air in the tire.  I decided to head to pep boys to see if they would replace the tire.  I have road side hazard warranty on them so I was preparing myself to pay for the difference and as I headed over there, I was having trouble breathing since it was so hot, so I was also determined to get the AC fixed in that moment.  I go in and they give me a quote for over $1000 but I decided not to fix the sway bar links, and some of the other things I was advised to do by my personal mechanic (I got that nail in the tire from his shop).  They told me that the two front tires were getting worn on the inside and it didn't make sense to replace only three tires.  They patched the tire that had the nail and recharged the AC.  If I were to do an AC full on repair, they'd have to take apart the dashboard and the cost for the service alone would be around $1200 of which I was not going to pay.  I ended up paying only $176 and left with what I know is a temporary AC situation and no tire pressure issues.  When I go back, I will likely have to purchase a set of tires and do road side hazard again and have an alignment.  I thank God that they were able to help me, even though temporarily.  I need to get to my mechanic to get the AC really fixed, the sway bars, and the valve cover replaced so my car stops leaking oil. 

I received a text from the Sabbath school teacher who wanted to know what happened to my son and I last Sabbath and I told her we went down to NC, but my son was not back (didn’t know he was coming back on Thursday) so I told her I was going to go to my home church alone. She told me she was going out of town this weekend so even if he was back, no one would be available to work with him if he came.   When my son returned, I played around with some ideas and decided last minute this morning to visit the mission church that is two houses down from my parents house where I’m staying while I fix up my own house.  My childhood classmate told me they always have something for children so I thought it was a good move. We walked over and I had it in my mind to find a nice seat, listen to a great sermon and sing praises to the Lord without having to do anything piano related.  You know, just be a visitor.

When they started song service, I noticed there was no accompaniment so I asked to play at least for that until the main person arrived.  I do this at my home church weekly, and have done it when I was in NC during a three day tour of Raleigh, Cary, and Chapel Hill during a Wednesday night prayer meeting many years ago and if there is a way I can contribute to the worship ceremony and there is a lack, I always want to help.  I played for the Sabbath school and thought the lady said someone was coming in to play for the main service so I merrily returned to my seat with my son. 

I didn’t expect to be called to play for the entire service. 

After the service I learned that they don’t have a full time pianist and there is one lady who comes on the second Sabbath of each month to play.  I agreed to play for the first Sabbath since I had already planned on making regular visits to this church since it’s in my home town and it’s so close.  This church reminds me of the church I used to go to, the second on I transferred membership to.  That church was a missionary church and I really liked the type of work that they did.  This church goes out in the community and they are really doing some great work.  It has the same pastor as my other church (he covers three churches for now).  It is also held in the building that I first started going to church when I was a child (Methodist).  I am also an assistant primary Sabbath school teacher at the other church but only fill in when the main teacher is out and she hasn’t contacted me lately to fill in even when I offer to help. 

So you go where help is needed and help is needed at this missionary church.  My son is a handful and all over the place but I see nothing wrong with committing one or two Sabbaths over there…perhaps the first and third Sabbath.  I’m glad I went. 

So if you go to the same church week in and week out, I encourage you to go try another location.  You never know the friends you can make, the testimonies you will hear, and what the Lord will have you do.  I pray that you are blessed, continue to do the Lord’s work and have a great week.