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We have cleaned out a full floor of an abandoned house.

The occupant, deceased a few years ago, had been a hoarder.  By that I mean he piled each room full.  One or two of the rooms didn’t even have a path into them.

Our waste management site requires sorting.  The easier way would have been to just push the house over and demolish it. 

Instead we are sorting.

As an archivist, I would love to save all sorts of stuff.  But that will not happen, due to the time the house was sealed (three years ago) and the deterioration that has happened.

Nevertheless, there are some interesting factoids we have gleaned.  The occupant had a Bachelor of Arts degree, was a bit of an electronics freak (we have found 9 TV’s to date, at least 5 cell phones and other electronic miscellany), and once owned property in California. 

And that is just from the first floor contents.  More to come I’m sure!

Graveside service, dental appointment, visit to my daughter’s family, pastoral (retired!) visits, coffee and more.  What a week.

The most interesting part was finally getting into the abandoned house we had bought.  The boarded up edifice had sat there for three years with no one in or out.  As we prepared to enter, we were not sure what we were entering!

On went full face masks, boots and coveralls.  We borrowed a horse trailer to contain the household garbage.  Two full trailer loads headed to the dump, with a third ready to go.  And that was only 3/4 of the first floor – there is still a basement (which is even fuller) and an upstairs.  To say the previous occupant was a hoarder is to understate the situation.

As we finished the day, we removed our protective outwear.  We did not want to run across someone and contaminate them with whatever evil we had encountered in the house.  We washed and were ready to meet people – the next large gathering was a church service the following day.

I’ve been ready the Old Testament book of Ezekiel.  In the 44th chapter, verse 19, the priests, who have gone into God’s house, are told to wear protective gear.  When they leave at the end of their shift, they are told to leave that gear behind.  Just in case they brush up against someone and contaminate them with holiness.

The likeness of both situations is striking.  There is something deeply disturbing about bacteria and contaminates in our abandoned house.   There is something deeply disturbing about godliness and holiness in God’s house.

Take a stab at this one! 

Why were the priests told not to transmit holiness to the people?  What was to  be feared about this contamination?

Maybe its just who humans are. 

We like to change flat surfaces.  Add a decoration.  Or create a house.  Or construct a hill (or mountain, which we can name Blackstrap!).

A protuberance just seems to make things a little less boring.

I struggle to keep a balance between changing (I call it improving) everything I see, or just enjoying the view.

God doesn’t take sides on this one, as far as I can tell.  He did a great job of creating our world.  The prairies are a prize possession of his, I’m sure.

Every once in a while, a volcano may push up a pimple on the flat surface of our earth.  Or the wind creates a beautiful pattern in the sand deserts of the earth.

Which seems to imply that God wants us to keep our eyes open – at all times.  You never know what may pop up.

As a society we are intentionally a disciplined group.  At least, that’s what we portray to ourselves and others.

• We diet – to keep our weight down
• We attend seminars – to keep our minds active
• We set appointments – to keep our socialization complete
• We have timers – to keep our life pro-active
• And the examples go on and on.

Our problem?

We are not always so disciplined.  We overeat, miss appointments, stay home, veg out, . . .

I have noted two different areas in which our discipline breaks down.

Distraction – Our focus, or what we perceive to be our need for focus, is led down another track.  Children are notorious for this – we wonder how they ended up with a peanut butter sandwich when all we had sent them to do was get a fork for lunch. 

Our distractions are self-led.

Disruptions – Our focus, or what we perceive to be that which needs to be next in priority, is led unwillingly down another path.  Refugees are a supreme example of those who often do desire to determine their own destiny, but are forced in another direction.

Our disruptions are other-led.

The question for those of us who wish to be disciplined?

Am I being led into the ditch of my own accord, or is someone else leading me?

When we answer that, we will know where our next step should take us.