Sunday, February 18, 2024

stoop

 I was either at work, or home with our baby when Beau met the home inspector. The tall green house smelled like cat pee. A window was missing. There was an impossibly steep slope tangled in blackberries and Scot's broom. My biggest concern was that the house would be slipping off the foundation. Just a year before, our neighbor in Navy Yard City had discovered that her house was slipping off its foundation. I remember explicitly (compulsively, perhaps) demanding that Beau look with the home inspector at the house foundation to be sure it wasn't slipping off the hillside. They determined the foundation to be fine. 

We closed on the house, began stripping the interior, and have slowly added major and minor renovations over the years. However, we did find that the front entrance has an issue: the stoop. There's a 4' by 4' section just outside our front door that sits over top the crawlspace. The foundation is flush with the rest of the house, causing this 4' x 4' indentation to be exposed to the elements. The floorboards are rotted, as are some of the joists in our living space. We learned about this problem in late 2019 (very poor timing as we moved through the grief journey and the world capitulated into chaos.) In all of the restoration and projects, the stoop was literally swept under the rug. Until now.

I tried to arrange a surprise birthday party for Beau this weekend. But, he ruined the surprise by tearing out the stoop. The damage is more than we expected but still able to be repaired. It needs to be replaced. This unglamorous project (the very bones of our house) is vital to welcoming guests into our home. For now, our front walkway is jackhammered concrete. Beau waterproofed a sheet of plywood with RedGard and nailed it over the hole to our basement. I placed a rainbow coir welcome mat from Target and added an orange construction paper sign to caution any delivery drivers. This project is far from finished.

The stoop is a powerful metaphor for our continued commitment to our neighborhood and community. There are some deep flaws in our approach. We know about some of them, but maybe we don't know how far the problems stretch. In time, we will build something beautiful. And yet, it still looks like the hottest of messes. I heard a pastor talk about faithfulness this morning and my soul remained focused on the stoop. We are committed to this corner of the community, our tall green house in the Heights. This literal space comes with challenges, complicated and rotting. The hope for restoration is addictive, though.

To close this moment of the story, my mind continues to circle to a verse that my sweet friend in LA has displayed in her apartment's living room:

"Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce." -Jeremiah 29:5 NIV

What better place to celebrate the settling than a stoop? I look with hope to the morning ahead where I can sip a cup of coffee overlooking the gardens as I pray for our tender neighborhood.

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Ephesians 5

Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. But among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting – all of which are out of character – but rather thanksgiving. For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light – for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth – and find out what pleases the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For the things they do in secret are shameful even to mention. But all things being exposed by the light are made evident. For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says:

“Awake, O sleeper!

Rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you!”

Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise, taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is. And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church – he himself being the savior of the body. But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great – but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

hey guys