Sasquatch Outpost

The work on renovating and re-creating the Bailey Country Store has begun!  We spent most of the last two days removing the garbage and junk left by previous tenants so we can gain a better idea of what needs to be done.  Yesterday Steve and I started investigating the state of the floor in the store more thoroughly, and we decided that we had to climb down into the 2-foot crawlspace under the floor to look at the floor joists from underneath.  Steve couldn't fit through the trap-door opening, so guess who had to crawl down into that dark, dank, 130-year-old space?  I had previously set off about five bug bombs under the floor, knowing that "someone" would have to go down there.  The fact that we killed an enormous black widow spider on the front of the building the day before was no comfort to me at all.  But hey, the Just Shall Live By Faith, right?  So down I went.  I couldn't squeeze more than a few yards in any direction, but the thought occurred to me while I was down there that I should have brought a metal detector with me; who knows what cool stuff might be hiding in that dirt?  Anyway, there was no way to see the problem from underneath, so we attacked it from above.  We picked a particularly bad spot in the middle of the store, and we went through two layers of linoleum, a layer of plywood, a layer of tiles, then some kind of concrete before we finally reached the original hardwood flooring.  It is all full of moisture (oh boy, more work!), and we will clearly have to rip up the entire floor and rebuild it on top of the existing joists.  The problem is that we have seven fridge/freezers to move - some of which date from the 1950's and weigh upwards of a ton.  This should be interesting.  As we were working we must have had a dozen people stop by the ask what we're doing, and one woman volunteered to come and help us with our work-day on Saturday.  That's exactly what we are hoping for... curiosity that will lead to community involvement.

No Way

Last Wednesday evening we held our first "official" church service in the upstairs apartment of the Country Store.  I was expecting more than our usual 15, but to my surprise 29 people showed up - four of whom have not been to any church in years.  After the meeting one of them - a guy in his early 30's - came up to me and said that he's decided to leave Bailey and start his life over.  I found out later from a mutual friend that he's been through a hellish time the past few weeks.  Anyway, he asked if we might have any use for some tools he needs to get rid of, like a table saw and a few other power tools.  I told him that we could certainly make use of anything that he is willing to donate.  He called me yesterday morning to see when we would be at the store, because he was bringing a trailer-load of stuff (??) to drop off.  When he arrived an hour later my jaw literally dropped: he'd FILLED a 15 foot trailer with power tools and equipment, all of which he wanted to donate to help us renovate the country store.  I was honestly speechless as he carried a table saw, a drill press, a band saw, drills, nail guns, planers... I don't even know what all he gave.  I then remembered that Michael had given me a box of his books to give away, so I grabbed a signed copy and handed it to him - explaining that it's the story of how our church came to be.    "Well, I'm not much of a Christian, " he said.  "That's fine," I replied, "I think you'll enjoy reading it anyway."   "Well,"  he continued, "I'm actually an athiest".  Say what?  Something dramatic had apparently taken place in his heart the previous night at our meeting.  And here's the best part:  he called me about an hour later and said that he only wanted one thing in exchange for all that he'd given to our church.  "You name it" I replied.  He said that he's moving to Florida to get training to become a commercial pilot, and all he wanted from us was that we pray that he makes it.  Wow - God never ceases to amaze me!  I challenge our fledgling church to believe God for miracles...  and the next day an ATHIEST donates every tool we could possibly need, and only wants prayer in return.  Booyah!

The Just Shall Live By Faith