Good things on Coleman Street

Dear Editor,

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “No news is good news.”  That, basically, is how my husband, David, and I, owners of Cedar Row Apartments, read the Snyder Daily News.  In other words, any time we read your paper and don’t see Coleman Street mentioned we feel quite blessed—and a bit relieved.

Even before we took over the apartments in 2008 from my parents, Lawrence and Pat Outlaw, we were told of the history and reputation of The Old Colemans.  Some of that history happened before Mom and Dad began “cleaning up the street” some twenty plus years ago.

But even after implementing criminal background checks and raising the bar as far as who we allow to rent from us, unfortunately, there are times when one of our renters–or, in this case, one of our former renters–puts Coleman Street back in the news.

I’m referring, of course, to Roy Rodriguez who was recently found guilty of sexually assaulting his 13-year-old daughter and sentenced to four 99-year prison terms.  Like I’m sure everyone here in Snyder was when they read the news, we were appalled that such things had been going on.

As I read the articles, I found myself grimacing at how this would further reinforce—at least in some people’s minds—the negative reputation of our street.  But then I thought of something which changed my perspective entirely.

Before we rent an apartment, we not only fix it up and clean it thoroughly, we pray over it.  And one of the scriptures we often pray is Mark 4:22 which says in the New Living Translation: “For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light.“  Specifically, we ask the Lord to bring to light any evil so that it can be dealt with.

Today, a 13-year-old victim is free from the nightmarish torment of her incestuous father because the secret was brought to light.  And this reminds me of another favorite scripture: “We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.” Romans 8:28 Amplified Bible

Yep, there’s always something going on here on Coleman Street.  And most of it is actually good!

   Because there are a number of nuggets of wisdom in it, I decided to share it with you here in its entirety.  (I’m sure Bob won’t mind since I’m also doing this to encourage you to get your own copy of this wonderful book from his website!)

Howard Hendricks says, “As a young leader, my biggest mistake was allowing my time to be eaten up with things outside my core competencies.  I wanted to set the pace for others, to demonstrate that nothing was beneath me, so I devoted an inordinate amount of time to things I wasn’t good at—things I’d never be good at.  At the same time, I invested little energy into developing my strengths.  I worked hard, but not smart.

“Finally, I realized that my true value lay within the context of my giftedness—not the number of hours I worked.  There were some balls I had no business juggling.  When I finally got the courage to let them fall to the floor, I began to excel in juggling the two or three balls I was created to keep in the air in the first place.  And the amazing thing is, people came along and picked up the other balls.  What I couldn’t relinquish, were the opportunities they’d been waiting for.  What drained me fueled them.”

Of the two or three things that define success for you, which of them are in line with your core competencies?  That is where you must focus your energies!  That is where you’ll excel.  Within that narrowed context you’ll make the greatest contribution.  And best of all, you’ll enjoy what you do!

But I can’t afford to focus all my energies on one or two things, you say?  Maybe not yet, but that should be your goal.  It’s something you should be working toward if you ever hope to maximize your potential.

The scripture that immediately springs to mind is I Cor. 12:18 which says, “But…God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” (NIV) 

Wouldn’t it be silly to think that an elbow should strive to be as strong as a knee?  Yes, since they are both joints, they are similiar in function within the body; but, like the ankle, the knee is also a supporting joint and, therefore, must be physically stronger than an elbow.

So how ’bout you?  Are you devoting an inordinate amount of time to things you’re not good at…and probably never will be?  If so, maybe it’s time to give yourself permission to breathe a sigh of relief and admit that you’re not Superman (or Superwoman).  You really aren’t called to do it all, and if you keep trying to, not only will you continue to be frustrated, others around you (who have been strategically positioned there to help you) will be, too!

But you are called to do something—something special and unique—and whatever that is is what you need to devote the majority of your time and energy into.  And when you do, get ready for joy and fulfillment and true success—not according to the world; according to your Heavenly Father!

Can anyone out there say amen? 

Remember: seasons come and seasons go.

Is life good for you right now?  Great!  Rejoice and enjoy it.

Is life not so good?  I’m sorry.  Truly.  Pray and hide yourself in Him until the sun shines again.  And it will.

“Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven—healed inside and out.”  James 5:13-15 The Message Bible

First, in case you don’t know, Randy is (or was until he quit yesterday) our maintenance man who was seriously injured in the fire that nearly destroyed our 1914 building Nov. 10th of last year.  Thankfully, after six days on life-support at Lubbock’s University Medical Center and much prayer, he recovered and returned to work for us January 6th.

We were thrilled and so relieved to have him back.  Randy has a tremendous skill-set–especially with plumbing.  While he’s been here, he’s managed to solve several significant plumbing issues, saving us LOTS of $$ and tons of headaches, not to mention disgruntled renters who sometimes find other places to live as a result of those plumbing issues!

But over the past few weeks, there have been an increasing number of relatively minor, yet disturbing issues with Randy.  And trust me, the last thing we need around here is more drama!

So while in no way did we expect Tony, now our only maintenance man, to call yesterday morning to tell us that Randy was in jail, the result of a PI (public intoxication), and in need of someone to come bail him out, we weren’t completely surprised.  Disappointed?  Somewhat angry?  Frustrated?  Mildly…okay majorly irritated?  YES!  But surprised?  {sigh}…not really. 

It also wasn’t a total surprise when, shortly after bailing him out, he handed in his keys and said, “I quit!  I’m going back to Levelland!”  (David tried to talk to him to find out what had happened, but he refused to discuss it and simply turned and walked away.)

Oh, and did I mention that prior to calling about Randy, Tony called asking if he could borrow Mom’s crutches?  (Somehow he had strained his knee the night before.  So, while David & I were on our way to get Randy, Tony and Mary were en route to the emergency room.)

Okay…so let’s recap what happened yesterday morning.  In the space of less than an hour, one third of our work force was injured and unable to work while another third quit.  And to this the Lord says, “Don’t be distracted!”  Who me?  Distracted?  Whatever gave You that idea?

I once heard someone say that if the enemy can’t stop you, his next-best strategy is to use diversionary tactics, trying to engage you–your attention and all your energies–in something…anything other than the main thing.

And what is the main thing?  Glad you asked. 

For the past eight months, David and I have been a part of a house church.  I shared a little about that in my Cultivating Community post back in January.

From the time we arrived here in Snyder, we’ve prayed and interceeded for everyone here at Cedar Row Apartments as well as the community.  We knew we weren’t here just to take over the business or even just to help Mom and Dad; we’re on assignment from the Lord.

I wish I had had time this week to write a proper post (as David would say), sharing details about what happened on Wednesday.  I did, however, have time to share this on Facebook:

Wonderful news from last evening: two of our renters prayed with Judy (of Wheel Power Christian Cyclists who was here with her motorcycle team) to receive the Lord as their personal Savior. {Use your imagination and insert trumpet blasts and jubilant shouts of praise here!}

With this most wonderful event came the green light to take the next step and invite Markie and Delora, the newbies, along with a few others here in the complex and those we’ve been gathering with on Thursday evenings (who aren’t already doing something on Sunday mornings) to meet with us at 10:00 A.M. this Sunday!  Initially, we’re just going to meet here in our apartment.  But if we run out of room–and it won’t take much for that to happen since our living room is rather small–we’ll simply go over to our 1910-1 apartment where we started this house church journey last September.

And that, my blog-reader friend, is the main thing!

So, how ’bout you?  Have you ever had the enemy use diversionary tactics with you?

Last weekend while reading Felicity Dales‘ status updates on Facebook, as oftentimes happens when I click on one of her links to a blog post or article on a website, once there, I find links to other blog posts/articles, and that’s how I found LeavetheBuildingBlog.

Impressive!  That was my first reaction to the blog design.  Clean.  Uncluttered.  And the header…wow!  I love the picture of the gold fish jumping out of the fishbowl.  (If you haven’t yet clicked on the link to the blog–words highlighted like this are links–do it now so you can see for yourself what I’m talking about.)

The next thing that jumped out at me was the title of the most recent post (which may or may not be the case when YOU access the blog; so again, I’ll put in a nifty link so you can easily get there):  Glenn Beck, Social Justice, and the Gospel.  David & I are big fans of Glenn Beck.  And while social justice isn’t the subject of this post, since I’m talking about and giving you a link to the post, I’ll go ahead and mention that David & I were disappointed (and even a bit incredulous) at some of Ken Eastburn’s statements concerning Glenn–especially since it seems the entire post came about as a result of his watching a clip of Glenn produced by ABC News.

So, I decided to add my two penneth worth (a comment)!

Go ahead.  Take a look for yourself.  It’s fifth down in the comments.  And when you do, be sure and scroll to the very bottom (below the box for adding a comment).  There, you should see the words, Blog at WordPress.com | Theme: Ocean Mist by Ed Merritt.

Now…scroll to the bottom of this post.  What do you see?  The same thing!  Blog at WordPress.com | Theme: Ocean Mist by Ed Merritt.  Cool, huh! 

The reason I didn’t use this theme initially was because of the default header (which has a picture that wasn’t appealing to me).  So, once I saw how the folks at The Well had cleverly tweaked their header, I decided to see what I could come up with.

Okay…so it’s not all that clever–a pic of me sitting on a rock.  

But it’s not just any ole pic of me sitting on a rock.  It’s a pic David took of me on Sept. 22, 2006 while at Crabtree Falls, VA…just moments before he proposed!

So, the pic is very special and it brings back LOTS of special memories of not only that special day, but the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains near where I lived for almost 27 years.

I know you’ve probably heard the saying:  You can take the man out of the country (or whatever), but you can’t take the country out of the man.  The same is true here.  You can take me out of Virginia, but you can’t take Virginia out of me. 

So, in September, 2007 when David & I produced our DVD–appropriately entitled, Our Amazing Story–we added a “page” at the end letting people know how to access my BigChurch blog–in particular, my Our Amazing Story posts.

Since then, we’ve given away at least 300 of our Our Amazing Story DVDs…and we’re still giving them away!  (If you’d like one, just let me know and I’ll send you one.  We’ll even pay the postage!)

When I was actively blogging there, I had maybe 100-200 views per post, and was quite happy with that.  When I checked recently, however, I was shocked when I saw that Our Amazing Story posts were up to almost 1500 views!  Now that’s truly amazing!

It’s also why I was so disappointed to discover that BigChurch has changed it so that non-members can no longer click on any links once they are in the site.  This means the instructions I put on our DVD, telling people how to get to my posts, will only get them to the index.  Once there, however, they won’t be able to open any of my posts!  (I learned from a former BigChurch blogger that people can do a Google search and still get to a blog there in spite of the software changes if they know the BigChurch user id and blog name.  However, you can’t actually open any posts, which means you’re limited to viewing the last few posts published, and you’re not able to view any of the comments.)

Major Bummer!  {insert heavy sigh here.}

So, I prayed about the dilemma.  Then, not long ago while going through some old emails, I just happened to run across a link to one of my BigChurch posts and thought, hmmm…I wonder if this might actually work.  Sure enough, not only did it open right up, it even showed all the comments, too!  Hallelujah!  {Insert happy dance here.}

What I learned from that little accidental discovery is that non-members of BigChurch can still view the full posts, including the comments, as long as  the posts are accessed via  the older format paths (links).  Once there, if you’re not signed in you still can’t click on anything to access related links.  But, hey, if needed, I can just create additional links to posts that are cross-referenced within my posts.

Back in March (2010), I created a new blog on blogspot called WorshippingOne – The Next Chapter.  The description in the header and the first post (No Longer An Audience of One) explain what I set out to do with that blog.

Since then, however, and for multiple reasons, I have decided to do all my blogging here and abandon the blogspot blog.  I’m also not sure how many of those original BigChurch blog posts I’m going to link to or comment on here.  And now that I’ve learned how to create pages here (ex. My Story), I may decide to share some of those posts that way, probably under an Our Amazing Story tab.

So, stay tuned…because this blog is still very much under construction!

This past September through some rather interesting (and to us, at least, clearly Divinely orchestrated) events, David & I hooked up with another couple here in Snyder, Jack & Kim, and started a house church following something called an Organic/Simple Church model.  (For more on this, see the links on my Facebook profile or go to www.simplechurch.com or www.house2house.com.)

Initially, we met in the apartment across from the office here at Cedar Row (our apartment complex).  But after Christmas, we decided to gather at Jack & Kim’s–a much roomier and comfortable place to meet.

We also decided, since two other couples had joined with us and none of us really knew–experientially or even theoretically–much about what it means to “do” church (i.e. meet together) organically, we’d each get a copy of Frank Viola’s, Reimagining Church, read one chapter of it each week, then come together on Thursday evenings for an hour to discuss it.

We’ve met twice, so far.  And it’s been great!

Our Sunday Mornings

So what do David & I do on Sunday mornings now that we are no longer a part of what we refer to as a traditional or “Big” church?  Glad you asked.

While we don’t follow a formula or even do things the same from one week to the next, after breakfast, we pray together, sing/worship, read from a number of devotionals that are neatly stacked knee-deep under our coffee table, read the Bible–The Amplified, The Message, or NIV usually–and in some way spend time with the Lord as a couple.  It’s a very special time for us…and God always shows up!  What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning!

Cultivating Community

This morning, after a bit of prayer time and a wonderful discussion of Bob Gass’s devotional for today, we began reading the next chapter of Reimagining Church, entitled Reimagining the Lord’s Supper.  As often occurs, that led to David thinking about something he had recently read in another book, Rick Warren’s, The Purpose-Driven Life.  So, we pulled that out and proceeded to read all of chapter 19, Cultivating Community.

 If you don’t have this book, we highly recommend it–even though we’re not in total agreement with some of his theology.  It’s still an excellent book.

If you already have the book, then by all means, read chapter 19…again!

Here are a few highlights we noted this morning:

1. Community requires commitment.  Only the Holy Spirit can create real fellowship between believers, but He cultivates it with the choices and commitments we make.
2. Cultivating community takes honesty.  He had a lot of good things to say in this section, and one of my favorites is this: “Many church fellowships and small groups remain superficial because they are afraid of conflict.  Whenever an issue pops up that might cause tension or discomfort, it is immediately glossed over in order to preserve a false sense of peace.  Everyone knows about the problem, but no one talks about it openly.  This creates a sick environment of secrets where gossip thrives.  Paul’s solution was straightforward: ‘No more lies, no more pretense.  Tell your neighbor the truth.  In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all.  When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.’”
3. Cultivating community takes confidentiality.  Only in the safe environment of warm acceptance and trusted confidentiality will people open up and share their deepest hurts, needs, and mistakes.
4. Cultivating community takes frequency.  The Bible tells us, “Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing.  Instead, let us encourage one another.”  We are to develop the habit of meeting together.  A habit is something you do with frequency, not occasionally.  You have to spend time with people–a lot of time–to build deep relationships.  This is why fellowship is so shallow in many churches; we don’t spend enough time together, and the time we do spend is usually listening to one person speak.

He ended the chapter with the following–something David & I hope our house church group will do:

“If you are a member of a small group or class, I urge you to make a group covenant that includes the nine characteristics of biblical fellowship:

• We will share our true feelings (authenticity).
• We will encourage each other (mutuality).
• We will support each other (sympathy).
• We will forgive each other (mercy).
• We will speak the truth in love (honesty).
• We will admit our weaknesses (humility).
• We will respect our differences (courtesy).
• We will make the group a priority (frequency & commitment).

“When you look at the list of characteristics, it is obvious why genuine fellowship is so rare.  It means giving up our self-centeredness and independence in order to become interdependent.  But the benefits of sharing life together far outweigh the costs…”

And we couldn’t agree more.  We look forward to seeing how all of this is cultivated in our community as the Lord takes us on this journey, one step at a time.

8:01 a.m.: We’re up.  And since it’s not my “hair day”–I only wash my hair every other day–I jump in the shower while David washes up a few coffee cups and dishes he failed to do last night,  pulls out the milk carton & turkey breakfast sausages, and puts the (organic) coffee on…all while intermittently checking Facebook, emails, the weather, etc. on his iPod.  (I’m not sure what kind of withdrawal symptoms he’d go through if anything ever happened to his iPod, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be pretty!)

8:45 a.m.: I fix breakfast while David jumps in the shower.  When we were first married and living in Virginia, David used to fix breakfast.  But once we moved to Snyder and modified our morning menu, substituting oatmeal w/Xylitol (a natural sweetener), cinnamon, pecans, & bananas for flaxseeds over blueberries w/yogurt (we can’t get very healthy or tasty yogurt here) and poached eggs for boiled ones, I took over the task.

9:10 a.m.: While feasting on our scrumptous fare–we really do love our breakfast–we watch yesterday’s Enjoying Everyday Life with Joyce Meyer.  Since her half-hour program comes on at 6:58 each weekday morning–I know, it’s a weird time, but that’s when the silly Discovery Channel airs her program–and, most days, we’re not quite ready to sit down for breakfast until a few minutes afterwards, we tape them and watch them the next day.

9:35 a.m.: While David finishes eating his oatmeal, instead of washing up the dishes, I announce that this morning he has kitchen cleanup duty while I finish up some spreadsheets I’ve been working on for the business.

10:00 a.m.: Our business meeting begins by going over the nicely colored Excel chart tracking the average number of apartments rented (& paid) per month since we took over the business, June 1st, 2008.  (I have to start with something very visual for David in order to “prime” his enthusiasm and prepare him for the “nuts & bolts” financials…which he easily switches off from.)

12:00 p.m.: Business meeting adjourned with the conclusion that we’re pleased with seeing the progress we made in 2009 in spite of several challenges, including the most costly one so far in our 19 months as owners of Cedar Row Apartments–the fire on Nov. 10th that seriously injured Randy, our maintenance man, and Ana, one of our renters, and did major damage to our 1914 building.

12:05 p.m.: David heads to his office (on the other side of our conjoined apartments) and I head to mine.  We both love spending extended time on weekends in our respective offices, doing various things on our computers– he on his Macbook; me on my Dell laptop.  In Virginia, all we had was dial-up; here, we have high-speed internet via Suddenlink cable.  (How I ever went so long with only dial-up I’ll never know!)

3:10 p.m.: We finally sit down to eat a bite of lunch: a typical quickie mix-n-match of Schwan’s microwave dinners.  I say mix-n-match because we take their Turkey dinner and their Beef Tips w/gravy and “swap” the vegetables (i.e. I eat the Beef Tips with the veggies that came with David’s Turkey dinner and he eats the veggies that came with my Beef Tips).  And for our viewing pleasure while stuffing our faces, we watched Glen Beck’s Revolutionary Holocaust documentary (aired yesterday afternoon).  Very interesting and informative.  I had never heard of the millions of people who were starved in the Ukraine under the Communists or any of the other “examples” Beck reported on that went well beyond the 6 million jews who were “exterminated” by Hitler and his regime.

4:00 p.m.: Back to our rooms for more “computer time” or whatever we choose to do with our “free time”.  Me?  It’s make my chess moves–I usually have anywhere from 10 to 15 games on the go at chess.com–while checking out Facebook posts and/or catching up on a few emails.  David?  Today, I think he spent time with his Mindmapping program.  (Don’t know exactly what it is; all I know is it’s visual, it helps him to organize his thoughts/plans/strategies and he loves it!)

6:30 p.m.: Dinner tonight is another simple stand-by of sorts: a nice salad with a boiled egg & a little “packaged” salmon for David and some blackened fish (cooked in the over from a frozen state) for me.  But our salads are almost meals in and of themselves starting with a bag of pre-washed Spring Mix.  To that I add toasted sliced almods, chopped red pepper, sliced celery (for me; David hates raw celery), and grape tomatoes (for David; I’ve gone off the toms for now).  Once at the table, David adds a dollop of cottage cheese and we top everything off with our favorite dressing: Newman’s Own Ranch.  (We have to drive to Colorado City–30 minutes away–or Abilene–90 minutes away–to get Newman’s Own Ranch because we can’t get it here in Snyder.  So, when we go, we sometimes buy as many as 24 bottles of the stuff at a time!)

7:00 p.m.: While chowing down we watched Huckabee on Fox.  We don’t watch much “live” tv, but when we do it’s almost always Fox News.

7:45 p.m.: When Mike Huckabee straps on his bass guitar and joins the “Little Rockers” I usually retreat to my office again.  And tonight was no exception.  Hey, one of my chess opponents resigned.  I’m back over 1700 on my rating! Yeah!

9:00 p.m.: After completing all my chess moves and catching up on Facebook, tonight I decided to browse a few posts here on wordpress.com.  And that’s when I decided to write this post.

10:37 p.m.: Our infamous “pink phone” (after-hours number for the business) rang and Norma, who rents our 1917-2 apartment called to say their electricity had gone off.  Rather than risk her husband not being able to find the right breaker on the electrical box outside their apartment, David put his boots on and went and reset it for them.  (Thank You, Lord, that it was nothing more than a tripped breaker that was easily reset!)

11:06 p.m.: Even though it’s the weekend, this is still WAY past our bedtime–although, I’m not sure how late David would stay up if I didn’t go on to bed.  But this was fun.  And I’m glad I did it.   Good night.

Mood: Happy & Energetic

Okay…here we go.

The last time I did any regular blogging was in 2006 on BigChurch.com where I met David.  But lots has changed since then.  LOTS!

While in a way, I’m kinda/sorta picking up where I left off…not really.

It’s not only a new year–even a new decade–it’s a new season in my life.  A new season with our house church.  And definitely a new season with our business here at Cedar Row Apartments!

So, check back here frequently.  And don’t hesitate to add your comments (or two penneth,  as David would say).

Sharon