He Keeps Me Running

I have the tendency to get moody and my countenance darkens. That's my tendency. Currently I have no time to brood. My retirement job is the church janitor at Woodland Church. Today I cleared snow away from the fire doors. The east door required the use of a mattock, a steel shovel and the 12 horsepower snow blower. That one door took a half-hour. The four doors took over an hour and the mercury plummeted. I felt tired and old and cold on the way home so I settled into my recliner and fell asleep till suppertime.

After supper Chris called. He's been an object of my prayers lately, a 28-year-old whirlwind who came into our lives out of nowhere. He painted our house last summer and he's finishing the remodeling project in our upstairs bathroom. He's ambitious, works as a jack of all trades, barely making a living. Chris shows up and the dogs erupt and I prepare a cup of coffee for him.  He has a naughty sense of humor even though he's up against it.

Things haven't been so good for him lately. The market for projects has slowed. His pickup truck gave up the ghost and he lives alone in a rented house out in the sticks of Bessemer. Lives on mac and cheese except when we have him join us.

Prayers are being answered as he found a truck, an old beater, yet something that will take him to his jobs. He has applied for any available jobs and just today he got a call from Ironwood Plastics for a Monday interview. Our prayer chain at Woodland church is praying he will get the job and a steady income.

Chris has exasperated us, amazed us and become the son we never had. He makes me forget about besetting troubles.  He's a good kid, no matter what anybody says. Reminds me of that 1967 song by the Byrds. The refrain goes,"I was so much older then; I'm younger than that now."