Prodigal Ponderings — communication RSS



My Biggest Fan - Lessons of Life

Over the past several days I faced a familiar woodworker's crisis: one of my favorite tools, my lathe, quit working.  I had purchased an inexpensive starter lathe awhile back and put out several nice products including pepper grinders, salt shakers and French rolling pins. Now it was time for an upgrade.   Woodworkers love their tools and I’m no different. Many, like myself, also love the research involved before our next purchase; then there’s the weighing of price, practicality and performance.  This is where my #1 fan comes in.   My beautiful wife is not only my best friend but also my greatest encourager.  She knows me; she listens to me, and she pays attention.  As I was wrestling through my decision...

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"Where Do You Get Your Wood"

  One of the common questions that came out of our first festival participation was “Where do you get your wood?” (usually posed by another woodworker or weekend hobbyist) This question sparked several conversations  that led to an  exchange of valuable information.   It's human nature.............we enjoy sharing things we've discovered with others who share our interest. As far as wood sources go, for convenience there are the Big Box stores, but without offending anyone,they're primarily good for plywood and structure based wood (2 x 4’s, etc). Then there are lumber yards; however many of them are also focused on building materials.  The places where you get prime hardwoods are specialty lumber businesses, generally to be found via online searches...

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Iron Sharpens Iron

My accountability partners have fluctuated over the years but I’m always seeking new men to add.  I have to be willing to take the risk of transparency first, and although sometimes it doesn’t work out,  the rewards of developing deep and trusting relationships is worth any risk. We’ve mentioned the value of starting with simple matters when we form an accountability group and growing from there as time and trust increase.  We’ve also stated the importance of setting up guidelines early on which will ensure everyone involved knows what’s expected. There’s one more area worth mentioning: Many churches or organizations publish a list of “tough questions” that are beneficial to establishing an accountability group, but I don’t see them as...

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Recreated

  Looking at an old exterior door, seeing a weathered piece of wood, exposed to wind and sun, cold and rain; we see what age and elements do to the natural beauty of God’s creation.  Within the weathered, worn and distressed, however, is where the prodigals exist. What a joy to take something once treasured and restore it to a place of beauty; brand new, yet still aged, recreated and yet honoring the original creation. What we love more than anything is taking those pieces of useless scrap and transforming them into something that can be cherished once again; realizing that apart from restoration, these old beauties are destined for the scrap heap or nearest landfill. Everything we do is...

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How it Works

If the last blog post titled “Should I Speak Up?” struck your interest then this one continues with the how part.   What makes this form of relationship unique is that it’s based in the agape love that is exampled in the Bible.  Love that cares for another and has that person's best interest in mind is the most difficult kind of love…...because it doesn’t always feel warm & fuzzy. The crux of this type of relationship is twofold: transparency and trust.  Go throw those words around at a gathering and you’ll either get snickered at or clear the room; but these are not for the faint of heart. Most of us desiring some level of accountability have gotten here...

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