I Believe in Bondo

I really dig this stuff.

I’ve been using it or something like it for decades, starting in Australia with a similar product. In Adelaide (really, Para Hills) I lived in a double-brick house with the interior walls rendered in plaster over mortar (no straight walls!) and used it to fill holes to put screws in when attaching something to the wall. Just drill the hole, blow the dust out, fill with Bondo or something similar, wait for it to set-up a bit, then screw those suckers in.

Later on, in the sign business (hand-carved and sandblasted wooden signs) I used it to correct defects, mistakes (you can carve it with woodcarving tools) and for installations. You can sand it, prime it and paint it.

Today, I am using it to repair closet doors. We live in an old house and the

Day Job, Vandalism

To those of you who can’t wait for my next post and hang on every word I write…I apologize for the lack of activity here.  Believe it our not, I have a day job.   There are several other major distractions that I won’t bother you with here.

I have also found out that if you make provocative comments on other people’s blogs that they want you to answer right away.  By the time I get to it, they have forgotten who I am and what I said.   I apologize to you folks as well.

Now for something completely different.  We have had a rash of vandalism in our town to the tune of a half a million dollars in damage.  There are several crimes I just do not understand, cannot comprehend, the motivation for.  Vandalism is one of those.  Anyway, these guys have been caught four “men” (I hesitate to call them that) 18-20 years of age.   Apparently they were bored.  BORED!  Can you believe it?   One or more of them cited the lack of “activities” in our town.  Give me a flamin’ break!

Well, now they can be bored for five years behind bars.

Random Thought No. 3

I read recently two articles about church “consultants.”  One article talked about how expensive they were, “…but worth it.”  Another article dealt with what the consultant learned in the process of consulting with a group of “pastors” of “megachurches.” 

Is it really that complicated?  Did Jesus and the apostles envision a time when churches would need instructions from a “consultant?”  Well…perhaps.  Churches have always needed instruction to equip the saints for the work of service and to build up the body of Christ (Ephesians12).  When taking on a new project or mission, for example, churches would benefit hearing from those with experience in the matter. 

At the same time, having said that and however (and other clichés), what God asks us to do as a church is really quite simple: to be the body of Christ on earth.  If we would just pursue that task, as lot of consultation would be unnecessary.  Full instructions are already available.

Let me just suggest that we learn what Jesus did on this earth and just keep doing that.  Such a pursuit would solve most of our problems and put us back on track.  Simple.

Random Thought No. 2

I’ve been thinking lately about useless enterprises.  I just don’t believe God wants us to waste our time with them.  Trying to change people and churches by taking shots at them is one of those time-and-energy wasters.  I used to do it so I know what I’m talking about.

Have these attacks on people and churches ever changed any of them?  Have any of those legions of disfellowshipped churches (where’s the Scripture for that anyway?) ever returned to the fold?  Have any of the assaulted denominations ever surrendered?  Have any of the insulted and derided “clergy” ever surrendered their traditions and embraced the truth?  Lessee…lemmethink…nope…can’t think of even one!  See there?  Useless.  Waste of time.  I believe we have better ways to use God’s time.

When we take the offensive and become offensive, we just solidify the opposition.  On the other hand, gentle persuasiveness (2 Timothy 2:24,25) and graceful, seasoned words (Colossians 4:6) seem to work pretty well.

Hey…I’ve got an idea!  Let’s start doing stuff that works!

Random thought No. 1

A “random thought” is just something that came to mind…not part of any essay…yet.

I think it is safe to say that more harm has been done to the kingdom by hypocrisy (by that I mean: Christians behaving badly) than all the ranting of atheists and humanistic philosophers. Our way of life must depict the life of Christ or it is counterproductive and worthless. The Christian life must speak for itself but what it says all too often is, “I don’t really believe all this stuff.”