Question: Would you rather move or get new carpet? Take out any implications that involve any human emotions. Don’t judge between whether you would rather stay or go. I’m just talking about what work would you rather do? Moving is hard work. We haven’t moved in 39 years, so we don’t have any recent experience with moving out of our house to another. However, we were the main packers and movers for one of our daughters a couple of years ago, and that was work, hard work, and a lot of it. But here’s the thing with moving. It’s so straight forward. You start in a room, work a systematic process to pack everything into boxes, stack the boxes in that room, and then go on to the next room. Then, when it’s actually time to load the truck, you work a system that puts the boxes in neat stacks and the furniture tucked in securely with moving blankets. Now, compare that to getting new carpet in your house. Let me add, getting new carpet in the house you have lived in, raised a family in, and brought stuff into for 39 years. That’s what my wife and I did just recently. And let me say, it was crazy. And let me say, we love our house and this community, and we have chosen to live out our days here. However, based on the question of which work would you rather do, without hesitation I would rather do the work of moving than the crazy, crazy shenanigans it took to get new carpet. I read a statistic that said that the average American house contains over 300,000 items. I told that to one friend, and she said, “Oh, we have a lot more than that!” We probably do, too. I must admit, our downstairs wasn’t quite so bad. We have some hardwood floors and kitchen tile. So, we could move the dining room furniture onto the hard floors. But that meant unloading all our China and glassware out of the China cabinet. And moving the piano, free-standing shelves of books, and computer desk was tricky, but we did all that, and then some. The phrase is true, “The devil is in the details.” However, in our case, “The devil was in the upstairs,” which was all carpet. What did that mean? It meant that we had to carve out and dedicate five days to nothing else. Day One was to move everything, that means closet floors included, all furniture and beds, everything out of two bedrooms and the laundry storage area and the storage landing area into the other two bedrooms and the two bathrooms. My wife and I did all that ourselves. We saved quite a bit by being our own labor. And two trips to Walmart for storage bins were a must. Day Two was carpet installation day in the vacant rooms and areas. And yes, our carpet supplier and his installation crew were excellent. He’s Bryan Holmes at Prestige Carpet and Flooring in Jonesboro. We give our five-star recommendation. Day Three was a workday for us again. We moved everything back into the two bedrooms and the storage areas that had new carpet, and we moved everything out of the remaining bedroom and our master bedroom into the rooms already with new carpet. By the way, furniture slides are a must for such a job. Day Four was carpet installation into the other bedroom and our master bedroom. Day Five was a workday for us, putting everything back into place. But wait. There’s more. Day Six was for us to paint our bedroom before we moved everything back in. Guess what color paint. Peach Fuzz. Sherwin Williams. Thanks, Virginia, for matching the color to our quilted bedspread a dear and sainted church member made for us many years ago. Thanks, Billy Beth. O.K. I’m a pastor. What’s the message here? Simply, be thankful. We are so thankful to God for the 39 years we have lived our lives here in this house and in this community. We are so thankful to God for the family we raised here. We are so thankful to God that we have this house into which we can welcome our grandchildren to stay with us and let us love on them. On June 1st, Elaine and I celebrated our 50thWedding Anniversary. On that date in 1975 the theme of our wedding was “Be Thankful” based on Colossians 3:15, “And be thankful.” We are so thankful to God for all His blessings over these 50 years. Including we are so thankful to God for the 300,000 items sharing our abode. And we will be so thankful to God when He helps us get rid of most of them. Amen! And Amen! Read More
