Anybody Seen A Mason?

We’ve been looking for a brick mason to repair damage to a retaining wall.


I wrote about that in my last blog on Christian Benefits.  I remember in the movie “National Treasure” how masons were very involved as founding fathers and hiding most of the secrets in Washington D.C.  They must be still currently involved in world affairs and building hidden treasure troves because its difficult to get one to your house to work!

We called over ten for job estimates.  Only three came by to look.  One of those said he’d call back the next day, never heard from him again.  We got only two estimates, one pretty costly and the other very reasonable.  The second contractor needs to finish a job before starting ours.  Both said the repairs would be labor intensive, which is greek for “its gonna cost you”.
I’ve always felt like there was a mason trapped inside me wanting out, so I asked our visiting estimator to describe the labor intensive part.  Well, it was tearing apart the bricks, cleaning the old mortar off, and digging out behind the wall.  Ok, I thought, doesn’t sound so difficult.  I can probably do that.










So, I’ve spent my spare time in “wall prep” while waiting on a contractor to turn loose of world affairs long enough to earn some cash.  They must live on stored wealth from all the previous generations of rulers.

 I started my work by tearing down most of the damaged section from the worst crack to the end of the wall.   It was somewhat challenging to remove the bricks without cracking the good ones.  There were a few casualties, but overall I did a fair job of brick rescue.

After that, I had a pile of bricks covered in old mortar.  Sadly, the mortar has to be cleaned off.














I decided this is the part of the job where “labor intensive” should be capitalized.  It was slow going and muscle tiring.  My method involved taking a chisel and carefully pointing it between the brick and mortar and tapping it with a hammer.  Sometimes it went well and the mortar would pop off, more often though, it took repeated taps and rearranging of the chisel to get it all off. 

 I was working on this one evening when an older gentleman walking by commented that it looked like a hard job.  I said, “yeah, we’ve got the pay scale all wrong.  CEOs are getting tons of money for a little work and guys who do a ton of work get a little money”.

I think I do appreciate the guys who clean brick for a living.  They probably don’t even get into the secret society.  I am hoping that my mason work will at least land me an honorable mention if and when the masons take complete control and their plans come to fruition.

I started stacking my cleaned bricks up on the left and the broken ones on the right.  I noticed that masons often use the broken ones for support behind the wall so I didn’t discard them.  I’m still not finished, but my cleaned brick pile has grown pretty large.







I also dug the dirt out from behind the wall so the broken cinder blocks could be replaced.  I’m sure they’ll have some additional “labor intensive” work to do, but its a good start.

This being our first ever home owner’s claim, I want to mention how well everything was handled by Travelers Insurance.  Our adjuster was Alex Lovell and I’ve never seen anyone so anxious to give us a check for the damage.  I appreciate their prompt service and willingness to work with me on the delays( I wanted more estimates).

I need to give a Bible illustration from all this.  Our lives are oftentimes wrecked from sin and we can’t figure out who can fix it.  Jesus is the world ruler who has time for any life crisis, big or small.  He can clean up the sin problem quickly and at little cost to the owner.  He is available 24/7 and is just a prayer away.   I wholeheartedly  recommend His work and would encourage you to call Him anytime!  His pain is your gain!

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.  John 3:16 (CEB)

Christian Benefits

Usually, a person’s yard is one of the safest places to be.  I always thought that about mine, until last week. A young man got into his car about five houses down the street, started it, and then had a seizure of some type.  His vehicle lurched forward with his foot on the gas pedal, crossed the street at an angle, completely removed a large crepe myrtle tree in our yard.  He then crossed the driveway and smashed into a brick retaining wall.  The vehicle was almost balanced on top of the wall with only the right rear wheel still spinning  trying to get traction.  Smoke from the tire boiled up as our son, Stephen, ran out of the house and reached through the window to turn off the engine.


My wife called 911 and Alabaster police and fire personnel responded quickly.  The young man was taken to the hospital and released that afternoon.  He and his wife came by for a visit, apologizing for all the damage.  I was home from work by that time and we talked about how quick bad things can happen.  He didn’t remember anything after starting his vehicle, not the wreck or even being taken to the hospital.  My wife told him that she had prayed for his safety and tears came to his eyes as he thanked her.

It was a bad accident which could have been horrific.  Normally, there are children playing nearby or people walking down the street.  My wife, five minutes earlier, had stopped mowing grass.  She left the section with the crepe myrtles for the late afternoon, when it would be cooler.  One more unusual thing, was that Stephen normally parks his truck in front of the retaining wall.  For some reason that morning, upon returning home, he parked on the opposite side of the drive.

I know most people don’t believe in guardian angels, preferring to let their world spin on random chance.  But I can promise you from a lifetime of examples, that God works every day in this world.  He didn’t start it spinning way back in Genesis then walk away!  He is involved in your life every day just as He is mine.

Three weeks ago, I was about to climb a pole while working on a telephone trouble.  I heard a loud noise and the pole shook.  Turning to my right, toward the noise, I saw power lines dancing violently with sparks flying just before they hit the ground.  Needless to say, I stopped working.  I discovered a large tree had fallen two spans down.  The weather wasn’t bad and there wasn’t any wind.   The tree was rotten at the base and it’s time was up.  A definite close call.

One day last week, I was in a hurry to get home from work.  Delayed by a repair job, I was only fifteen minutes later than my usual time.  Halfway home, I found myself caught with traffic at a standstill.  I waited about 10 minutes with no traffic coming from the opposite direction either.  I decided to turn around and go the long way home.  I found out that evening two people had been killed in a head-on crash at 4:15pm, just ahead of me.  I missed being near that ground zero by the time I spent on the earlier trouble.

Now, I don’t want to sound redundant, but it’s pretty neat being a Christian!  Just consider a moment how it is having the God of the universe as your life coach.  Imagine the world as a gym with Jesus as your trainer.  It just doesn’t get any better.  Or, imagine  you’ve got to disarm the next catastrophe in your life and you’re sweating bullets wondering whether to cut the red wire or the blue one… snip the wrong one and everything unravels…  But wait, with God on your side, there is no catastrophe in the first place.

Have you ever seen those people who try to assemble one of their kids toys without the directions?  It isn’t pretty and it’s terribly stressful being around them!  God’s directions make your life easier and lets the disasters become manageable.

In Christians Make a Difference, I invited those of you who aren’t Christians to come over and join us.  I hope you have been reading your Bible and understand God a little more.  He is a loving creator who has made some tremendous promises.  If you’ve got some time, check out a few Bible verses and see if it might be in your best interest to join a winning team!

This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. Jeremiah 29:11

Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
   or, whine, Israel, saying,
“God has lost track of me.
   He doesn’t care what happens to me”?
Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.
   He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.
   And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
   gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
   young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
   They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don’t get tired,
   they walk and don’t lag behind. Isaiah 40:29-31 (MSG)


And now I have it all—and keep getting more! The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God no end. You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes. Phil. 4:19 (MSG)


“Because you hated Knowledge
   and had nothing to do with the Fear-of-God,
Because you wouldn’t take my advice
   and brushed aside all my offers to train you,
Well, you’ve made your bed—now lie in it;
   you wanted your own way—now, how do you like it?
Don’t you see what happens, you simpletons, you idiots?
   Carelessness kills; complacency is murder.
First pay attention to me, and then relax.
   Now you can take it easy—you’re in good hands.”  Prov. 1:33 (MSG)


But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.  Rom 6:23 (MSG)

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.  Matt. 11:28-29 (MSG)

If you feel your life is a little busted up and needs serious repair, I know just the God who can do it!  Oh, and don’t wait too long, you just never know when “something bad” might make your lack of choice… permanent!