The endless summer finally comes to an end

It has been an intense summer, filled with projects and plans. Here is a recap of all of our project related accomplishments over the summer:

1. Painted roof white (which really helped to bring down the temperature within the house)
2. Got the aquaponics system back up and running (no tilapia, but we have plenty of apple snails)
3. We built the solar hot-water heater.
4. We built the trellis system on west side of house to block out the evening sun (now we are waiting on the plants to grow)
5. Finished setting up the mosquito netting on all the windows and doors
6. Mortared up the bricks in the St. Francis garden.
7. Topped off the gardens with fresh mulch and compost for the winter season
8. Installed a ridge vent in the attic
   
9. Cleaned out and organized shed
10. Built a better chicken run area
11. Moved the dryer outside
12. Finished installing the dual flush toilets
13. Bought a new energy and water efficient washer machine
14. Installed the crazily efficient dish drying rack
15. Installed a better lighting system in the kitchen

I am also amazed by how much we haven't done. I am impressed by our collective will to sacrifice things.

We haven't:

Used A/C (except for during homechurch and during a visit from a close friend)
Used the dryer, ever since it was moved to the front porch (maybe 2-3 months)
Used hot water...that was until the solar hot water heater was finally built.

It has been wonderful.

Summer has been rough.

I guess that's nothing new, but it feels fresh right now. We're still shaking off the dust, gaining our bearings again, and beginning to figure out where to go from here. Or maybe we're still sitting in the dirt, wondering whether we can or should go on. Now more than ever are we blessed with memory. We look at what has come to pass so that we may know what is to come. We have seen our weakness, and seen a strength at work through it. We have known discomfort, only to find that we live in opulence. The road we walk has turned out to be tougher than we are, so that we can't possibly make it through, but we make it still. Our past calls out to our future so loudly that it almost drowns out the groaning present. Ever caught between memory and hope we live, and so we look to the One in Whom the furthest extent of both memory and hope dwell, in Whom we live and move and have our being.


Yet, in the maddening maze of things,
And tossed by storm and flood,
To one fixed trust my spirit clings;
I know that God is good!

Not mine to look where cherubim
And seraphs may not see,
But nothing can be good in Him
Which evil is in me.

The wrong that pains my soul below
I dare not throne above,
I know not of His hate,—I know
His goodness and His love.

I dimly guess from blessings known
Of greater out of sight,
And, with the chastened Psalmist, own
His judgments too are right.

I long for household voices gone,
For vanished smiles I long,
But God hath led my dear ones on,
And He can do no wrong.

I know not what the future hath
Of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death
His mercy underlies.

And if my heart and flesh are weak
To bear an untried pain,
The bruisèd reed He will not break,
But strengthen and sustain.

John Greenleaf Whittier

What is Love?

Solar Water Heater

I woke up this morning at 3 am. The August heat just wouldn’t let me go back to bed. Rather than waste time tossing and turning, I decided to finish making the connections for our solar hot water heater. I had spent countless hours the previous day gluing PVC and twisting iron pipes, but I only ended up flooding the kitchen and leaving the house without water. The few hours of sleep had given me some clarity and I attacked the problem from a different angle. By the time the sun started to peak its head over the horizon, all the connections were in place and the solar hot water heater was officially up and running.

We used to pay 60 or so dollars a month to heat water. That means we paid, the earth paid and those that live in coal producing countries paid the burden of the simple luxury that is hot water. That’s now a thing of the past. Rather than using up the earth’s resources, we have decided to hire the sun do what it does best: blast everything with is warm embrace.

The technology isn’t perfect; we will have to shower in the evenings (when the water is at its warmest), we will also have to deal with cloudy days and winter’s wrath. But, it’s a technology I can be proud of. It is another step towards having a sustainable and just existence. I am always blown away by the simple fact that if everyone on the planet had something as simple as hot water (the way that we normally produce it in the US) there wouldn’t be enough coal and oil to do anything else (including transportation, industry etc). Using the sun to heat water paints a very different picture, everyone should be able to do that…

Let us learn to use the things God has given us intelligently and justly. Thank God for the sun. Thank you Jamie Trahan, Jim De Mauro, Alex Lin, Mike Bair and all the others that have helped with the success of this project.

A Letter Home

Lakehousians,

Everything that has been happening has made me think about 'home' in a real way. Home isn't necessarily the house we live in and yet the Lake House is our home. Sometimes things feel like home or taste like home or smell like home. What is home then? It’s a question I've been thinking about all weekend.

Does home have to do with feeling safe?

What about being comfortable?

Our house is very uncomfortable in that we don't use a/c, there are ten of us here and its chaotic and dirty most of the time. But Home is that way for me now. I sometimes wonder, if a visitor from haiti or El Salvador were travelling in tampa, would our house feel more like home to him than other places he may visit here. And safe? Our home has felons crashing on the couch and thieves often trying to sneak into the yard but I just don't think it would be home if there weren’t.
Home is my community. Also, many people have joined our family and many have been called or just decided to go elsewhere. They are still family but they are not at home anymore. The most stable thing about our house and community are our values. All of the people may (and often do) change and the entire house may decay but the values are forever. They are a gift. It has really hit me that home is where we commit to Jesus and each other, home is where we share and give, home is where we experiment and build, home is where we welcome guests, home is where we fight and forgive, home is where we grow watermelons and okra, home is where we have a ton of fun and also take things seriously, home is where we, a family united by Jesus, are doing everything we know to do to see his kingdom come. I am a sojourner and a stranger with you, citizens of heaven. Our home is in Jesus and therefore we can be at home wherever he is being pursued. I am both excited to chase after God with this group of women and I am excited to visit and stay connected with you, my family, my people.
Friday at morning prayer we read from Matthew 12: While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
I just couldn’t take it. It was as though my heart had been ripped out of my chest and affirmed at the same moment. I wept from the pain of leaving but also the joy that is the gift of living among Jesus’ ‘brothers and sisters, and mother.’ I was overwhelmed by my love for each of you and my excitement to see you rise to the occasion and really really LOVE each other, and Jesus , and Jason, and Momma, and Benji, and Ryan, and everyone else that God brings your way. I expect so much from you all. I know your gifts and your struggles and I just want to ask you to fight harder, stand stronger, and push into God right now. You are each at a threshold and God is calling you into a new place of commitment and sacrifice. I know those words are hard at times, but it is worth it. I just pray that through all my anger, and belligerence and obvious weaknesses you were able to see an example of that. Jesus is real and risen and alive and among us! I see him walking among you and sharing in our life together. He is worthy of all glory, honor, praise, sacrifice, and love. The call is great and it is costly but his Kingdom is worth everything. Please push through temptation for the sake of each other. Don’t ever give up or let each other stumble. The Lake House is an amazing outpost of the kingdom and it is you who make it what it is. Thank you for every way your life is surrendered. The values are nothing unless you value them. Then they are earthshaking.
I know this reads like I’m moving to Australia or something and I promise that isn’t the case. I am committed to you all and promise to be around and involved and active in the life of our community. I am not breaking with you but I am moving down the street and am open to God doing what he will with me and us, and Natalia, and the women. I am hopeful that a women’s community will emerge from this that is more connected and ‘Lake House’ than anything we might have constructed ourselves. I’m reminded that “Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.”

In His Hands,

Jon