Update on life

Sorry about the delays in posting here on BISS. Life has been...hectic. My wife and I own a couple of rental properties, and one was opening up. We've been in the process of finding new renters, doing background checks, and then cleaning the property up for the new people to move in. Our previous renter was a great renter, and hopefully our new ones will be too. I have spent in upwards of 50 hours in the past week and a half working on that house. Cleaning, mowing, organizing a garage, throwing things away, weeding, cutting down trees, killing weeds, spraying for bugs (outside), replacing windows, and I'm sure lots more things I am forgetting/blocking from my memory. All of this on top of my normal 25 hours a week waiting tables.

I am also cramming for a very important Greek test, a test that serves as the enterance exam for the final Greek course at my Seminary. The test is early September, and I am feeling woefully inadequate. With a month to go, my primary focus in life will be passing this test. I spend hours every day reviewing vocabulary. I am working through old lessons, trying to remember much of what I have forgotten, and trying to learn much of what I didn't understand the first time through. Greek hates me. I appreciate the need to know it, but I am nearly retarded when it comes to languages. I had the same problem many years ago learning Spanish. I am generally a gifted student and a quick learner, with the exception of languages. I have no doubt I have spent what must be a near record number of hours trying to grasp the concepts and constructions of Koine Greek. I also have no doubt that I am still going to barely squeek by on the test, if I even do pass it. I am three courses away from graduating with my M.Div., and really don't know what I'll do if I can't pass this test/final course. It is truly a nightmare. I have dreams of Satan tortuing people in Hell by making them parse words in Koine Greek.

My wife had the driver's side headlight go out in her 96 Civic, so last night after work I decided to tackle this project. Money is tight, and I'm not willing to pay someone else for something I am quite capable in fixing. Little did I know that I would have to disassemble half of the front of the car. To get the headlight out, you must remove most of the front bumper. This includes the grill, and separating the wheel well from the bumper. This part went fairly well all things considered (I've never worked on a Honda car before). Getting the light bulb housing loose was a bit more of challenge, but eventually it too came off. I carefully installed the new Halogen bulb (you cannot touch a Halogen bulb, the oils from your skin create a hot spot and the bulb will burn out). The design that holds the bulb in is both simple and insane. It is a single spring loaded metal bar that keeps it in place. This bar swings open when you figure out how to push and which direction to push. The only problem is that this is impossible to observe/figure out with the light housing still in the vehicle. Now that I have done this. I likely would not have to disassemble the car to do it again next time. A terrible design if you ask me, inspite of its simplicity. The real problem came in returning the light to its former place. Getting the light to go back into where it belongs was one of the most frustrating things I have ever done. Far too many hidden tabs to line up, and other things to get in exactly the perfect place to make this work. For the better part of an hour I fought this stupid thing. Every time I would get "close" I would see that on the one side I was still an inch or two from getting a bolt lined up to the mounting. I could also feel the very solid resistence of the metal support bracket stopping me from moving it in that direction. I honestly don't know how I eventually got it into the right place. Perhaps a gift from God, as I was honestly at the end of my rope with the light. It isn't something that could be left in the "almost" position, as the tolerances on the hood, bumper and other body panels would not accomdate more than a few millimeters change from the original placement. I put all the screws/bolts back in, oiled a few that were looking rusty, gave the lights a try (actually a second try, I checked before putting it all back together) and washed up. I made to be at 3:45 a.m. Ugh. What I was thinking would be a 20 minute job took 3+ hours.

I also have a interview with a Pastor of a local church August 3rd. I am very excited, and pray that I present myself well. The opportunity is a fantastic one from what I have seen so far. If you have room, add me to your prayer list, as I really need to get into a church and out of waiting tables. I realize everything in God's time, but it sure has been hard to wait. The position would be one where I would be working with my gifting and passions, so I pray that I am a good fit and everthing can fall into place so I can move into the next phase of life and ministry! I am very excited!


Related Tags: Rental Property, Rental, Cleaning, Mowing, Weeding, Spraying, Glazing, Working, Waiter, Server, Restaurant, Honda, Honda Civic, Honda headlight, Civic headlight, 96 Civic, 1996 Civic, Honda Headlight Replacement, Honda lightbulb, Car Repair, Greek, Koine Greek, Language, Study, Job Interview