I am one of those "list people."

I have little scraps of paper on my desk, in my wallet, wherever I go that I list things to remind me what to do. I suppose this has something to do with my meager success overall, both at work and with other things in my life. Frankly, l need all the help I can get. I need reminders of when I go shopping what I am looking for, and when I am at work what tasks I need to accomplish on any given day.

If you saw my lists you would probably think I was a slacker. I have things on my lists that are years old that I just never get around to. Take my house list, for example. I never seem to completely finish my attic (when I did the initial bulk of the attic work, Josh Poitras was the teen helper I hired. Wow.) My garage still needs cleaned. I have holes in the walls to fix from when I added the sun porch, the lower bay window, and now this bathtub (that has only been installed for what almost a year now). I just never seem to get things all done.

Instead, I build sheds for friends, help a lady I work with tile her mudroom, and finish a basement or two. I help Mike on the TV show, and of course for health reasons golf now and then with Dave. The thing is there is just always something going on and maybe some of you think I ought to get my house in order before going out and helping others. I dunno about that.

First off, my house is never going to be perfect. Ants invade it (spraying is on the to do list), trees break in storms, that pesky grass keeps growing and I have to mow it. White fluffy stuff (you remember!) falls from the sky and things get, well, old. It has to be heated, maintained, and repaired. When it makes sense, I also update things with better stuff. So if I spent all my time at home, it will indeed be a full-time job and I would never get out and help anyone else.

I live for helping others though! I would rather do things for others than anything around here, yet if I did that all the time my own house would fall into disrepair. I suppose there must be a balance then, yes? I should make a list to help me prioritize.

As Christians, we simply do not know it all. We may study a lot, even to the ridiculous point that we don't ever have time to talk to other folks. I have heard people now and then say they just don't feel comfortable reaching out to others because they are not knowledgeable enough yet but "someday" they will. As Harold Hill says in The Music Man, "My dear little librarian, pile up enough tomorrows and you'll find you've collected nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays" Surely we need to prepare and ground ourselves in the faith, but we will never be "done."

I believe as Christians we can go the other way, too. Spend a lot of time doing feel good, outward expressions. Make things fun, don't be judgmental, cater to the creature rather than the creator. Let yourself go, don't worry about making yourself better but stumble so you are more prepared to be that person who is "understanding" and can "relate" with sinners. Wade hip deep into the problems of others to help them, to make their problems your problems (and you will!) If you don't worry about taking time out to study, you can do all sorts of outward things for others that will give you the praise and glory - of others. They will love you.

Of course that sounds like the mote story, where you have extremes. I would that all of us had mere motes in our eyes, and that we were close to clear vision with only a little help from each other! By the way you cannot accomplish the will of God alone - you cannot love, serve, and help others without there being others. And you cannot accomplish this without self-improvement through study. How do imperfect people manage to get things done? By doing the best they can to live by God's word, to be ready to adopt new understandings from scripture, by studying to find said things, and of course living for others!

That's a lot to do. I probably should make a list.

Randy