Mind Your Business

Mind Your Own Business

As a child, pestering my older siblings as younger siblings are want to do, I can recall being told, “Mind your own business.”

Perhaps you also heard that refrain from your playmates or even from your parents, teachers or other adults when you interjected yourself into situations that did not concern you.

I believe that it is actually very good advice. The First Continental Congress certainly thought so. When the first penny coin minted by that august body was struck in 1787, it bore the motto “Mind Your Business”. What sage advice to the citizens of the fledgling nation.

At that time, the ink on the U.S. Constitution was barely dry and the document not yet ratified by the States. Much work was to be done to secure the safety and organizational integrity of the nascent Republic.

It was a time when each Citizen could best serve their country by minding their own business; as a farmer, blacksmith, sawyer, cobbler, printer, baker, or candlestick maker. The products and services of each one, produced with integrity and competence, were required for their well being and the well being of their neighbors. The commerce that would ensue with the exchange of these goods and services would enable them to lay the foundation of a country that would later cover nearly an entire continent and lead the world in many ways.

At some point, things went awry. The causes for this and the subsequent costs incurred are beyond the scope of this missive.

But truth remains true despite the actions of men or nations to the contrary. And the truth is that the admonition to mind your own business did not originate in 1787 with the Continental Congress.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 (in the Bible)reads:

“11…make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” (NIV)

There are five real good bits of advice there:

• “Lead a quiet life.” Don’t strive to be noticed. Stay “under the radar.” “Fools’ names, like fools’ faces, are often seen in public places.”( Thomas Fowler)

• “Mind your own business” This would seem to be common sense, but then, “common sense is not so common.” (Voltaire)

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." (Abraham Lincoln)

• “Work with your hands.” Be busy doing something productive that will earn the respect of others.

• Don’t “be dependent on others.” Ultimately you become the chattel of the entity you rely on.

Maybe we would do well to re-instate "Mind Your Business" as our National Motto.

Think about it.

By What Measure?

Here in America we are once again faced with the painful process of selecting whom to vote for to serve as our President. The dialogues that accompany this process show just how many devices and points of view the people (that’s us) use to measure and evaluate the candidates and the policies they espouse.

There are those saying that the other party is too far “left or right”; that candidate is “too conservative or too liberal”; that policy is too “liberal or intolerant”. Many have a sense that there is more wrong with our government than can be fixed by an election. It seems to have gotten off track in some way.

I have been reading about the relationship between the government and God from his point of view as revealed in the Bible and expounded upon by one of the greatest Christian apologists of the last century, Francis A. Schaeffer. I believe he states clearly what the problem is: We the People are guilty of elevating our government beyond its rightful position.

The following has been taken from an address delivered by the late Dr. Schaeffer in 1982 at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is based on one of his books, which bears the same title. I encourage you to read this to the end.

When the government negates the law of God, it abrogates its authority. God has given certain offices to restrain chaos in this fallen world, but it does not mean that these offices are autonomous, and when a government commands that which is contrary to the Law of God, it abrogates its authority.

Throughout the whole history of the Christian Church, (and again I wish people knew their history. In A Christian Manifesto I stress what happened in the Reformation in reference to all this) at a certain point, it is not only the privilege but it is the duty of the Christian to disobey the government. Now that's what the founding fathers did when they founded this country. That's what the early Church did. That's what Peter said. You heard it from the Scripture: "Should we obey man?... rather than God?" That's what the early Christians did.


Every appropriate legal and political governmental means must be used. "The final bottom line"-- I have invented this term in A Christian Manifesto. I hope the Christians across this country and across the world will really understand what the Bible truly teaches: The final bottom line! The early Christians, every one of the reformers (and again, I'll say in A Christian Manifesto I go through country after country and show that there was not a single place with the possible exception of England, where the Reformation was successful, where there wasn't civil disobedience and disobedience to the state), the people of the Reformation, the founding fathers of this country, faced and acted in the realization that if there is no place for disobeying the government, that government has been put in the place of the living God. In such a case, the government has been made a false god. If there is no place for disobeying a human government, that government has been made GOD. (Emphasis added.)


Caesar, under some name, thinking of the early Church, has been put upon the final throne. The Bible's answer is NO! Caesar is not to be put in the place of God and we as Christians, in the name of the Lordship of Christ, and all of life, must so think and act on the appropriate level. It should always be on the appropriate level. We have lots of room to move yet with our court cases, with the people we elect -- all the things that we can do in this country. If, unhappily, we come to that place, the appropriate level must also include a disobedience to the state. (Stated in 1982)


If you are not doing that, you haven't thought it through. Jesus is not really on the throne. God is not central. You have made a false god central. Christ must be the final Lord and not society and not Caesar.


May I repeat the final sentence again? CHRIST MUST BE THE FINAL LORD AND NOT CAESAR AND NOT SOCIETY.

Taken from an address delivered by the late Dr. Schaeffer in 1982 at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is based on one of his books, which bears the same title.


I challenge you to read the book.

First one thing and then another

Have you ever noticed how beginning one task can lead to something else entirely different? Well that’s just how my day went earlier this week.

Up until about a year ago, I had my little flock of laying hens in a small frame chicken house surrounded by a 900 square foot run.

I moved the hens in to a new hoop house and a much larger run when I increased the size of the flock. Over the last few months I have removed the fence and decided this last week to pull the chicken coop to a new location.

I hooked my little Ford truck to it and began pulling. The soil was rather dry but the 4x4 skids under the coop just plowed in and it quickly became stuck.

What to do?

Pull harder. I began backing up and then tugging a little harder. At first, the building budged a little. The next tug resulted only in the loud sound of crunching wood and a sudden sense of lightness in the truck as it separated from the resistance of the chicken coop. Drat! The cast iron eye bolts the chain was hooked to pulled through the 2 x 4 frame member.

What to do?

I hooked on to the other end of the coop to pull it out the other way. The eye bolts on that end of the coop were ½” bent eye bolts not cast. A few tugs resulted in pulling them out straight. Double drat!
What to do?
Well, as it was getting on in the afternoon and resident grand-daughter number one was due home from school, I just left the coop where it was and moved my truck up to the house. Tomorrow is another day, right?

Tomorrow did come and I was ready to take on the task of moving the chicken coop which had become the task of repairing the chicken coop.

I used my small trolley jack to lift the building. Then I put two eight foot long round posts under it to use as rollers. I replaced the bent eye bolts with the cast iron eye bolts from the other end. Using my truck I slowly pulled the coop as far as I could before needing to shift the rollers under it. After doing this a couple of times, I had the building up on solid ground where repairs could be made.

After removing the trim and siding, the broken 2 x 4 was fully exposed. Removing it was a straight-forward process as was replacing it with a new one. Be assured, the new was installed with additional 3 inch screws and extra bracing.

Once the framing was repaired, all that was left to do was replace the siding and trim. Repairs to the chicken coop were complete!

A sense of accomplishment and was accompanied by thankfulness for the tools, strength, and know-how needed to accomplish the repairs.

Now, I still need to move it but I’m going to save that for another day.

A Reasonable Compromise. Really??

On Sunday, January 31, Catholic Bishops across these United States spoke and/or sent letters to the churches in their dioceses decrying policies of the Obama administration. Specifically mandates within the Health Care Reform Act requiring all employers, including faith-based institutions like schools and colleges to provide employees with health care insurance that covers the cost of contraception, including the “morning-after pill" and sterilization. The Catholic Church teaches it is intrinsically wrong to use any form of contraception to prevent pregnancy.


According to USA TODAY, Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh in a letter to his diocese, denounced what he said is Obama's message to Catholics:

'To hell with your religious beliefs; To hell with your religious liberty; To hell with your freedom of conscience.'

The following Thursday, Jay Carney, Whitehouse spokesman, was trying to put an end to the negative reactions to the president’s policy. He stated flatly, “the decision has been made.” End of discussion?

Nope. The Administration has offered a "compromise". As I understand it, under the compromise, religious organizations would not have to provide birth control and "reproductive services" to their employees directly. However, the insurance companies providing the health care for the religious entities would have to provide those goods and services to the individual employees at no charge.

What!?? If there is no such thing as a free lunch (and there is not) then there is no such thing as free birth control or "reproductive services"! Thus far it remains doubtful the Bishops will accept the proposed "compromise".

This is not about birth control or freedom of choice! This is about the free exercise of religion! Our government has no right under the Constitution of these United States to tell a Bible-based religious organization to violate the tenants of their faith. (Yes, there it is; my Judeo-Christian bias is showing.)

Some will quote surveys showing that Catholic women use birth control about as often as the general population. Given the number of two-children Catholic families I know, that claim does not surprise me. But that is a personal choice of the women involved.  My religious tradition frowns on the use of tobacco and alcohol.  However, I occassionally choose to enjoy one or the other.

To my non-Catholic friends; let me remind you of what German pastor and theologian, Martin Niemoller said in 1946 regarding the Nazis, by whom he was arrested in 1937:

"First they came for the Communists, and
I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Communist.


Then they came for the Trade-Unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Trade-Unionist.


Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.


Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak out for me."

Has your Pastor mentioned the infringement of the government on religious freedom? I have not heard anything about it from my Pastor and I really would like to hear him speak up. In the meantime, I will continue to speak out!  Will you? 
 
I am asking you to re-post this on your Facebook or personnal blog if you agree.
 
Thank you.

Another Update on my Barn Repair Efforts

Well, I guess it's been about a month now since I started repairing my wind damaged barn.  So let me report on my progress.

This past week I turned my attention to constructing the covered pens at the back of the barn.  They are about 4.5 feet tall at the front and 3.5 feet tall at the back.  These will serve as covered storage for firewood, housing for small livestock, or farrowing pigs.  As I was planning this, I thought I would use 1 x 4's for the roof purlins.  But when I got to the lumber yard, I found that 2 x 4's were less expensive! A pleasant suprise.  The purlins are untreated lumber.  I thought this was best so that the screws used to hold the roof metal (and the roof metal itself) would not be subjected to the preservative chemicals in the treated lumber,

The treated boards that comprise the back wall were all recycled from a residential deck that a friend of ours removed in the course of his work as a building contractor.  I obtained a quantity of this lumber in exchange for several dozen eggs from our hens.   I love trading!  What is now the open end will be closed with a board/hog panel fence as will the balance of what was the back half of the barn.

Our son came out to "the farm" to help me Tuesday of this past week to install the back wall.  While he measured and cut the boards, I attached them with 2.5 inch screws.  His youngest daughter (4 years old) "helped" with the scrap lumber.  It was a very pleasant afternoon, unseasonably warm, and spending it with them made it very special for me.

Yesterday and last night we received the first significant rain if the year.  Today is seasonably cool, cloudy, breezy and muddy.  So, I am indoors with rhe grand-daughters as their mama and grandma both had to work today.  It is good to spend a day reviewing the work of the past weeks and anticipating the coming days.  In my anticipation, I am quick to always include "the Lord willing".  My Grandpa used to say, "Man proposes and God disposes."  So it is.

Update on Barn Repair

Thought I would check in and give you an update on the progress made toward fixing my tumbled down barn.  Overall, I am pretty pleased with what I have been able to accomplish so far.  The initial demolition has been completed and much of the debris collected, sorted and hauled off or saved for future use.  Hopefully some of the framing lumber can be re-used in the restored structure.

The picture above was taken from about the same place as some of the early pix.  It shows that the barn is only half as long as originally built.  Part of what was incorporated in the barn previously will become open pens for livestock.

This photo shows a closeup of the supporting wall under the westside of the loft.  This will also be one side of the loading chute which is to come.

The new lumber is all treated.  I made the decision to use it based on two facts: The cost of an 8-foot treated 2X4 is within pennies of an untreated one; carpenter bees have done a lot of damage to the untreated lumber I used originally in the thirty years that this barn has been in existance.  The carpenter bee bores a 3/8" hole into the underside of a board or beam.  It then bores a tunnel along the grain of the board in which to lay its eggs and food for the hatched larvae.  This can significantly weaken the framing member.

When I built the barn I used 8d and 16d ring-shank nails.  In this new construction I am using Phillips head 3-inch screws made for treated lumber.  I prefer screws in most kinds of construction now because they are easier to install with a cordless drill-driver, My old elbow doesn't much like swinging a hammer.  The holding power of the screws is far superior to that of even ring-shank nails.  Another big plus is that they can be removed without tearing up the boards when I need to change something.

I have also used some "old school" tools on this project.  When I needed to join a 4X4 and a 2x8, I got out my antique 1/2" auger.  It was originally made for use with a hand brace but was modified to fit my drill-driver.  When I needed to "adjust" the fit of some framing members, I got my antique framing chisel and what is as close to a "Boss" as I have. The large wooden mallets used by carpenters were often referred to as "Bosses". 

These  old tools, and really the whole process of repairing this barn, has caused me to recall and reflect upon the memory of an old gentleman from my boyhood: "Grandpa" Thurlow.  I knew him when I was about 4 years-old.  At that tim he was an old man and worked as the care taker of a cemetary.  I learned later that he had been a builder and repairer of barns.  He will, hopefully, be the subject of another blog post to come.

Fixing my Tumbled-down Barn



This is one of the saddest sights in rural America to my way of thinking: tumbled-down barns, once vital and productive, abandoned and in disrepair. It is a fact of life that a barn neglected long enough reaches the point where rehab is out of the question. Repair is simply too dangerous, not to mention too expensive. Such barns either collapse under their own weight or are knocked down and burned to make way for something else. This sad fact drove me to get to work on my barn.


On May 7, 2009 a small tornado went through our neighborhood.  Thankfully, it did only minor damage to our house.  It did blow a large red oak tree onto the back end of our barn.  The damages were covered by insurance so we had the house repaired.  We did not however have the barn repaired, choosing to use that part of the proceeds to pay toward our mortgage. 

The tree cutters removed the large oak tree in pieces and laid them out around the barn and in the adjoining pen. They also removed a two-trunk locust tree which turned out to be a windfall (no pun intended). From the trunks of the locust tree I cut four hefty 8-foot fence posts.

After the tree cutters did their work, I turned our four growing hogs into the pen behind and along side the barn. They did their job admirably; rooting up and devouring the vegetation that had grown up amongst the stumps, chunks, and rocks. On Monday of this week I began the process of demolishing the portion of the barn that needs to be removed in order to rebuild the barn.

Now, before you judge me harshly for taking so long to address my tumbled-down barn, let me hasten to note that I am prone to think long on a project before actually getting into it. I have to take the project through a process that is part cogitation and part gestation before cutting the first board, digging the first hole or, for that matter, writing the first word. Perhaps I should also add in my defense that I did use a strong rope and my truck to pull down part of the crushed structure several months ago. The resulting CRASH and cloud of dust left me more than a little leery about proceeding without some serious thought.

And so it was this past Monday morning found me standing out in front of the barn, crow bar in hand much like Saint George sat on his horse, lance in hand, before the dragon. It was a very cold morning and I sort of felt like I was wearing armour wearing insulated overalls and a hood. But I warmed up quite nicely as I worked and by the end of the day, I had made very good progress.

At end of day one.

Tuesday was the last day of Christmas vacation for the oldest granddaughter-in-residence so, in her mama’s absence, it was my job to watch over her. That worked out very well in that I was absolutely too sore to go out and do battle with the barn two days in a row. My hands were the biggest proble I had worn good work gloves so they weren’t cut or nicked. I hadn’t picked up any splinters. But oh, the joints were sore! Just trying to make a fist hurt.

It made be think of something I’d read. In his book You Can Farm, Joel Salatin makes the point that age is an important consideration as one contemplates any agricultural endeavor. Well, duh! Sure it is! It is an important consideration as one contemplates any number of endeavors, but the fact is I’m never going to be any younger than I am right now so I’d better stay after it!

I was back “after it” this morning and made a lot of progress. The first thing I did was move all the used building materials stored in the barn out and into my trailer. There wasn’t a lot of stuff, but I didn’t want it underfoot. Then I proceeded to haul out all the barn parts that I had taken down earlier and placed them in the trailer as well. I continued to do that as the day progressed in order to keep from stepping on a nail. Stepping on a nail protruding from one of those boards could ruin an otherwise golden day.

When I quit working on the barn today, most of the back half of the barn was stripped of siding, stringers, rafters, and roofing.  Now it is dark out, supper has been eaten and the chicken house shut up. And I can feel the stiffness setting in. As the Lord would have it, tomorrow I am scheduled to watch one of our other granddaughters which will provide me a perfect opportunity to rest a day before returning to work on the barn.


At end of day two.





Stay tuned for further progress reports