The sun rises today on a new day, a new hope, a new tomorrow!

The sun is less than two hours from breaking over the trees for the day, I sit and wonder how this day will go and what new challenges I will face. It’s funny how God does things, I would do them so much differently than he does, but in the end, He always delivers the best, every time. 

I basically closed Springlake Heating and Air after many successful years and thousands of satisfied customers. My knee, the lack of technicians, the limited infrastructure of the north woods… It took me Twice as long to install a furnace than it did only 2 years ago. I can’t make money working a maximum 4 hours a day… the pain of going up and down a flight of stairs carrying parts and tools back and forth… I tried to make the trips more efficient to reduce the number of trips and it didn’t help because I can only carry so much stuff in one trip. I found myself risking damaging peoples houses by carrying too much stuff or the trips themselves were harder because I carried too much weight… I just can’t do this efficiently on one leg… My heart broke every time I turned down another customer in need. And so Jess and I decided I just can’t continue…

BUT The sun rises today on a new day, a new hope, a new tomorrow! (I feel like this should be titled “Episode IV, A new Hope”) Yes, there is hope. Hope in a renewed day. Hope in a brighter day. Hope in the future. Without hope? There can be no joy. Without hope there are only memories of the best days. This hope came from a most unexpected place, a most unpredictable time and completely out of nowhere…. 

I remember 2014. I had lost all hope in finding a good wife, a partner that would bare the burden of life with me … Dating in your 40’s is not fun, nor is it easy… I gave up all hope and decided to buy a small house, fully embrace the bachelor lifestyle and live as a single man. I made plans to dig out and install a ramp into the basement where I could start working on bikes and stuff. Real “guy stuff” life. Basically transform my house into a shop (I still dream of this plan)… live like a man would live if he could… but then Jess came along from a very unexpected place, in a very unexpected way with a very unexpected set of challenges. Together we formed “Livinghazzardously”.

No “Regerts”. 

Jess…. She is my “Lady Galadriel in Lothlórien” that gave me the shining “Star of Eärendil”. The shining star that guided “Chuckie Baggins” while trapped in the sticky webs of Shelob’s “bachalorism”. The dark of that night was lifted as I traversed my way through the challenges of Mordor on the life quest to serve our savior, Jesus. Call me a dork… and yes I had to look all those names up.  

And so like the days of old, today I have hope of a brighter future for Spring Lake Heating. Perhaps things will turn out alright afterall? Perhaps the break I created by closing things down was the break I needed to start the next chapter? Perhaps the next chapter is actually greater than the last? 

Anyway, today is a very special day for me as a grandfather, so I will cut this short, I have work to do. I have a renewed hope, I have a joy in my heart that reaches to the moon and back ( I know, it’s super dark outside, the new moon is here). 

In Service of the one true GOD. C.