My Summer Schedule

Summer officially started last week, though for some the first day of summer was Memorial Day weekend. For me, summer starts on the last day of school each June. It’s at this point in the year when my schedule changes. No longer is my schedule set based on sports and extracurricular events. No longer are my afternoons dictated by how much homework or permission slips come home. During the summer I (almost) get to dictate my own schedule. I say almost because summer is when I go from the homework list to the honey-do list. Not that I’m complaining. I am learning to love doing work on my house.

It’s now time to get to work on tasks such as removing the odd yellow wallpaper and the somewhat dated wood paneling. This summer I hope to get a number of projects completed as I look forward to changing our living space from old to showplace. I’ve got my work cut out for me and I know it will be fun. After all this was part of the charm we saw when we bought the place years ago. It was not at the point of being a handyman special, but it did need some TLC. This summer the house will get some extra attention, both inside and out.

When I last posted about my home improvement mission, I was left with a decision to make. Having found that my drywall was put up backwards I needed to confer with my wife to see how we should handle the situation. Should we replace the drywall? Should we put up wallpaper? Should we mud skim the backside of the drywall and move on? And the decision is…(drum roll)...mud skimming. But first I need to replace some sections of drywall where there is water damage. And before that I need to replace a couch.

Did you know couches can scream out in pain? Okay not really, but ours made a funny noise recently when something hit it in the front right on the part of the frame called the front rail. The wood snapped, making a very strange noise as the springs began to pull back. From that point on the couch began to sag. Of course, being upholstered we could see the break in the front rail. The damage became evident only after our couch began to take on the look of a smile: a somewhat evil, mocking smile.

I thought about fixing it myself but as I researched the matter I realized this couch was not worth saving. Turns out not all couches are made the same. While some are made of furniture grade hardwood, others are made of things like pressboard. I looked and our couch was pressboard and there must have been a flaw in the front rail, the part touched by the top of the back of your calves when you sit down. Replacing the front rail would only make sense if I upgraded the wood but this would leave us with a one piece of hardwood mounted on a frame of pressboard.

So after a lot of research we bought a new couch. This time we went with kiln dried furniture grade hardwood. As I understand kiln drying helps the wood resist the effects of humidity swings, necessary in a climate where humidity can go from comfortable to 100% in less than 24 hours. Hopefully this couch can stand up to daily life in an active household. And without having to put time in on fixing a couch, and now that the search for a new one is over, I can put time into my other projects. Back to work on the drywall issue.

By the way, did I buy a couch or a sofa? Is there a difference? Let me know your thoughts. The folks at apartmenttherapy.com are also sharing their thoughts on the matter.

What Drives Your Christian Testimony?

I have a confession. For much of my Christian walk I have shared the Gospel for the wrong reasons. Driven by internal motives, I shared what was written on the pages of the Bible or what was written in whatever track I had on hand. In doing so I found that something was missing. Yes, I could pat myself on the back for being out there doing what I thought was God’s work but the end results were nothing to brag about.

When I first became a Christian I was zealous when it came to sharing, doing so out of a desire to fit in with a group on campus. This group of Christians set aside time once per week to go out and evangelize. Not wanting to be left out I tagged along, looking forward to the opportunity to show that I was one of them. Over time my desire to fit in became my message as I focused on how great it would be if everyone was one of us. That’s not the Gospel nor was it an effective way to have a positive impact on those around me. I’m sure God used some of what was said to touch lives but He and I both knew my heart was not in the right place.

After graduation I took on an even weaker message. Having moved from the immaturity of college life to the maturity of having a job, I began to share because I thought I had found the fix for life’s problems. I suspect the message I shared sounded as if I was saying, “My life was fixed in the church and we can fix you too.” My motive back then was to fill the pews and to personally get people right. The intent of that message was good but my words were way off target. Eventually God sidelined me while He worked to align my desire to share with His goals in having me share. In effect He took me off the road so that He could complete a number of repairs.

“My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And Your salvation all the day, For I do not know their limits.”
Psalm 71:15

This sounds like someone who is driven to tell others about God. In fact, this sounds like the passion for sharing about the Lord that I have heard about so often in my years of following Christ. That passion is driven by the fact that David did not know the limits of God’s righteousness or of God’s salvation. He was driven by God’s nature to share, asking for the strength to continue sharing into his old age in order to declare God to a younger generation (Psalm 71:18). David wanted to tell others about the Lord because he was blown away by the awesomeness of God. God himself was David’s motivation for his version of what we now call our Christian witness.

What drives you to share your testimony with others? Are you driven by fear or by a desire to make clones of yourself for your church or Bible study group? Is sharing your testimony just something you do, embedded deep in the culture of your church? Are you driven (or perhaps not so driven) by some reason that is human-centered or are you driven by your love for God and your feelings of awe for His nature? Like David, let your sharing be driven by the fact that God is beyond what the human mind can comprehend.

The U-505: A WWII Trophy and A Can’t Miss Tour

As a teen I always enjoyed visiting the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. During both family bonding time and school field trips, I was always amazed at how much there was to see even though I was afraid that the statue pillars near the front door might one day come after me. Of all there was to see in the museum my favorite attraction was and is the U-505, a captured German U-boat on exhibit inside of the museum. I wish I could have been there this past June 4th to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the capture of U-505 by a U.S. battle fleet during World War II.

Before 1944 the United States had not captured any enemy ship since the war of 1812. With German U-boats terrorizing shipping across the Atlantic, the best any country could do was damage or perhaps sink one. These ships were quite successful in cutting off shipping lanes and the German naval command hoped to use them to cut off supplies to England, turning the U-boats into a great threat to that country’s survival.

The U-505 was a type IXc submarine. This class of submarine was large and built for long range use. She was fitted with two sets of engines: battery driven electric motors for use underwater and diesel engines for when she moved along the surface. She began service under real battle conditions in 1942, seeing some success while also being labeled a ‘Hard-luck ship.’

I remember standing in line to see the U-505. Back then they did not have timed entry so we stood in a very long queue, winding our way past various objects from the museum’s WWII collection. Though it seemed like we were in line for an eternity, it was cool to be able to sit on top of a torpedo or two as the line slowly moved forward. With so many great artifacts, and a movie about the sub’s capture, the build up to seeing the ship was almost as cool as seeing the ship itself.

The museum moved the ship inside back in 2004. According to the museum’s website, a German submarine was only built to last for four years. In 1997, after more than fifty years of exposure to weather the U-505 needed repair. The museum decided that the best way to preserve the U-505 was to move the entire sub indoors, which must have been a monumental task. Having moved away from the area back in the 1980’s, I was not able to see it in its new enclosure until 2018. Boy was it a treat being able to stand beside her, coming face to face with all 252 feet of her hull. No longer did I have

to look out of a window while standing in line, I could stand right next to her imagining the fear U boats must have inspired while in water.

I vaguely remember references to her hard-luck status during tours when I was a child but it didn’t really sink in as to why people spoke of the U-505 in this way. While she started off with a successful run, things seemed to have taken a negative turn starting with her inadvertent attack on a sailing ship. As told by Hans Goebeler (a member of the U-505 crew) and reported by John P. Vanzo for the July 1997 issue of World War II Magazine, the captain of the U-505 ordered a shot across the bow of a sailing ship that was zig-zagging across the water. But instead of serving as a warning, the shot hit the sailboat’s main mast. The U-505 went on to sink what turned about to be a ship owned by a Colombian diplomat. With that Colombia declared war on Germany and the U-505’s captain was transferred out of command.

The U-505’s second captain took his own life during a battle. The ship itself suffered many problems due to sabotage by the shipyard workers whose job it was to maintain the sub (according to Vanzo’s article). Workers used tactics such as leaving the ship with leaky fuel tanks so that she left a trail of diesel fuel upon the water. Some of her welds were sub-par, said to have been weakened by pieces of rope. The success of these attempts at sabotage, along with other less than stellar outcomes during her missions, helped establish the U-505’s reputation as unlucky even before she was captured by U.S. Hunter-Killer Task Group 22.3.

On June 4, 1944 the U-505 rose to periscope depth only to find herself surrounded by the hunter-killer task group. The crew tried to submerge but were unable to get away as the task group’s depth charges drove her back to the surface. The crew abandoned ship, attempting to scuttle the U-505 to prevent her being captured. However soldiers from the U.S. task group were able to board and prevent her from sinking, stabilizing the sub so she could be secretly towed away. The U.S. did not want Germany to know they had captured the U-boat, allowing them time to learn as many of her secrets as they could. And now she reveals those secrets to tourists, like a former Midwesterner who in 2018 got to enjoy taking his sons to see one of his childhood favorites.

If you’re in Chicago I recommend the Museum of Science and Industry, and the tour of the U-505. Both are well worth the price of admission, as are a number of other exhibits such as the working coal mine. My family and I did not make it to the coal mine this time around. That will have to wait until our next trip to Chicago.

For more on the U-505:
The Museum of Science and Industry Home Page
https://www.msichicago.org/

Story of moving the U-505 inside

https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/u-505-submarine/exhibit/restoration-relocation/conserving-the-u-505/

Crewman Hans Goebeler shares his memories of the U-505

https://www.historynet.com/german-submarine-u-505-crewmember-hans-goebeler-recalls-being-captured-during-world-war-ii.htm

Do You Understand Your Tests and Trials?

Psalm 66:8-12

The Psalmist understood life’s trials and tests, embracing the opportunity for growth. He acknowledged that God had tested His people in the past. The result of this testing is that the people were refined like silver (v. 10). The Psalmist goes on to describe metaphorically this testing which ends in rich fulfillment (v. 12). What he describes is not something pleasant or something we should like. But he embraces the outcome, knowing that in the end God’s people grew, winding up in a much better place.

This was the Psalmist’s experience, shared with us so that we who believe today might understand God’s goals. Yes it is a difficult message delivered by the Psalmist, who believed that God caused some of the difficulties that were a part of this testing (vv. 11-12) but he wants us to look beyond life’s rough patches. The Psalmist’s believed in God’s love and God’s goals for his life. That is the key. Whether caused by God or allowed by Him, the goal is refinement. God’s desired outcome is our growth and our freedom. Faith is where we trust God for that outcome.