My house is shaking. The glasses in the cabinet are clinking together. The windows are rattling. My internal organs are vibrating. The tremors last from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. It’s not an earthquake, it’s road construction. For the last several months they have been putting in an extension to Judd Parkway. Construction vehicles large enough to move the entire island of Manhattan have been rumbling along my property line. Today the steam roller (I’m sure there’s a newer name for it since it hasn’t used steam since Abe Lincoln was president – wikipedia refers to them as “road rollers” – pfft, yeah right) was going back and forth making sure the road base was significantly compacted all the way to the earth’s core. The planned date for opening the road will be Christmas, at least that was the original date set. This road will be great help to everyone who wants to bypass the bottleneck in “downtown Varina”, but I guess I’m selfish in wishing I had the pine forest back. All I know is eleven hours a day, if I’m home, I get to watch things fall off shelves, pictures swing on their hooks, and cracks in the wall reenacting the seismic activity of the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
It’s only a few months until the construction ends, and the road becomes open to traffic. At least the dust will finally settle down. It’s hard to make supper on the grill when a half inch of dirt collects on it by the time it’s cooked. Soon we will trade in the low resonant shaking from giant construction equipment for the thrum, thrum, thrum of cars with their stereos cranked up; the whine of Japanese motorcycles accompanied by the brop, brop, brop of Harleys; and the shrill sound of over-revved engines driven by guys who think their ‘94 Pinto is a “tuner car”. Such is the price of progress. Everyone wants something good and convenient, as long as it’s not built in their back yard. This time it’s my backyard! I’m trying to think of someway to take advantage of this road….to turn a bad into a good. I’ve considered adding two more stories to my home, just so I can paint a billboard-like advertisement for the church on the house. So far that hasn’t been enthusiastically embraced by Cindy. I gave up on the idea of trying to set up a toll booth to make a little money out of this mess; the construction workers have ignored my cardboard signs that say “Stop Pay $2 Toll Ahead”. I considered paintball “target practice” once the road opens up, but only the local preteen boys are supportive of that idea. So I guess Judd Parkway is just something I’m going to have to live with.
Psalm 1 begins, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” My desire is to be a man who meditates on God’s Word. But I am easily distracted. Rattling windows, phones ringing, my stomach growling, a fly buzzing, the dog snoring…..they all pull me away from what is important. God’s Word offers strength and peace, counsel and wisdom, hope and blessing. So I seek guidance from the scriptures, and God helps me to find blessings and joy. I have noticed something good about all this construction; the shaking of the house makes my recliner feel like those old vibrating beds from the 60s. I get a blast from the past and it doesn’t even cost a quarter.
Chad