Driving north from Minneapolis proper, there used to be a large painted message
on the wall of a warehouse "better life through plumbing." The warehouse has long
since been demolished . . . but the overall thought still vibrates across the world. Years
ago I was part of a mission work team that was assigned to work with families living
in a poor part of the Cumberland Mountains in southeast United States. The home we
came to work with was owned by a quite elderly woman. She lived alone and made
quilts to sell. She didn't have an outhouse and explained that she never had one but
would love to have one like her neighbors. Not fancy. Tar paper on the roof and a nail
for a door handle. One of the youth workers asked her how she took care of herself and
she replied "across the field by the forest." The group took two days to build an outhouse
of her liking. She worked right along with us and when the outhouse was done, she
said that she would like it if all of us could crowd into the structure and together pray
The Lord's Prayer. We did.
Sometimes life can be better than it is . . .
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