Top 7 = Septic clean-out + summer movies +

This week’s Top 7 features lessons learned from the septic clean-out-- and more less nasty stuff.

🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌

Fitness = surprise, Salter is ready for a sneak out 

These are some of my favorite ways to return from a long weekend run…

A kid in the kitchen (messier hair = even better), followed by the request for a Starbucks run, a donut grab for the whole house, or more.

For this trip, Salter and I went— his request— to “grab an slushee for breakfast.”

(He got one, as well as a soda for Beth— because he would like it— and a Red Mountain Dew for him. I think he asked about getting her something, b/c it was his entry to asking about getting something for him— “Look, they’re 2 for…. And on sale if you get 2!”)

Then we rolled to the “new” Starbucks (Valleydale Road, the staff is fab).

Then, the donut run… 

🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌

Finance = got over-quoted until I thought about what’s really going on… 

Last Spring I had the mainline snaked. It seems like, with ten kids in and out, as well as all of the visitors that come to the Hilltop, we inevitably clog a toilet at some point.

No worries. We know how to fix it.

But this time it clogged again— just a few days later. Something didn’t seem quite right.

I called the plumber back out— 30 day guarantee. 

After running a camera down the mainline, he proposed, “There’s a crack in the line. That’s where everything’s clogging. It’s right where the line enters the septic tank. We get dig it up and replace it for $4,800.”

“It’s only fifteen feet from the clean out to the septic,” I said. “That doesn’t make sense.”

He ran the snake again, and I told him I would think about what was REALLY happening here and how to fix it. If it needed to be repaired, I would figure it out— but not at $5,000…

I mean, c’mon, I built an entire tiny house by myself…

After some quick googling (that a verb?) I learned the average septic tank needs to be pumped every 3-5 years. 

I did some quick calculating— we have THREE TIMES the amount of people in this house, plus visitors. I bet the septic, which was last pumped about 2.5 years ago, just can’t keep up with all the 💩 coming through here.

I called the guys at Pickle. 

First guy couldn’t find the tap, so he pulled out the excavator. Of course, as soon as he found it, we located the riser…

Then the pump truck arrived… 

Here we are, truck in background…

In the end, the proposed “$5,000 fix” would NOT have fixed it. 

The cost was much lower. We just needed to pump the sludge out. And still would have needed to…

…. And would busted concrete, dug up dirt, and gone to the effort to do something that didn’t need to be done in the first place.

Sometimes, the simpler solution is best. Just get rid of the sludge…

🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌

Family = movie time with Salter

Don’t be jealous, but we saw Paws of Fury. In the reclining seats. With lots of snacks. 

🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌

Field = Working on the 12-step book

This week I spent some time on the new Freedom Recovery manual. The guys at Word Alive were prepping to use some of the original version of it at their church, and— as we were working on a few other project together— the suggestion came up that I TEACH the material, as they begin training new leaders… 

Seven years ago I wrote the first draft. And, in hindsight, looking back, I’ve often thought, “If I ever did ANYTHING in the recovery field again, I would change about 20-25% of what’s in those books and resources, and do more to address the root issues…”

That is, I would deal more with the soul, than just address what happens with urges in the body.

And I would deal with the soul rather than just telling people to listen to the Spirit.

You see, when people give their life to Christ, their Spirit is “quickened” and supernaturally restored to EVERYTHING God’s intended for it to be. It’s “one” with His Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 6:17-19). 

But the soul is in process. 

And until we learn how to deal with those root issues— and work out the heart-aches, the habit, the hang-ups, the hurts of the past— it’s almost as if we’re still ensnared to something that keeps us from expressing the most fully alive version of ourselves. 

Our eternal destiny is secure.

But our experience of this external now is distorted.

So, I began taking another rewrite / redraft through it…

🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌

Faith = piggy-backing on the entry above…

I generally don’t write things in which I have “already arrived” as an expert. I most often write what I want to know, the issue I want to explore. 

💙 I penned Purpose, earlier this May / June, for instance, because that was a process I wanted to define for myself. 

💙 I penned Stronger, this July, because as I’ve been focusing more on family, I wanted to articulate what made sense for me— as a framework— in this area. 

🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌

Friends = nada

Again, I keep noticing a theme. 

And I think this is part of the genius of the weekly review. When I look back and notice, “I don’t have any entries this week in this IMPORTANT area of life,” I don’t feel bad or ashamed or anything else negative about it…

Nor do I feel indifferent. 

I realize that, right now, we’re “all-in” with the kids. And, I picked up a few EXCITING work projects. 

It’s a busy season. Full of other things. 

The important FACT to note here, though, is that there’s a difference in a PAGE in a book and a complete CHAPTER. 

(Or, to say it another way, there’s a difference in a season as opposed to a “way of life.”).

Sometimes, we need to realize, “This is a unique season. As a result I’m not focusing on ____________.”

At other times, we need to be honest with ourselves: We can use the “this is a season” statement as an excuse or as our rationale to avoid the truth.

Which is it? 

You get to decide for you— but you must at least ask the question and  be honest with yourself.

And that’s, again, where this weekly review comes in…

I’ll do “friends” this Fall. Right now, I’m doing family and lots of field. 

🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌

Fun = movie with Judah 

Yeah, that’s a Top Gun / Maverick pic in the back. And it has nothing to do with the new Thor movie we saw. 

But since we couldn’t locate the Thor pop-up, and since we’ve both seen Maverick, we decided to grab this pic of Tom to commemorate our trip to see Thor.

🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌🚌

That’s the highlight reel for the week. As you know by now— if you’ve been here before— I try to crank these out once a week. 

I sit down at some point each weekend, ideally on a Sunday afternoon, while planning the week ahead and doing my weekly review of the week behind, and make a few notes. The planner I use— which I designed for the Advance workshops I led for a season— contains journaling prompts for each day where I, generally, jot down 3 things I’m grateful for (as well as some things I could have done better, etc.). 

You can download the planner free at www.Jenkins.tv/FreePlannerPDF.

Or, purchase it in our online store at https://www.thehilltop.shop/product-page/advance-planner