Big surprise, the Superman fan has a Superman reference.
Even though I am a pastor, someone who spends a majority of my professional life around people, speaking in front of large groups of people, and playing music in front of people, I am actually an introvert. Spending all that time around people is a fine thing, something I enjoy a great deal in fact. But it has a nasty habit of draining me. I'm more tired at the end of a three sermon day than I am at the end of a big bike ride. It can be brutal.
13 months ago we put a huge can of gasoline on that fire by doubling the occupancy of our household. There is absolutely no isolation here at home. To Sarah's incredible credit, she understands my need to be alone sometimes. For a while, I was able to sneak away to a coffee shop for a little while to work on the book, but now the writing on the book is basically done, so going to a coffee shop can get really boring really fast.
I needed a fortress of solitude.
What stood between me and the fortress, you ask? The fact that we had used our basement as an incredible garbage heap from the moment we moved into the house. If there was an item we didn't know what to do with, we put it in the basement. If there was a dirty laundry basket that developed a stank, it was exiled to the basement. There was but one path from the base of the stairs to the door of the garage for easy transport in and out. It was a mess.
So with my time off this week, I decided that it was the project to undertake. As I have been trying to be a minimalist (trying, not even close to succeeding) lately, I decided that I was in purge mode. I didn't give a second thought to throwing some stuff away. Unless I had a really great reason to keep it, it went in the garbage and or donate pile.
It was liberating!
Now some man caves look like this. Perhaps in my wildest dreams I would have such a pad, but for the time being, I have a used couch, the first arm chair that Sarah and I bought when we were married 10 years ago, and a hand-me-down television with Netflix. Perhaps as the days go by, a wall hanging here, a new round of drywall there. But for now, I have a corner of a concrete room.
It's simply glorious!
There are two lessons here for me, and I'm willing to bet that they are lessons for many of you. 1) Space is important. Especially if you are in ministry, carve out some space for yourself to rest and relax. But the bigger lesson for me is that 2) you have far too much junk in your life. We live in a culture that is outrageo