5/9/10 Half cord of firewood, sold on craigslist for $50As I've written on this blog many times before, the best thing about doing business on craigslist is the conversations I have with the people to whom I sell and give things. Today, I met one of the most interesting people of the downsizing year.
Because of the relatively light winter we had up here in Maine and the distractions caused by a certain Brilliant Boy, I burned less firewood this year than during any other winter since we moved to Casco. As a result, I ended the season with a fair amount left over.
With no need of the wood once we relocate to Denver, I threw it up on craigslist for sale and quickly had an appointment with a friendly fellow named Bill to get it today. Bill arrived in his white pick-up and we loaded about half of the pile. Since he lived about twenty minutes away, I told him he could feel free to come back on another day to get the rest, at his convenience.
I'd estimate that he was in his seventies, and he quickly accepted that offer, saying "I tire easily!"
Then he handed me fifty bucks and a little Bible tract, courtesy of the Fellowship Tract League. (I looked them up -- you can check them out here.) We naturally started talking about religion and the Bible -- hey, don't forget that I read the entire book of Genesis earlier this year -- and I actually enjoyed listening to him.
What I liked about Bill was that he was a bit of a renegade Born-Again Christian. He had no time for churches, pastors, or blind followers. Here was a man who was perfectly happy with his own interpretation of the Good Book, and he wasn't trying to push it on me. Just a Believer and an atheist chatting it up.
Bill's worldview is about as far from mine as they come, but that's okay. The problem in America today seems to be that those of us with opposing viewpoints can't seem to make room for each other. I liked Bill. I don't begrudge him his beliefs, nor would I ever ask him to change.
Plus, we have one very important belief in common. We both know, for absolute certain, that we won't be meeting up in Heaven. Amen.
God does work in mysterious ways: I clicked on the link to the Fellowship Tract League and arrived at a scheduled time for a live video of the Bread of Life Camp Meeting. Curious, I was about to attend, only to learn that (fate, divine intervention or tech lag?) "this video stream does not work on Mac OS."
ReplyDeleteI clearly think it was devine intervention that kept you from the Bread of Life Camp Meeting. I think you might have been a corrupting influence on them...
ReplyDeleteI think you must be more religious than you think, as you seem to have an awful lot of faith that you won't need that wood over the next few months. As I understand it, winter ends in Maine on August 3rd.
ReplyDeleteCRM, that's just a bunch of hyperbole. Winter in Maine usually ends by the 4th of July.
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