Finding Courage Under the House

Courage is often the deciding line between fear and action.

Most people would not consider themselves courageous.

After all, deep sea explorers and war heroes are courageous.

Firefighters and astronauts are courageous. Rebels and trouble makers are courageous.

And the fact is...most of us are not explorers or soldiers in battle.

Most of us do not face death each day from the perils of a burning building

or the cold emptiness of outer space.

Most of us sit at our desk, and eat our sack lunch, and pet the dog

when we get home, and live pretty uneventful lives.

But I think that we forget that courage is not always about "THE BIG THINGS".

Those big things might be what people remember, but there are little victories

that happen (or don't happen) with each one one of us everyday.

I'm thinking about what I will be doing this Sunday.

I will be painting my deck again, but it will take only a short time

and I have no fear of paint or decks.

But sometime on Sunday....I will be....

GOING UNDER THE HOUSE!

You see....We have some heating ducts that are not working properly.

In the past, this has been because the flexible hose that connects the

duct to the main heat source becomes loose or falls off.

With handy-dandy duct tape (Or DUCK TAPE, if you prefer) in hand

I will go under the house and put this situation right.

It will be a big savings in our heat bill, and keep us much toastier

during the winter.

Here's the thing....

the repairs are...UNDER THE HOUSE!

Did I mention that before.....UNDER THE HOUSE!

With the spiders and spider webs....with the mud and the bugs and

the potential other creepy stuff.

And the crawl space is 24 inches or less tall....and dark....

so I will be on my back...in the bugs....in an enclosed space....

in the dark....UNDER THE HOUSE!

A few years ago, there is NO WAY I could have considered it.

But just like my rooftop adventure that some of you have heard of,

I first peeked under the house 4 years ago.....I stuck my head under the

house 3 years ago.....I climbed under briefly 2 years ago....And last year

climbed under and made some repairs.

This years repairs are all the way at the other end of the house, though.