First, before reading any further, make a list of the top three things you struggle with as a Christian. *** I used to have a great view of the back lot of our block. Â In the center is a little island of wild grass where a few abandoned cars sit tiredly, waiting to rust into the ground or be stripped for parts. Â Around it is a ring of gravel with enough divots and potholes in it to make me swerve my car along it as if driving through a minefield. Â This circular pathway is itself surrounded by small lawns that boast a variety of cultivation. Â Some are nicely kept with little gardens set in neat patches of greenery. Â Some are strung with clotheslines or inhabited by barbeque grills and patio furniture. Â Others are fenced off to keep the big dogs inside, even though their loud barking at night stretches beyond the chain links to echo with the yowling of stray alleycats. Â Our lawn seems to be a magnet for the litter and trash and dead kittens of the alleycats, the ones that the SPCA did not get to spay. Last year, when I first moved in, I kept the window open at night with a large box fan. Â It was a great fan, blowing in some of the tepid and humid summer air as well as all the noises of the lot. Â I spent a lot of those nights struggling to fall asleep, sweating fitfully in bed while listening to the barking dogs, the bass of passing cars, the creaking of neighbors’ doors, and more barking and yowling and occasional gunshots from the nearby park and then more barking and yowling. Â I desperately wanted to get an air conditioning unit but was told by my housemates that the electrical wiring near my room was old and that an AC unit might blow a few fuses. [Read more…] about Money Makes Good Insulation