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“Best Black Friday Bargain!”
Columns/Opinions
(Reprint from 2019) on November 22, 2023
“Best Black Friday Bargain!”

As many of you know Lisa and I have been in a yearlong remodeling project where we have converted our den into a new kitchen. The deadline is Thanksgiving Day when we will have 35 to 50 people here for Thanksgiving lunch.

Am I ready? The answer is no. We have installed the cabinets, all the appliances, the old cast iron farmhouse sink, and the new flooring is down everywhere except the two sets of steps that lead down into the new kitchen. That means we have a functional kitchen.

What’s left? I still have to remove the hard wood countertop on the bar in the old kitchen, cut it down to size, refinish it and install it on a new island cabinet. I still have to trim out five doors and put down all the base molding. And, oh yea, I still have to put all the cabinet draw and door pulls on. Did I mention that Lisa has 24 cabinet draws and 13 cabinet doors?

Lisa had a little difficulty in deciding on what cabinet pulls she wanted. Sunday night she got on the internet and began to look again. She found what she wanted and placed the order. They would be here on Wednesday. I thought to myself, “Yea, sure. I will believe it when I see it.”

Sure enough, yesterday was Wednesday and about 4 p.m. the doorbell rang. Lisa’s pulls had arrived. I thought this is good timing, after church I’ll put on the draw pulls.

Let me say, if you haven’t noticed from my description of progress, it is CRUNCH TIME. I need some time and some luck for me to pull this project off by Thanksgiving Day. Luck was not on my side last night.

We got home from church, changed clothes, and I figured out how to use my new cabinet hardware jig that Lisa bought me for Christmas last year. I did all the calculations and set the jig, and all looked well. I drilled my first set of holes, opened the first bag of pulls, inserted the screws, and the screws are to short.

Yea, that is correct they are too short. Now that brings me to the Black Friday statement that I lead with in this article. Today on my way home from a long day of hospice work in Monroe I stopped at the Lowes in Ruston to get some longer screws. I have been there so much in the past eleven months until they all know me by name.

When I walked into Lowes there were signs everywhere advertising Black Friday sales. Now I know that I am a little on the slow side but today is Thursday not Friday. I thought Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving Day and we are still two weeks away from that. So, I am a little confused. No comments from you Belah folks about me always being confused.

But in my confusion on the way to the hardware section I walked by the DEWALT Black Friday display and noticed they had a set of two 12-inch circular saw blades. Knowing that I needed a new blade for my miter saw and this was a good price, I took advantage of the Black Friday sale on Thursday and bought me a set.

As I was driving home, I began to think about the term Black Friday and my mind immediately began to think about the fact that there was another Black Friday about 2000 year ago. It was a Friday when my Lord hung on a cross and the world went dark from the “sixth hour to the ninth hour” (Mark 15:33).

As I drove home, I thought, what a Black Friday bargain. Jesus died and I gained eternal life. My mind began to praise Him with a heart full of thanksgiving for what Jesus had done for me.

Now every time I hear or see the term “Black Friday” I will praise Him. How about you?

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