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DIY: Crawl Space, Planing, and the Work Bench

The Crawl Space

I admit that I was frustrated with my prospects of having place to work. I wanted my shop to be in the barn, but in order to do that, I had to have a place set up to work in order to work on the barn. That left the crawl space, or what I was mistakenly calling a “basement.” Apparently, the two are different.

What made me think I had a basement was there is an area high enough for me to stand up. But since it’s not finished out, think dirt floors, it’s not a basement.

The problem with the crawl space is that it was packed full of things we moved with us, but didn’t have room for upstairs. In our move, we downsized and have been challenged with what to keep and what to give away. We gave away a lot.

Given that, the crawl space was chaos and I was at a loss about how to use what space I had efficiently. I started praying about it and even asked Heidi to pray. Simple prayer: LORD help me bring order to the chaos in the crawl space. The LORD did the very same thing in the beginning, so I felt it was a reasonable prayer.

It was only then that things began to come together.

The Work Bench

The first thing I needed to do was reassemble my work bench, which would free up space for my shelves, and order would soon follow. It was a simple plan, but while the chaos ruled, I couldn’t see how easy the solution was.

Reassembly began first by clearing out a space to put the bench. Remember from it’s construction post, it was rather large: 8′ long and 3 1/2 feet wide. There was a space that would work well. I got that space cleared out, and started putting the behemoth table together.

It was a fight. I would have thought it would have been like putting together a Lego set… wait. I never could put those together the way they were to go, and the table was much more simple. OK. Perhaps we see part of the problem.

But I did manage to get it together, with lots of clamps, drilling new holes and ONLY ONE trip to Lowe’s for missing lag bolts. I finished most of it last night. The sweetest part of getting it together? Leaving my tools on the work bench where they belong and are easy to find. That was a small piece of order in the chaos.

Planing

As for my new planer, I did get to use it before I started assembling the work bench. I finally splurged and bought a DeWalt 735x planer. With the prospective work on the barn, I felt it would come in handy, especially when re-purposing most of the wood from the older sheds. I plan to use that wood to put in a floor in the barn, once I remove all the stalls.

I needed a test run. If you notice the picture for this post, you will see two pieces of wood. I picked up both of them from ground next to one of the sheds. The one that isn’t planed is full of nails, which means, I won’t be planing it. But the one one was free of nails. You can see how it turned out. It looked just like the one on the left. Now it worth using on … something. Don’t know yet. But it’s a great piece of wood. It just needed a bit of care.

I was wondering about the green hue to the planed wood. Grok said it was either that the wood was treated, and still had some of the chemical on it, or that was from being on the ground. If it is the latter, that should be easy to remove with a sander.

 

 

 

 

“Let There Be Light”

I was listening to a presentation by John Lennox the other night on Genesis 1-2. He was going over the different positions and mentioned that many people had problems with the fact that God said, “Let there be light,” on day one, but didn’t create the sun, moon and stars until day four.

It occurred to me, that the people who have a problem with this seeming disparity are those who have come to the text with their minds made up about how and when God created things. They possibly even have a problem with God Himself.

I grant that there were no sun, moon, and stars on days one through three. But if we are to take the length of the “day” as a 24-hour period, which we should, then the fact that there are no luminary lights in the heavens, should not be a problem.

In other words, had men been sitting around during those first three days, they would not have seen a sun, moon, or any stars. From our fallen perspective, they would have been sitting in the dark.

But Scripture declares that God is Light and God declared light to be so. Therefore, we can safely say, that all those who were there on those first three days, had all the light they needed. To say that there was no light, is to deny the word of God. To do this is pure hubris on man’s part.

And just to be clear, the only One there on the first three days was the Triune God. Surely we can agree He was fine without the sun, moon, and stars.

What about the vegetation?

Some might ask that question. If the vegetation was created on the third day, how did it survive those long 24 hours without the sun, moon, and stars?

Again, the question betrays their presuppositions. They come to the text refusing to accept that we are talking about 24-hour periods here. Their presuppositions are that God created everything in billions and billions of years, even though a fair reading of the text denies this assumption

The plants created on day three without the sun, moon, and stars were just fine.

We can also suggest that most plants begin life without the sun, moon, and stars, while they are in seed form. I’m not saying the vegetation was in seed form on day three, but we need to consider that into our understanding.

The point to all this is that those who refuse to accept the text as it has been presented, come to it with presuppositions that prevent them from seeing it as it is given. We all have presuppositions, but we must not hold to those presuppositions when they contradict God’s word.

And Furthermore…

When God said, “Let there be light,” there indeed was light. He doesn’t explain how that is, but we can trust Him that there was light. To doubt God on these first uttered words of history, is to open ourselves up to all kinds of false doctrines.

As for the days, God tells us what He meant in Genesis 1, when He set forth the day as morning and evening. In other words, He interprets the meaning the Hebrew word “yom” for us.

Six days (yom) you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day (yom) is a sabbath of Yahweh your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female slave or your cattle or your sojourner who is within your gates.
11 For in six days (yoms) Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day (yom) and made it holy.

This is from Exodus 20, where we find that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were written by “the finger of God Himself.” Moses didn’t write them. He delivered them to the people, but God gave them after writing them on the stone (Exodus 31:18).

YHWH is indirectly telling us that the days in Genesis are the same as the days during Moses’ day. In giving the Fourth Commandment,  YHWH is not leaving the length of day open to interpretation. Therefore, to say it is anything else than a 24-hour period, is as I have said, pure hubris.

DIY: Fixing the Hinge and More…

Finally, a small victory. I fixed the bottom hinge on the front door to the barn yesterday. It was a tad bit more complex than I thought it was going to be.

To celebrate, I decided to continue pulling vines off the rest of the barn to get the other doors open. (See videos below). In the process of doing so, I discovered that the barn has 5 doors on the first floor, and 1 door on the second floor. I will need to repair at least two of them, one by adding a cross bar, the other by making one completely new.

The Barn-Reclamation Project (BRP) continues…

The Second Floor

 

The Side Doors and More

Most of this was done yesterday, so you can guess that I’m quite tired today. But if I get a couple more days like yesterday, hopefully things will progress along.

Needs:

  • Fix one of the side doors.
  • Replace the other side door.
  • Get the upstairs door open so I can sweep out the upstairs.
  • Start taking down the inner stalls. This is where I will get much of my lumber for the floor that I eventually want to put down. (Long-term goal.)
  • Run electricity to the building.

 

 

 

Nidal’s Execution is True Justice

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I know many on the left are going bonkers because President Donald J. Trump signed off on having Nidel Hasan executed by firing squad on live television. Hasan was found guilty of killing 13 unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood, Tx, while yelling Allah Akbar in honor of his false god.

But I can even imagine many within Christian circles are having trouble with the execution, thinking it is barbaric, backwards, cruel and unusual.

Well, it may be unusual, but it should not be. There should be weekly executions across the land, for in finding a man or woman guilty of murder, the ONLY just punishment is death. YHWH made this very clear early on in human history. He says in Genesis 9:5-6:

5 Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every living thing I will require it. And from every man, from each man’s brother I will require the life of man.

6 Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God
He made man.

Notice what the God of creation has declared to us: He will require our lifeblood. In other words, we all owe a death to God for our sin nature. He told Adam that if Adam sinned, then death would come. It comes through Adam to all men, and all men die.

Because of our sinfulness, even those who are in Christ, owe a death to God. This is one reason public executions were given in the OT, to show forth God’s justice, and to remind us that we all have a debt to pay.

But YHWH doesn’t stop there. He continues and tells us that whoever sheds another man’s blood, then his blood will be required of him. The one who murders, must be executed. In putting to death the murderer, the government is not committing murder. The government is bringing about justice.

And this justice is what has been missing in our country for a long time. We have given into the misguided notion that it is compassionate towards the murderer to let them sit on death row for the rest of their lives. And in doing that, we are ignoring the value of the one murdered and the family members of those who were murdered. For them, there is no justice. In fact, that kind of justice is a mockery of justice. The murderer gets to live. He gets to breath. He gets to eat. He gets to live into his old age. And while he is not free, that is more than what his victims had been given.

Murderers not only murder, violating the Sixth Commandment: You shall not murder. They also steal from the victim and the victim’s family. There is no reason ever to let the murderer live out his natural life in prison. Execution is the only justice.

But Why Is It Justice?

Now some might ask, why is execution justice? As rightly they should.

God answers that question for us.

6 Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God
He made man.

The command to execute murderers is tied to the reality that we are made in the image of God. When Nidal Hisan killed his 13 victims in the name of his false god, he was destroying 13 individuals who all bore God’s image. Therefore, Nidal not only sinned against the 13 individuals by murdering them, and breaking the Sixth Commandment, he sinned against the holy and true God of all creation.

He destroyed 13 images… God’s images…

This is an affront to God Himself. He takes it personally because Nidal is destroying His image.

Of all of creation, it is only man and woman who are made into God’s image. The animals are not made in His image. The angels are not made in His image. Nothing else in creation bear’s God’s image. Only man and woman do so.

This sets us apart from all of His creation as special to God. He is the One who created us. He is the One who set us apart to Himself in this very special way. He is even the one who has numbered our days.

Because we are made in His image is the reason He tells us to be fruitful and multiply. He wants the earth filled with His His image bearers.

This is the main reason why we are to execute murderers: they have sinned against the Triune God. When we fail to do so as a country, we sin against the Triune God. Our compassion towards wretched sinners like Nidal is false compassion because it places our feelings and desires above God’s holy image.

In bypassing the death penalty, we are violating God’s Holy Word. He has given us specific instructions on this issue. It’s not a matter of interpretation. It is straight forward, and we know this.

Therefore, “compassion” prevents people like Nidal from facing true justice, which is God’s will for Nidal’s life. Nidal is intended to face justice, and when we prevent that justice from happening, we are given over to our depraved inclinations. God gives us over.

For all the “compassion” we have shown, our society is not better off. It is worse. This is one of the reasons I believe men like Nidal are flooding our borders. We have, in effect, told God we know what is best when it comes to murder, and in turning from His word, He is pouring His wrath out upon us in the form of men like Nidal. The more we ignore God’s word, the more His wrath will fall upon us.

We need to repent of our compassion, and show holy zeal for God’s word, and His image. This is what true justice is. Honoring God’s word, and dealing with murderers by executing them before all to see. This reminds us, that we too, face death. Hopefully, that reminder will bring all of us to repentance of our sinfulness and we will turn to Christ for His ways.

Why is There a Reformation Day?

Originally published November 5, 2020.

Reformation Day is a small celebration among Protestants in the area of Christianity known as Reformed. Most of these Protestants follow the Biblical truths put forth by John Calvin, a contemporary of Martin Luther, and leader of the Reformation in Geneva. His main thesis, in what is called Calvinism, is the sovereignty of God in all things. This sovereignty emphasizes man’s inability to save himself, and God’s overwhelming grace in saving a people to Himself, through Jesus Christ. To the Calvinist, as it was for Paul, no one seeks God… there is none who does good (Romans 3:11-12). This emphasizes that those who are saved, are saved by God’s grace alone, in Christ alone.

These truths were part of what Martin Luther declared when he posted his theses on the Wittenberg Door on October 31, 1517. The actual 95 Theses was over the abuses of the Roman Catholic church and its popes. But his driving issue, which he had posted on the door prior to the 95 Theses, was over justification by faith alone in Christ alone. That doctrine is the heart of the gospel, and at the heart of those of us who are called Reformed.

All that Luther and Calvin worked for, was a reformation of the church. The Roman Catholic church of the day, taught that man could earn his salvation by doing good works and earning enough merit to work their way out of purgatory into heaven. This is still a fight we see today. So many want to add their works to the righteousness of Christ that is imputed because of pride.

But Paul showed this not to be the case (Ephesians 2:8-10). We are saved by faith in Christ, not our works. Amen and amen. For if our works are tainted with the least bit of sin, they are rejected by God. We need the works of another, one who was perfect: Jesus Christ.

It is for this reason we remember October 31, 1517 and call it Reformation Day. Our celebration is not a mandate of God, but something Reformed Protestants do with thanksgiving that God worked through men like Luther and Calvin for the purity of the gospel.

DIY: Inside the Barn

Progress on the barn is slow, given that much of my time is the other major DIY projects: unpacking and finding room in the crawl space.

But given that, here are some pictures I took once I cut away enough of the vines to open the door and one window.

I like the horse trough because you can see where the horses chewed on the wood above.

This the door to the main entrance to the barn: see the red trimmed door below.

This is the main door into the barn. I tried to cut away enough of the growth from the inside to open it, only to discover once I cut my way over to it, that it has a Master lock on it. Only one way to get into the door: cut the lock. Fortunately, Heidi has a pair of bolt cutters. (Marriage tidbit: never marry a woman who doesn’t own a pair of bolt cutters).

Getting this window open was really helpful in helping me look around. When I took the picture, I didn’t realize I was also getting a good look at the second floor, from underneath. It’s all good wood.

All photos copyright © Timothy J. Hammons, 2026.

 

DIY: First Glances into the Barn

Remember, when I first looked into the barn, I wasn’t supposed to be there. It was a Monday afternoon, and we were closing on the house more than a week away. But I had to go looking. I had to take more pictures because … I didn’t take any when I first looked at the house with the Realtor.

I took pictures out front, and worked my way back to the barn. I still couldn’t see much. I found a small hole in the fence next to the chicken coop. Looking around to make sure there were no snakes, or other dangers, I bent over and under the vines growing between the fence and the coop. I was only 10 feet from the open doors of the barn.

Stepping carefully over growth and old beer cans, I went to the first door and looked inside. It looked like an old stall. Upon closer review, I was right. It was an old stall.

Nothing exciting at all… but the potential. It wasn’t wet. That meant that the roof was still good. Further more, there were no decomposing bodies to be see, so I didn’t need to call the police.

On to the next door. This one gave me a better understanding of the structure of the building. The entire out wall was made out of concrete block. The building wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. Again, the possibilities.

Yet, I didn’t go inside. That would have to wait.

 

If you look on the ground, you can see a porcelain light socket. I wondered if the building had electricity at one point or another.

I use to publish pictures of doors for a Photography group call Thursday Doors. I wonder if they would be interested in this one. I plan on restoring it to its original ruggedness.

All photos are copyright © Timothy J. Hammons 2026. 

Looking for New Ministry — A Prayer Request

It’s been a couple of months now since I stepped down as pastor from Waco Reformed Church, and loaded up in my 2000 Saturn LW1 for eastern Tennessee.

When I stepped down, I wasn’t retiring from the ministry. But Heidi and I both felt we needed to move to Tennessee so we could be with our daughter, and her four children. That was the easy part of the decision.

The hard part: stepping down and knowing that Waco Reformed would cease to exist. There were only two elders, myself and one other man, and he did not feel led to continue on with Waco Reformed. So the church closed.

What makes this hard is knowing that God’s call upon my life as a pastor, has not ceased. I still long to preach the full counsel of God (Acts 20:27), proclaiming His truth to the saints for their edification.

The problem is: I really don’t fit in any of the denominations in the area. I am Reformed. I am a Calvinist. I am postmillennial. I am covenantal. But I also have distinctives that set me apart from the PCA and the OPC.

In fact, I probably don’t fit in the CREC either. While at Waco Reformed, we attempted to join the CREC, and they ended up rejecting us. They never had the decency to give us a reason as to why.

So here I am, in an area saturated with PCA churches. It would be OK if  could just take exceptions to the Confession where I differ, but the GA of the PCA ruled they would not allow exceptions on paedocommunion any longer. Not only did they say it, they said “good riddance” as well. (See my posts on paedocommunion below).

But that is not the point of this post. The simple point is for prayer. My request is that Christ would open a door for a church where I do fit theologically and in all the ways that matter.

God may answer our prayers by leading me to plant another church, and if so, then I need like minded people to join with me to start this wonderful endeavor. Therefore, if you are reading this, please pray that our King would open the door to another church where I can serve and glorify Him. Thank you.

If you would like to hear a sampling of one of my sermons, go HERE.

DIY: The Barn

The one real surprise about the house we recently bought was that it has a four-stall barn on the back part of the property. Heidi knew about it, but I didn’t know until I was actually looking at the house with the realtor. I had Heidi on FaceTime as I walked around the place.

When we were looking over the backyard, she asked that question that made the deal: “where’s the barn?”

“Barn, what barn?”

“The listing says there is a barn on the place, near the back fence.”

I looked and all I could see was a fence that was covered with heavy overgrowth. I started walking toward the fence, peering though the limbs, trees, vines, and overgrowth. There it was. The outline of a small barn.

I was ecstatic.

“We have to get this place.”

So we did.

Since we closed on the house, I’ve made two working explorations towards the barn, with loppers,  hedge trimmers, and a bowsaw. I’ve cleared overgrown areas before, but never for a place that was my own.

As you can see, the barn is almost completely covered. My first concern was poison ivy, and then poison oak. I don’t think I’m allergic to either, but I still wanted to be careful.

My biggest concern were the ticks. So far, haven’t see any.

However, there is a very large vulture living in the first shed. Did I tell you that there are two sheds on either side of the barn, along with a chicken coop? I didn’t did I. But there are.

Apparently the owner of the house, when they built it back in 1935, had plenty of room for chickens, and horses. I think the pen on the right side of the place might have had sheep or pigs in it. But more on that later.

As you look at the picture above, realize that I had yet to step into the barn. I didn’t know if I was going to find… well, junk, rot, dead bodies, whatever? I wasn’t even sure how big the barn was. There was way too much brush and vines covering it to get a clear look of it.

Since we had yet to close, when I took the above picture, I didn’t dare go inside. I wasn’t supposed to be there. But I had to take a look. What you see, is what I saw: a door open to a stall.

All photos copyright © Timothy J. Hammons, 2026.

 

 

 

What Grok Thinks of Me

Some of those who I follow on X, were asking Grok who their arch-nemesis was. For fun, I thought I would do the same. This, and the illustration, were what Grok told me. 

Nick Fuentes (the far-right commentator and America First figure associated with the manosphere and historical revisionism around WWII/Hitler).

Your blog (timothyjhammons.com) and X activity (@T_J_Hammons_17 ) paint a consistent picture: you’re a Reformed pastor/itinerant preacher, special-ed teacher, husband, and father rooted in traditional covenantal theology. Recurring emphases include paedocommunion and objective sacraments (vs. subjective profession), biblical head coverings and male headship (critiquing egalitarian or “soft complementarian” readings as feminist-influenced, e.g., Jason Garwood), cessationism, Christ’s gentle heart toward the lowly, and resistance to cultural/ideological poisons entering the church.

On the cultural/political side you are sharply anti-abortion (framing Democrats as practicing and loving murder), critical of progressive “Christian” figures who blend faith with left-wing politics (e.g., calling James Talarico a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”), traditional on gender roles, and wary of liberal cultural saturation.

At the same time, you have written at length against neo-Nazi and manosphere influences invading conservative and church spaces—explicitly naming Nick Fuentes, Stone Choir, etc., as sources of wickedness, historical ignorance, and Satanic-style doubt. You contrast Fuentes’ “just asking questions” style and comments on Hitler with primary sources like William L. Shirer’s eyewitness history, call Fuentes “bad news,” and urge the church to exclude such voices without repentance. You also reject post-war consensus relativism while still treating Hitler as genuine (if not ultimate) evil, rooted in unbelief rather than as the singular standard of evil.

Fuentes therefore sits at the intersection of what you most actively warn against: a charismatic figure pulling young men toward historical revisionism, ethnic grievance, and anti-Christian undercurrents that you see as a direct threat to the church’s purity and witness—more insidious, in your framing, than open progressive opposition because it claims to be “on the right.” That makes him a natural arch-nemesis figure relative to the body of your public writing and posting: the ideological opposite who claims overlapping cultural territory but subverts the Reformed, Scripture-first, Christ-centered priorities you emphasize.

(Other strong contenders would be progressive “Christian” Democrats or soft-egalitarian theologians, but the dedicated blog attention and explicit church-protection language around Fuentes stand out.)

The Problem of Self Examination

 

 

Self Examination

One of the problems that occurs during the call for self-examination during the LORD’s Supper is that members of the body of Christ judge themselves subjectively, and then wrongly excommunicate themselves from the sacrament. In other words, they base their freedom to partake in the LORD’s Supper upon their own judgment of themselves, and their own feelings.

Continue reading The Problem of Self Examination

The Heart of Christ

28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”Jesus says that He is lowly and gentle in heart after telling us to take on His yoke, which is not a burden (Matthew 11:28-29).

This passage shows us the heart of our King. He is not a tyrant. He came to take dominion of all things, but does so in the most gentle way. The takes dominion through the gospel, through faith, through the children, through the weak and lowly.

He does not come making demands. He doesn’t use manipulation or trickery. He simply calls His servants to follow His lead and preach that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.  

Jesus also doesn’t come using the life-destroying sword of the tyrants of the world. He uses the sword of His word. It is through His word that He claims the lost soul for His own glory. This is not to the exclusion of the cross and all that was accomplished there. In fact, the proclamation of His word, of His Kingdom, of Jesus and all He does, and who He is, is the message that brings about redemption and salvation to His sheep. It is a message that He uses to change the minds and hearts of those in need. And in hearing this message, they come: the lowly, the meek, the downcast, the brokenhearted, those who hunger for righteousness.

Christ’s Kingdom is full of those who are like Him, lowly and gentle of heart. There is no room for pride in His Kingdom. There is no room for the arrogant, the manipulators, the high and mighty, only the humble and contrite.