This Crazy Disease Called Hope

A couple of weeks ago, my parents and I stumbled upon a show on HGTV that actually interested all of us. We watched 7 episodes of “Rehab Addict” that day and saw an entire house renovation. We were fascinated.

Nicole Curtis, the host/designer/renovator of the show, rescues old houses from demolition. Her goal is to restore houses to their original glory, using original flooring, wood, and furniture whenever possible.

She is a dumpster diver. She is a trash-pile picker. She has no shame in the fact that every piece of furniture in her house was rescued from the side of the road or a dumpster. She refurbishes thrown-out tables, dressers, medicine cabinets, bookshelves, and workbenches. She saves old windows, doors, hardwood flooring, and lumber because she knows that most of them can be reused.

She tears down walls, busts up old concrete, pours new concrete, drives the back-hoe, works with landscaping, puts in piping. She does whatever needs to be done and asks a lot of questions along the way. She believes that every opportunity is a learning opportunity.

Nicole Curtis is a single mom. She is a hard-worker who turned her life around by doing odd jobs and taking risks. She is real and down to earth. She makes mistakes and laughs at them. She forgets to get her car oil changed and runs out of gas in her moped. She enjoys spending time with her parents and is proud of her mom for recently going on her first mission trip to Africa.

Tonight, after stumbling upon the show again, I watched as Nicole took old paint to a paint recycling place where they re-use every part of old paint buckets. This is par for the course for her. She likes to partner with organizations that share her values of hope and redemption.

Curious as to who Nicole Curtis is, I googled her. As part of my reading, I scrolled down her Facebook wall and realized that what she portrays on TV isn’t an act. It’s who she is. There is a picture of her weeping after an old house was destroyed by someone who just wanted something new. She did her best to save the house—to honor the past and the beauty that it carries—but demolition won in the end. During the process of trying to save the house, she wrote:

“I was told today that houses are just ‘sticks and mortar’ -and that I get too emotionally vested. My thought is that if we start to care about the ‘sticks and mortar’ and keeping our communities intact -isn't that teaching our children to respect the past and to open their eyes? We might have fancier electronics now, but trust me--we are still facing the same stresses that people did 100 years ago in these houses. Doubt me? Sit and chat with someone that is 90 years old :). Even if you believe me, sit and chat with someone who is 90-it's refreshing and enlightening. Happy Sunday.”

At another time, she also wrote:

“Today--I'm going back at it and it doesn't matter what I am doing: saving old homes,volunteering, playing mom or being an active neighbor. My goal is to spread this crazy disease called Hope that I have (the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best).

What I hope for today is the same as everyday: people to start caring again...

One step at a time...”

Did you read those words? Her hope is that people will start caring again—one step at a time. She hopes that we will sit down and talk with persons who are 90-years-old—persons who are often overlooked yet full of beauty and depth. Nicole Curtis believes in hope. She believes in redemption. And she lives those values in her work. I think it's obvious that I admire that.

I don’t know about you, but my faith is built on hope and redemption. It stands on transforming what’s broken into something that’s whole. It rests on God saving us from the trash-heap and making us into something new. It looks at life and sees possibility. It believes that we may be persecuted but that we are not abandoned.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down,but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 2 Corinthians 4:6-12

Life is at work within you, friend. Within us. Spreading this crazy disease called hope. One step at a time.