How good it is to put yourself into something all day. All your knowledge, your mind, your creativity where those lack and to walk away at the end of the day seeing what you have accomplished and know it was pretty darn good.
I got the chance to experience that when I worked for Matt Lawson at ASAP Mechanical for a few weeks in my hiatus from ministry (or at least the official kind of ministry)
Matt (who probably will never read this so I dont have a problem saying it) told me once that if times ever got tough to give him a call, and as a good friend kept in touch with me just to make sure things were ok. He gave me a job when work was slow, and for a construction company thats a big deal. He gave me a job probably because he likes my wife better than me and wanted to make sure my baby kept getting food to grow. I probably have learned better in my two months off than any time before how to see the character of a man and thats a guy Im glad to call my brother. (and let me just add if you need any electrical work, heating and air, or like hot water heaters or any kind of work done- give Matt a call at ASAP (260-HEAT)
Its my blog you know I can do that kind of thing!
But when I showed up for work Matt paired me up with his newly established electrician. Now for those of you who know me, I cant even walk straight without tripping over the side walk. I am definitely not good with my hands at all- on cars, computers, yardwork and especially electricity.
Tom, my new boss, told me later- When I heard Matt gave me a guy from his church you have no idea how worried I was. I did ok though and now know a little more about those bundles of fire that run through wire. Dont worry- I dont think any houses will burn down. But Tom, my fellow NY Jets fan (although he has more of right being a fan than me since he is actually from New York) actually taught me a good bit while I was there.
And probably more than anything it was about discipline and work ethic. As he put it, Electrical work is mostly just making things look good. You can do it right but if it looks like crap your work will be associate with crap. But if you spend a little extra time and effort and make it look nice, well that helps not only you out when the inspector comes but the next guy that messes with your work will probably respect it a little more. (Now that is something I can apply to the church you know!)
A lot of times we work to get the job done but we wont put in the effort to do it right. I wonder what Christ thinks of that. Much less the Holy Spirit, if we finally ever do let Him fully in on the job.
The other big thing- You have to prove yourself to get into the attic. One of the most difficult parts of electrical work is fishing wire through built houses and especially in attics. Heat constantly over 105 degrees, insulation all over you, balancing tools on studs and doing your best not to fall in through the ceiling of someones kitchen, all sounds like something I would pass off to the new guy. But no. The hard stuff is handled by the best, until the new guy shows he can really handle it. Pulling on wire is easy and anyone can do it. But if anyone goes crawling around an attic, well there is going to be more than shells in your eggs next breakfast!
You cant pass responsibilities off to someone else just cause it would be easier. I still need to wrestle with that one for a bit longer.
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