Rhett:
I believe that when God invented the blog, He intended it be used to pass both information that was too philosophical for a newsletter and also for information that is far too useless to make it into the precious monthly (or tri-monthly as our current case may be) newsletter. With that said, let me tell you a story…
My work detail on campus is being part of the carpentry crew. It is a rather prestigious position; we don’t have to get our hands dirty like the garage crew (though we still have sweet calluses) and we are way above the grounds crew, who stand in a line raking gravel back onto the roads in a picture that looks incomplete without a sheriff on a horse holding a shotgun. And what occupation did Jesus have again? Oh yeah, He was a carpenter, I had completely forgotten.
Yes, it feels nice to be on top.
Or should I say it “felt” nice.
Things were going great; I had just finished an especially fulfilling project of making a pair of bleachers for the soccer field when it was time for me to take a small sabbatical from the carpentry crew. You see, I was going to have a surgery and therefore had to take some time off for the recovery. It was not a big deal, just a hernia patch up and then four weeks of no heavy lifting. Thus, I was put on the light detail, aka, the pregnant lady crew.
My specific role was to help with the Mission Barrel, which, despite its name is not a barrel at all (sort of like Cracker Barrel I guess). The MB is the place we put donations of clothing or just about anything else. It is like a small, but free, St. Vinny’s or Good Will.
It was fun at first, especially when people would awkwardly ask, “are you doing your wife’s work detail for her?” and then watching their opinion of me drop as I would respond, “no, this is my work detail.”
I didn’t mind the work because I knew that it was only temporary. After all, I am really not cut out for it anyways. In my house, Stacie has banned me from folding laundry, yet that is what I spend most of my time doing in the MB. I even had an area to stack clothes when I didn’t know what they were, at least until some female would come in and enlighten me.
Then something ghastly happened. I watched as the time log sheet went from having four names on it to having only one… mine! All the pregnant ladies became too pregnant and had to quit their work details. That means that now, six weeks after the surgery, I am still in the MB because there is simply no one else to do the job. My temporary sabbatical from the carpentry crew has turned into a never ending nightmare!
But please, don’t cry for me. I have resigned myself to my fate. I realize that God allows such trials in our lives to grow our dependence on Him and to help us realize that without Him we would fall into such despair that we would not even be able to go on living. I trust He will get me through this time of desperate need.
David Abbott says
Good transparent post! Don’t we ever want to be recognized for our full potential? When we’re asked to do something below our potential it challenges our pride. Missions needs people who are faithful in the little things.