May 31 – “Handyman of the Year?”

Since our retreat center coordinator moved out of town I have been trying to bring myself up to snuff on the ins and outs of the facility.  Chris and I went out there yesterday because we have been getting calls at all hours of the day and night (the latest came at 1 a.m. and 5:30 a.m.) from the fire alarm monitoring company.  They haven’t been getting a response code from their regular testing.  They thought there was some kind of telephone failure, so our secretary called the phone provider before she left for vacation.  They ran some remote tests and told her that they were reading that there was no power of any kind getting to the phone lines.  They recommended that someone make sure that something didn’t get unplugged somewhere.  And so we were the designated “Checkers of Unplugged-ness.” 

Since all the lights came on, our first step was to check out all the plugs – the most obvious.  They looked to be fine, so I went on to the boxes that receive the cable and phone signals.  Sure enough, not a single light was on.  I traced those lines backwards and found that they were hardwired behind a wooden panel screwed into the wall.  Great.  I went back downstairs to my office for the tool kit to unscrew the panel.  But while on my way back a strange, random thought occurred to me.  When you hear it you will realize why I am not the best choice for handyman of the year.  I pondered simply, “Hmm.  Wonder if I should check the breaker box?”  Yep.  That’s where I should have begun this whole process.  And sure enough, one breaker was tripped – the one providing power to that particular section of the wall.  And amazingly enough, all the little lights immediately began to flicker and return on the cable boxes.  Success.  Just call me handyman of the year. 

Well, wait.  You might want to hold off on that designation.  See, I forgot to mention the other situation.  It actually took me quite a while to even get into the building because the door handle on the one door I have a key to just doesn’t work.  The key unlocks it just fine, but when you turn the handle … nothing.  Obviously I managed to get in, but as to how that happened … perhaps it is better that I not divulge such information at this time.  I searched for a key to a different door, but never found one of those either.  I know they exist, though, and I now have another lead as to where they might be.  I talked to a contractor friend of mine last night about checking the door for me.  We’re supposed to get together sometime this afternoon if he can get a break in his schedule.  He’s also going to let me know what is involved in replacing a hot water heater in our other building.  Sometimes a cold shower can be refreshing, and there is a setting on the washing machine for cold water, but for the most part it would be nice to have hot water going to those two key areas. 

Oh there are more issues as well.  One of the air conditioner units isn’t working, but we have an AC contact person, I’m pretty sure.  Chris suggested we write up a little addendum to the welcome sheet that we give our groups that includes things like the address of UTMB ER and the minor emergency clinic, and a questionnaire to get feedback.  Great ideas that we discussed over a Sonic coney island and a cherry limeade slush.  And, you know, somewhere in there I still need to go over a teaching for Sunday.  And touch base with the fire chief.  Ah, it has been a while since I have tasted the full measure of a small-church pastor’s life.

Psalms 63:7 says, “Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.”

Father, I’ve been doing some singing in the heat of the sun with all this stuff going on at church.  I look forward to the coolness in the shadow of your wings.  Amen.