What
a flurry of activity abounded at Seaside Church yesterday afternoon. It was the day of delivery for the brand new
worship center chairs. Chris and Cailyn
and I arrived around one to wait for the call indicating the truck would be
there in an hour. That would give us
plenty of time to call out our volunteer force of unloaders.
As
Cailyn played happily for the first time on the new playground equipment (she seemed to really like the tire swing),
I took “the call.” Only what I heard on
the other end was not exactly what I expected.
Oh, it was the truck driver all right.
He said, “I just saw that I was supposed to call you an hour before I
arrived. Well, I’m in your area now, and
I was wondering if someone could meet me?”
I asked the next obvious question, “So, where are you?” That would gauge how fast I needed to get on
the phone and get my crew in action. His
reply? “I’m at the Valero.” Wait, you mean? Yep.
He had already driven by the church and stopped two blocks away at the
Valero station in Jamaica Beach.
Needless
to say, I got on the horn and sent out my appeal. He drove on over and backed his 18-wheeler
into the parking lot. It didn’t take
long before our squad of Seasiders began to arrive. The driver got out his pallet lifter and
moved the three huge pallets of chairs onto the church parking lot. And then, after taking a look at the sky,
reconsidered and moved them under the retreat center building. And a very wise choice that proved to
be. The bottom dropped out of the sky,
and rain began to fall in sheets.
But
did that deter the servant spirit of the Seaside gang? Not at all.
Jachin and Austin and Jim and Bob and Dianne and Robert dove into removing
shrink wrap and unstacking and restacking and dollying into the building. And inside Chris and Charlette and Amber and
Micah and Cailyn and Noa and Christina and baby Ezra all worked to pull off
wrapping and check the chairs individually for damage. Chris and Jim and Charlette even got the
chairs set up in an impressive formation, ready for worship on Sunday. The driver was so impressed that he asked if
he could take our crew with him on his next delivery. Mr. Bob gathered us all together at the end
of our task and led us in prayer to keep our focus where it belongs … on the Lord.
So,
damage control report. Six of the pocket
holders that we will put on the backs of some of the chairs were missing
screws, so a quick call to the vendor took care of that. I didn’t think they would quabble over 24
tiny screws. There were only two chairs
with any damage. One was a tiny tear
that our ladies assured me they could handle with ease. The other was a big enough tear that we
documented it and made the phone call to the company. The shipper sent me back to the vendor, and
their customer service lady was very helpful.
I sent in a photo of the damage and a picture of the shipping
receipt. I’m supposed to call back today
to follow up and make sure the right person received everything she
needed. All in all, I’d say it was a
pretty successful day at Seaside. The
chairs look really nice, by the way.
They are redder than we expected (Is
“redder” a thing?). But they are
comfortable. And sturdy. No more wincing when we watch people sit on
certain pews. I’m looking forward to
changing around the format of the seating as well. Surprise some people on Sunday mornings. Gotta love it.
1
Peter 2:12 says “Live such good lives
among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your
good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
Father,
thank you for providing the resources for us to get this purchase made, and
especially for the people who worked so hard to get them set up. Amen.
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