June 16 – “It was … hot”

I spent a morning outside the other day.  Sounds nice, doesn’t it?  Spending a few hours outside in the midst of the wonderful tropical island sunshine.  Yeah, well … not so much.  Now, don’t get me wrong, the company was great.  But the much vaunted beautiful weather?  Not so much.  It was hot.

I joined three other guys to finish one of our projects at church that has been ongoing for several months now.  The metal railing bolted to the wooden railing leading up the handicap ramp to the retreat center has, as do all things in Galveston, been doing some serious rusting.  Rather than pay the thousand or so dollars to have someone come in and cut out the really bad sections, sand down the rest, apply rust inhibitor, prime and finally paint it with industrial grade anti-rust paint, we decided to entrust the task to our amazing team of volunteers.  Of course that meant we had to be patient and live within their availability.  We were finally down to the final leg of the painting portion of the journey.  Actually there is still some patching and welding that needs to happen, but it is the least crucial of the project.  We can fill that in slowly, and besides, there are actually very few gaps that had to be cut out. 

So there we were.  Four of us.  One professional painter, Mel, who came along with Dan, who is quite the handyman in his own right.  Jim was there.  He was the actual straw boss of the project, so he definitely knew what he was doing as well.  And then there was … me.  Just as definitely … the weakest link.  Now one thing I might have neglected to mention thus far.  It was hot.  Oh, I did mention it?  Well, you don’t understand.  See, it was hot.  Hovering around 90 degrees, 70 or 80 percent humidity … hot. 

Now, Dan and Mel did their best to keep me hydrated.  They made several trips inside and brought back water.  Every time.  Of course their volunteering for that arduous task also allowed them the luxury of a few moments in the air conditioning.  Kept them rejuvenated.  And the water kept me going, probably for longer than I should have been going.  As it turned out I still had to leave before the job was done.  I just couldn’t shake the encroaching heat issues.  And when I began to feel the nausea, I knew that was it.  Classic heat exhaustion/stroke pre-symptoms.  I made it home just fine, but, boy, was I out of it for the rest of the day, even after a nap. 

Hats off to those three guys, though.  They were determined to get the job done.  I feel a lot better about the groups who stay in the center using that ramp now.  And those three guys?  They were already talking about the next project.

James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Father, thank you for gifting Seaside with guys like Dan and Mel and Jim.  Amen.