December 9 – “Heavy lifting”

After a really good day at church (70 plus people there), we all pitched in and got the first steps of site preparation completed for the Bethlehem Street Market.  That meant stacking up all the chairs in the worship center and moving them to the nursery room.  No mean feat, let me tell you.  But that one was done in very short order, with all the folks who stuck around to help. 

I was kept away from most of the heavy lifting because of the recent flare-up of neck disc activity.  I did manage to make myself feel a little useful though.  I helped move a piano and a big storage chest into the office.  And yes, I paid for it last night.  Not a good one to be in the bed with me.  My back was already barking at me, which I expected.  Lots of knots in the muscles back there.  And that neck flare-up prevented me from allowing my head to end up in certain positions.  I can turn my head a certain way and feel a zing down to the tip of my thumb and pointer finger on my left hand.  That’s sadly an all-too familiar sensation.  I have had three or four neck surgeries already for just such an issue.  Then came the leg cramps.  I think those were the final straw that led Chris to disappear to the couch.  But we got the job done at church.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the retreat center, another crew was working to move all the bunks into two of the rooms so we have more area for vendor set-up.  They got really creative this year, stacking the bunks sometimes three-high upon each other.  Maybe we should just leave them as is.  That top bunk would be great fun for a junior high kid …

And after the moving part of the task was complete, those of us who were left all moved upstairs.  One of our number, Mark, was busy compiling a list of maintenance issues that need to be addressed.  He is a plumber, so his list was heavy on that side.  He plans to come up this week to address the issues he discovered in that department.  Several others have volunteered to be on a heavy cleaning crew.  And Chris and I will also be making a trip to Home Depot to get a new stove and fridge.  The stove top is cracked badly.  The handle area of the fridge is beginning to rust out.  I’m just hoping that when they deliver they will also haul off the old appliances. 

Oh, and on top of all the prep for the event on Saturday, today we also get to deliver the toys we collected to Galveston Urban Ministries.  Not that that is a bad thing.  Ministry like that is always fun.  Just squeezing it into the schedule is a bit daunting …

Luke 6:35 says, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.  Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

Father, bless all those folks who stuck around after church to help with all that heavy lifting.  Amen.