Mission: New Orleans – Day 3
Today was amazing. There was so much to do but everyone praised God and worked through the day and did what was needed to be done. Some worked inside installing doors, handles, and stoppers, and then cleaning up after that. Some were outside digging and then making mortar and and putting cinder blocks together. Some worked on the side of the houses to install the hurricane window protection. Though out the entire day no matter how hot it got God was praised and that’s all that matters.
Heather
Burn. Burnt. Burning. It just doesn’t seem to cool down in NOLA, ever. At 7:45 in the morning, the white caravan of rented vans is rolling to a stop in front of two vacant lots at the end of a shady dead-end road. Before us are the beginnings of a foundation for one build, and the outlines for another. We’re all excited, I am to a degree, but all I can think about is how there’s no shade at this site and my back is gonna be feeling in no time. I made the mistake of playing Mr. Bigshot on day one—wearing a cut-off muscle shirt—and ended up doing some roofing while simultaneously burning my meaty flanks underneath my shoulder blades. Now I’ve been paying for it all week and working through the unending heat and humidity . . . and pain. Today though, it’s a little more bearable, and the burning I had anticipated around 8 a.m. wasn’t the one that wore at me as I had expected. Rather, God decided to go to work with me today on an old nemesis of mine, pride, and not my own this time (well, to a small degree). Now, the day’s tasks included digging holes for pouring the foundation, one group was assigned the job of prepping windows in a few houses for hurricane protection measures, a few individuals did some touch up painting, and the remainder of us were put to work building the supports for one house out of cinderblocks and mortar. As far as the work goes, I enjoyed most of it, but I was so annoyed all day with a lack of effort by some in a few occasions, and one individual more so throughout the day. This one individual wasn’t doing anything to me specifically, but there was a twinge of arrogance that had me cringing at many of their words. And I realized it wasn’t really them that made me mad, it was the me in them—the old me—the me that God has helped erase with his spirit over the past few years. The whole day, shovel scoop after shovel scoop, cinderblock after cinderblock, despite the fact that I was enjoying the work, I was struggling. Thankfully, there was a lesson here, one that I asked God to teach me: Patience and Humility. As I tediously leveled each layer of mortar, and adjust each block, God reminded me of my own pride, and used this individual to show me how He sees me, excuse me, how He saw me. And in the late afternoon, as the first clouds we’ve had all week started to cover the sun for moments of glorious shade, God showed me how I was taking pride in humility. I wanted this person to examine themselves, to adjust, and in so doing, I was elevating myself because I was the measuring stick I was using. So, though the heat didn’t quite subside, my anger was forced to. It’s interesting, to say the least, how God surprises us with growth and lessons. Thank God for hot sticky days, covered in sand, and building a little character with shovels and cinderblocks.
Joe
Powered by 
Comments for this post are closed.