Willingness to do Whatever

“He has filled him with the Spirit of God—

with skill, with understanding, with knowledge, and in all kinds of work,” 

(Exodus 35:31)

The camp staff removed the white spindles from another fence at Oakridge Camp. They were in good shape and the staff did not want to dispose of them. Could we think of some other use? One of the SOWER volunteers suggested using them to construct a nice-looking safety railing on the office building. He gave us a general idea of what he was thinking and then headed off to work in another part of the camp. 

We had scrap 4”x4”’s, a bunch of 2”x4”x8’ lumber, and the spindles. How to construct a railing? Neither Bruce nor Ron had ever put something like this together from scratch. We didn’t have the knowledge, but the Spirit does! As noted in the verse above, it is the Spirit that gives us the understanding and knowledge needed to do what He calls us to do.

After figuring out how to do each “panel” (the railing section between the vertical roof support posts), we attached the pieces of the first section (see image above). However, when we looked closely at the columns supporting the roof, we noted four were rotted out on the bottom. Yikes, these support posts needed to be replaced! After talking with the camp staff, they asked us to take care of them. Once again, we were asked to do something we’d never done before.

It didn’t take us long to figure out how to support the roof, remove the defective posts one-at-a-time, cut a notch at the top of the new post, and slide the replacement back in place. Within a couple of hours, all four posts were replaced. What we thought would be the hardest part of the project turned out to be the easiest!

The safety railing took about three, 6-hour days for the two of us to construct, and our wives joined us for the last couple of days to paint everything. The railing turned out beautifully and the camp is quite pleased with the result! 

Once again, we’ve learned another lesson: when we are willing to do what seems impossible, His Spirit is there to guide us. Now we have a new skill to add to our growing list of experiences! We wonder what jobs await us in the future that will stretch both our faith and skills! 🤠 🤗  

This week’s Blessings, Prayer Requests, and Schedule are here.