I was supposed to go the home of a guy in our church tonight. On the schedule was the inaugural hang-out of our men’s fellowship. Actually, I guess they still did, but I didn’t go because it was temporarily called off due to inclimate weather and tornado warnings. And I got roped into other things by the time the green light came back on.
Anyway, Scott and I did more work around the house, prepping it for our mid-June, on-the-market goal. His parents stopped by to help paint and since the bathroom was the work site, we took the shower curtain down for a washing.
I had to unscrew the shower curtain brackets, so I picked up a nearby screwdriver and started twisting. Typical to other things in our home, whoever put up those brackets did a shoddy job, using unecessarily long and inappropriate screws. So, the chore became more forearm-tiring than I expected. Quarter-way through the final screw, my arm was burning.
Of course, there are two cordless drills in our home. They would have made short work of the project. But the hand screwdriver was right there–and I knew it would work… sorta. I worked until my hand cramped and I couldn’t screw anymore.
So, I left the bathroom and found Scott’s drill stilling there 15 feet from the bathroom. I popped in the phillips head and finished the job in a flash.
The Lord used that flash for a mini-Sunday school lesson.
How often do we as the Church–Christ’s body–do things the hard way? How often do we go for the convenient method (the screwdriver was right there…), or the old-fashioned method (screwdrivers have worked for years…), or the strength-of-man method (I don’t need a power tool to get this job done…)?
The power of the Spirit is right there for the Church… but we like our screwdriver. Muscle-cramping or not, slow going or not.
The job won’t get done without Him.