I have been sitting in front of the fire watching the box after a busy week. There were a number of areas of my life that threw extra duties at me. There was of course the normal ministry/chaplaincy duties. This week that included an extra devotional and those darned time sheets and stats for chaplaincy work. But three parts of my life all contributed to my busy week.
Night shelter....I have been responsible for running adverts and publicity in an attempt to gain more volunteers for the night shelter. We had 30 people at a training night that I hosted at the church on Thursday. I realise it is a big ask having people stay over at a night shelter among people they do not know, and who may not be the most trust worthy souls. Anyway it was an extra.
Inner-city ministers..... On Pentecost Sunday we in Dunedin have traditionally run an evening ecumenical service for the inner-city churches. This year it is our turn to host it. I suggested that the theme be "Celebrating chaplaincies" since this is one area where the churches actually work together to infiltrate the community with God's love. Pentecost Sunday is 31st May so in this past week I have been trying to put that together so that I can involve choirs, chaplains and other clergy.
Habitat for Humanity..... I had to turn out a newsletter for Habitat for Humanity. It took longer because I am a slow typist and writer and my normal Newsletter help person was out of town. Secondly I had to organise and MC a groundbreaking ceremony up on the site of our Habitat build. It was quite moving to hear how much the family wanted this house. It is a big family so we are to build a six bedroom house. As I stood beside Mike, the dad as he turned over the first bit of turf I thought of the months ahead. Every Saturday will be taken up building! I will be trying to gather as many volunteers as possible. I will be trying to organise various parts of the job. It is full on building a house! We do not have many volunteers so life will be hectic, but I know that this will be a great big step up for this family. It is my 13th Habitat house and on each I have poured hundreds of hours. I felt tired thinking of the journey ahead! It will, however, be all worth it when I see the family move in.
Blowing a fuse....On Thursday evening at the church we had three groups using the building. An AA group were upstairs in the drop-in centre. The women's tea (with men invited) were in the downstairs hall. The night shelter information night was happening in the church. I was sitting there in a support role while the chairman was talking. I was meant to come in with any extra material as he spoke. The door opened and my wife beckoned me over. She informed me that the lights and some of the heaters had gone off for both the tea and the AA. Could I find the fault and fix it? I raced upstairs by the light of the little torch on my cell phone and checked a switch board. All was well. AA guys were unplugging heaters to lighten the load. I then raced down stairs to the basement area to check the switchboard.... blown fuse. I took it out (It was HOT!!) replaced the fuse wire and put it back in. Everyone was happy.... for about 30 seconds. ... bang! ... out it went again. I instructed my wife to lighten the load and replaced the wire again...30 seconds... I had not reached the top of the few stairs and .... bang! again. I laughed cynically and said, "I know how you feel fuse! Sometimes things get a little too much!... but PLEASE!!!" I replaced the wire... don't tell anyone but I added 5 amps more... (Don't worry, I took it out later) This time it stayed on and I felt soo clever. (It blew again the next night during Drop-in centre. ... Grrr)
After a week like that I am kind of glad that someone has wired me so that generally I can handle big loads. But I do think as you get older, sometimes you get closer to blowing a fuse than you used to. I will enjoy my day off tomorrow.
Photo: Mike and Christine dig the first bit of turf to start the "Build a house" journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment