Grace Community Christian Church

 

Archived Things Above

God Can Do it. I Can Help. (5/6/06)

"All you have to do is rip up the old linoleum," she told me. "It'll be easy." Since she works for Home Depot, I figured my wife would know. So, Easter Sunday afternoon, we popped off the base molding and began ripping up the vinyl flooring in preparation for the new ceramic tile to be installed later that week. Of course, the unwritten law of handymanship states that beneath every layer of flooring is another, harder-to-get up layer of flooring. But within a sweaty hour, that too was history, and the plywood was swept clean and awaiting Jose from El Salvador.

Jose was very impressed with our prep work, but it turned out to be just that: preparation for the real work. Who knew that ceramic tile doesn't go on top of plywood? It goes on top of a special cement-like board called Durock, which is about half an inch thick. "You need to take another layer off," he said in a soft Spanish accent, "or the tile floor will be too high."

With stunning insight, I replied, "You mean you won't be able to put the floor down today?"

"No, not this way."

All I could think of was how good the old flooring looked and whose idea was it anyway to get into this project? It would take hours to tear up the plywood, and we'd probably have to cut around the cabinets, and I didn't have the right tools. The day was completely shot, we'd have to reschedule, which meant living in a torn up mess even longer . . . My mood was rapidly going downhill when Jose re-appeared in the doorway with a Fat Max: the mother of all wrecking bars! While I was imagining all the reasons the job couldn't be done, he got about doing the job.

Within minutes he had the several sheets of luwan pried up. The son-in-law and I took turns carrying the pieces outside, and when a section was completed I came behind with a hammer and pounded the nails down, and when that was done, I cleaned the area with a whisk broom and a dustpan. He was clearly doing the bulk of the work, but I felt like I needed to be doing something . . . anything!

Then it hit me: This kitchen is my life, and Jose is God. There's only so much I can do when it comes to this spiritual make-over business, and then I need to step back and let someone who really knows what they're doing take over. Here I was so proud of all the "prep work" I'd accomplished, but I had literally just scratched the surface. A "pro" could see instantly what more needed to be done, and he had the skill and tools to make it so. How grateful I was for his kind and confident assistance.

Following Jesus means letting God renovate your life so that He can take up residence in it. This Easter flooring undertaking reminded me that it's usually always harder than it first appears, but if I listen and watch the Master closely, together we can make some progress.

God can do it. I can help.


Jim Dewar --