Yes, if only we had a dedicated builder willing to sacrifice his entire summer of paying work to devote himself to this project...which is exactly what God provided!
One of the projects our church had set out to accomplish was to remodel part of our basement into an apartment. We have a widow in our congregation who was living in the trailer/parsonage connected to the church (where we lived for 4 years). We knew that in order for us to get the new building constructed, we would need to sell the current property...which would make her homeless. Not good. See James 1:27 if you're not sure why. :)
So last summer, we asked our good friend Scott Kirby to please line up some work teams for us. We were blessed to have two teams back-to-back from the same church led by Nathan. His teams did a fantastic (and fast) job. At one point during those two weeks, Nathan mentioned off-handedly that he would like to come help with our church project the next summer. Mark kept his business card pinned up on his bulletin board, not knowing how completely God was going to bring this about.
Over the course of the next several months, Nathan committed to bringing his family up here and being our general contractor, coming up from June through August! We were amazed at their willingness to sacrifice their summer for our church, and at how God provided all of their needs to allow them to leave home and a job for the summer. You can follow their journey here!
We are just blessed beyond measure...not only do we have a fantastic builder who has earned the respect of all who work with him, we have built-in friends for the kids and I! I am thoroughly enjoying getting to know Amy, and I know the summer will end up being far too short...we have so much in common, and she even drinks her coffee black like I do! (And Mark finds it hysterical that that quality is noteworthy). Their boys and our boys are getting along well, and Anna adores baby Timothy! We keep praying God's richest blessings upon Nathan and Amy and their boys!
Yes, God has been provided for the needs of this building project from the very beginning. One of our other major needs was a structural engineer to stamp our plans to get a permit from the state fire marshal. Trying to find one was an unbelievable test of our faith...the only one we could find to work with us wanted $30,000...that's about half our entire budget for this building! We prayed and searched and asked around, until we finally asked someone in the Alaska Baptist Convention to make our need known through his extensive email list. Within days, we were contacted by Bruce Berryhill, a structural engineer located in Juneau. Not only did we have a Christian engineer willing to work with us, he was willing to work with us for free. We don't know if Bruce will ever fully grasp what a blessing and encouragement he has been to our church or not...but this project simply could not have happened without him. The building of God's kingdom will be played out for years to come, and his willingness to sacrifice his time and energy will always play a part in it. What a legacy!
No comments:
Post a Comment