Change of Pace

I'm sure that you're not interested in continually reading about the quality of my shower times, but they're foundational experiences for me, so I shall continue to write about them. This morning's shower was significantly warmer than yesterday's. Of course, that's not to say it was warm - let's say it was lukecold - but I was able to spend a shorter time in the stall, and a much higher percentage of the time under the water. The noteworthy bathroom incident of the morning was after breakfast. I made use of the facilities, and when finished, performed my task to perfection - I pushed the flush lever. The toilet, however, dropped the ball, and much more. It commenced spewing water with great force from the bottom of the tank onto the floor behind the toilet. Naturally, the floor of the toilet stall is sloped ever so slightly toward the interior of the room, and the floodwaters immediately rushed out of the stall into the room, headed straight for Mitch's stuff. Like a national guard flood response team, I rushed into action, grabbing a towel, and planting a brilliantly successful levee in the path of the deluge, thus protecting the very grateful inhabitants of Mitchburg.

To really change pace must require either speeding up or slowing down. Often, I think we apply the term too liberally (I'm not advocating a more correct usage of the phrase, as some do when they freak out about how the word "awesome" is over-used - honestly I really don't care - it just seems as though most of the time we use the expression, we don't quite mean it in the same way). Someone will experience a new work environment in which they're doing different tasks, and call it a "nice change of pace", when in reality they're working just as hard, and really it's just a nice change of scenery. With the team here, and a shift in ministry activities, it's a true change of pace. Faustin was very careful to ensure that Mike and I were comfortable, always checking to make sure we were rested and cared for. Stephen has no such reservations. I'm fairly certain that the goal now is to discover whether or not we are capable of working at full capacity all day long for a week and a half before we burn out.

With yesterday's mound moving task completed, our sights turned to a new project of elemental transport. Several loads of large stones were dumped off yesterday during soccer time, leaving a giant rock pile just beyond the fence surrounding the yard behind the school and living quarters building where we had moved the dirt mound and the green grass grows all around, all around, and the green grass grows all around. Well, actually, what grows all around is corn, and the grass is mostly brown, but you get the point. We formed an assembly line passing rocks from the pile to one corner of the yard to begin laying them out evenly over the entire field as a foundation for the concrete slab that is to be poured on top. We sang some songs to pass the time while we passed the stones, which nearly always deteriorated into musical spoofs on our activity, thanks to Stephen. "This train is bound for glory, this train" became "This brick is bound for glory, this brick." While the work was about the same, the change of scenery was nice. One scene remains the same: though my view of ministry is from a different angle, it's the same outlook on the growth of God's kingdom. Whether working leisurely in body and strenuously in mind or furiously in body and relaxed in mind, the work is valuable.

After tea, we returned to our pile of stones to discover that it had grown. Apparently a new load had been dropped off. As we continued to pass rocks, the truck returned again. Oh good - more rocks! I was beginning to worry whether we'd run out. Twice more, the truck arrived to replenish our supply which was in no way dwindling. The standard method of getting the stones out of the truck into the pile is to jump in amidst the rocks and shovel them out between your legs like a dog digging a hole. I hopped up into the truck to do some shoveling myself upon the arrival of one of the loads. Some of the stones are quite heavy, and the constant bending and lifting just might come back to bite me in the lower back. At least it'll take some of the attention away from my ankle. That'll be a nice change of pace.