The Cahill's

Quotes and helpful hints from the job site:

An electrician’s job is to make ends meet. – Dad

Too much is better than too little – Amy

“I’m too short!” – Amy

“You seem fine to me. Your legs reach all the way to the ground don’t they?” – Dad

A magnetized drill bit is worth it’s weight in dropped screws – Amy

Work this Friday went very well. Knowing my aversion to electrical – not to mention a deficiency in skill – I was assigned to help Mr. Russell (a man from our church) hang drywall. Now, I have never tried my hand at this type of work either but it looked like fun so I picked up a drill and set to work. My job was to put a few screws in while Mr. Russell held the sheet in place, then finish the rest of them while he cut the next piece.

After a while I realized that Mr. Russell was fully capable of doing the job all by himself but he allowed me participate in his work. He would patiently wait for me to set my ladder in place when he could have easily reached up and screwed the piece in himself. He taught without having to spell out each step of the way or constantly correct and micro-manage, the only thing he said was to make sure the screws were not sticking out too far. I learned by watching what he did and copying him.

As I worked I began to think how this resembled the relationship that God has with us, how He is fully capable of doing His work but He allows us to help. We start with what we can handle and as time goes on and our skill increases we are given more and more of the task.

By the time lunch came around I was able to cut and install some of the smaller simpler parts while Mr. Russell took the hard ones. Our pace started picking up. At one point, another worker who knew more about the whole business than either of us, came and gave a few helpful hints on how we could improve some of our methods. Instead of clinging to his pride Mr. Russell deferred in a gentle obedience that caused me to gain great respect for the other man and follow Mr. Russell’s lead in adopting the new technique.

At this point my mind was whirling with analogies on discipleship. I was learning by following Mr. Russell and when a greater authority came along his response determined my response; both to him and to any instruction that authority night give later. It was scary for me to see how much of an influence I might have on those I disciple in the faith. They would watch my response to God’s direction and then implement that into their own lives, whether for better of worse.

The last step came at the end of the day when my sister came to ask for something to do. I didn’t know everything, but I had learned enough to have a grasp on the work and was able to begin her in the job – I had a disciple too.

 Some people count their chickens before they hatch; well today I was counting my problems before they happened. I was at the job site with dad and had been trying to install a plug outlet for over an hour. Problem after problem came up and I was getting frustrated, I mean, I didn’t even want to do electrical, but I had finished all the other jobs that dad had ready for me. And now this silly plug wouldn’t work.

This wasn’t all, outside it was raining and the temperature was starting to drop. This probably meant there would be no soccer tonight. Due to different circumstances I hadn’t been able to play for over three weeks now (rain, Thanksgiving, ect.). Plus Thursday night (our other soccer night) was booked with a choir performance, which would put it at a whole month! Life is tough.

As I was thinking all of this to myself I realized what a grouch I was being and all because I was benched on one perspective. There is the verse that says “in everything give thanks for this is the will of God” oftentimes this means looking at what happens from a different angle. I started with the job, what a blessing to be able to work with my dad and help out with the college payments at the same time. The commute to the job was an hour, just enough time to write a practice essay for my upcoming English Comp test or study some of the practice questions. Looking down at my newly installed plug I was very thankful for the days I had plumbing jobs or got to tear down walls. I was also grateful for my sisters who liked the electrical better and worked on it almost every day.

Once my attitude changed, things started looking up. Instead of being impatient when the customer showed up right before we were going to leave I was happy for the extra study opportunity. Then as we headed out and dad called home we found out that soccer was still on for that night. When we got home my little brother asked how my day went and I said “great!” then suddenly realized that it was. Obeying God’s command to be thankful totally turned things around, praise Him! Then to top it all off, and maybe just to show me that He loved me, I found that a package had arrived that afternoon. We had accidentally left our cleats in Michigan and had asked someone to mail them to us and here they were. God knew just when we would need them, His timing is perfect.