Most of my life Jesus has put me into one impossible situation after another. Okay, I’m the one making it impossible. What usually happens is I fail miserably, God surrounds, pulling a rabbit out of a hat and I get to stare into a miracle.
Short Video on Window Frame Restoration; https://youtu.be/sju2oDZKzgg
Today it was the restoration of one of our large window frames. One of our young men, who spends most of his time in the trades was chatting with me two or three times this week, each time too kind to ask me “Pastor, what in the world are you doing?” Instead he watched, we talked as he saw a crafting of 100 year old broken wood, a bit of liquid hardening (following the careful gutting of rotted wood). Some epoxy, new board and finally Plastic Wood shaping it all ito a seemless whole, frankly much stronger than the original.
What appears to him as a unique and eccentric approach has evidently morphed into talent. I laugh and tell him that it’s closer to miraculous: a combination of YouTube DIY videos, timely God given help—today from an on campus artist who has worked restoring the Canadian Parliament building and simply showed me how my painting approach needed mending—and an equally surprising ability to now see objects and how they function.
Since childhood the only thing in me that can rise to self-cursing is physically shaping or fixing objects with my hands. And so, what does God drop in my lap in the last five years? A million dollar restoration project with about $650,000 pre-tax dollars. There have been plenty of curses, but also praises and learned skills.
God surrounded us with many, including the aforementioned Artist who rents space and is the single biggest advocate of our mission, though not in attendance. Throughout the development she put us in contact with experts who manage multi-million dollar projects and provided thereby a weeks learning on process. Her advice on our building committee was always, go slow, ask questions.
Over and again we have been protected at just the right moment.
As a young adult “the impossible“ was a ten year stint employed as an electrical apprentice. Seeing my uphill struggle with fumbling hands I was wisely transferred to the front office where I helped in bidding and landing contracts, ran crews and worked with individual customers in design and in assuring satisfaction.
I hated business because my over-scrupulously guilt ridden perfectionist conscience believed in justice when most people just wanted to know they were treated fairly. As a result of that inner tension I left significant profits on the table under-billed just because I was never sure of what was legit and what was greed. My greatest personal failure in business integrity was the direct result of that anxious tension.
One of the miracles that emerged from those years was the developed skill set that has helped WSCN creatively manage the impossible and avoid the multiple negative scenarios that could have happened in our ten year building and neighborhood renovation. The following video produced about 85% of the way through our development highlights the real miracle that combines mission and story as one.
All I know is that this whole Jesus project is one “big impossibility.”
In me, around me, in the City I see Jesus showing up in ways that seem eccentric, improbable, creative. Like my friend who knew a whole lot more than me and sat, patiently watching for the miraculous but seeing a train wreck in the making, I have learned to trust God—even with overcoming my own broken spaces.
Here’s to the impossible being made real!
Blessings! Terry :)
Since this video, we have finished painting the exterior of our building and will be finishing important details in masonry, a water garden, an interior basement flooring renewal and completing the sacred window restoration. We are about $50,000 shy and about where we thought we’d land if everything went perfectly.
If you wish to know more or would like to contribute I’ll give you contact information and/or access to our development video reports over time. Contact me at: wscnpastorterry@reachone.com
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