Don't Do the Math

We had a great day yesterday, my son and I, and his friend Daryl. But what made it great wasn't what you might expect.

Samuel and I had a pressure washing job about 1 1/2 hours north of us. To get there early enough meant getting up at 3:00 a.m., loading the truck with our equipment, and hitting the road by 5:00. It was about 35 degrees when we left the house, and not quite 40 when we got to the site, with the wind out of the north at about 6 mph. It was cold and felt colder.

When we got to the site I discovered that I had forgotten a fitting required to connect the new telescoping wand to my pressure washer. A trip to Lowe's to get another fitting, and we were ready to go, but already behind schedule.

The job we were tasked to perform was washing the bird droppings from the cornices over second story windows at an upscale strip mall. The ledges over the windows apparently provide the perfect place for birds to perch and "do their business", creating quite a mess. In no time at all it was literally raining cold water and bird poop.

While the new telescoping wand was the right tool for the job (we had previously tried cleaning from the top of our ladder), it quickly became evident that the counter pressure required to keep the tip still while the water pressure tried to move it was going to be exhausting work. Also, because I only got the 18 footer, and not the 24 footer, we were required to stand in the back of my truck, or on a step ladder to be able to reach the offending feces.

With determination Samuel and I worked, alternating operating the pressure washer and climbing the ladder to clean the windows behind. By 1:00 p.m. we were just beyond half finished, but tired and in need of food and water. I offered to go get lunch while the boys watched our equipment, but when I got in the truck I realized that I had left the keys in the "on" position, and the battery was dead. Oy vey! (I may have uttered some other, similar exclamation).

No problem. My truck has a manual transmission, so the three of us could just push-start it! Unfortunately, because I have been neglecting to give it a much needed tune-up, I couldn't keep it running after popping the clutch. First the boys, then all three of us pushed the truck back and forth across the parking lot (about 8 times in all) trying to get our meal-ticket running. Finally I gave up and went in search of a Good Samaritan with jumper cables. Being successful with that, we were soon able to quiet our hunger.

Weary muscled, we went back to work. With the sun moving rapidly to the other side of the building, though, the shade and the inevitable cooler temperatures enveloped us. We spoke about quitting and returning another day, but with the end in sight we decided to press on. With cold and fatigue settling in, the work surges grew shorter, and the respites grew longer (at least for me). Samuel kept willing himself to ignore the pain, and began doing part of my work to keep us going. Daryl may have had the most difficult job - changing the pressure washer tips and holding the ladder for us. At least the work we were doing kept our muscles warm and our blood pumping.

Finally, we finished about 5:30 p.m. The truck was packed by 6:00, and we were on our way home. Once again, however, we encountered an obstacle. Maintenance on the North Dallas Tollway brought traffic to a standstill, turning our 1 1/2 hour commute into 3 hours. We finally dragged ourselves into the house at 9:00 p.m.

So what made this day great? I believe it was the grace we found to face every obstacle, one at a time, and overcome it. In our camaraderie we found strength and courage. And in spite of the difficulties that haunted us throughout the day, we had fun. And we laughed. In fact, one "laugh-out-loud" moment, starring yours truly, may soon be a viral video on You Tube. And at the end I felt a deep, satisfying feeling of having accomplished a difficult task without succumbing to the temptation to quit, nor complaining about my plight. And the boys share in this victory, making it that much more special. Today, instead of our aching muscles causing us to mope around and complain, we wear them like medals of valor given to faithful soldiers.

Borrowing a line from an old Bill Cosby routine, "I told you that story so I could tell you this one.", I finally get to my main point.

Last night I remembered the words of the apostle Paul, who said, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.", and I realized that the faithful life is accomplished by stringing together faithful days, like the one we shared yesterday. No one lives their life in a moment.

Our tendency is to look too far into the future and worry about what we will face. I believe this is one reason so many of us fail at keeping our New Year's Resolutions. Taking the perennial "I will lose 30 pounds this year" promise as an example, we begin with fervor, but when, after 2 weeks, we have only lost 2 pounds, we "do the math" and realize it will take 7 more months of battling our fleshly appetite to reach our goal. And because 7 months worth of dieting is too much for today, we give up. But you don't need to do all 196 days today, you only need to do one. And that you can do!

In the same way, God will not send all your trials to you at once. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." This verse from Matthew 6 is not intended to warn you about impending trouble, but to encourage you to live life one day at a time. God knows that facing all the storms of life all at once will be too much for us, but he also knows that it's easily within our reach to end each day saying, "I have kept the faith."