A new day means a new opportunity to live for God. It also means a new opportunity for God to astound me with His provision and plan for my life. I am having trouble thinking of ways today could have been better, and I have a hunch that it's because God was leading me through my day today.
I'm going to skip through my morning routine, because I think you all have it down pretty well by now. I got to the office around 8am. I was only the second guy from the crew to get there, which is weird to me since the supervisor and manager both told me to be at work at 8am and I'm just a volunteer. But whatever.
We got going around 8:30am, but we had to make a couple stops before we got out to the site. The first stop we made was to check on a truck that was supposed to be getting a new clutch, but they weren't open yet, so we drove back to the office to pick up a couple guys who came in late.
After we picked up the two guys, we went out to the site to start finishing the fence. Unfortunately, after five minutes at the site, we realized we had forgotten a post. I thought we could just send one guy back, so I walked to the back of the yard to start stringing a line to make sure the posts went in straight.
I literally got as far as tying the knot on the line that I was stringing, when the guys started honking the horn at me. I ran back to the truck to ask where we were going and they said they had to go pick up that pole. I literally asked them if it was going to take five guys to grab that post, laughing while I asked them. They said it would and I should just go with them.
So we went back to pick up the pole and get some food for one of the guys, so we didn't actually end up starting work until around 10am. We got a good amount of work done, but we had to leave again at 11am. Today was payday. We went back to the offices so everybody could grab their check, but since I was volunteering, I just walked inside to grab some water.
I sat down at the table to wait for everybody to get ready to go again, but then I realized one of the site bosses was eating. I didn't want to miss lunch so I asked if I should go eat. He told me we wouldn't go back out to the site until around 1pm, so I had plenty of time to do whatever I wanted to.
Okay. I'm not one to complain, but a two hour break was not something I really wanted to take after only working for an hour. We were so close to finishing! I just wanted to get it done. Especially since It was so hot outside and it was only going to get hotter. But I'm not in charge, so I took my 2hr lunch, and went back out to the site at 1pm.
When I got out to the site, three guys were already out there, then another guys showed up after me, so we had a total of five guys working to finish this fence. The reason I point this out is because five is the magic number. Any more than that and a crew becomes inefficient. So it seemed like we were off to a good start. Finally.
From 1pm to 3:45, the five of us finished filling the post holes on the left side of the house, wrapped the wire fence around the right side of the house, cut all the posts to the same height, and put up H braces on two corners. That's a lot, but it was fantastic. We worked very efficiently and there was almost never a guy standing around. I was pretty satisfied.
While we were putting the wire fence up, one of the guys asked me if it was against my religion to cuss. Another opportunity to talk about my faith! I told him that since I'm a christian, I read the Bible, and the Bible says to watch what comes out of your mouth, so I make it a rule of thumb not to cuss. He didn't say much more about it, but I'm just praying that each day God will continue to give me little opportunities to make an impact through conversations like the ones I've been having the past couple of days.
We basically called it a day around 3:45pm, but before I left, Eric grabbed me to have me sign a volunteer form for him quick. While we were walking into the office, he was asking me how I was liking working with the crew, and I told him that I was enjoying getting the perspective that working with his crew allowed me.
During our conversation, Eric mentioned that he wanted to take me over to the Rosebud Tribal Office to meet some of the officials there. Awesome! I didn't even ask him to take me over there, but God was all over it for me. God's plans are so perfect that I just can't believe the things that I am blessed with sometimes. God is taking care of me even when I am questioning whether or not I am where He wants me.
Another interesting thing that Eric mentioned was that he was worried about the amount of time it was taking his crew to finish a fencing job. This was pretty cool too, because I have been observing the crew and noting at least 10 different things that could increase efficiency if they were changed. I told him that I had observed some things that might help him, and all he said was that's what I was hoping for.
Boom. God is good. Two days ago I thought I was wasting my time by working with the crew, but today would not have been as good as it was if I hadn't continued to work with Eric's crew. I'm excited for the possibility of taking something and making it better, or whatever God has in store for me to accomplish during the rest of my time with Eric and his crew.
I'm basically getting the best of both worlds by working with Eric's crew, because I get to build relationships with the guys in the crew and through my work there, I am able to talk to Eric about his business and the tribal gov. Ugh. I just can't believe how well this is going. But at the same time, I shouldn't have ever doubted that this would happen. God is in control. I have no reason to worry or be stressed.
After work, I went to go meet a family in SF with Bethany, Stephen, Jonny, and Greg. That was a great way to spend my night, because I got the impression that the ladies that I met were very solid people in the SF community and I look forward to continuing to get to know them better!
On the way back from SF, Greg and I had an awesome conversation about God and His goodness. I'm so thankful for Greg every day, because there would be so much that I would be missing during this trip, if it wasn't for him. Super cool dude.
When we got back to our house, the girls were already making dinner. Breakfast for dinner was on the menu and we were all very excited for bacon. It was a glorious dinner. Eggs, toast, pancakes and syrup, and BACON! How could a dinner get any better? There aren't a lot of ways.
So that's it. That's my day! I love looking back on my day each day and reflecting on all the ways God has blessed me and all the events that were orchestrated by him. Nothing better. I hope you feel blessed by God tonight.
In Him,
Brenden
Things I learned today:
1. God will never fail you, if you are focused on living your life for Him.
2. I am wearing a pink sock right now... color blindness sucks sometimes.
3. I love Thousand Island dressing on my ham/turkey sandwiches.
4. Ruth 3.
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