Through The Crawl Space

    I hate my job! Do you have a crawl space under your house? Have you ever gotten up the courage to open the hatch and crawl in? Its dark, wet, cold and there are mice, rats and spiders that lurk in the dark shadows that conceal ere corners underneath  your house. So lately, Ive been writing on my  facebook page that I would do almost anything at anytime to have some work during these dismal, dark days of unemployment. Well, be very careful what you ask for you might just find yourself opening the hatch and dropping down into the great abyss of your house's crawl space.
   It's Monday morning, I  disdain Monday's, the phone rings "Hello its Greg! Hey, I have a water leak in a copper pipe under my house would you like the job?" Greg frantically asks. "Well, ah sure, great when do you want me to do it?" Dean reluctantly responds. Knowing that the words "What are you doing right now" were forming on Greg's tongue even before he had finished speaking. Now, I dislike being unemployed and because I am self employed I do not collect unemployment insurance checks like the rest of you. So with a glad heart and a reluctant "Hi ho Silver and away!" I loaded all my tools, materials, grabbed my overalls and headed into the twilight of a new morning.
    When I opened the hatch to the crawl space  there was something  like a rushing wind and a sound like air releasing upon the opening of a hermetically sealed coffin. The breeze rushed past my face pushing my hair out of my eyes as my mind ran wild with thoughts of what unknown  fate awaited me in the pitch black recess below the floor boards. I could hear the sound of something scampering away from the new light that was now shining in through the hole and whatever it was sounded big enough to stop me from  venturing down into the 24" by 24" opening. My flashlight needed new batteries but from the faint, orange glow I could make out footprints in the damp soil directly below me. Cautiously, I dropped into the hole, lowered my head and held my breath as the last thing I saw was an extremely worried expression on Greg's face as he breathed a sigh of relief  and farcefully offered the encouraging words "I'll be right up here if you need anything!".
    I spent the next 12 hours in that crawl space below their house cutting, fitting and soldiering the copper pipe that had deteriorate through a process known as electrolysis. I never actually saw any monsters below their house or found a treasure chest full of gold bullion but just a long day of hard work and perspiration. The next day I was extremely sore from laying on the damp concrete and soil that the foundation of the house was built on. I woke up feeling like someone had repeatedly me hit me with a sledge hammer and then left me for dead.
   I'm looking forward to the day when I will be a full time pastor and can leave my tent making days behind me. I'm feeling pretty certain there wont be any physical crawl spaces in the Christian ministry arena but the reality of human misery still lends me to believe that there will be other problems to solve and mountains to climb. God was teaching me something down there in the damp, dark crawl space. The lesson was  that we need to be certain of the deals we make with Him. I don't believe sometimes we really think He will deliver but deliver He will! Remember that whatever we ask for we might just receive! Fully exhausted, I climbed out of the hatch, dusted myself off, climbed into my truck and headed back to the office to await my next fatal phone call.