A
daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and
exhortation.
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
Tuesday,
November 19,
2019
Brooksyne saw
this American Bittersweet shrub showing off its brightly
colored berries along Donegal Creek yesterday on her
afternoon walk with the dogs.
"The
Value Of The Plumber"
Message summary: Today let us value all work that benefits others, including the plumber. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord" (Colossians 3:23).
Listen
to this
message on your audio player.
"The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?" (2 Kings 20:20). "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord" (Colossians 3:23).
Each week I visit with a team of
plumbers at JK Mechanical, including Ryan, shown in the photo to the
right. Ryan is big man with a colorful personality who
serves as a worship leader in his church. Plumbers
like Ryan are on the front lines of public health. If
your plumbing stops working you can easily have a
crisis and a mess.
Indoor plumbing is one of the greatest blessings of modern living. Fresh potable water coming into your house and running through it, essentially invisible, till needed. Then a system to get the waste water out. If you are really blessed you have hot water. But if either the inflow or the outflow stops working you will quickly realize the value of the plumber.
But in our age we probably take indoor plumbing for granted. It is a relatively recent innovation in human history. My grandparents on Mom's side did not have indoor plumbing in their small Missouri house till they were in their 60's and Brooksyne's grandparents were in their 70's. My dad, who was a plumber among other trades he had learned at the prestigious SOHK, installed indoor plumbing, including an indoor bathroom, for them (his in-laws) when he and Mom got married in the mid-1940's.
In my childhood they still had the old water cistern
with a hand pump beside the house although we were
told to never drink from it. But they still maintained
and used the old three-seater outhouse all through my
childhood in the late 50's and 60's. It was especially
helpful when we had large family gatherings! We
consider how many now in America have never used an
outhouse, though many of them have used a
porta-pottie!
John W. Gardner, President of the Carnegie Corporation and Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) under President Lyndon Johnson wrote, "The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water."
I don't appreciate the notion of man's reckoning what vocation is or isn't an "exalted activity" and think I can shorten that quote. Simpler* put the society which scorns excellence in plumbing will have pipes that won't hold water. If we ever have a shortage of plumbers because their work is devalued and you have to wait several weeks to get your toilet working you will probably exalt the plumber and not really see much value in the "exalted activity" of a philosopher with a PhD!
King Hezekiah was one of the good kings who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. In the record of his life we read, "The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?" (2 Kings 20:20).
However injected into this sentence is something the historian apparently recognized as notable enough to include concerning Hezekiah: "how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city". In reading through our Bible we may tend to gloss over this detail but it was a significant achievement. The populace surely valued this plumbing innovation!
Today let us value all work that benefits others, including the work of the plumber. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord" (Colossians 3:23).
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer: Father, Scripture
indicates that You want us to serve diligently,
not carelessly. When we work heartily we can be
a blessing to our employer, supervisor and
co-workers and we honor You as well. We want to
be whole-hearted instead of doing just enough to
get by as we go about our work. There are those
duties we enjoy and those which are done of
necessity. Help us to remember that we add
dignity to our work when we apply ourselves
fully to the task before us, no matter how
menial. All work is sacred when it done not just
for the boss, not just for the pay check, not
just for the title but when we do it heartily
for You. Amen.
Message summary: Today let us value all work that benefits others, including the plumber. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord" (Colossians 3:23).
Listen
to this
message on your audio player."The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?" (2 Kings 20:20). "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord" (Colossians 3:23).
Each week I visit with a team of
plumbers at JK Mechanical, including Ryan, shown in the photo to the
right. Ryan is big man with a colorful personality who
serves as a worship leader in his church. Plumbers
like Ryan are on the front lines of public health. If
your plumbing stops working you can easily have a
crisis and a mess.Indoor plumbing is one of the greatest blessings of modern living. Fresh potable water coming into your house and running through it, essentially invisible, till needed. Then a system to get the waste water out. If you are really blessed you have hot water. But if either the inflow or the outflow stops working you will quickly realize the value of the plumber.
But in our age we probably take indoor plumbing for granted. It is a relatively recent innovation in human history. My grandparents on Mom's side did not have indoor plumbing in their small Missouri house till they were in their 60's and Brooksyne's grandparents were in their 70's. My dad, who was a plumber among other trades he had learned at the prestigious SOHK, installed indoor plumbing, including an indoor bathroom, for them (his in-laws) when he and Mom got married in the mid-1940's.
In my childhood they still had the old water cistern
with a hand pump beside the house although we were
told to never drink from it. But they still maintained
and used the old three-seater outhouse all through my
childhood in the late 50's and 60's. It was especially
helpful when we had large family gatherings! We
consider how many now in America have never used an
outhouse, though many of them have used a
porta-pottie!John W. Gardner, President of the Carnegie Corporation and Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) under President Lyndon Johnson wrote, "The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water."
I don't appreciate the notion of man's reckoning what vocation is or isn't an "exalted activity" and think I can shorten that quote. Simpler* put the society which scorns excellence in plumbing will have pipes that won't hold water. If we ever have a shortage of plumbers because their work is devalued and you have to wait several weeks to get your toilet working you will probably exalt the plumber and not really see much value in the "exalted activity" of a philosopher with a PhD!
King Hezekiah was one of the good kings who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. In the record of his life we read, "The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?" (2 Kings 20:20).
However injected into this sentence is something the historian apparently recognized as notable enough to include concerning Hezekiah: "how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city". In reading through our Bible we may tend to gloss over this detail but it was a significant achievement. The populace surely valued this plumbing innovation!
Today let us value all work that benefits others, including the work of the plumber. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord" (Colossians 3:23).
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer: Father, Scripture
indicates that You want us to serve diligently,
not carelessly. When we work heartily we can be
a blessing to our employer, supervisor and
co-workers and we honor You as well. We want to
be whole-hearted instead of doing just enough to
get by as we go about our work. There are those
duties we enjoy and those which are done of
necessity. Help us to remember that we add
dignity to our work when we apply ourselves
fully to the task before us, no matter how
menial. All work is sacred when it done not just
for the boss, not just for the pay check, not
just for the title but when we do it heartily
for You. Amen.Some
scenes from Brooksyne's walk along Donegal Creek
yesterday afternoon
I
heard an engine sound from a distance and finally the
Ultralight Aircraft came into view. Even the dogs
stopped and watched with me as he glided over the
farmland.
I
wonder if the pets are hoping I'll let them cross this
makeshift bridge the children built so they could stay
dry when they cross the stream next to their house. I
wasn't going to chance it, but I like the creativity
of industrious children.
Today's
Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"Great I Am"
Video
New Life Worship
Finally today:
Here's a group photo
of the Smucker team at their
community work day last month.
They were featured in a
regional business magazine for
their service to the
community. These men represent
a variety of skill sets
including roofing, exterior
home improvements, laser
cutting and metal fabrication.
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
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