I decided to try to have a positive attitude all day today before I left the comfort of my bed. As I opened the door a blast of cold wind hit my face and immediately my positive attitude was challenged. I looked pretty ridiculous as I put on two layers of pants and my fleece (inside out so as to not get paint on it) and two shirts. Gibson decided to power spray the walls to get the rest of the layers of paint off, so I sat and watched as our hours of painting got blasted away. Once again my positive attitude was challenged. The power sprayer could remain in one spot for several minutes and still have paint chips flying off; I just don’t know what is going to be the solution for these walls. We set up ladders and re-chipped and re-sanded the spots that we had already chipped, sanded, and painted. I lasted about five minutes in this task before my positive attitude was shot. My American mindset wanted to pay someone else to do the job. I wanted to get more power sprayers so we could finish more quickly. I wanted to do anything in order to avoid another day of chipping and sanding.
Finally it was time to paint. The first two walls went well; no chipping. Then the third wall started to chip and Gibson checked out the fourth and fifth wall; more chipping. Gibson decided it would be best to go back to sanding and scraping. It is the third day on a project that was supposed to take two days and we are back to square one. I’m tired, freezing cold, and all I have had to eat for the past three days is peanut butter and jelly. Yet my mind keeps going back to the passage I read from a book this morning, “The Pursuit of Holiness”. It talks about Philippians 4:11-13, “Paul is talking about how he has learned to be content whatever the circumstances, whether plenty or want, whether well fed or hungry. He says he can respond this way through Christ who gives him strength.” What a challenge, to be content in the face of frustration. All I want is for this project to be over so I can go on to something else, something less frustrating and more glorious, like playing with orphans. But, God has placed me here and I am going to trust that He has me here for a reason. I’m guessing one reason is so that I can work on being content in every situation. I guess when Paul said whatever situation he meant in chipping paint too.
Don’t be fooled by Tim’s shorts…it was freezing cold in this picture…
