Learning From the Best

Recently I had a chance to do some woodworking with a friend, Ken. In fact the friend is actually a pastor at our church - the very one that conducted our ceremony when Cheryl and I married. Before that, he and his wife did our pre-marital counseling, and before that, he spent a lot of Friday mornings at the local Denny's letting me weigh my heart on the subject of this beautiful, fun, caring, godly woman I'd met 3 years into giving up on dating.

It was a real treat to tag along. The project was moderate in scope - 2 tall boxes with minimal trim to serve as offering collection places in our church. From the beginning, though, it was easy to pick up bits of wisdom in everything from how to saw the sheet goods to how to set up your shop. If we'd never said a word, I would have learned a lot.

It is interesting how that process applies in so many areas. As Cheryl and I have begun working with the college and career group at our church, many of the things that I learned from Ken early on have come back to me. I try to use them to bless the men in the group that I now get to sit with.

As the Lord would have it, one of these men, is now about to marry Ken's daughter who was in the early years of high school when I first came to our church. Drew and I have met for coffee a number of times and I can only hope that I've been half the help Ken was to me. If I've done any good at all, it is because of those like him that showed me how. Ultimately, we owe it all to our ultimate teacher, Jesus.

The boxes were completed, by the way. Ken wrapped up the project and had them in the sanctuary by Sunday. They looked great!