There are some days I want to believe that, being in missions, the Lord should bless our efforts and make the path smooth. But the reality of life is that some things just do not go as planned. Even the simple things can seem very complicated. Yet the Lord shows Himself faithful through it all. It is story time.
Over the last few months, TECH has been engaged in exterior improvements at our headquarters in Longview. As part of those plans we are installing carports for our lease vehicle fleet. This past fall, I was put in charge of coordinating the purchase and installation of the carports through a company based out of Kansas City. We considered many options, but during discussions on which company to hire, the KC firm was attractive because they are a one stop shop: engineering, manufacturing, delivery, and installation.
Fast forward to last Wednesday. The installation crew and carport arrived on site first thing. In talking with the crew, they travel all over the country installing carports. Our project was not the largest (nor the smallest) installation they had done. The crew was expecting installation to wrap up on Saturday or Sunday. Everybody, myself included, was anticipating the installation to be fairly routine. Routine was not in the plan.
Wednesday
8:15 AM -Everybody is on site and the carport is ready to be unloaded, but the rented forklift
and auger were not on site. A quick call to the rental company reveals that the equipment has been delivered to the wrong location.
9:00 AM - Equipment arrives and unloading begins.
11:00 AM - Carport pier boring locations have been laid out. First 2 piers are drilled
12:45 PM - Lunch break is over. TECH decides that the carport is too close to the retaining wall and needs to be relocated two feet back. It is at this time that we learn that the auger is malfunctioning and a new one is "on its way" from the rental company.
4:15 PM - New auger arrives and drilling resumes.
4.50 PM - I needed to leave TECH early to care for Ranen. While on my way home my phone rings. It is the foreman informing me they have hit a water line. I call Patrick Schnell to coordinate a solution on site. The crew proceeds to drill additional piers not affected by the utilities.
Thursday
7:50 AM - Discuss with foreman the implications of the water line. The line will need to be fixed prior to placement of concrete. It is at this time that the foreman informs me that concrete would arrive at 1:00 PM. He also informs me that due to forecast rain the concrete company was not placing concrete on Friday. The earliest concrete was estimated to be available for the balance of the piers was Monday. We had a brief discussion on cost extras due to increase in installation time.
8:00 AM - Arrive at my desk. Call city to schedule inspection. Inspection line recording informs me that all requests made after 8 AM will be scheduled for the following day.
8:10 AM - Call plumber to schedule water main repair. Earliest appointment is later that afternoon.
8:40 AM - Receive text from foreman that they have hit a gas line.
8:41 AM - Call gas company and 911 while (unsuccessfully) looking for gas line shut off.
Let me pause for a moment. By this point in the day everything seemed to have come unraveled. It wasn't even 9:00 AM and the day already felt twelve hours long. The work was shut down because of the gas leak. The plumber was not likely to arrive in time to fix the pipe for a 1:00 PM concrete delivery. Even if concrete did come I did not have a confirmed city inspection. The carport company was figuring out ways to limit extras to TECH, but TECH was looking to potentially add an additional $6,000 to install (not including the plumbing repairs). The installation was not going how I had envisioned in my head. On the way into TECH that morning I had prayed (and all that hectic hour) that God would be glorified in the process. The simple human in me wasn't sure this was the answer to prayer.
But then the tide began to turn.
-To Be Continued -
