I was on the church roof yesterday.  It all started out with my having gone out to chat with Bill and Brian who were preparing air conditioning units for placing on the roof.  I had my camera and took some pictures of the work.  I'll be putting them up on this site soon.  Then Bob arrived.  He and Brian hefted one of the air conditioning compressors on their shoulders and started to climb the two ladders up to the roof.  Not wanting anyone to fall from an unheld ladder, I stayed out with them to hold one of the ladders.  The first two units were "lighter" ones.  When the other guys got one of the heavy one's out, it seemed clear to all of us that they were too heavy to carry on shoulders up the ladders.  We puzzled it around for a while, then decided that the best plan was to back Bob's pick-up part way under the roof overhang above the church door.  We then could lift the air conditioning unit onto the bed of the truck.  That got us a three foot start toward the roof.  We tied ropes under the units, and the ropes were pass up to Bill and me on the roof.  Then with Brian and Bob lifting from the truck bed and Bill and me pulling the ropes from above, we managed to lift the three heavy units up onto the roof.

Thus, pastoral ministry in one of its many facets.  I even shed blood in the process.  The fins on the condensers are quite sharp.  My pastoral hands aren't quite hardened enough.  There are now seven fine, parallel slices across the tip of my left ring finger.  I wish all the scars from ministry were so minor.  Should I apply for workers' comp.?  Probably not.

Well, the North Star deadline is upon me, so I must adjourn this entry in order to contemplate and write about Christianity and sex.