Oops!

I have read many times about a careless woodworker who used a pneumatic nail gun to attach themselves to their work.  I have thought, on probably every occasion that these individuals were pretty dumb.  I have also thought that the experience had to be pretty darned painful.

 

Yesterday, I joined their ranks.  Okay, maybe I am only an honorary member.  I was building a router table so I could begin building the doors to my travel trailer.  I was holding one piece of wood while nailing the second piece to it with a pneumatic nail gun loaded with 1-1/2” finish nails.  Unfortunately, I missed the piece of wood I was holding.  My middle finger was at the edge of the piece of wood, and compressed by my holding pressure so it wrapped around the wood slightly.  The nail penetrated the first piece of wood, traveled through the air where piece number two should have been, and entered my middle finger right at the tip.  Luckily, my finger was at the end of the nails trajectory, so rather than come out the other side, it just dented the underside of my fingernail.

 

I try to learn from my mistakes, so what did I learn from this one?

 

1.                  Keep my hands well away from the suspected travel path of the business end of any tool, especially a power tool.

2.                  A nail in the finger doesn’t hurt nearly as much as one would think. 

3.                  I forgot to pray before I began work yesterday.

4.                  Fatigue sets in rapidly at 114º.

 

My first impulse, before I knew how bad it was, was to get Gina. In the 10 seconds it took to get to her, I knew it wasn’t that bad.  I was frightened enough, though, to have had a momentary wave of nausea pass over me.  Gina helped me clean my finger, put peroxide on it, and put a band-aid or two on it.  Then I went back out and finished the router table, and quit for the day.

 

Later, while saying grace over dinner, I finally remembered to thank God for protecting me from what could have been a much greater injury. That was the dumbest part of the whole day.

 

If you read this, please say a prayer for Garland, who is undergoing surgery today to repair his wrist broken a couple weeks ago in a quad accident. 

 

- Cliff

Live well, die happily

Saturday, a good friend lost his mother. She had been failing for a long time, but this is never easy.  But why is it so difficult?  It doesn’t have to be that way.  In fact, I have been reading lately that it has not always been that way. 

 

As little as 150 years ago, Christians celebrated Happy Death.  I heard this in a sermon by Tom Shrader of East Valley Bible Church. With a caution regarding Armenian errors contained in the book, he highly recommended Mrs. Hunter’s Happy Death: Lessons on Living from People Preparing to Die… by John Fanestil.  I bought a copy, and have begun reading it. 

 

The basic premise seems to be; for a life well lived, saved and in service to our Lord Jesus Christ, death is simply leaving this Earth to be with Christ.  If that is true, and we believe it is, then why should this not be a most joyful occasion? The Apostle Paul indicated that he would rather die than live, but lived for our benefit.

 

Of course, if we are not saved, death certainly does have a fear that cannot be assuaged.  We believe that all people live forever, either with Christ in heaven, or separated from God in the Lake of Fire that was prepared for Satan and his Demons. 

 

This presents us with a challenge; do we share the Gospel with those that are lost? God is responsible for salvation, we are charged with delivering the message. If we do not, many will die in justifiable fear.

 

- Cliff