Up in the World

They say that serving as a pastor of a church gives one all the skills needed to manage a small apartment complex. I will admit that over the years I have learned more about roofs, repair and replacement, than I ever anticipated.

One of the minor ironies of this last year has to do with some events in previous blogs. First, you may recall that last October we celebrated the installation of a rebuilt echo organ, which is part of our pipe organ at the church. As you might imagine, pipe organs are hand built items and very expensive. The church had let a contract with the Levson Organ Company of Buffalo, Iowa, many months before to be able to have the installation in October. As part of the preparation for the installation the chamber in which this echo organ was to be installed was also being prepared. Styrofoam insulation was placed on the West wall of the organ chamber to moderate temperature fluctuations when the afternoon sun beats against that wall and raises the temperature. The chamber was also being cleaned and repainted.

The second irony from previous blogs is that there was a very strong wind in the area in July, which resulted in a power outage at the church that lasted for three days. Also, it blew down an oak tree on the top of one of a church member's house that resulted in serious damage. The wind blew from West to East. Thus it pealed up several shingles from the church building roof - right over where the chamber was being prepared for the installation of the rebuilt part of the pipe organ!

Custom built parts for antique pipe organs are very expensive, and while a leaky roof is a bad thing in all instances, the possibility that the leak might occur right over the newly installed very expensive organ was a special worry to me.

The photo above is of a roofer finally repairing the roof and replacing the shingles right over the organ chamber - some two months after the organ parts had already been installed. Roofers have been very busy this fall, repairing the damage from the summer winds. We had requested prayers in church that there not be any hard rains between the time the organ was installed and the roofers could get the roof repaired.

God is good. All the time.