31 Days of Life Stories #22

Today, I'm remembering that time when our church men's group fixed our roof.

Back in 1981, Jim and I bought an old 1960's rancher and we were going to fix it up. We did some stuff to the inside but didn't get very far. We didn't touch the outside at all.  The outside had old-fashioned asbestos siding. The roof was okay but by 1999 it looked rough and began leaking.

1999 was also when my husband was hospitalized and then became disabled.

Living on disability can be bleak. There was money enough to survive, THANK GOD, but little extra to take care of things like leaky roofs.

Our house is on one of the main highways in our county and a guy from our home church passed by us all the time. He noticed the roof.

He decided to do something about it.

He went to the men's group at the church he was attending (which happened to be the church where I was employed as their secretary) and shared the need. He also went to the pastor of our home church and explained his idea:  why couldn't the men of both churches work together and put on a new roof for us?

And that is just what happened. Men from both churches gathered at our house on what turned out to be the hottest week of the year and worked together. They scraped off the old roof. They nailed down new shingles. They put in vents on the roof where there had been none. One of the teenage boys volunteered to go up in our attic (which was filled with spray-in insulation) and cut the holes for the vents. 

It was a beautiful thing.

I wish I'd had a digital camera in those days and had taken a picture of those guys. Some were young, some middle aged, one was near 70 at the time, and all were working in that heat. Our pastor only wore white long-sleeved shirts and dark dress pants and there he was, up on our roof, dressed like everyday, scraping shingles.

Our girls wanted to show appreciation so they made each guy a certificate saying thank you and we appreciate you.

Thank you, men of Cornerstone Church and Trinity Assembly of God. Thank you, our friend, for seeing a need and making a solution happen. I told them then I'll never forget what they did for us. I do think of it often; and now, I've told you!

This post is #22 in my series, 31 Days of Life Stories. Hundreds of writers are linking up at the 31 Day Writing Challenge hosted by Crystal Stine. There is a wealth of information on many topics. Go visit and see! I'll be posting under the category "Inspiration and Faith."