Tool Time!

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Genesis 2:15

Somewhere during creation God wired man with the want and desire to build, repair, and play/work with tools of any kind.  It has been my desire, as a man, to use tools and overcome work projects to prove my manliness as often as possible.  That could be one reason I was so excited to move into the mobile home in the first place.

My loving bride-to-be has been longing to support this desire of mine to build.  She has never seen my abilities with tools or building, but she knew it was part of my wiring to flex my desire to be a man.  She thought it would be a lovely way to serve me by setting me up for work projects. 

The first thing she did was “accidentally” hang all her clothes up, and then I hear “UHOH” from down the hall.  Not only did she rip the hanging rod off in the closet, but she brought some of the support beams for the shelf to the ground with it.  It turns out the thin PVC pipe we had as a hanging rod in the closet couldn’t support the weight of her clothes, and she doesn’t really have a ton of clothing.

She didn’t wake up thinking “I’m gonna break something so Josh can show off today,” but nonetheless she blessed me with this opportunity.

Unbeknownst to Melissa, I had never done anything like the sorts of rebuilding a closet and supports.  I was not about to show her any sort of weakness or lack of construction knowledge.  So I did what any man would do and went to Lowes.  With Melissa by my side we looked at different closet repair options and purchased some lumber (which was cut by our new friend Shane).

Melissa focused on moving in her clothing and supplies while I focused on showing off my skill with a drill and a screwdriver.  Instead of trying to get one bar to stretch the entire width of an 89 inch wide closet, I decided to break up the projects into three different segments.  This should prevent any future collapse of Melissa’s hanging clothes.

I finished 2 segments of the closet, and I’m sure Melissa was more than impressed.  I was feeling like the man God created me to be until Melissa noticed that the sun was shining a little into the closet I was repairing.  Most closets don’t have windows, and this closet was no exception.  This closet might’ve had a hole leading to the exterior of the house though.  This was great excuse to go back to Lowes!

I really needed an excuse to get my new friend Shane to cut the wood that was too large.  He cut it where I had measured, and he hooked us up with a patch kit for the hole in the closet.  I was just gaining all sorts of manmentum (manly momentum).  I was now prepared to put in two new supports and fill the closet hole.

While Melissa was at work I got some quality man time with a drill and a saw.  I had measured and felt awesome about finally fixing Melissa’s closet, but God had some humbling plans for me.  When I went to insert the new support, of course, it didn’t fit…at all.  I might have been upwards of 5 inches off.  That led me to my workshop/our kitchen.  I had my handy hand-saw ready to do some work.

After a solid 30 minutes of cutting I was ready to put it in!  Sure enough, it was still just a little too big.  So I spent another 15 minutes cutting 1 inch off that stupid piece of wood.  When I put that in the closet, it still didn’t quite cut it (get it?).  SO I’m back in the kitchen cutting. And cutting. And cutting.

Finally, it fit!! The rest is a breeze right? Wrong. Turns out I’m stronger than the very metal that has made some of the screws I was using.  I got the board in there and the particles I had cut off of it as extra support, but there’s still one screw bent and hanging to remind me of humility.

The closet it finished except the hole.  Shane (our new lumberjack friend from home depot) hooked us up with a patch kit.  Dreading a new project I opened the kit and got to work.  5 minutes later I was done, proving to myself that I am all that is man!

The lesson learned here is I don’t have to prove my worth through my carpentry!...because even then I fall short.  I have a loving fiancé who will also be willing to break things for me to fix and a loving God who will always break me because I’ll always need fixing.