We're Not Roofers

I’m a city boy. I grew up in the city’est of cities - Birmingham, Alabama. 

Several who read this know my father-in-law. He has preached for the same church in a small town for over 60 years. He is a man of faith and tremendous dedication who raised four faithful children. Not only does he preach, he’s farmed. He’s grown stuff and fed out pigs and cows. He’s also a builder. He’s built banks, and church buildings, and businesses, and schools, and houses. Over the last 40 years when we go home he’d take me along on whatever project he was involved in. I learned a lot over the years - like how to stop a full grown hog charging at you - you hit it in the snout with a 2x4. Or how to haul silage or roof a house. 

I was thinking about roofing houses the other day. I think in my next career I’m gonna be a roofer. It’s hot, or cold, it’s risky and can be back-breaking. But what I grew to love about roofing is how very simple and obvious progress is. Put down a square and you see the work you’ve done. Even a single shingle shows itself at advancing on completing the work. 

Part of what makes our role so challenging is that we can go weeks, months, even years and never know if we are really making an impact on an individual, a congregation, even a project. Our work is slow and tedious. It is repetitious. You don’t see week-to-week how someone has grown in faith, in love for others, in commitment to Jesus. 

But on those rare moments when you hear that person you pulled away from the fire pray a fervent prayer, when you see the man you led to the Lord recognized as a Shepherd, when you see a young person who is exhibiting spiritual maturity and dedication - who wants to look at a roof when you can do this? I like roofers and roofing but nothing can take the place when God has, in even a small way, used you to lead a soul to Him. 

We’re not roofers. It’s much harder to see progress. But God is at work as we serve Him. Don’t quit!