You Want Me To Do What?

"When the Lord will have compassion Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.  (Isaiah 14:1)

Hey Gang:  Our task In Israel was easily described: "Turn this mess into a living environment for the work groups that would follow.   As I mentioned, the restoration of the walls was considered a top priority, for it was prophesied that that should happen (Isa 58:12; 60:10).  Our recruiter and leader did well, for we had a crew of seasoned wall-builders present.  But there was a far greater need that had to be addressed immediately - the sewer lines from the main restroom facility were plugged, which rendered the facility inoperable.

When I saw the exulted leader approaching with shovel in hand, I got the distinct feeling that yours truly was going to be the router-rooter man that day.   I could spend a page or two explaining the process in finding the sewer line, and then where it was plugged but will save that for my memoires.  It was not my brain, nor my investigative skills that found the area of the blocked pipe, but rather my nose.  One does not have to be a brain surgeon or rocket scientist to know when they come upon open sewage.

To make a long story very short, finding irrigation pipes to use as a new line was a piece of cake: it was preparing the ground to receive the pipe that was the problem.  When one thinks of a desert they think of sand, at least that is what I thought, before my first trip to the desert.   But such is not necessarily the case. It can be very hard, until you get down six inches or so.    But, due to the liquids that had leaked out of the pipe, the digging process went fairly easy.

Conclusion to the story:  We were able to remove the broken pipe, locate one, the exact same size in the desert, and, as the sun began to set in the west the task was completed and the sewer line was running freely.  At dinner that night, we (the sewer crew) received a standing ovation.

As I mentioned there were no conveniences at the Kibbutz when we arrived, including very limited cooking supplies.  The second night fried chicken was on the menu for dinner.  Problem, there were no frying pans or grills to fry enough chicken for 56 people.  

Once again our exulted leader came to the rescue, he sent a crew of people with torch in hand to cut the bottom out of an Egyptian tank that was located a couple miles from the Kibbutz.  Now, one would think, (I surely did),that the plating on a tank would be so thick it would take forever to get it hot enough to fry chicken.  Such was not the case - it worked perfectly and a fine meal of fried chicken was enjoyed by all.

Ir Ovot, which has been renamed Tel Tamar Now Tamar Biblical Park,  was originally called Oboth.  It is located in the wilderness of Zin, four miles from the Jordan border.  When a town is given the title "tel" it means there are past cities buried under the current city.  Cities were located near water supplies, which are very scarce in the Wilderness of Zin. 

My second assigned chore, no less challenging than the sewer project, was more dangerous.  As I mentioned, there were literally miles of Constantia wire strung throughout the Kibbutz, and remember lighting was a problem.  The second item of business was - get rid of the wire.  Fortunately our leader had included heavy gloves in his inventory, and the wire project was completed without injury.

As I walked around the Kibbitz one morning, it was pure joy to see a banker repairing a light fixture, a doctor, driving a pay loader removing old armaments from the grounds, a school principle replacing windows in the mobile homes.  Someone remarked that it was a wonderful experience to take two pieces of junk and make one piece of junk that worked.

But the pure joy of the experience was "…the joy of the Lord was our strength" (Neh. 8:10).  The only time clock was the sun, when it went down, we quit, and when it rose in the morning, we went back to work.  I believe I learned more pure Scripture during that period of my life than at any other one time.  I learned the pure joy of giving even when given the assignment was to fix the sewer!  The Apostle Paul wrote, “Whatever you do, do heartily as unto the Lord, not for men” (Col 3:23).

Blessings,

Gramps