Faith Words: A Plan That Works

We bought a portable storage building last winter and have been trying to find time to assemble it ever since. Finally, we blocked out a segment of time during which we figured we could get it done.

Have you ever looked at a kit and thought:  Piece of cake! We can do that in no time.  Yeah, well, we did, too, with this storage building kit.

Actually, the problem wasn't so much the kit as it was the extension.  We were so confident in our construction abilities that we ordered a basic kit plus a 3-foot extension.  But as Burt said in Tremors 2:  We were denied some critical, need-to-know information!

We opened all the boxes, separated all the parts, placed them carefully in a container so we wouldn't lose them and gathered our tools.  Next, we got busy on the pre-assembly sections as outlined in the construction manual. I'm pretty good at instructions and pictures but it took us an hour to figure out how to install the windows in the doors.  Once that was behind us, we had it down. Y'all would've been so proud of me and the way I installed the skylights in each roof section and the beam supports in the headers.  I looked like a pro.

Everything was going so well till I turned the page and tried to pre-assembly the beam itself.  We'd have been all right if we had just stuck to the basic kit.  But the addition of the extension is where we got into trouble.

They changed the hardware that connects the extension with the basic kit.  My first clue should have been the way the parts like screws, nuts, bolts, etc. were numbered differently in the manual that came with the basic kit compared to the numbers in the manual for the extension.

Thankfully, I still had the blue sheet that stated:  "Having Trouble?  We Can Help.  Before you return it...Contact Us"  So, I did.

That's when I found out that as a part of moving the manufacturing of the metal parts back to the US, they had tweaked them ever so slightly, for the better, I'm sure. The redesign changed the way the extension was connected to the shed and we had been sold an old shed kit and a new extension.  So sorry!  What it meant to us was, most of the hardware we had was now junk.

But you've got to hand it to them, the customer service guy cheerfully assured me that all hope was not lost.  He had a solution.  The company must have foreseen this problem because he told me that he had a list of all the new/replacement parts I'd need and he put in an order to send them out immediately.  Problem solved.  For him!

Still, I have hope that once all the correct parts and pieces arrive, we'll be able to complete assembling the much awaited storage shed.  I think I'll have an open house and give tours.

Our dear heavenly Father's plan was always cohesive with all the right parts and pieces available at the exact time each was needed.  The new covenant fits in with the old covenant and actually finishes what it set out to do from the beginning.  We still need to phone in and ask for help with assembly from time to time.  But the instruction manual is complete and hasn't changed since it was first written.

God has a plan.  We just need to follow the instructions. One day, He's going to have a big open house with tours and a sit-down feast.  I plan on being there.  You're invited, too!  Don't forget.

R.S.V.P.

Patrice

Roans 8:28 (NIV)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.