"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary." Isaiah 40:31
One of my favorite scenes in the old television movie, A Christmas Story, is the one where the family has put up the Christmas tree and is ready to plug in the lights. The Old Man (as he is called throughout the film) kneels before a cluster of plugs, cords, cables, and outlet multipliers, trying to figure out where he will plug in the tree. He makes his decision, sacrifices one of the cords, (“Well,” he says, “something’s got to go”), plugs in the tree, and immediately blows the circuit.
Modern electrical codes require more outlets in each room today, and more circuits, but the proliferation of devices and appliances that require outlets for charging have continued to outstrip the underwriters’ capacity to provide space for everything.
Last month the Fire Inspector visited our church and saw what could only be described as the remains of an eagle’s nest sitting at the base of our sound system. He immediately put a nitroglycerine tablet under his tongue, took two puffs off an industrial strength inhaler, fanned himself vigorously with his code book and clipboard, and suggested we might want to consider cleaning up all the cords, cables, and daisy-chained power strips before his next visit.
He gave us two weeks to bring it all up to snuff. I was sad, as I had worked so hard to bring power to all the devices required to worship God in the modern era (and probably the finest eagle’s nest on the block). Furthermore, I don’t do snuff. Still, if that’s what the Inspector wanted, I’d get the job done.
I went online and found a single power strip that would handle all of our devices (and “fat plugs”), re-routed all of the cables and cords, utilizing proper ties, clips, and doo-dads, and created a spreadsheet identifying where every appliance, adaptor, and cable went, and which outlet they were plugged into. Visiting eagles no longer have a place to nest, but that’s the price of safety.
I have to admit that while I might have wanted to do an eye-roll over this “need” to clean up the mess behind the cabinet in the organ loft, it wasn’t all that difficult. It simply took a set of fresh eyes to see what was there, identify the hazards (and yes, I expect a fire marshal to know fire hazards far better than me), and let me know what needed to be done to make everything safer for everyone.
Better Organized
While some folks may decry the “need” for inspectors to “find something wrong” in order to justify their existence, it has been my experience that inspectors know far too well the things that can go wrong when we use “common sense” and ignore the rules. There was nothing there that couldn’t be fixed with a little time, a few items readily available to buy to make things right, and the small amount of elbow grease necessary to get the job done.
The end result is a space that is much neater, better organized, and far safer than it was before.
I learned a long time ago that one can scream and cry and wail and moan all they want to when faced with a task, or they can just shut up and do what’s needed and leave the drama to the Screen Actors Guild. One’s going to have to do what they’ve got to do, so they may as well kick the angst to the curb and just do it.
I find that helpful in life. Stop arguing with life’s umpires. Ask them what they need; ask them what your options are for best results. Stand in their shoes to see what they see and lean on the wisdom and experience they bring to the floor. Working together brings a lot more peace of mind and a lot more safety.
More often than not, I find working WITH others, rather than against them, is a far wiser use of time and resources. It’s a sound investment, if you will, in this, our less-tangled valley.
Keith Axberg writes on matters concerning life and faith. Author of: Who the Blazes is Jesus? Good News for a Vulgar World (available through Amazon in Print and e-book)
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