Dan Holland introduces some folk we might meet …..
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might (Eccles 9v 10a)
The ‘Shirehorse’ has been faithfully ploughing the same furrow for decades. He doesn’t approve all this kerfuffle about ‘demons’ and ‘deliverance’. He’s never seen demons, and thinks this is just a huge distraction from the important Church work that needs to go on. Give a new Christian some proper work to do, and they’ll forget all that nonsense.
‘Grab a hammer and knock those nails in’ shouts Shirehorse across the building site. He is delighted to see someone arrive in work clothes intent on working. Not just checking out the changes.
The church extension project has been going for two months. Originally there was a flurry of excitement and activity, not all of it productive! The first Saturday work party involved 12 church members, Shirehorse was given five cups of coffee in 3 hours until he couldn’t take any more. A week later Shirehorse was the only one showing up to work.
Shirehorse is a police officer, well-known and well-liked in the town. Finishing his 10 hour shift he goes straight to the church extension, changes his clothes and puts in 3 hours of work. He is happy to plug away with the work. After all, no-one else prioritises getting the job finished before Christmas. Still, if he can do a couple of all-nighters, Shirehorse just might be able to get it done single-handed.His construction skills have saved the church tens of thousands of pounds.
What perturbs him is the church ‘fall-outs’ that are happening. He’s not remotely interested in gossip or politics but apparently the church has split into three factions who are having acrimonious meetings. One faction say the church never should have started the extension work, it might even be sinful. The second faction insists ‘The Lord said it must be done now! Why are you waiting?’ The third group are fixated on the choice of carpet; it ‘must’ be blue to tone with the rest of the building. If it is not, they say they will seriously have to reconsider their position in the church. Finally, the pastor has been noticeably absent. When he does appear, he seems edgy and distracted. Someone even suggested he might be going on a three month sabbatical, his nerves are so bad.
So Shirehorse ploughs faithfully on, without any fuss or recognition, simply hoping that there will be a church and a pastor left to enjoy the extension when he finally finishes it. ‘Perhaps some hard work might distract them’, he thinks.
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Dan Holland is a UK missionary with Through Faith Missions (‘TFM’). He wrote “Through the Tunnel – Free at Last” published by PUSH Publishing, as his personal testimony.
Recently Dan has produced two short books – “Caring for the New Christian” and “Growing as a New Christian” (for local fellowships, and for the new ‘convert’, respectively). Links here:
https://christian-publications-int.com/CaringForNewChristians.html
https://christian-publications-int.com/GrowingAsANewChristian.html
The above article, and any that follow, are based on characters highlighted in both books.
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