This weekend, I was seventeen again.
You see, when I was seventeen, I was working my first (and last?) real job, for Lynn Mansur, the father of a friend and a deacon at our church who owned a landscaping company. I learned so much in those summers of sunburn, grass, and pre-emergent; working hard while I watched my boss minister to ex-cons and drug addicts he hired.
In God's serendipity, Lynn now leads the missions committee at ParkPlaza that helps support our ministry. He and his amazing wife, Linda, came down for a whirlwind of construction and encouragement.
In pure Lynn fashion, he got more done in a day and a half than a ten man team, and turned his work into ministry. While we banged away, building a counter and a stage for the outreach center, he made sure every kid in the neighborhood was included and got to take a crack at driving nails.
I couldn't help but remember being seventeen again, watching this man I respect work hard, yet always with an eye for ministry. The Mansurs' visit will have a lasting impact, as the kids are already asking: "Hey. Where'd the carpintero and la otra Linda go?"
3 comments:
I've been thinking of you!! I'm so thankful for Linda and your carpenter mentor and M & B that can come be with you - yeah for encouragers!! God is good!
we love you!
Lisa O
Thank you Lynn and Linda for loving and mentoring our children. Thank you for your life-long influence. Interesting that one of the first "jobs" was for someone with a carpenter's expertise.......a carpenter, sharing THE carpenter with those around him.
Love You forever,
mom
TJ! Your blog has got to stop making me cry! Actually, I love to read it precisely because it has that effect of putting me in touch with things that are so easy to bury in our busy N. American lives.
Thank you for this post, for the way you cared for my parents last week, and for the way you carry out Christ's love. I'm going to start calling my dad "el carpintero" now.
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