The Gratitude Factor.

I, and I’m sure many others, would like to hear stories of gratitude, stemming from a wood project you did for some one – whether paid, or not. I get a sense of accomplishment and pride with pieces I’ve done that I really like; the frosting on the cake is when the recipient is wowed. I’d like to hear stories from you guys! Here’s one from me:

A project I did this summer, found here, was for the pastor of a small, rural church in upstate New York. A good friend of mine attends the church, and is pretty good friends with the pastor. The problem was that the pastor only had this metal, roll-around thingy (that looked like it was a musician’s stand), to place his Bible and other materials needed for his sermon that day, and they would often fall off, or he’d run out of room.

Well, long story short, my friend was talking with the pastor about the issue, and my name came up, that I do some decent woodworking, and so on, and I was contracted to do the lectern. Being a church, I told them I would donate the time, if they bought the materials. Agreed.

I got the project done in a few months, and about $300 over budget. My fault – my estimation was awful, and I wasted a little too much lumber. This was before I got familiar with Sketchup! Anyhow, brought the lectern up, and presented it to the pastor. He was overwhelmed – even had tears in his eyes (WOW). Seems he’d been asking his congregation to get him one for years…and now this really nice one comes along! He just kept saying “Wow, wow….” – I could tell he was really bowled over. Cool.

So we settled up on the money, and his treasurer gives me the additional $300, plus another $300! I told my friend that if they had wanted to give me a little thank-you money, $100 would have been fine (he’d said earlier they would probably insist). I felt really good about the whole deal.

Well, about 2 months after that, I get a thank-you card in the mail, from the pastor, again saying how much he loves it, and other people have been commenting on it, etc…and sends me another $200! Wow, I was really bowled over. Honestly, I needed the money…had some unexpected bills. Guess God was doing a little payback.. :)

So that’s my story…made me really good about that project, how it will serve (hopefully well) God’s purposes.

I’d like to hear you stories as well!

-- -Be Blessed!, Patrick