FIXING A HOLE

"Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men." (2 Corinthians 8:21)

I can't remember if it was the entire Beatles group who recorded a song called, "Fixing a Hole" or if it was Paul McCartney & Wings.  Somehow, I think it was The Beatles.  Anyway, I KNOW it was the Beatles who (in the song, "A Day in the Life") sang, "I read the news today oh, boy, 4000 holes in Blatford, Lancashire, and though the holes were rather small, they had to count them all; now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall..."

Either of those songs would be a good theme song for the story I'm going to tell here.  AND, I'm not just writing this for the fun of it.  I really value your opinions on this one.  Either post a comment, or e-mail me, or both.

In the late Summer of 2005, I wrote a column for the MetroWest Daily News about "what I do all day".  Many who read that were probably surprised at how many "menial" tasks I do and that at least 50% of what I do in my "clergy job" has absolutely nothing to do with God or the Bible or anything like that.  This situation is certainly in that "secular" category.

Our church's parking lot is several decades old as is our church building.  (It's the former U.A.W. Union Hall and the property borders that of the Chicken Bone Saloon off Route 135 in downtown Framingham.)  One of the most annoying things about our parking lot is that we've had four sinkholes open up in the parking lot since the early summer of 1996.  Specifically, two in 1996, one in 1998, and one this year.  This year's sinkhole opened up in February.  There's a paving company right around the corner from us on Taylor Street.  I guess you're not supposed to name specific businesses on AOL's blogs, although I've done it a number of times, but just to be a good boy I'll call it the Taylor St. Paving Co., although that's not their real name.  The Taylor St. Paving Co. fixed  each of the holes from the '90s, digging, filling, and patching with asphalt.  Each of the repairs has stood up pretty well.  When the hole opened up in February (in the midst of a cold driving rain storm) I went over to the Taylor St. Paving Co. and asked them if they'd put a metal plate over the hole.  They did and I put an orange construction cone on top of it.  A few weeks later, Steve, from the Taylor St. Paving Co. contacted me.  He needed to do a required safety training for his workers, and wondered if he could use our facility to do the training and then they'd repair the hole for free. I thought that was a great idea, and I gave him a tentative "yes".  Unfortunately, the date they HAD to use was a March date in which I was away at a minister's retreat.  I had to decline.

Since then, I've contacted the Taylor St. Paving Co. numerous times- by phone, in person, and by mail.  I even mailed Steve a $10 Dunkin Donuts gift card.  I've asked them to give us an estimate and schedule the work.  They continually assure us they WILL get to it, but nothing happens.  It's now getting to be late September.  The hole has actually gotten a little bigger.  My board is getting restless.  A number of our church people are making comments.  And, actually, I'm getting very annoyed and just wanting to get this done.

My wife recommended I contact a big time paving company and have them do it.  I won't use their real name, but it starts with a "B"  so I'll call them "Big Time Paving Co.".  Big Time Paving Co. has a first-class website.  I e-mailed them asking them to call me.  They did call me and totally blew me off because I'm just a little guy and this is a little job they don't care about.  Talk about feeling insulted!  If I'm ever the pastor of a MegaChurch who wants a paving company to put in a 900-car-lot, do you think I'd EVER  call the Big Time Paving Co.?  Never!

A minister friend recommended a small paving company in central Mass. that once repaired a sinkhole at their church lot for $1500.  Honestly, Taylor St. Paving Co. will do it for around half that.  So, I'm not sure if I should call Small, Costly, But Reliable Paving Co. or not.

Evangelical Christians HATE to use the word "luck" because officially we don't believe in "luck"... it's like a swear word.   But I'm going to break the evangelical Christian rule and say that typically I have terrible luck with contractors, repair men, etc.  I typically get fooled, conned, given "run arounds" etc. because I'm very unhandy and I hate all this kind of stuff.  (Well, I'm actually good at lawn care and pretty good at painting, but at anything else "handy"-FORGET IT!)  In a small church you have to handle all of this kind of junk.  In a big church there are all sorts of people to handle it and you don't typically have to deal with it.

Should I keep bugging Taylor St. Paving Co.?  Do you think it sounds like they REALLY are going to do the job or like they'd like to get rid of me?  Would you call Small, Costly, But Reliable Paving Co. in central Mass.?  Would you solicit the opinions of other pastors?  I thought of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce as our church belongs and the "Chamber" is sort of a brotherhood, but NO paving companies belong to the chamber.

Remember how the Apostle Paul had a thorn in his side?  Well, this is a thorn in my side...actually in my parking lot.  What would you do?