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Milligan Habitat for Humanity students cooperate with a group from Illinois to build a three-bedroom house in LaGrange, Ga. on the site of a future Jimmy Carter workcamp. |
-Photo by Annie Tipton |
Maybe it was the chill of the Camp Viola cabin where we slept or the anticipation of the day’s activities that helped us rise at this early hour, but for me it was the chance to swing my $4.44 Wal-Mart hammer for Jesus.
Twelve of my peers and I drove six hours to LaGrange, Ga. in a Milligan van that pulled a small trailer with our luggage, bedding and tools. There we met up with a group of 30 people from a Habitat for Humanity chapter from Tuscola, Ill.
It was then that our week of blessings began.
Our task that week was a simple one: build a house on the concrete slab that had already been poured. As a group of college students, we may not have been very knowledgeable when it came to construction, but we were willing to work, and work we did.
Working side by side with a group of perfect strangers (we barely had time to exchange names with the other people before we started work at 8 a.m. on Monday) and dealing with a generation gap of about 40 years (many of the men and women we worked with were in their 50's or 60's) were just two of the obstacles that stood in the way of a good work week. There is not a doubt in my mind that the Habitat chapter from Illinois was a little wary of us at first.
I was concerned too. When I thought about how I was representing myself, Milligan Habitat for Humanity, Milligan College, my family and most importantly Christ, I wanted to make a good first impression. That meant work first and fellowship later.
The two groups quickly meshed into one. We met Adlai, 50, who often seemed to be a lovable child trapped in a half-century old body. This man of God talked openly about his Christian walk, the importance of his personal relationship with Jesus and he never let a word of encouragement go unspoken.
We met Bob, whose nickname was “Punk,” who took us under his expert carpenter's wing with as much patience as a father has with his children. We played guitars and sang old gospel songs with Betty, Wally, Shirley and Dick. After an evening of singing, we said our goodnights and heard Betty comment, “I think we just bridged a generation gap!”
At the work site, we measured, climbed, sawed, hammered, ate and laughed together as one big family. We tended each other's wounds when a hammer slipped off the nail head and onto a finger, and we encouraged each other during the most difficult of tasks.
From the skeleton of the interior and exterior walls to the sheeting, roof tresses, shingles, windows and doors and siding and soffit, we watched and participated in the transformation of a large stack of building materials into a beautiful three-bedroom home.
It was a spring break that many of our peers may wonder why we sacrificed a week of relaxation on a sunny beach for the sweat of hauling plywood around a work site, picking nails out of the sticky Georgia clay and waking up at 6:45 a.m. every day. I believe I speak for my fellow Milligan hammer swingers- it was the largest blessing and the most fun I have had in quite awhile.
The family that purchases the house we built last week will undoubtedly enjoy the physical shelter and the beauty of the building. I have no doubt that memories will be made, stories told, and love expressed between the studs that we constructed.
Somehow, I think the 13 of us got the better end of the deal.