Imagine if you will an old grill. It's been a good grill. It's metal green dome-shaped top has held in the smoke of many a polish sausage. These sausages have brought joy to the heart and stomach of many a young man and woman in Poland.
This grill has seen better times. It is rusting in some spot, dented in others. The wheels shake, the legs quiver and all in all it would be considered past its prime if it were in use in any of my friend's houses in the States.
The other day, on the way down to the basement gym I had to pass closely by the grill which is being held in a kind of catch-all storage area. My oversized army pants pockets reached out from leg to apparently shake-hands, polish style, with the grill as I passed. Unfortunately, it seems the grill has caught a kind of leprosy.
The big wooden knob that is supposed to be a kind of handle by which you can grasp the rod which adjusts the height of the grilling surface fell off - into my pocket! I didn't notice it. So, later on I reached into my pocket to get my car keys (car hasn't worked for four days now, but that's a different story) and loe and behold - a wooden knob!
The knob is splitting down the middle. And here's my way of thinking at this moment: "Well, guess that does it - time to get a new grill!" My mind begins to wander as I dream of the kind of grill I'd buy if I were still working and living in the states. I don't dream about the kind of purchases missionaries usually make since we usually do everything to squeeze a nickel till the buffalo dies. But I allow myself to dream not of a coal grill that's 2x2.....but of a gas powered, 8x8 mobile grilling pit. Four separate burners. Two separate grilling surfaces. Two bottles of propane to power its meat grilling fuel.....automatic transmission for easy transport between grilling occasions!
And then The Fixer of Things arrives. He's my coworker and friend Piotr. Piotr has been a polish missionary to Poland for many years - he and his wife Gosia together have served the Lord here for over 10 years. They've learned to take nothing and make it something and to live off that something! He fixes everything.
He asked me to please give him the knob. I wondered what for. He looked and said "A little wood glue and I think I can make this as good as new. I wanted to fix the grill up anyways - put in new screws, tighten the nuts down, lube up the wheels."
And once again, after even 12 years of being a missionary, the cultures clash! I didn't disagree with him or tell him not to, of course. He loves fixing things. But I thought to myself - Why not just get a new one? That one is old. We could get a BETTER one....a BIGGER one.....
But somehow I know in my heart I need more of being a fixer of things, and not just a replacer of things. What about you all?
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