In Haiti recently I was watching the process of mixing the elements to make the concrete and the balance that has to take place with the parts. I was amazed at the carefulness and yet the ease at which they seem to make the concrete. You start with sand, rock and cement; you have to be sure to have the right mixture of these elements. As I was watching the beauty in the mixing; it made me think of the process of living and working where God leads you. The elements make me think of the Creator, Spirit, and Friend. You need all these parts for it to ‘work’ correctly. Then you add the water for everything to come together - that is you. The water is added slowly and mixed carefully to what had already been put together. Then there is the hard work and precision that needs to happen. It is difficult to stir that water with the other elements to make things come together to make something concrete. As I said earlier watching the Haitians mix this concrete with ease made me think of all this. So I thought I need to try my hand at mixing that concrete again – maybe it wasn’t that hard. So at one of our construction sites the other day I tried again – and again – it was really hard work and I couldn’t make it look as easy as the Haitians did. Isn’t this the way that we see people ‘working’ for God. There are many people in my life that I have admired for the things they are doing, by following their dreams and following God’s plan for their lives. And somehow they make it look easy. And some even talk about how they just follow where God leads and then put in the work. But what we don’t see is how they first struggled with learning the process and the balance of mixing the concrete so it will be strong and last.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Mixing Concrete
There is a specific process to mixing concrete. The Haitians work hard at this process, as well as other countries that don’t have a big machine to mix it for them. I have mixed concrete myself by hand in Mexico on a mission trip. Despite our high school and college boys that were on the trip with us making it look easy, it is very, very hard work! I actually only did it for a short time, and I was exhausted. In Costa Rica we had to mix a lot of cement so we paid the extra money as a team to rent a little cement mixer to make things easier. Although the locals didn’t think it was worth the money if you could do it yourself by hand. 
In Haiti recently I was watching the process of mixing the elements to make the concrete and the balance that has to take place with the parts. I was amazed at the carefulness and yet the ease at which they seem to make the concrete. You start with sand, rock and cement; you have to be sure to have the right mixture of these elements. As I was watching the beauty in the mixing; it made me think of the process of living and working where God leads you. The elements make me think of the Creator, Spirit, and Friend. You need all these parts for it to ‘work’ correctly. Then you add the water for everything to come together - that is you. The water is added slowly and mixed carefully to what had already been put together. Then there is the hard work and precision that needs to happen. It is difficult to stir that water with the other elements to make things come together to make something concrete. As I said earlier watching the Haitians mix this concrete with ease made me think of all this. So I thought I need to try my hand at mixing that concrete again – maybe it wasn’t that hard. So at one of our construction sites the other day I tried again – and again – it was really hard work and I couldn’t make it look as easy as the Haitians did. Isn’t this the way that we see people ‘working’ for God. There are many people in my life that I have admired for the things they are doing, by following their dreams and following God’s plan for their lives. And somehow they make it look easy. And some even talk about how they just follow where God leads and then put in the work. But what we don’t see is how they first struggled with learning the process and the balance of mixing the concrete so it will be strong and last.
In Haiti recently I was watching the process of mixing the elements to make the concrete and the balance that has to take place with the parts. I was amazed at the carefulness and yet the ease at which they seem to make the concrete. You start with sand, rock and cement; you have to be sure to have the right mixture of these elements. As I was watching the beauty in the mixing; it made me think of the process of living and working where God leads you. The elements make me think of the Creator, Spirit, and Friend. You need all these parts for it to ‘work’ correctly. Then you add the water for everything to come together - that is you. The water is added slowly and mixed carefully to what had already been put together. Then there is the hard work and precision that needs to happen. It is difficult to stir that water with the other elements to make things come together to make something concrete. As I said earlier watching the Haitians mix this concrete with ease made me think of all this. So I thought I need to try my hand at mixing that concrete again – maybe it wasn’t that hard. So at one of our construction sites the other day I tried again – and again – it was really hard work and I couldn’t make it look as easy as the Haitians did. Isn’t this the way that we see people ‘working’ for God. There are many people in my life that I have admired for the things they are doing, by following their dreams and following God’s plan for their lives. And somehow they make it look easy. And some even talk about how they just follow where God leads and then put in the work. But what we don’t see is how they first struggled with learning the process and the balance of mixing the concrete so it will be strong and last.
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Angelica,
ReplyDeleteI commend your good work around the world.
Your analogy of concrete is good, but mixing concrete on the ground is a failed method. Particularly in Haiti. Georgia Tech engineers sampled 13 of these hand mixed sites and found the strength of the concrete to be 1/4 of the strength needed.
http://www.theconcretemd.com/Engineering_report.htm