RAIN DELAY

When Ben and I arrived at camp on Friday afternoon, August 30th, after spending the rain day in Fort McMurray, we met with a big surprise. It had rained hard most of the night and was still raining when we arrived back at camp on Friday afternoon, so the oil company CNRL, who contracted the company I work for to build the airstrip, decided to close down the job for a couple of days. That meant that we had to leave camp because the oil company pays the cost of our stay in camp. No work means no camp, which means no food and no bed. In a moment Ben and I, along with 60 others, became displaced persons, wandering workmen without a home.

Resourceful Ben rented a hotel room in Lac La Biche for us for two days. We did not want to drive 10 hours to Nipawin, SK only to be called back to work in a couple of days. We spent a leisurely Friday evening and Saturday, eating and sleeping. I found an Evangelical Free Church to visit on Sunday morning but at 9 am Ben got a call to come back to work and pump water from the flooded work site. The job site was severely flooded from over 3 inches of rain. Clay does not drain well so pumping was in order. So Sunday I drove back to camp with Ben but I was not called back to work so I picked up my truck and drove 10 hours to Nipawin to stay at Ben's house (Ashley his wife was in Welland visiting Gloria and the family). On Monday I was able to visit relatives in Nipawin. On Tuesday I was called back to work and drove 9 hours to camp and started work on Wednesday morning, September 4th.

This rain delay may sound tragic but here are a couple of facts that provide a change of perspective. I had worked for 21 days in a row and the rain day counted as a standby day, so that is 22 days. After 24 days we need to take 4 or 5 days off to reset. I was ready to reset physically and by the number of days I had worked. My time off counted as my reset and I got some good rest and got to visit relatives in Nipawin and see the renovations at Ben's house. Now I am back working on my next 24 days.

Knowing all the facts sometimes gives a different perspective to circumstances. Knowing that God is Sovereign is one of those facts which allows the Christian to have a different perspective on circumstances than the unbeliever. Remember when you encounter people in their circumstances you may not know all the facts so lets hold our judgements until we find out all we can and wait on God for Christ's response.