“I Write Unto You, Young Men”

Young Men,

I want to write to you this time about an experience that has helped me a lot, and I hope it will be a benefit to you as well.

We had recently built a greenhouse/sun room addition onto our house (you might find “Paying the Price: The Greenhouse Story” in the Winter 2000 issue of some interest), and now we needed to set up electrical service to this room. In the past, I had leaned pretty heavily on my neighbor, who is an electrician, for help with electrical work around our house, and although he had explained several times to me how to do simple electrical wiring, it just wouldn’t stick in my mind. I could tell that he was eager for me to learn how to do my own wiring work, and I knew it would be valuable to know, so I set out to learn in earnest. I asked questions, I bought a book about electric wiring (there is a book review on it in this issue), and I set myself to the task. The project involved installing an additional service box, a switch, a light fixture, six outlets in the greenhouse and one on the outside, three outlets in the family room adjoining, and a fluorescent light in the girls’ bedroom. The previous summer when we were re-roofing, I had installed (but hadn’t connected to electricity) two attic ventilators, so these were a part of the project as well. Since I was paying a fee for the permit already, I added to the project four outlets on our back porch.

Now each of us has those things that come easily to us, and those things that only come with great difficulty or are trials and vexations to our spirit. I am greatly encouraged by the statement that Brother James makes in his letter, “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are.”* (James 5:17) It goes on to speak of how he earnestly prayed, and God heard his prayers to stop the rain for three and a half years, and then heard his prayers to make it rain again. This man of God, through whom many and great miracles were wrought, was simply a vessel with all the humanity each of us has. I, who write to you, am also a man “subject to like passions” as you, and you will see some of them here.

With some assistance from my son, I spent a Saturday morning working away—crawling in the attic amongst the insulation and roofing nails poking through, drilling holes in the ceiling and walls, stringing wire and tacking it up, removing sections of plywood from the family room wall, and so on. I constantly was facing decisions that seemed far above my wisdom and wits to determine, encountering unexpected obstacles, wondering if it would ever get finished. I became tense and strained. As I told my mother, when she visited that afternoon, I felt like running off somewhere and screaming (see the passions?). It felt awful and overwhelming. I felt like quitting. It had all the classic elements of a spiritual trial!

I took the afternoon off, both from necessity (visitors) and because I knew my nerves were shot. I committed my feelings and the pressures I felt and the unsolved problems to the Lord. Several days later I tackled it again. A couple days later, again, and so on it went. Eventually everything was connected, although in several of the outlets I could barely cram the wires and wire nuts in the box behind the receptacle. It didn’t work right, but my neighbor quickly found the problem and showed me how to arrange the wires better so they fit in the box a little easier. When I hooked up the light in the girl’s room, it was supposed to operate on the switch, but I had connected it wrong so that the light was automatically on. It took another trip to the attic and some rewiring before that worked. In the end, we had an operational system, but the blessings had just begun!

A project to rewire in my barn and shop had been waiting for me for two years. All the lighting and outlets had been on a single circuit, and any time we ran a power tool, the lights dimmed. Now I took on the project of rewiring to put the outlets on two different circuits and the lights on a third circuit. It took me awhile, and I ran into problems, but now I could confidently take each one on and keep going, knowing that the victory was sure in the end.

I then needed to take down my old wellhouse and put up a new one, and the pump circuit and outlets there had to be reconnected with some rewiring. When I finished, the well worked, but the additional outlets didn’t. I was able to find and fix the problem in a few minutes!

Now, my dear young friends, I am writing this to you with two applications in mind.

The first concerns your future roles as problem-solvers around your homes. Some of you are already ahead of me in these areas, but others of you no doubt find it easier to avoid many of the “hands-on” things because they challenge you more than you are comfortable with. Be encouraged to tackle things with patience and endurance, looking to the Lord to supply your lack, and whether you are a bookworm who has never had a clue nor an interest in practical skills, or whether you have mastered many but avoided others, the Lord can help you be a greater blessing in your present and future families. The present pain is worth the future blessings.

The second is more important yet. In our spiritual lives, we face many giants and mountains. There are things that seem too big, too difficult, too something or other to make it through. I continue to face these things in my life. The key to victory is “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”* (Matthew 19:26) God has a way. He will sometimes level the mountain in a moment, and sometimes will lead you by unknown paths through hidden places until you suddenly find that you have won through to the goal. But you must commit to trusting and following Him. In the midst of my wiring problems, I felt despair and perplexity, but I was committed to getting the job accomplished by the grace of God, and one day it was. The very things that caused me the greatest perplexity and despair were the things God used to equip me, so that I could face the later challenges with confidence. The very things that try you greatly and seem the hardest to bear, and perhaps seem only useless or damaging—if you will commit them to God and humble yourself to go through them with God’s help—God will cause them to yield great benefits to you.