The Carpenter
Luke was real tired of the big city life and all of the hassle
that
goes along with it. His dad had just retired as a union
carpenter.
The family had been saving back money to move into the country.
The problem was finding a place. It seems not too many people
move from the country to the city these days. Everyone wants to
move to the country from the big cities.
Luke had been praying for a place real hard since his dad
retired a
couple weeks ago. Twice in the last week, and in less than a
block
from his house. Luke was beat up and robbed. Once when his
dad sent him to the Newspaper stand on the corner to get the
Sunday paper. Luke sat on the ground after the three other boys
took the fifty cents for the paper and left. He was holding his
nose, to get it to stop bleeding. He looked up and said, God
you
see why I want you to help us find a place in the country.
Luke’s Aunt still lived out in the country in another state. He
told
his dad lets try there. It was a long drive, so his dad called.
He
asked her to check around and let him know. She called back
later
on that night and said, There is a place that maybe for rent on
a old
80 acre farm . It’s been empty for years. Thats all I could
find,
and I don’t know if I can track down the owner or not.
She called again and said, She found the owner and if they
wanted
to move in and fix it up to live in, they could live there rent
free.
The Aunt had told the owner Luke’s dad was a carpenter. She
also
told Luke’s dad it’s in bad shape, you better come look at it
first.
He said, It doesn’t matter, just tell me how to get there. She
gave
him the directions and he wrote them down. Luke went to bed and
gave thanks in prayer for the house in the country. He fell
asleep
thinking of how nice it must be.
The next day they rented a U-haul truck and started loading
stuff
up. Luke worked harder than anyone else packing boxes out to
the
truck. Sometimes he would have to wait for his mom to finish
filling up a box. They got a lot of stuff in that truck, but
would
still have to make another trip.
It was almost 400 miles to where they were going. Luke said,
The
farther away the better I like it, lets go. His dad said, We
will wait
until in the morning, it’s almost dark. Luke explained that the
round things on the front of the truck was headlights, used for
driving at night. But it didn’t change anything, he still had
to wait
until in the morning.
Early the next morning they started on the 400 mile trip. It
was 6
Am. Luke stared waking his mom and dad up at 4:30 Am saying
it’s morning lets go. Luke only gets up that early once a year,
thats on Christmas to open the presents. This was January he
was
11 months early.
It took eight hours to get there in the truck. Luke encouraged
his
dad to drive faster and if they got a ticket he could us the
money
form his allowance to pay for it. His dad stayed the speed
limit. It
was 55 mph most of the way. Around 2 P.M. they found the house.
Aunt May was right, We should have checked it out first. Luke’s
dad said, It would take a month to make it good enough to live
in.
Luke didn’t care, there was hills, trees, a stream, an old barn
and
not a house with in a mile of theirs. It was the best place on
earth.
It was warm for January, about 60 degrees. They got done
unloading and Luke’s dad said, Well if we go a head and leave we
can get back, load up some of the stuff tonight. The rest we
can
load in the morning and come back. This time we will rent a
tow-bar and bring the car.
Luke said, I’ll see you when you get back, I’m staying right
here.
Luke’s mom said, No your not young man. His dad however said
He’s fourteen and I understand him not wanting to go back.
He’ll
be all right, its just over night, we will be back in 24 hours
at the
most.
Luke waved bye at them as they left. His mom unpacked all the
boxes of food and all of the camping equipment. She even had
his
dad put up the tent in the living room before she would leave.
Luke said, What ever it takes mom for you to be happy and so I
get to stay.
He turned on the battery powered T.V. as soon as his parents
left.
It didn’t pick up nothing except the sound of one channel. No
picture at all, just the sound. She told him to stay out of the
old
barn it might fall down, just stay in the house until we get
back she
said. I don’t want you eaten by a bear.
He translated what she said to mean; If a bear comes run in the
house, not the barn. He looked out the door and said, Nope, No
bears around. Across the yard and over the hill he went to
check
out the stream. It was about 20 feet across at its widest spot
and so
clear he could see the bottom, most places.
He could see the house from where he was at the stream. He
said,
If I go up stream and come back down here there is no way to get
lost. He started walking up stream to see what he could see. A
little way up and still on the farm, he found an old saw mill.
What
once was a saw mill a long time ago. He looked it all over real
good and decided he better go back before it got dark.
He found his way back down stream to where he could see the
house. Luke said, See, piece of cake. The wind was starting to
blow and it was getting colder. When he got to the house it
started
to rain. The weather was on the T.V., that was only a radio
here.
It said Freezing rain, falling temperature and a chance of snow
after midnight. Luke looked around at the broken window’s the
door with no locks, now water, no electric and no heat, All he
had
was a propane lantern and a flashlight. Luke was getting
worried.
He watched outside as it got darker and darker. It was still
raining. He lit the lantern and put it on the wood floor in
front of
the tent in the living room. He was using it to warm his hands
by
like a camp fire. It was about midnight, the rain changed to
sleet.
Luke decided this would be a very good time to say an extra
prayer.
He asked that Jesus take care of his mom and dad and keep them
safe on the trip and that he look after him too. The sleet
turned to
snow. Luke dug out some blankets and found the outside
thermometer and hung it on a nail on the wall. He found the
plaque of “The Footprints In The Sand” that his mom had and
hung it up too. He thought every little bit helps.
He found the family Bible and was reading it when a knock came
at the door. He started to just be quiet and see if they would
go
away because he was alone. But he thought about how cold it was
outside. He got up and opened the door. The man standing
didn’t
look harmful, he had a gentle face.
Luke said come in out of the cold and into the cold. I haven’t
got
any heat for you to get warm by. He said I’m not cold but it
looks
like you are. Why don’t you fix those windows? Luke said, My
dad is the carpenter in the family not me. The man said, I used
to
be a carpenter, I can show you how.
Luke started looking through the boxes for some of his dad’s
tools.
He said, We can’t use the power tools, no electric you know. We
have to use the hand saw and hammer, you know the old fashion
tools. The man said, Those are the best.
Luke said, I got everything but boards to nail up, where are we
going to find any boards. The man said, Up stairs in the attic
would be a good place to look. They went up into the attic and
there were all kinds of things up there. Luke said, It looks
like
someone was getting ready to remodel the place and moved off
and left all this stuff up here.
There was cut glass for the windows even a wood heating stove
made out of a 55 gal drum and stove pipes too. They carried the
stove and pipes down first. The man showed Luke how to set it
up. Luke said, It’s snowing we can’t cut any wood where are we
going to get fire wood at. The man said, Did you bring your
sleigh? Luke said, Yes but what good is that? The man said, I
saw a lot of firewood stacked in the barn.
The two took the sled and went to the barn, there was a lot of
stacked fire wood in the barn. They loaded up the sled and went
back to the house. It didn’t take long to get a fire going and
to
warm up all around. They replaced the glass in the all the
broken
windows it didn’t take long. Luke was getting tired and sleepy.
The man said, Rest, get a good night sleep. Luke said, What are
you going to do? The man said I’m enjoying myself, it’s been a
long time since I’ve worked as a carpenter.
Luke went to sleep and when he woke up the next morning the
man was still working. The place looked like a whole
construction
crew had worked all week on it. Luke said, Wow, you do great
work, this place looks like a mansion compared to the way it
looked last night.
The man said, I have your breakfast on the stove. Luke looked
and
on the stove was one of his mom’s pans with the biggest pan cake
in it. The pan cake took up a whole plate. While Luke ate
breakfast, the man put the finishing touches on the house. The
inside was done, the outside needed some paint, but it was ready
to
be lived in.
The sun was warming up outside. The man said, The snow will be
gone in a short time, if your going to build a snow man you
better
hurry. Luke said, I would have been a snow man if you hadn’t
came along. The man said, You have faith, leave the rest to
prayer.
Luke went outside and started making a snowman when the
U-haul came up the road. His mom jumped out of the truck and
said, I prayed all night and your father drove all night to make
sure
you was all right. Luke said, Mom wait till you see the inside
of
the house, boy will you be surprised. He worked all night to
fix it
up. Luke’s dad said, Who is he? Luke said, The man inside.
They went inside, no one was there, they were shocked at how it
looked. Luke’s dad said, Who was this man son? Luke said, All
I
know is he use to be a carpenter.
Luke told them all that happened. His dad told him that he had
went into the attic before he left and all that was there was a
55 gal
drum, but it was not a stove. His tools were on the truck
outside
and not on the first load. His mother said, I looked in the
barn and
there was only some old hay yesterday, and your sled was
broken,
we got rid of it last winter don’t you remember?
Luke woke up and the first words he heard was his mother saying
Thank You Jesus. Luke didn’t understand he was in a hospital
room. His mother explained I’ve prayed all night for your fever
to
break, and for you to be O.K. Your appendix ruptured in your
sleep. Your father drove all night to get back, he went to look
at
the house your aunt told us about. We couldn’t take a chance on
the condition, it had to be good enough to live before we could
move out of the one we live in now. I called your Aunt and she
found your father and told him you were sick, he drove all night
to
get back.
Luke said, Tell me about the house. His dad said, Well, the
inside
is real nice, it has been remolded. The outside needs some
paint is
all. Luke said, Does it have a wood stove? His dad said, An
old
one made out of a 55 gallon drum, why? Luke said, That’s just
how I saw it in my dream only Jesus was there too. Luke’s dad
said, I’m sure he still is, it use to be a country church before
it was
remolded. Luke said, We asked him for a house in the country
and
he gave us one. Jesus said, I had faith, leave the rest to
prayer.
His dad said, That is the most important thing, to have faith.
Written by: Johnny lee
Hall