Scaffolding
The banging has finally stopped, and the workers have finished nailing sheets of tin around the eaves of our house. The space under the roof had been open, and a community of pigeons had made their homes in our landlord’s attic. Now the birds have been evicted, and it is usable storage space.
Outside the right window, can you see the legs of the worker?
Instead of using ladders on the outside of the house, the workers erected a type of scaffolding we had never seen before. In each room of our upstairs apartment, they placed thick beams sticking out the windows and stacked them together in the center of the room, bracing them from floor to ceiling. They then added beams on the outside, across the ends, providing a place to stand for work at roof level. Watching this being set up, it looked crazy, but it’s normal construction practice here. In fact, the whole process was relatively efficient, and the work was done with no injuries!
As I watched these guys climbing out on the beams, that familiar feeling surfaced again in my heart—it’s risky. In the last few weeks I’ve faced some new challenges that feel something like climbing out a window on a wobbly piece of wood with a long drop beneath me. Is my scaffolding put together right? Did I use sturdy wood? Did I brace it strongly enough in the center? I’m deeply grateful for the thoughts and prayers of my family and friends; they make up the spiritual and emotional scaffolding under my feet.
Posted in Uncategorized by Lisa