Long "Standing" Relationship

Last week we were in revival at Lighthouse of Holiness Church in Haines City, Florida. As I mentioned earlier, we have had a long relationship with this church and Pastor Chris Whiffen and his family.

In fact, our friendship goes back even more years than the church and we are very thankful God brought them into our lives. We have surely been blessed by the kindness and love of these great people.

Bro. Whiffen began Lighthouse in an old Post Office a few miles north of the current location in Davenport in the summer of 1995. At that time, we were living in Ohio and I was working for an interior trim carpenter in the southern Ohio area.

I did not say that I am a trim carpenter, but I was working for a trim carpenter trying to keep up. I hung a lot of interior doors, ran a lot of case, base, chair rail and crown. I also helped build several bookcases and window seats in some of the large houses we worked on, but I could never be considered an expert carpenter.

I do not remember how it came about, but somehow I began to build an oak Bible Stand for Bro. Whiffen's church in December 1995. I had never built anything like it, but I drew a plan, brought together the material and fumbled through it somehow. I built it, stained it and varnished it.

A friend of Bro. Whiffen's from Florida was visiting in the north in late December and swung by Dayton, Ohio and transported it to Florida for me. On New Year's Eve, I flew to Florida and preached behind the new Bible Stand for the first time. 

I have no idea how many revivals I have preached for Bro. Whiffen since then, but I was honored to stand behind it and preach again last week.

I am amazed at the good condition of the Bible Stand after twenty seven+ years and being used thousands of times. A piece of furniture endures a lot of use and abuse in a church.

I asked Bro. Whiffen if it has been refinished and he assured me it had not.

The finish is still perfect even where preachers grab hold of the edges night after night. I see more than my share of Bible Stands up close and it is completely common to see the finish badly worn, especially on the edges. I think that happens because of the sweat and oil from our skin.

The longevity of the finish is a testimony to the three or four coats of oil-based varnish that I used. I remember the varnish we used then smelled up the whole building and was nearly impossible to clean up. 

It probably causes baby salamanders to be crosseyed in California and is illegal now, but it sure protects the surface on oak Bible Stands.

Twenty seven years is not eternity, but at least I may have made a lasting impact in one thing.😍

Thank you for stopping by today.

Davy