My Strong Silent Mysterious Man shared this with us last night. I hope I can record it and capture as much meaning as I felt when I heard it; and explain it with enough detail that it makes sense.
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We are very regular at gathering every morning for family prayer... no matter how early, we all get up before the first person has to leave the house. Jim will make the assignment for who should say it each time, but we typically take turns and go in order of age and start over again... on a rare occasion he will change that up for a specific prayer request.
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I hate to admit, but with my struggles to try and find inspiration in my own life lately, thinking of things to pray about has been hard. Not hard, but hard to be different and sincere everyday, so that it isn't the same ol' open a can and there is my prayer. I really try and be thoughtful about what I am communicating to God in thanking him and especially asking him for help with things.
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Friday it was my turn, and with all that Jim had shared going on with his job, they have specific deadlines and things weren't falling into place like they should, and he was feeling pressure that if it didn't come together quickly, he could potentially be working 24/7 to meet the deadline.
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I felt like I should be more specific for him, so that he would have the help he needed to take some of the worries off his shoulders.
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So I did just that, I wasn't sure how to word it, but I did pray for safety (we always try to remember to include that), and for him to have clarity to know in his mind how things should come together, and for the workers with him to be supportive, and work together smoothly so that the job could be completed on time.
As the pieces of the first generator have come together...
He has tried to explain all of the details to me, and I have an understanding it is not like just bolting some parts together. I remember one particular day he said they lost 3 days of work because when a section was put together the Chinese who are there to oversee the installation had put on some seals and they were not clean, but had metal shavings on them... and the whole thing had to be taken apart and cleaned and new seals ordered and then start over putting it back together again....
There is allot of aligning and precision in putting it together...
I suppose when big ol' parts like this start moving you want everything where it should be, or it throws things off in a big way. I imagined like when my washer goes out of tilt, what a racket it makes, and the potential for something to get broken is great!
So Friday night as he explained, underneath this generator is bearings that some of the parts rotate on... these bearings hold and balance weight like in the hundreds of thousands of pounds. And the balance is done at hundreds of thousandths of an inch. So part of the process is that it is lifted up and shims that are like the thickness of a hair spliced into 10 sections the size of a pie are placed under a particular section... he said they are like the material of those Mylar balloons, only very very thin. So they are durable, but not indestructible, and so flimsy, to slide one into an area between parts was really tricky.
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He watched as one of the workers tried and tried, and the bottom part has grease on it to make it even trickier, the thin shim was catching on the grease and not sliding in, and then he would take a ruler to try and straighten it out under the 100,000 lb. part that was lifted above them. Apparently part of the problem was that they didn't have clearance to lift it any higher. So not even enough room to put your hand inside to straighten it out. The thin shim was catching and not laying flat and not sliding under easily. It was taking allot of patience and trial and error, over and over and over again, to no avail.
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Their were a few suggestions that hadn't worked over a period of time; including the translator sharing from the Chinese guys that in their factory, they have a guy that is trained to actually sand down the part on the other side, instead of shimming up this side... which would take quite a precise hand, they explained all the many laborers they had that worked to get it balanced. Jim just told them, we just have "us", we don't have that "guy" who is hired just to know how to do that, or all the laborers either. So back to the drawing board with each suggestion...
And after watching and listening for a while, Jim had a thought and told the worker to roll up the shim... he said he was hesitant and looked at Jim like he was crazy, but with some cohersing he rolls up the shim,and then lays it on the greased edge of the bottom part and Jim takes the ruler and pushes the edge underneath the section and it smoothed out perfectly, and easily layed right into place. Everyone was shocked and so happy. It was such a relief to have it in place so quickly, and a method to keep working on the balance to perfect it. He said the boss that had done those hundreds of times, said he had never seen it installed that way!! He was really really happy!
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When Jim was telling us, he added... I know allot, and have learned tricks of the trade along the way.... but he said on that day, in that moment... that was not something he knew or had done before... he realized that because of my prayer that morning, that God helped him have the thought in his head that would help them be more efficient and accomplish that task.
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I was crying! What a testimony builder of the power of prayer! To know God knows him and what he needed at that moment, to have asked so specifically for help and received it on that same day. I love God. He is good! He does know us, He knows me! If I will ask, He will provide a way.
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I asked him if he went somewhere and thanked God for the answer.... and he said yes, later from outside on top of the dam, he said a prayer of gratitude!
Mostly he points and explains stuff about generators that I don't understand and would never be able to repeat... it's just cool to see where he works.
