Count the Cost

Many years ago, I had an encounter with a mop. I was part of a coalition to restore parole to Washington State’s criminal justice code. One of our projects was an awareness-raising event for the broader community. I booked the Rainier Arts Center for a Saturday afternoon.

The large hall was filled to overflowing. Roger Goodman, Washington Representative for the 45th district was our keynote speaker. We heard from formerly incarcerated men and women, and family members of incarcerated. It was a successful event, though only a drop in the bucket in the larger scheme of things.

Around 5pm or so after the event, I and others bagged all the garbage, wiped down the kitchen, put up the chairs and headed for the door. I was the last one to leave.

Well, I was about to leave, when the building manager stopped me, and pointed out a bucket and mop standing by. “Renters have to mop the floor.”

Aside from the fact I was dead tired, I had guests at the house waiting for dinner - friends who had come from England, a very rare visit, dropping by for just one night. They had presumably found the key left in a planter, let themselves in, grabbed a drink and were relaxing on the back patio until we could get home and make some dinner. I hoped Kent, who had left a little before me, would be there soon to play host.

I started swinging the mop. It was a very heavy mop. After making my way down one strip of the floor, not even a yard wide, my shoulders were aching. I kept at it, with occasional pauses, under the glowering gaze of the building rep. He wanted to get home too. Finally, he said the magic words, “Ok, that’s enough,” though I wasn’t really done.

What comes to my mind now looking back is Jesus saying,

“For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Luke 14:28-30

I definitely arranged the venue without understanding the mopping requirement. And felt pretty ridiculous.

Even in big things, like marriage and having children, taking a job or starting a business, I have to say I often had no inkling of all that it would really demand of me. They were all leaps of faith in a way.

And how about the biggest leap of all? Believing in Jesus Christ? Back then, when I was in high school, a small tract was considered sufficient information for a life commitment. I didn’t count the cost. Certainly not as Jesus puts it here:

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:26-27

I do try to give decisions due diligence, to be wise and careful. But there’s so much I don’t see. Like a child, I have to keep trusting God, day by day, that He’ll carry me through even a cross. And a mop.