Unexpected Consequences

For a remodel (or any do-it-yourself project), it will take twice as long and cost twice as much as originally thought.

Our villa in Palm Springs was built in 2001, and I don’t think our front door had ever been repainted.  It was a faded beige with chipped paint, and kind of embarrassing.  So let’s paint it!  How hard can it be?  “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower [paint a door].  Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?  For if you lay the foundation [paint the door] and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you.”  (Luke 14:28-29)  Well, no problem here.  I’m going to finish it, and no ridicule.

The plan: Remove the door hardware, prep the door with some light sanding, apply two coats of paint and have it done by the evening.

The reality was so much different.  The door prep was straight forward.  The first coat didn’t cover very well, even though it was chocolate brown over faded beige.  Four hours later, I applied the second coat and it seemed to cover very well.  See!  No problem.  Project delivered on budget and on time.  The paint was dry to the touch.

Around 10 PM we closed the door for the night and went to bed.  The next morning, we opened the front door to admire our work.  The weatherstripping had cut a vertical trench in the dry but not yet cured paint.  The job was no longer pristine.  It was marred and imperfect.

No problem!  I’ll remove the weather stripping, sand the affected area smooth and repaint.  This is an 8-foot door.  The weatherstripping was screwed onto the sides of door jamb, and it seemed like there were a hundred tiny screws holding it on.  Eventually it came off, but I realized that it also had never been replaced.  The rubber gasket was hard and brittle.  No problem.  I’ll get new ones at Home Depot.  That will be better.

Meanwhile, I sanded and repainted the perimeter of the door.  It turned out pretty well.  I was pleased.  Well, it wasn’t completely on time or on budget, but still…

Oops!  I looked behind the door and there was paint splatter on the adjacent wall.  The wall was off-white; the splatter was brown.  If I had noticed it earlier, I could have cleaned it with a damp cloth.  But this was hours old.  It wouldn’t even come off with Goof-Off.  I tried touch-up paint, but it just made it worse.  I decided to repaint the wall.  It took me a while, but I found paint that was close.  Several hours and two rolls of masking tape later, the wall was done and it looked great.  And so did the door.  Now to get new weather stripping at Home Depot.

This was an older style of weather stripping and Home Depot only had it for the 6’-8” doors.  Ours is 8-foot.  No problem.  I’ll go to Lowe’s.  Nope.  Not there.  No problem.  I’ll go online to Amazon.  Nope.  Expanded to the entire internet.  Nope.  If they do make this type of weather stripping for an 8-foot door, I couldn’t find it.

Time to go to Plan B.  I started looking for adhesive weather stripping.  I eventually found some on-line and ordered it, but that left another issue.  The area of the door jamb that had the old weather stripping needed to have the screw holes filled with putty, sanded and painted (two coats).  Sigh.  My project is taking five times as long as I thought and costing at least three times what I had estimated.  “Consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds.” (James 1:1-2)

Painting the door took longer than we thought, but in the end, we are pleased with the results and enjoying it.  Like so many other things in my life, I will soon forget all the obstacles, mistakes, hiccups and errors involved with painting the door.  In time, I will only remember the door, how good it looks and how much we are enjoying it.

But, Bob, where is the sermon illustration?  Where is the life lesson?

"Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”  (James 1:3)

As with many things in my life, it would have been so easy to give up on this.  I could have told myself, “It isn’t that important.  Nobody will notice the splatter.  I can make do with the old weather stripping.”  I could say the same about my family, work, congregation, faith.  But, I want to obey God, persevere to the end and enjoy His blessings.  Just like I want to enjoy our freshly painted front door.