Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
AWAKE O ZION!
The Hall needed restoration and redevelopment. (That was
also true of its residents!) We formed a building team that
summer. Kelly knew the elements of building and Alan the
busker had done some bricklaying. It was a beginning. We
had to lay new sewers quickly so Pete and I helped dig the
trenches. I nearly cut Kelly’s finger off with a spade.
We got a grant to convert the house into flats, which gave
the families some privacy. Everywhere there was reconstruction.
It seemed to symbolise what God was doing with us. In
the chaos we were losing grip on our private life and possessions.
Often we moved rooms. The building team advanced
through the house and grounds leaving a trail of trenches,
wreckage and rubble. Kelly’s office was the back pocket of
his jeans.
Pete was a guitar tutor and hunted for the place of least
dust and noise. It didn’t really exist! We would arrive home
from work to find dust everywhere — or worse. It could be a
hole in the wall and bricks on your bed. Alan wasn’t too concerned
about the niceties of fine living. The motto of the building
team was, ‘It’s slow — but it’s rough!’ Pete painted his
favourite text on the wall:
‘Do all things without murmuring or complaining!’
Every Friday night, we swept the place for the weekend,
but the dust from upstairs fell downstairs through the cracks
in the floorboards. At one stage there weren’t any floorboards,
and one sister had to walk the plank to get to her room! The
fun was when it rained. We would all be crammed into the
dining room, perhaps, and at the sound of rain we would each
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