Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them to the brim.

I once worked in a cabinet shop as an apprentice of sorts, learning the trade of cabinet making. I had experience beforehand of basic carpentry skills from my time working for a home builder, but I learned quickly that there was a big difference in framing a house and building a hand crafted set of cabinets.

The foreman of the shop was a real “Norm Abrams” he could do anything with wood and a patient teacher, but the quality that I now look back and appreciate more now than then was his ability to pay close attention to the details of fine woodworking.

From time to time I would be given the task of sanding the doors. This seemed simple enough especially with the size of belt sander that we used there. Just as I would think that all the joints on the door were smooth of any uneven surfaces here came “Norm” I mean Dave. He would hand me another type of sanding machine that took out the cross grain scratches that the other sander had left behind. I had to be careful not to let this sander dig into the wood or it would leave waves in the surface of the door. “Finally done ,” I thought and here he came again, handing me a third sanding device to take the swirl marks out that I had just left behind as I took out the cross grain scratches that had made when taking out the uneven surface of the door joints. Whew!

As I sanded the surface with this finish sander Dave would point out to me what to look for while sanding, how it was important to look deep into the wood to remove all the scratch marks. “ What scratch marks,” I thought as I stacked the door onto the finished pile that woul then be stained.

As I later stained these doors I quickly saw how important the details are. Each joint showed vividly each scratch that I thought I had removed earlier. I could hear his words in my head, “Look deep into the wood for scratches .” If had listened to him with greater detail I would not have had to complete the whole sanding process again. Oh well, live and learn.

I am impressed every time I read John 2:7 of how the servants filled the waterpots to the brim. They did with great detail what he said to them, not just halfway or how they interpreted what he said , but they listened with great detail . Lets do the same.