The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Well, it's been one of those weeks. *sigh* At least it's had some good in it!

Today, our congregation ordained and installed our third youth member on the Session! Now one-quarter of our Session is under the age of 20. What an awesome leap of faith!! Before last year's election, our congregation voted to have a position called Youth Elder - the only distinction between a Youth Elder and an Elder is the length of their terms. And then elected two of our youth to serve on the Session, one in a one year term, one in a standard three year term. So this year - our youth in a one year term was reelected to another one year term, and another youth has been elected to a three year term.

This congregation has a history of taking leaps of faith. I can't help but be excited by the continuing faith journey of a congregation willing to be the first Presbyterian church in the nation to call a woman to serve as associate pastor back in the 60's. And who helped to start several new congregations, including a couple of racial-ethnic congregations (one didn't make it, but I'm impressed that this group took the risk and tried). Now they've embraced the leadership potential of our youth and drawn them into the decision-making for the future of this congregation. WOOHOO!! Next month, one of our youth elders will be our elected commissioner with voice and vote to our presbytery meeting in Huntsville. These wonderful young people are the present and future of not only this congregation, but of an incredible witness to our faith in Jesus Christ. Who couldn't say this was THE GOOD?

OK - there have been other good moments in this week, but that one deserves all caps!

The bad - my roof is still in nasty shape, at least part of it is - the part where the tree came in. Well, it is covered and the rain no longer works its way into the house to cause potential problems. However, the rafter system where the tree came in is all fouled up. Some of the damage is storm damage that hasn't been addressed by either the insurance company nor the roofer. Some of it is stuff that's a result of the way the roofer did his work. FRUSTRATING!! And, of course, I can't move on to the next part of getting my house back together until the roof's fixed. And now that I have a roof covering the house, it's going to be harder to fix the section which isn't right yet. I'm still not living in my house. While blessed to have a good and safe place to stay, I really want to be back in my own home, with my own furniture and my own BED, right now! And that's bad, isn't it?

The ugly - the insurance company has said it's not going to do anything else on the roof. The roofer says that there're one-two things which he's going to fix, but the main problem, he won't work on because the insurance company didn't allocate enough funds to cover the cost of the repair. And I'm in the middle. I'm tired of 'he said, he said' conversations, where it's expected that I transmit the information from one group to another. I don't speak the lingo! I don't speak 'contractor'!! I don't speak 'insurance'!! HELP!!! The good news is that I have people in my congregation who can translate and are willing to help. But it gets me to thinking about all those others who may be in the same pickle, and who may not know how to evaluate the work that's been completed on their homes or may not be able to interpret what insurance adjusters and contractors are saying.

The insurance company says it can't be involved in a dispute with the roofer. My consulting engineer church member says that, yes, some of the problem was caused by the roofer, but some of the problem is damage that hasn't been addressed by anyone involved with the repairs. And I can't get both parties in the same room to discuss the issue, which means my house isn't having anything done to it. Since the insurance company is supposed to help get my house returned to a usable state, and they are the ones providing the funding, you'd think they would be willing to hear directly from the roofer what some of the needs are, rather than second-hand from someone who doesn't speak the lingo. I'm not expecting the insurance company to cover the costs which are the result of the roofer not doing his job right, but I am expecting both of them to work together to get my house back together. Maybe I'm just an optimist, but one can only hope.

I'm working on some leverage, and think I have some, yet I wonder about those who don't. Where do they go to get the help they need to resolve inadequate work and coverage issues? Who advocates for those who don't have the resources to hire an engineer or attorney or other expert to help in such situations? *sigh* Not only are they/we dealing with the disruption of the aftermath of the hurricane, but also are dealing with obstructions from those we are paying to help us get things back toward normal (either through insurance premiums or the cost of repairs). Insult to injury. The ugly, don't you think?