An Observation About A Billboard Worker

Text: Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, KJV: 9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

How many of you have seen anybody changing the message on a billboard recently? I can remember when, actually, quite a few years ago when people would remove the old stuff (and I guess it was something like wallpaper but I never saw the old material close and I never did touch it) from off the board and dispose of it somewhere. Then these folks would take new strips or rolls, as best I recall, and using something that looked like a floor brush on a mop handle use some kind of paste or adhesive to keep the new stuff in place.

Over the years I’ve either seen or heard of variations such as metal plates or strips or whatever they’re called mounted side by side, vertically, to fit the size of a given billboard. And there may be other methods but one I’ve recently seen was rather different.

There was one man who was holding what looked like a glorified towel or blanket, which had the item, product, or service being advertised (I didn’t get a very good look at it). He was trying to hold on to the artwork, a long piece of maybe plastic, trying to get it to fit into whatever holds the item in place. Now, to me, doing this alone would be tricky in good weather but for this worker, he had a lot rougher as the wind was, shall we say, more than gently blowing that day!

He tried to get that display into place but every time he moved, the wind blew the display item or artwork so much that it looked almost like a bird flapping its wings! But there he was, alone, maybe 30 or so feet in the air, and several steps away from the “bucket” he rode from his truck to the billboard’s platform.

In a word, he could have used some help!

We might be able to draw any number of conclusions from this incident—I for one just hope he was able to get that billboard display fastened or secured in place so he could finish the job! But there is another, maybe slightly under the surface, application.

October is clergy appreciation month and currently as a pastor of a small church I want the best for my congregation. But there’s no way I can do anything by myself—nothing, that is, that will last. Even our Lord said, “Without Me, ye can do nothing (John 15:5)” If they remember me in their prayers, that’s plenty and that gives me more than I can express in gratitude for them.

So if you see your pastor or other clergy member struggling, remember the words of Ecclesiastes 4 and at least offer to help! Just as that billboard worker must have appreciated some assistance, most pastors would feel the same way!

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)