A friend recently took on the challenge of reading through the Bible in 90-days. It seemed overly ambitious to me, but it had the appeal of an outrageous idea so I decided to give it a try.
I am two weeks into the three-month journey. It has forced me to read parts of Scripture that I normally overlook. Usually this is a chore – it’s not very interesting to read all the begets!
Yet in the midst of the tedious parts are little jewels. Take Bezalel and Oholiab. Not exactly household names, are they? Yet they receive special mention in the book of Exodus as the craftsmen who built the Tabernacle and all the furnishings inside.
It’s written in Exodus 36, “Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the Lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded.” Scholars know little else about these two, but their contribution was recorded so their name will live in history.
The “sneaky smart” Tono
The world revolves around people like this. They take their skills and apply them to the job at hand. They do not seek out fame; they simply persevere and get things done. Buildings get built, problems get solved and everybody is the better for it.
At PathLight, Antonio Bol is our Bezalel. Tono, as we all call him, has been the Facilities Director for PathLight’s property at Jaguar Creek since the beginning. He comes to work each day with a new list of things to build, repair or replace. Does the thatch roof leak? Tono can fix that. Does the boardwalk need a new sealcoat? Mention it to Tono. Does the solar array seem to be underperforming? Ask Tono to take a look.
Tono has a calm, quiet presence that does not attract attention. Yet he has a quality that makes you look twice at his humble smile. Tono is, as one person said, “sneaky smart”.
If you can get Tono to talk about himself, you soon learn how smart he really is. He is fluent in three languages (English, Spanish and Creole) and knows a fair amount of Mayan. He had to put off his high school education to get a job, but a few years ago decided to complete his degree in night school. For years he worked his regular 8-hour day job then was in class for 3-hours each night, before finally going home.
While doing all of this Tono continued to be a good husband to his wife Consuelo and a good father to his three children. He was active in his local church, coached a soccer team and was considered a leader in his village.
The Lord has indeed blessed Tono with the “skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in construction”, but the Lord has also blessed Tono with the ability to so much more. And all of us at PathLight have been blessed by his work.
I hope you can meet Tono on a future trip to Belize. He will be the one repairing the mower, or checking the water system, or doing some other chore that the rest of us would rather not think about. When you do meet him, I think you’ll agree that somewhere Bezalel and Oholiab are smiling. Their legacy lives on.