Our church has been working with some other churches on a Habitat for Humanity project. Pepe wrote something about this on his blog. I'm pleased as punch to be a part of the whole thing. A house is being built by well-meaning people, and a honest, hard-working family with a sweet little girl will be able to afford their own home. As I often hear people say these days, “It's all good!”

There was something of a leadership vacuum on the day I volunteered, however. I guess that's inevitable when a crowd of people show up hoping to build something. If you watched closely, you could see the pecking order working itself out.

At the top was the Project Manager and his two assistants. His job is to oversee everything and make sure that the house doesn't end up looking like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.

Next there were the volunteers who seemed to know something about construction. They knew construction words like “soffit,” “joist,” and “plumb.” Some of them brought their own tool belts and had serious looking hammers dangling from little metal rings. These guys sized up the situation quickly and got right to work, barking orders and grabbing power tools. They were the heroes of our flash mob.

Then there were people who didn't know much about construction but managed to attach themselves to one of these hero volunteers, forming ad hoc work crews that always looked busy and always seemed to be getting work done.

Finally, at the bottom, were the pitiful people like me, who don't know dick about construction. We were tentative, visibly uncomfortable, and milled around desperately looking for someone to tell us what to do. We gladly accepted orders from anyone who even looked like he knew what he was talking about. I probably would have nailed a board to my own head if someone holding a plumb bob had told me to.