Electricity... eeeeeeelectricity...

Back in 1998 (or so) the Colonial Heights Student ministry did a missions project one weekend. It was a local project and we ended up working with the Mississippi Family Council. We did everything from yard work, light demolition, painting, etc. At the MS Council office there were two long hallways that ran parallel to each other down the length of the building with a closet between them that was used for storage. The only way you could get around the office was to go to either end of the hallways (kind of made a racetrack around the office). The Executive Director for the MS Family Council wanted the storage closet removed to improve traffic flow. So, Jonathan and I started working on the "light demolition."

We removed the shelving, et al from the storage room and started demolishing the sheet rock between the hallways. About 45 minutes in to it, Jonathan and I had basically destroyed everything... except the electrical outlet box that was in the wall. We had a long metal 1" conduit with the junction box on the bottom. Our thought was that we would cut the power, clip the wires to the box, slide the conduit off, tie the remaining wires off with electrical tape or whatever, coil it up and stick it up on the ceiling, and voila! done!

So, we plugged in an electrical drill in to the outlet, pulled out our "pocket Booker" and had him start cutting breakers to find the right switch for our outlet.

"Ok Booker, start cutting the switches!" .... " I think that's it! Cut it back on one second and let's make sure! ... yeah! that's it. ok kill it!"

Jonathan, who I swear always had a set of tools with him wherever he goes, whipped out a set of wire snippers. I pulled the box back at a 45 degree angles, exposing the wires, and Jonathan went to snip and.... BOOM!!!!

There was a loud pop and flash. Jonathan was thrown back and the lights in the office went out.

So upon further inspection, we had killed the circuit to the 120 volt outlet, but there WAS A LIVE 240 in the junction box!!! Thankfully the snips JD was using were insulated and all we were left with was a good scare (and the hair on Jonathan's hand got singed off).

To this day, I don't mess with electricity.

-- Crull Chambless