It was supposed to take 26 hours. They had planned and prayed that everything would go right. After all, they closed down miles and miles of highway to make way for 1,400 trucks carrying enough cement to cover a football field five feet thick. They defied common sense and chose to start the cement pour on Saturday evening instead of Friday evening so they wouldn’t disrupt the Sabbath.

Even if everything went perfectly—if there were no weather problems, no mechanical hiccups, no traffic snarls—the pour would probably take 16 hours but everyone planned for 26 hours. Instead, one of the largest cement pours in Central Florida history took only 10 hours. The cement pour laid the foundation for a new hospital tower for the Seventh-day Adventist-owned Florida Hospital Orlando.

The cement trucks moved into action after a brief sunset prayer service Saturday, June 24.  In ark-like fashion, they rolled two-by-two down Rollins Street between North Orange Ave. and U.S. Highway 17/92.

The cement pour was unique in several ways. It was not only one of the largest concrete pours in Central Florida’s history and in Adventist hospital history, but according to hospital officials it was a testament to the “meaning and value of God’s Sabbath.”

There was cause for worry when it rained the morning of the pour. With 5,000 people praying that all would go well, hope was renewed when the rain stopped.  Oddly, once the foundation was laid out the rain started up again.

“If for some reason we [had] a breakdown we [would have] caused one of the worst traffic nightmares Orlando has ever seen on Monday morning because we chose to do it [after sundown]” said Dick Duerksen, vice president for mission development at the hospital.

“The problem is that concrete can only stand for a certain amount of time before it begins to settle and becomes completely useless,” said Tim Burrill, the hospital’s vice president for construction. “So trucks must get to the site on a timely basis. Concrete pouring has to be done in one continuous process. Once it’s started, you can’t take a break.”

“The construction company suggested that Florida Hospital begin the pour Friday evening after rush-hour,” Burrill added.

Because of the potential ramifications, an early start would seem to be a logical choice,  but the hospital administration decided against it because it was the beginning of the biblical Sabbath observed by Adventists..

“We [went] on faith that we [would] be able to complete this pour by Monday morning,” said Burrill.

“This [cement] pour is test of our commitment to Sabbath rest,” said Duerksen. “It is a test of our commitment to being a spiritual lighthouse in the community.”

When Duerksen says that Florida Hospital is committed to being a “spiritual lighthouse,” these are not just empty words. With seven campuses in the Orlando area the hospital is intent on emphasizing how important spirituality is to healing.

The concrete pour has become a conversation point in Florida, said Duerksen, which explains why chaplains and other staff were at or near the site of the concrete pour to talk with and answer questions from anyone who wanted to know more about Adventists.

Although the concrete pour provided an opportunity to share the church’s beliefs, Duerksen would not equate it with a typical evangelistic campaign. “This is not a three-week evangelistic effort, this is a 365-days-a-year way of life,” he clarified.

The new 15-story building will reflect that year-round commitment to healing the body and the spirit. Hospital administration will make sure it doesn’t become just another holding facility for the sick.

The plaque that was placed at the foundation said as much: “Our desire is for this to be a place where every interaction celebrates the presence of God and where every room is a sanctuary of healing.”

Scheduled for completion in 2008, the new building will house 440 beds, an emergency room and a cardiac care center, said Burrill. The building will also face a lake and “will provide an environment facilitating patient healing,” he said.

Elizabeth Lechleitner contributed to this report.