I can't believe how long it has been since I updated this blog! Almost 2 years! That is terrible! A lot has changed over these past 2 years including my 2 boys. They look so little in these pics!
We are still in New England and this update is courtesy of a wonderful lady I met on a plane during a recent trip. She and her sister were headed down south, to face a pretty difficult situation but she made my 2 hours confined to one cramped seat very pleasant. So, to thank her, and deal with my very slack updating, I am posting today. So, thank you Mary and Geri, I am praying for you and your family today.
I know we all deal with construction from time to time. Most frequently it is probably on a highway somewhere, signified by an endless line of orange cones and blinking lights. The speed limits shrink to a snails pace and we are forced to idle along, desperate to really get moving again. There are other types of construction as well. Many of you may have built a home or remodeled something. You may have had to help your child with the ever daunting science project which, from experience, can be some of the worst kinds of construction!
Over the past two years our church in New Hampshire has been under construction. We built some additions to the upper and lower levels of our existing church building and became immersed in a constant state of construction. We first hosted a team of volunteer laborers who built the "guts" of the additions. You know, the foundation, the support structures, the load bearing walls, the frame. They roughed in every electrical outlet, doorway and light switch that would one day serve a purpose. Another team came in and covered up all those skeleton interiors and we could see what was taking shape. As the sheetrock went up, we began to visualize the space as it was meant to be. You could see the nursery area and imagine kids playing in those rooms. You could see the sanctuary open up and have space for many more seats to be filled. There was finally a location where the youth would gather and call their own. And, as a final touch, a steeple was added with a big cross on top that really helped to signify that this was indeed a place of worship, where God dwells and where peace is found and experienced.
Our lives are much like the construction process. There was a song many years ago called Kids Under Construction. I don't know who wrote it but I now know what it means. Our Christian lives all start out just like that new addition. We must have a foundation, Christ to be exact. Every part of us must grow out of Jesus or it will eventually crumble. We must then allow God to come in and build our support structures, the frame and load bearing walls of our new Christian life. It probably won't be pretty, it may get really messy and we will have to clean up a lot. When the rain comes, it will get muddy around that new foundation. We will struggle to keep ourselves "in the dry". There will have to be cuts made to make room for power to flow through us. We may have to open up some doors inside and put in some new windows to allow light to flow in to those once dark places. But eventually, we reach the part where things start to take shape. We get some new sheetrock! We become a little more "put together". When the storms come we are okay because we are on the solid "rock" foundation of Jesus. And in the spiritual world, Jesus our foundation becomes our shelter and covering and we no longer need to fear the storms. As we keep adding those finishing touches we are able to see how God is going to use us. We can see our purpose and serve God just as He planned from the very blueprint He started with! Our service becomes that steeple, that points people to God and lets them know there is hope and a future.
Today my prayer is that you and I will go into the construction business. The world says we've been in a recession lately but WE know there is solid ground to be built on! Invest in someone's life today and help them to go "under construction" with Christ.
"Everyone then who hears theses words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock." Matthew 7:24-25 ESV
May He find us faithful,
Shannon
