Saturday, September 8, 2007

Tear down to build up

This morning a lot of folks were helping prepare the new children's facility at church for reopening.  It was really fun carrying boxes and pushing brooms and feeling part of something special.  The Chapel has used contractors for most of the new construction but much of the children's wing improvements have been done in-house by staff and volunteers.  It occurred to me that our church has had to make ongoing building modifications over the years as we've grown.  Often walls are knocked down or moved and things are unsettled for a while.  I thought about the way that the Lord does something similar in our personal lives at times...some discomfort can come when he knocks down some of the personal walls we've built and rearranges our circumstances to get our attention and to help us grow and develop.  I talked to our head of facilities, Dean Ross about the need to knock things down in order to build something new.  He said the reality is that often perfectly good facilities have to be destroyed to meet future needs and growth.  That's something like what happens in our lives.  We wonder sometimes when it seems our perfectly smooth life is upset by unpleasant circumstances.  It may be that the Lord is getting us ready for the future He knows is coming for us, when all we can see is what's happening now.   It's good to be reminded that our lives are really His.  I think it's safe to say He has the big picture!
 
1 Peter 1:6 "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ"
 
blessings,
Rob Smith

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