Waiting for the other shoe...

And so we had an idea that the other shoe might drop... just one of those "sinking" feelings you have when you walk across the floor and it sags under your weight...

This morning we found out that we would need to clear Jacob out of his bedroom (just like the biblical exile - except his brother wasn't after him).  Likely the wall between his bedroom and the bathroom will need to come down... and part of his floor removed... 

All this because that section of the house is not resting on a firm foundation... Oh the foundation is okay... it's just the connection that is supposed to be between the upper portion and the foundation that has the problem...Guess you know where this one is going!

The house is a fine house.  When G. Mason Owlett built it, it was beautiful, surely a pride to the family and the town... but over time, many of the details have been removed.  It's not as distinct.  The cypress pew-like benches on the sweeping front porch are gone, as is the round sweeping front porch itself.  Even the art deco type trim on the living room fireplace has been removed along the way.  The beautiful 1920's era mural in the dining room, which we found under 7 layers of wallpaper and paint has been destroyed over the years.  And when the repairs, the additions and the remodeling work is taken into account, the house it seems is only a shadow of what it once was.  And something of a crumbling skeleton it is.  But the outside walls are square and sturdy.  The foundation of the house is secure. 

It's the inside, starting in the area of the basement beneath the kitchen which lacks the support necessary to hold up the second floor, which holds up the third floor... you get my picture.  Support posts which should be holding the weight of the kitchen are missing.  Not one portion of support underneath the main load bearing wall.  All of this discovered as we dared to peak beneath what we thought was a beautiful top layer...

And isn't it just that way with our spiritual lives.  When God begins to work with us He peels away the layers uncovering all the baggage, the weak supports, the poor spiritual  work that we have done over the years.


Oh, to be sure, one would never know by looking at the house that the problems were there.  It's one of those things that you don't discover until you start peeling the layers away.

We are about to enter Lent - a season in which we take stock of our spiritual lives and seek to uncover where we have gone astray.  Certainly, we often feel good about ourselves, from whence we've come, the work that we've done, the growth that we've experienced. We even surround ourselves with people who accept us as we are - spiritual, social, and emotional "yes men".  But what would the Lord say if we asked Him to come in like a building inspector and look deep within the recesses of our spiritual lives.  How are our lives a reflection of God's grace?  The temple of the Holy Spirit?  How does our work life, our social life, our relationship with our spouse, our children, our neighbors model Christ-like love, the kind of love that speaks the truth, even and especially when it hurts, in a loving encouraging and even exhortational way?  

I'd just as soon our builder not have to do what he's having to do.  I'd almost prefer that he just cover things up and let them go.  But it seems that's been tried before and hence we are where we are.  I don't always fully appreciate the Lord getting into my life, showing me the poor structure of my spiritual life, the dry peeling veneer of happiness.

I want a spiritual life, a faith that stands tall, level, plumb, and strong like this builder wants this house to be.  I'm not going to be okay with fixing something that should be replaced.  Throw out the old.  Don't salvage it.  In Kingdom work we don't reduce, reuse, recycle.  We are extravagantly generous modeling the generous grace of God to those whom He has chosen.  Thank God that in Jesus Christ we have a chance to start all over from ground up.  It may not be easy.  It certainly won't be cheap.  The work will be grueling at times.  But the payoff is... well it's heavenly.  The glory of God is man fully alive!