The Building of a House

Nine years ago this past weekend, 

we moved into our home.

As, I looked through the pictures 

of the 6 month-long building process,

I was reminded of the story

Jesus told about 

The Two Builders

"Why are you so polite with me, always saying 

'Yes, sir,' 

and 

'That's right, sir,'

 but never doing a thing I tell you?

These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life,

homeowner improvements to your standard of living,

they are foundation words, words to build a life on.

If you work My words into your life, 

you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep 

and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock.

When the river burst its banks

 and 

crashed against the house, 

nothing could shake it; 

it was built to last.

But if you just use my words 

in Bible studies 

and don't work them into your life,

you are like a dumb carpenter 

who built a house 

but skipped the foundation.

When the swollen river came crashing in, 

it collapsed like a house of cards.

It was a total loss."

Every one of us is building a house, 

not a house to live in with our family,

but a soul house.

When we begin to build it,

it needs a foundation.

And the only foundation that will keep us safe
is the Rock-Christ Jesus.
We build on this Rock 
by obeying Jesus' teaching.


We must spend time with Him,
in the Bible, to know what His teachings are.


The Bible is a blueprint
that will tell us exactly how to build our soul house.
When the storms (divorce, death, an affair, 
rebellious children, illness) come
and beat against our soul house,
we will not be shaken.


I do not want to be
the dumb carpenter
who built her house, but forgot to dig deeply
for a foundation.
I do not want, WHEN (not IF),
the swollen river 
comes crashing in,
to collapse like a house of cards.
To be declared a total loss.


I want to be the wise carpenter.
What about you?

This Post is NOT about Home Making

(Warning: 

This post has nothing to do with anything remotely related to decorating

or makeovers or food or home staging or slipcovers.

Please turn back now if you get queasy at the sight of mud

Southern red clay).

For those of you still here, you brave souls,

I wanted you to share in an accomplishment

that happened in our family this week.

I was so inspired this past weekend by something my husband

and 3 other friends from work, did as a team of 4.

100's of other men and women, in teams of 4 people,

here in Greenville, SC

also took part.

They participated in a 4 mile mud run to raise money for Goodwill,

my favorite store!

When the race was all over, and everyone on Mark's team

had washed the mud out of places we don't talk about,

I got to look through the pictures.

Here's what I learned from them:

We all start at the same place.

Some of us are more willing to jump right in and lead the way.

It doesn't matter who goes first.

In this thing called "life", we are all gonna get dirty.

There's no avoiding difficulties, barriers and obstacles.

But, you can get over the first difficulty, 

and get back up and keep going.

And just when you think the trail is even

another trial comes along.

But you have already done this and survived

and you can climb out the other side

just like you did before.

And we don't run this race alone,

We are given friends who support us.

Friends who lift us up when we can't quite make it by ourselves.

And because we remember how inspired we felt 

when someone supported us

We can return the favor when it's their turn to climb.

And once you've reached a pinnacle,
 you can again regain sight 

of where you were headed in the first place.

Others have finished the race ahead of you.

Let that inspire you.

Because we all can get there.

If we don't give up.

When it finally hits us

that we have accomplished our goal

that we have persevered

that we didn't quit

and with each step we took

we did it together,

we can celebrate

when we get to the finish line.

Hold fast to the word of life,

so that when Jesus comes,

you will be proud that

you did not run this race for nothing.

Phillipians 2:16

(Back to our "normal" posts tomorrow, maybe).