Beginning again...from the inside out

Things looked okay on the outside. It was a bit worn, but it looked reasonably intact. As you walked around the church their were signs that upkeep was needed but it didn't look that bad. It seemed that way until a Southern Oklahoma thunderstorm opened all of our eyes to the truth.

I walked into the church on the blustery morning before church and heard water running. I thought it was a toilet that was stuck at first, but the sound was different in a way. Following the noise down the hall to a door that led to a storage room, I opened the door and found a four inch waterfall pouring from the ceiling. The deluge had broken through the roof, broken the ceiling tile and poured onto the floor. I immediately grabbed a barrel that was used to collect food for youth camp and put it under the waterfall. It was clear the makeshift solution wasn't going to handle the deluge long.

Then I heard voices over the sound of the church's new waterfall. Three very faithful men had followed the roar of the water and begin to survey the situation. Lucky for us, the church had let me store some extra tools in this room. Luckier still, one of the tools was an axe. One of the men took the axe and cut a hole in the floor straightaway. He poured the barrel, now 2/3 full of water, into the new hole in the floor. Problem solved. Sort of.

A wise old man in the congregation began looking around. He knew it was a symptom of a much larger problem. He found a problem that included six broken rafters, rotted flooring, an outside wall that was three inches out of plumb, and an auditorium roof that would cave in with the next good snow. His investigation resulted in the gutting the auditorium, tearing out a complete section of the church, replacing the entire roof (rafters and all) of the auditorium, and a complete restoration of the interior of the church.

We had to begin again. The process started with people admitting that things had been done wrong. They had let repairs slip. They had added on without thinking about how it would affect the rest of the structure. They realized the there was a need for a total renovation. The essence of the building had to be left intact, but the structure had to be restored and rebuilt. It was a daunting task. It would happen overnight.

Sort of sounds like our lives doesn't it? We find out that our lives need restructuring and we wonder if it's even possible. The great thing about God is that "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26, NAS). When we learn from our mistakes and restructure our lives, the storms of life don't cause nearly as much damage. When we live our lives based on God's ways it leads to a more consistent spiritual and emotional life. Here's a verse I hope will make it more clear to you:

If you are wise and understand God's ways, live a life of steady goodness so that only good deeds will pour forth (James 3:13, NLT).

Water came pouring into the church on that Spring morning. Mistakes had been made. We ended up spending a lot of time fixing things in our little world instead of letting the love of God pour out to our community.

Live a life of steady goodness by understanding God's ways so you can help others enjoy and understand God's goodness.

Have a great day.